Stuff I Normally Would Have Posted on Facebook II: Now with Quotations!

David Russell Mosley

Lent
24 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Here’s another list of links I’ve found interesting over the past week or so. Do enjoy.

“When we fast, we are changing and re-ordering our daily routine …

We are taking a step back from it.

We are saying that God’s Kingdom – the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus – calls us to ongoing, daily change in our lives.”

Lenten meditation: fasting from Catholicity and Covenant

‘At Christmas we are born again with Christ; at Easter we keep the Eucharistic Feast. In Lent, by penance, we join the two great sacraments together.’

“See, then, the Church offers you this season” from Catholicity and Covenant

‘”Self-denial, then, is a subject never out of place in Christian teaching; still more appropriate is it at a time like this, when we have entered upon the forty days of Lent, the season of the year set apart for fasting and humiliation …”‘

John Henry Newman quoted on Catholicity and Covenant

“Since we are now in Lent, it might be a good time to review the spiritual habit of fasting. Jesus clearly expected his followers to fast after he had gone, so it is odd that this is not a widespread habit amongst all Christians. To answer this, we need to ask some background questions. How often did the first Jesus-followers fast? Was it an occasional thing, focused on specific events or causes? Or was it something more habitual and regular, an integral part of their devotional life? And what was its significance?”

How often should we fast? from Psephizo

‘Szybist clearly struggles with what the Annunciation means for her. It seems to simultaneously empower and bind contemporary women with the high standards that it sets. These contradictions, these wounds, rub against each other so intensely in this collection that they produce the incarnadine (calling forth both incarnation and bleeding) of the title.’

“You are She Who is Not”: Szybist’s Incarnadine from Ethika Politika

“O New Martyrs, through a malevolent force as old as Eden you now number among the ancient holy ones; keep us particularly in your prayers, as once again we are focused on the mysterious lands where humanity first came into being, and into knowing, and where all will finally be revealed. Pray that we may put aside all that is irrelevant to the moment and, looking forever to the East, prepare our spirits for the engagements into which we may be called, whether we live amid these places of ancient roads and portals, or in the most modern of dwellings.

Mary, the God-bearer, pray for us,

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us,

Saint John the Forerunner, pray for us,

All Holy Men and Women, pray for us.

Amen, Amen.”

Holy Martyrs Killed by ISIS pray for us from The Catholic Dormitory

‘”We Christians dare to look at our sinfulness only in the light of God. Repentance involves looking at myself through his eyes, with the goal of giving myself totally to him, step by step. It is a way of marveling at the greatness of God, which I can discover by admitting my smallness; it is a way of discovering God‘s infinite love for me, a sinner; it is the path to love-in-practice, as I learn to be as merciful to others as he is to me. In other words, repentance is not about self-improvement. It is about growth in God.”‘

Quoted on Repentance is the Daughter of Hope and the Refusal to Despair from Cosmos the in Lost  

‘We may not like the way that divine love calls us to accept death, but perhaps during this Lenten season we can practice the path that Christ’s love takes toward Good Friday. When we accept this necessary death, we may begin to learn with the grain of the universe. Balthasar, drawing on a metaphor that Jesus himself uses, notes that “the formative power of Christ lies in the formlessness of the grain of wheat that dies and wastes away in the hummus, the grain that rises again, not in its own form but in that of the stalk of wheat” (137). When we die to our selfish desires—whether for power or profit-margin—we can be raised in the form of Christ’s beauty. And then we will be attuned to the music of the spheres, ready to experience the joy of recognition when we glimpse the watermark of divine love in all creation.’

Balthasar Sandbox 5: Sacramental Education from Christ & University

‘We don’t seem to have much of a heart these days for seeing love as anything other than pure affirmation of another.  Loving another means not hurting their feelings, not telling them they are wronging someone else when they do, allowing them to hurt themselves because to confront them isn’t loving. The dangers of this love, which is love in name only, is that our being in community with one another demands we look out for others.’

Lenten Wisdom From the Desert Day 6 from And There Is Every Quest

‘”Our particular village was in a deep narrow valley with woods all round it and a rushing stream that grew louder as the night came on. Then comes the time when you have to strike a light (with difficulties) in order to read the maps: and when the match fizzles out, you realize for the first time how dark it really is: and as you go away, the village fixes itself in your mind – for enjoyment ten, twenty, or thirty years bend – as a place of impossible peace and dreaminess.”‘

C. S. Lewis quoted on Stories and Soliloquies

‘”Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.'”

St Augustine quoted on Catholic Cravings

‘May Saint Polycarp intercede for us and give us the strength and courage to bear witness to the Faith in the face of opposition and persecution.’

ST. POLYCARP’S ENDURING LESSON from Word on Fire

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what articles or blog posts you’ve found interesting recently?

Sincerely yours,

David

What I’m Reading II: Mary, Aquinas, the Devil, Snape, and the Birth of Narnia

David Russell Mosley

Lent
St Polycarp
23 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, as often happens, the books I read have changed since the last time I updated you on what I’m reading. Here’s the new list.

Handmaid of the Lord by Adrienne von Speyr

Speyr is a new author for me. I’ve read so much about her in the works of Stratford Caldecott. She’s a Catholic Convert and a mystic whose confessor was Hans Urs von Balthasar, another person whose had a profound impact on me. This book is a series of reflections on the Virgin Mary. I’m not very far in since I’m just reading a chapter a day for Lent. Already there is some real beauty in the way she expresses herself and describes the Mother of our Lord, but there are some parts I struggle with. I love Mary, and covet her prayers, but I am not settled on some of the titles ascribed to her, like Mediatrix. This will be a profound and provocative read for me, challenging both my Protestant presuppositions, and my Catholic leanings.

The Prayers and Hymns of St Thomas Aquinas by Thomas Aquinas 

I started looking for something like this when I first came across the prayer for Scholars by Thomas Aquinas. So I was quite pleased when I found a Latin and English edition of some of the prayers and songs of the angelic doctor. This book is fairly simple, each prayer is in Latin on one page and English on the adjacent. The prayers themselves are beautiful and the editors have laid them out like poetry. I’ve also been using this text in my Lenten devotions. I have decided to say one prayer a day for each day in Lent, first in English and then again in Latin.

On the Fall of the Devil by Anselm

I’ve been enjoying my reading of Anselm. It was great to read the Monologion and the Proslogion together, something I’d never done before. I haven’t started reading this one yet, but it comes in a little semi-related trilogy with On Truth and On the Free Will. Anselm’s dialogs are masterful and I look forward to reading this one as well.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

How many times have I read this book? Multiple times a year since it came out; so some might say too many. Still, I love the Harry Potter series. It has its flaws, Rowling is not the theologian that say Lewis, Tolkien, Sayers, Chesterton, or O’Connor are. Even in presenting a world that is meant, in some ways, to be Faërie, yet it is plagued with all the same problems our world is. Nevertheless, this story of hope and salvation is one that I am constantly drawn to. Half-Blood Prince is in weird place for me. Order of the Phoenix is somewhat of transitional book. In the previous four it’s all about keeping Voldemort from coming back or fighting against his effects (Tom Riddle from the diary, Peter Pettigrew, or Death Eater at Hogwarts). Then, once he returns at the end of Goblet of Fire each book is about defeating him outright, but Order of the Phoenix is only the beginning of that story and is the beginning of the darkness. Therefore, Half-Blood Prince sees the real preparation of Harry by Dumbledore for ultimately defeating Voldemort. This can make it feel like its simply build-up for book 7. The first three are absolutely stand-alones, most of book 4 is as well. This book cannot stand on its own. It is pure preparation for the final battle.

The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis

I’ve decided to read Lewis’s books in the order he wrote them, roughly. This means I’m finishing with The Magician’s Nephew. It’s a really interesting experience. In The Last Battle, we see the end of Narnia, or the shadowlands Narnia anyway. Now, however, after Narnia’s death, I get to visit Narnia one last time. I get to visit it at the very beginning. In a way, it feels like reading Genesis after reading Revelation. Doing that would change how one reads Genesis, for the better, I think. However, at least as regards Narnia, I think you can or should only do this after you’ve read the books once before. Getting them in intended order first allows for one to then read them in a new order and see how that changes one’s perspective from the original reading.

Anyway, this is what I’m reading now. What are you reading?

Sincerely yours,
David

Links I Normally Would Have Posted on Facebook

David Russell Mosley

Lent
20 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, we’re only two days in and I’ve already both my Facebook and sweets fasts rather difficult. I spend way too much time on my phone. So this has definitely been helpful. However, I still like sharing the various blog posts and articles that I read each day. Therefore, below you can find a list of some of the best stuff I’ve read this week.

Pornography, God, and Universities from Ethika Politika

Art Kills from Ethika Politika

Ash Wednesday: “make way to an everlasting Easter by a short Lent”  from Catholicity and Covenant

Lent: “such a means of grace” from Catholicity and Covenant

MY BODY PINES FOR YOU from Word on Fire

WHY LENT? FR. BARRON EXPLAINS (VIDEO) from Word on Fire

Augustine on authorial intent and a plurality of interpretations from Cryptotheology

My Reaction to the Beheading of Egyptian Christians from Musings of a Theophyte

Ash Wednesday: Lent begins from Καθολικός διάκονος

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2015 “Make your hearts firm” (Jas 5:8)

In Praise of Inefficiency from Christ & University

Dozy doodlings from Faith and Theology

Sincerely yours,

David

Lenten Activities in 2015

David Russell Mosley

Ordinary Time
17 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Lent is nearly upon us again. While both Advent and Lent are times of fasting, Lent feels very different from Advent. Part of that probably has to do with how our culture deals with Christmas and Easter. Christmas is more deeply rooted in our culture, with more common customs and rituals. This plays out into Advent as we buy Advent calendars, begin singing Christmas carols and other wintry songs. What Easter and Lenten customs there are and have been are less firmly rooted in our cultural consciousness. Sure we have candies and flowers (though candies are typically off limits in Lent). We have few Easter songs that everyone knows, the way they might “Joy to the World” or “What Child Is This?” or “Silent Night”. But there’s something more. Advent leads us to a simply joyous event: the birth of Christ. What pain there is in childbirth is quickly overcome once the child is here. In Lent, however, not only is our focus in part on our sinfulness, but also on the Light having gone out of the world. We aren’t Mary awaiting the birth of the Lord, but Israel awaiting the end of the dessert wandering. Equally, rather than passing through labour, we must pass through the grave (and quite probably Hell) before we can reach the celebration of Easter. However, this ought to make Easter all the more joyous for us, for in it is bound up all the pain and suffering of life in this fallen cosmos.

As I said, Lent is a time of fasting. Now traditionally, this is a food and drink fast. That is, people fasted typically from various meats, flour, butter, sugar, oils, alcohol, etc. I still hope to do a proper Lenten fast in this fashion someday. However, this year is not that year. Instead, I am fasting from most social media, primarily Facebook and Twitter (don’t worry, I’ll still be writing here). I will also be fasting from iPhone games. I tend to get rather addicted to these games, so I thought it appropriate to give them up. I’m also giving up sweets this Lent. I have an insatiable sweet tooth and little self-control. So, no more sweets for me. Sundays in Lent are feast days, though typically it is a complete feast since you’ve typically gotten rid of all your flour, butter, etc. Nevertheless, I will be indulging in some sweets on Sundays, but still not social media or phone games.

Another plan I have for this lent is to get more disciplined in my prayer life. I’m typically fairly good at getting Morning and Evening prayer in most days. But I want to do better. I also want to add a few more set times of prayer. So, some time in the midmorning, I plan to pray the Rosary; in the early afternoon, I will say a prayer from The Prayers and Hymns of Thomas Aquinas.

The final thing I’ve decided to do for Lent is to read some spiritual books I’ve never read before. I may add more as I finish the two I’ve set myself. The two books I’ve already planned to read are The Handmaid of the Lord by Adrienne von Speyr and The Cloud of Unknowing by an unknown Englishman in the late fourteenth century. I chose von Speyr’s book because she is a relatively contemporary mystic who saw many visions. She was also heavily influenced by her confessor Hans Urs von Balthasar. I chose the second as my ancient/medieval read. I know very little about it and look forward to learning more.

So, what are you doing this Lent? How are you preparing yourselves for the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour? Are you giving anything specific up, taking anything specific up, or reading anything in particular? Do let me know.

Sincerely yours,
David

Unbearably Light: Reflections on My Sons’ Love of Light and an Unbearably Light Vision

David Russell Mosley

Ordinary Time
St Cyril and St Methodius
14 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Ever since we spent all that time in the hospital for Edwyn’s cancer treatment, I’ve been meaning to write this post. Tonight, another minor vision, more of a palpable sense than a vision, has finally been the impetus to do so.

I noticed it first when we were in our first room when the cancer treatment proper began. Both of my sons had an obsession. They loved to look at light. When the sun would pour in as it began to set. While we adults would shield our eyes, my sons soaked it in, preferring to look at what it illumined in contrast with what it did not. Shadows and light were their delights, often catching their attention. Little has changed in this regard. Now, however, rather than being merely content to watch light, they seek it out and attempt to grasp it. So often when the sun shines (and it almost always the sun or a reflection of it that they are attracted to, not artificial light) and lands on their highchair trays will they try to grasp it. Or when the sun is reflected off a watch or a phone or something similar they will gaze upward as it moves across the ceiling and the walls. It reminds me of a portion of one of George MacDonald’s fairy tales.

The whole fairy tale is ultimately about light and the love of light in its varying shades. The story is about a witch who raises a boy and girl, quite separately from one another. The girl knows only night and the boy only day from infancy. While both have an obsession with light, the girl’s is stronger. She falls in love with the moon, her lamp as she calls it, and is confused when it is gone one day. So she decides to go in search of it:

‘She followed the firefly, which, like herself, was seeking the way out. If it did not know the way, it was yet light; and, because all light is one, any light may serve to guide to more light. If she was mistaken in thinking it the spirit of her lamp, it was of the same spirit as her lamp and had wings. The gold-green jet-boat, driven by light, went throbbing before her through a long narrow passage.’

I’ve always been drawn by this passage. MacDonald gives us here a kind of participatory ontology (as he usually does, he is very much a Platonist). This little insect is thought of as made of light ‘it was yet light’ and also ‘driven by light’. Light is its being and yet is also its source and its power of motion. What is more, there is the light out of which the firefly is made is derived from a more ultimate, and in this story, unnamed Light. C. S. Lewis describes Christianity by comparing it to the sun. He believes in it not because he see it but because by it he can see everything else. All of this is, I believe, my sons’ love of light.

This brings me to tonight. Every night when we put our boys in their cribs, I sing them a lullaby; read them a bed time story; and pray for them. My prayer for my sons usually goes something like this: ‘Heavenly Father, be with my sons this evening. Send them your Holy Spirit to guide them and give them dreams and visions; send your angels to watch over them and protect them from the fears and dangers of the night. Blessed Virgin, watch over my sons as you watched over your own Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.’ Tonight however, I was led to pray more. I began to feel an unbearable lightness. I could sense the saints and angels present with me in that room. So I prayer: ‘Saints and angels in this room, praise our heavenly king with me: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and Earth are full of your glory.’ I began to weep. The sense of their presence, of God’s presence through his created cosmos which includes the angels and the saints was unbearably light (God, as Dionysius would remind us, is full of these paradoxes).

Light has two meanings here: the radiance of a creature; and of little or no weight. Yet I think they are connected. For the light of the sun is unbearable, not because of its weight but because of its brilliance. While I saw no light during my prayer this evening, it was nevertheless brilliant and it was unbearable for a sinner such as me.

Sincerely yours,

David

How I Pray: A Reflection

David Russell Mosley

Ordinary Time
11 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

On Monday I posted a list of questions stolen from God and the Machine’s series: How I pray. Today, I want to take this opportunity to answer those questions as best I can. As I said on Monday, I do not offer these as an example of how you ought to pray. I do not think so highly of myself as that. If there is anything I do that you ought to also, it is only because men and women much holier than I have been doing it for much longer. I had considered altering some of the questions to make them perhaps a bit more Protestant friendly. But in an effort to live out consistently and honestly my “Catholic-Evangelicalism”, I am letting them stand and giving my honest answers to them, whomever they may shock or surprise.

Who are you?

While this question was perhaps more intended to explain to readers who this new person is, I do find it a startling and necessary place to begin. Who am I? Am I a father? A husband? A theologian? A poet? A man? An American? I am all of these things and more. Some are accidental to me, not constituting who I am substantially, but constituting the person you encounter whether through these letters or in person. Substantially, I am a Christian, a child of God, adopted into Christ’s sonship and like the pilgrim in The Divine Comedy working my way, by way of my guides, toward the end for which God has made me: the Beatific Vision and deification (which are ultimately synonymous for our vision of the Triune God can be nought else but deifying). I am also a father and a husband (and therefore a man) substantially. These three (or four) things you cannot change about me without changing who I am at my core. Whether other aspects of me, namely being a theologian or poet, are substantial or accidental, I admit to not yet knowing.

What is your vocation?

This is something I’m still discerning. I am, by training, a theologian. Yet, as I have written to you before, I was in the beginning process of becoming an Anglican priest. I don’t yet know to what vocation I am being called, and what my training and inclinations have to do with that, but I am doing my best to listen.

What is your prayer routine for an average day?

In the mornings, I get up between 3:30 and 6, feed my son, Theodore, go downstairs, and say Morning Prayer. I try, but often fail, at saying Evening prayer between 2:00 and 7:00. I follow the Anglican tradition of keeping Morning and Evening Prayer (based on a shortened form of the Benedictine practice of the Divine Office), using Daily Prayer from the Common Worship. This was the first prayerbook I ever had and like using it to keep up with the Church Calendar. It also adds a level of asceticism to my life that I find I need. Throughout the day I try to pray. I often journal after saying Morning Prayer and this usually includes several prayers, typically for forgiveness. Otherwise, I say prayers when I feel led to or when I need to. I would like to have some more form to my prayer life and am working on it.

How well do you achieve it, and how do you handle those moments when you don’t?

It is difficult for me to achieve this every day. What with twins, living with my Grandmother-in-law in a small condo, and making excuses like the proceeding two, I often fail. I try not to be too hard on myself about it, not disparaging myself, but reminding myself to the standard to which I am holding myself.

Do you have a devotion that is particularly important to you or effective?

In difficult times I often turn to a prayer I learned when reading the works of John Cassian. “Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O Lord, make haste to help me!” It is from Psalm 70. This prayer when prayed repetitively has been a help in fighting temptation, though I do not turn to it as often as I like.

Do you have a place, habit, or way of praying?

While I hope to someday have a prayer corner filled with icons and religious imagery, for now, in the space we share, I have to settle for something a bit less. I tend to pray Morning Prayer, the one I can ensure I do without others around, in the recliner in my Grandmother-in-law’s living room. I intend also to begin kneeling while doing more formal prayers and perhaps trying other positions for the less formal, like prostration. The body is just as important in the act of prayer as the soul. Our posture, our position can aid or hinder our prayer. Equally, the soul lifts the body to new heights, and depths, in prayer.

Do you use any tools or sacramentals?

I have a few icons that I use, when I’m in the same room as them. Though considering it now, perhaps I will begin bringing them down with me so as to have them for my prayer time.

What is your relationship with the Rosary?

If icons didn’t turn off or confuse some of my Protestant correspondents (for I think of you all, whoever to you all are, as correspondents and not readers), then perhaps my answer to this question will. I have previously written a reflection about praying to departed Christians, the Saints. It stands to reason, therefore, that if I think calling on them for prayer is permissible, so too is calling on the Mother of God. That being said, my prayers to Mary have been limited up to this point by asking her to watch over my sons as she watched over her own son who is Christ our Lord. I have, however, recently acquired a Rosary and have begun to use it at least once daily. In my early days as a Christian, which were not so long ago, I would have thought this if not totally, then at least partially idolatrous. However, I have found my use of the Rosary in prayer to be of profound aid and edification.

Some of you may balk still, but when one looks at the actual prayer, it is mostly Scripture:

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women [Lk 1.28],
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb [Lk 1.42],
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The rest, as you can see, is simply asking for Mary to pray for us. There is nothing, in my opinion too scandalous about this. I have also been influenced by Stratford Caldecott in his book All Things Made New which tells us that the Rosary is entirely about Christ, through the eyes of Mary. I hope to write about that book more soon.

Is there one particular book or spiritual work that has been particularly important to your devotional life?

This is a difficult question for me to answer. On the one hand, the Institutes and Conferences of John Cassian are the primary books that led me down the path of liturgy and asceticism, in fixed hour prayers. However, since then the works of Gregory of Nazianzus, Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and others have been my guides in my devotional life.

What is your current spiritual or devotional reading?

I recently finished reading the Ambigua of Maximus the Confessor and began reading the works of Anselm in this capacity. However, that reading has strayed out of the devotional and may need to be replaced by something else, or at least a reconfiguring of how I read it.

Are there saints or other figures who inspire your prayer life or act as patrons?

St Thomas Aquinas has been a recent inspiration for my prayer life. His prayers and hymns, which I have only recently begun to read and pray myself, are ones I often turn to throughout the day. C. S. Lewis has also been a guide when it comes to prayer, especially his Letters to Malcolm which I hope to re-read soon. I’m sure this list will grow. St Benedict, St Patrick, and St Augustine are also frequent sources of inspiration in prayer. Another I hope to interact with more is my, unintentional, namesake, St David of Wales, patron saint of poets.

What is one prayer you find particularly powerful or effective?

Aquinas’s Prayer for the Attainment of Heaven is one I find particularly powerful. It helps me keep the cosmic as well as individual scope of the life in Christ. I have written about it here.

Have you had any unusual or even miraculous experiences in your prayer life?

There have been times in the past, but none of them can I really remember. The most recent happened while we were still living in the United Kingdom during the intercessions at a Spoken Eucharist service at the parish church in Beeston. I have written about it here. Dreams, visions, and miracles are things I think we are meant to court, but warily. The devil can also show us pictures as he did to Christ in the desert. Nevertheless, there is an inherently visionary aspect to our faith. God is the God who gives dreams and visions and we his people ought to be open and prepared to receive them.

I’d like to see _______YOU_______________ answer these questions.

Sincerely yours,
David

How I Pray: Introduction

David Russell Mosley

Ordinary Time
8 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

As the snow continues to fall, and I have left the house very infrequently, my reading, and especially blog catch-up, have increased. I was going through the most recent blog posts and came across this post from God and the Machine: How I Pray: The Very Reverend Archimandrite John Panteleimon Manoussakis. Thomas McDonald has been asking various, and primarily Roman Catholic, theologians and priests about how they pray. My own prayer life has seen some reinvigoration and so I was drawn to these posts, reading several of them after Archimandrite John’s. I was intrigued by McDonald’s questions. He asks:

Who are you?

What is your vocation?

What is your prayer routine for an average day?

How well do you achieve it, and how do you handle those moments when you don’t?

Do you have a devotion that is particularly important to you or effective?

Do you have a place, habit, or way of praying?

Do you use any tools or sacramentals?

What are your relationship with the Rosary?

Is there one particular book or spiritual work that has been particularly important to your devotional life?

What is your current spiritual or devotional reading?

Are there saints or other figures who inspire your prayer life or act as patrons?

What is one prayer you find particularly powerful or effective?

Have you had any unusual or even miraculous experiences in your prayer life?

I’d like to see ______________________ answer these questions.

I hope this week to answer at least some of these questions. I feel a bit strange setting myself these questions. McDonald primarily asks those who are, in some sense, worthy of answering these questions. They are, seemingly, particularly holy. I know that I am not. However, I hope that by trying to answer some of these questions myself I will be forced to think more and more intentionally about my prayer life. If this process of self-reflection is beneficial to those who read these letters, all the better. But time spent thinking about how I pray to the Creator and King of the cosmos is not time wasted.

Sincerely yours,
David

Darwin’s Pious Idea Goes on Sale

David Russell Mosley

Ordinary Time
4 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

As I was looking over my feed reader today, I saw a post from the Center for Theology and Philosophy noting a sale on Conor Cunningham’s excellent Darwin’s Pious Idea. It can now be purchased for $7.98. This is an excellent deal and you should definitely jump on it.

In honour of this great deal here are some of my letters related to the topics of evolution and Christianity:

‘Darwin’s Pious Idea’ by Conor Cunningham: Mini Book Review

Creation Debates: Why Bill Nye and Ken Ham Both Get It Wrong

Is Evolution Anti-Christian? Conor Cunningham, Charles Darwin, and the God who Creates

Sincerely yours,

David

What I’m Reading: Heaven, Mary, God’s Existence, Dragons, and the End of the World

David Russell Mosley

Epiphanytide
Candlemas
2 February 2015
The Edge of Elfland
Hudson, New Hampshire

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, we’re experiencing yet another snow storm here in New England, and while not a blizzard this time it is still keeping me and my family inside. Snow and ice are beautiful but perilous. I think it no coincidence that we tend to associate snow with Faërie. But more on that another day.

I wanted to write to you about what I’m reading right now. It’s a new theme I’ll be coming back to from time to time as the books I’m reading change. The hope is to interest you to read new, or old, books that you haven’t read, or haven’t read in a long while. Also, it should hopefully help me engage more fully with the books I’m reading by writing about them from time to time as I read them.

All Things Made New by Stratford Caldecott

Stratford Caldecott has increasingly become one of my favourite authors. I have, to date, read his The Power of the Ring, Beauty for Truth’s Sake, and The Radiance of Being. I am immensely saddened that I had not met him before he went further on his pilgrimage to the Patria than I can currently follow. Still, I have the comfort of his words and his book All Things Made New is just that, a comfort.

The book begins with a spiritual commentary on the book of Revelation, noting the important theological, symbolical, and even numerological meanings in the text. From there it moves to a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, the Rosary, and the Stations of the Cross. In a way, the whole book is concerned with the Rosary, which is to say that it is concerned with the life of Christ as partially mediated through the eyes of His mother.

The Major Works of Anselm of Canterbury: The Monologion

While I will read the whole book, I am currently working my way through the Monologion of Anselm. It is an attempt to come at some knowledge of God by way of reason alone. I decided to read this book because my background in Anselm is rather weak. I have read about his famous “ontological argument” for God’s existence: namely, that God is that-than-which-no-greater-thing-can-be-thought. This argument has often been dismissed, but I hope to come to a better understanding of it. I have also read Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo or Why God Became Man, which I found both interesting and insightful. Reading this book is my chance to go deeper into the good doctor’s writings.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Every year I re-read the entire Harry Potter Series. I have done so since the seventh book came out (actually, I re-read the entire series as soon as I had finished reading the seventh book for the first time). Goblet of Fire is not, perhaps, my favourite book. It can often get bogged down with all the side stories: Hermione and Rita Skeeter; Hermione, Ron, and Krum; Harry and Cho; Fred, George, and Ludo Bagman (and the goblins); Hagrid the Half-Giant; S.P.E.W.; Crouch and Winky and Crouch; etc. However, what is perhaps stranger, is how necessary each of these side stories is to get us to the end. While the film attempted to streamline the story, it failed (rather miserable, in my opinion). Each one seems almost necessary to get us into the graveyard with Harry. Still, the book often seems overfull, perhaps because it is, I believe, the second longest of the series.

The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

The Chronicles of Narnia are another septology I read every year. While this reading technically belongs to 2014, I’ve had to stretch it out as I’ve been reading the book aloud to my twin sons. Every night, we put them in pyjamas, I sing them a lullaby (The Road Goes Ever On and On by J. R. R. Tolkien), put them in their cribs, turn out the lights, except for a book light, and read to them. Something I’ve noticed in reading them aloud this year are the parts that choke me up. Sometimes reading can be difficult because I’m trying to fight back tears and do voices. Another interesting aspect of reading them this year is that I’ve been reading them in the order in which they were written. This means I’m only on the second to last book with The Magician’s Nephew still to go. It makes it different since I’m reading references to The Magician’s Nephew without having read it yet.

Well, that’s all the books I’m currently reading and a little about them. What are you reading?

Sincerely yours,
David