A Stirring of a New Renaissance
To claim humankind’s entry into a New Renaissance might seem like a high-flown claim, and to be honest (or rather to clarify), I must say I do not claim it for all of humankind. Men and women who live in and of the world sadly do not see a need for art that engages beauty. This recognition of the need for beauty must come from the heart, placed there and stirred up by God. It is not a worldly need, but a personal need. The renaissance itself is personal. It is a call from the Lord into the heart to seek out beauty, and if the heart does not find it… to make it. Not for its own distinction, but for the sake of the beauty which is absent. This is why a renaissance is awakening - not in the world at large, but in the individual hearts of those seeking and yearning for beauty, and it is why I am so bold as to claim a New Renaissance - because it is a stir and call in my own heart. Is it stirring in your own?
Wise and Foolish Artists
No artwork, done for its own sake, is worthy of a Catholic artist. Only that which is dedicated to the glory of God, and which deepens our own virtue and relationship with Him is worthy of our time, for everything we create here will pass away, even if it is the greatest artistic achievement of all time! And yet, your soul will not pass away. I do not mean you must become a Doctor of the Church, writing only of mystical and doctrinal truths, but that even if you are called to fashion a countertop for your neighbor’s kitchen, the activity and completion, when done in humility and obedience, must bring you deeper into the service and love of God. This progress you can only achieve interiorly, and it will not be visible to others. To others you appear to be nothing but a songwriter, a carpenter, or an author like anyone else, but within, you are daily and humbly growing your heart for God…
Cultivating Imagination through Family Structure
Bridging the Divide between Culture and the Church
Reclaiming Beauty, Art, and Language
New Renaissance
JP II’s New Evangelization worked, but without harvesters, this rich harvest will be lost…
“I Must Provide for Myself”
The way the Lord created men and women to live is radically different from the current systems of the world. Because it is so radical, He does not call everyone to live in it, all at once, immediately eschewing the paths of the world. This would lead to overwhelm and collapse.
Rather, He desires to shift the world into a fuller and richer system, doing so gently, even as He guided the early Christians into the establishment of Christianity. That shift was both radical, and a natural process, with stages and steps.
Radical Femininity
Men are called by God to provide the necessities of life. By forming himself into the stability and backbone of the home, the man paradoxically earns himself freedom to live a life more free from labor. He finds himself free to participate in the polis of the larger community, because he has provided so well for his intimate community.
The woman, also, finds herself living a paradox. Because her husband has shown himself eager to provide for her, and grant stability, she finds herself free to labor. Her heart overflows with confidence and nurturing love, and everything to which she puts her hand prospers. Her activity increases, when he provides stability; and his interior life expands, when she proves herself worthy of holding his heart.
Table of Contents to “A Paradox: Veiled Woman in the World”
The ultimate goal of this thesis is to lead the reader to a more complete understanding of who woman is, why she is such, and how we are to embrace her unique nature, which is so universally misunderstood. It is not a question that offers a ready answer, but one that, when answered, opens multiple horizons for women’s fulfillment, and invites us to continue searching it out, in all its nuances, within our personal lives.
Homemade Shampoo for Everyday Use
Homemade Shampoo with egg, rice water, and aloe vera juice
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