Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Second Best Christmas Present

Happy feast of the Nativity of our Lord, dear readers! Happy birthday Jesus!!!! I love Christmas. If you want to be more in the mood, Pandora's Christmas Carol station will do that too. Wunderbar!

The second best present (after the birth of our Lord!) is that I am spending it with my husband in Arizona (where it is snowing because of elevation). That's right, last Friday, I got married!



More on that later - I'll be in touch in the new year! Merry Christmas to all, and to all- God's blessing in 2013!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What is Advent?

"What is Advent? Many answers can be given. We can grumble and say that it is nothing but a pretext for hectic activity and commercialism, prettified with sentimental clichés in which people stopped believing ages ago. In many cases this may be true, but it is not the whole picture.

We can say the reverse, that Advent is a time when, in the midst of an unbelieving world, something of the luminous quality of this lost faith is still perceptible, like a visual echo. Just as stars are visible long after they have become extinct, since their erstwhile light is still on its way to us, so this mystery frequently offers some warmth and hope even to those who are no longer able to believe in it.

We can also say that Advent is a time when a kindness that is otherwise almost entirely forgotten is mobilized; namely, the willingness to think of others and give them a token of kindness. Finally we can say that Advent is a time when old customs live again, for instance, in the singing of carols that takes place all over the country. In the melodies and words of these carols, something of the simplicity, imagination and glad strength of the faith of our forefathers makes itself heard in our age, bringing consolation and encouraging us perhaps to have another go at that faith which could make people so glad in such hard times...

Being awake for God and for other people—that is the kind of “waking” that Advent has in mind, the wakefulness that discovers the light and brightens the world."

 —Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), from “Seek That Which Is Above: Meditations Through the Year”

The Bright Maidens are hosting a forum on Advent - join us!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Let's Give Chivalry Another Chance

As seen at The Atlantic:
Chivalry is about respect. It is about not harming or hurting others, especially those who are more vulnerable than you. It is about putting other people first and serving others often in a heroic or courageous manner. It is about being polite and courteous. In other words, chivalry in the age of post-feminism is another name we give to civility. When we give up on civility, understood in this way, we can never have relationships that are as meaningful as they could be. 
If women today—feminists and non-feminists alike—encouraged both men and women to adopt the principles of civil and chivalrous conduct, then the standards of behavior for the two sexes would be the same, fostering the equality that feminists desire. Moreover, the relations between the sexes would be once again based on mutual respect, as the traditionalists want. Men and women may end up being civil and well-mannered in different ways, but at least they would be civil and well-mannered, an improvement on the current situation.
Read more here!

Oh, and here's one more gem: "There's No Perfect Time to Start Having Kids"

Monday, December 10, 2012

The Second Best Compliment I've Received

After four Irish men asking if I was Irish too because of my "beautiful Irish complexion", this comment (on this post) may be my second favorite compliment:
"My goodness ... an imaginative, contemplative, even daring, conservative thinker! I thought Rush Limbaugh had rounded up all you guys & had you shot & buried in a mass grave somewhere in the countryside. Maybe someday the conservative movement can look at itself in the mirror again without shame, thanks to thoughts like yours. I'm not saying I *agree* with everything you wrote, but the quality of thought is so high ... it takes me back to the '60s & '70s, when some conservatives were actually smart, & proud to be so."
Not shot and dead in a mass grave, folks -- just preparing for the wedding! 11 days!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Creating Order, Or Working in Order?

Today at the Austrian Economics and Literature blog:
"However, writers are wrong to think this. First, language is not chaos. The language they use evolved in a spontaneous order. That language follows the rules of grammar and syntax -- a deep grammar which is instinctual and, thus, genetically inherited; an evolving surface grammar and syntax which evolves more quickly in the linguistic order."
--Troy Camplin, "Creating Order, Or Working in Order?"