Today, religious art is the subject of an almost universal indifference. It’s no great task to see why. In September of 2019, Pope Francis (or, rather, Pope Francis’s coterie of managers, handlers, and other particolored eminences) installed a statue called Angels Unawares in Saint Peter’s Square on the snappily named World Day of Migrants and … Read more
At the time of this writing (September 14, 2020) we are, by my count, in our third day of autumn. Without a jacket, the light breeze brings you a small shock, without the relief it might have brought a mere week ago when the humid lake air made your head and skin feel thick and … Read more
One morning I woke up to the alarm on my cell phone. I often do. The time was 5:00 a.m.; the air conditioner had been running hard all night, and in its loud, motorized hum, punctuated by the occasional asthmatic bout of clanking, I had dreamt strangely. I’ve gone through some pains to choose my … Read more
It was at about 3:30 a.m. when, in the middle of a dream, I awoke to a noise. Since the noise appeared to be that of a rifle being discharged from somewhere about the house, the line between dream and reality was a trifle blurred. Grabbing my 12-gauge and donning my brown leather slippers, I … Read more
In this vale of tears one often meets unpleasant people. These are the sort of people who say things like, “You have too many books.” Yet sometimes the criticism sticks in one’s craw. As you lie upon the bed at night, you wonder, “Why on earth do I have so many (yet not too many) … Read more
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” —Matthew 6:22 I’m content, at the age of about twenty-five (the exact number escapes me), to stay exactly where I am. I’ve moved precisely once since my undergraduate days. Nothing’s more futile than … Read more
I saw the ’potamus take wing Ascending from the damp savannas, And quiring angels round him sing The praise of God, in loud hosannas. Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean And him shall heavenly arms enfold, Among the saints he shall be seen Performing on a harp of gold. — T.S. Eliot … Read more
“Persuasion—the highest form of persuasion at any rate—cannot be achieved without a sense of beauty.” When I was boy, I was confronted on several occasions with Mssrs. Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. It revealed to me many valuable points, indeed, a whole theory of writing, most of which I have since forgotten, or, more … Read more
Saint Paul implores us to remain “unspotted from the world.” I suppose I have my share of spots but, in order to keep from accumulating any more, I do my best to avoid the news. Even so, I cannot but notice that something is amiss. Odd staples go missing from the refrigerator for days at … Read more