PatheosDwight

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So far PatheosDwight has created 3633 blog entries.

Little Big Men

2021-10-28T14:11:10-04:00October 28th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Patheos|

SS. Simon and Jude are the last two apostles on the list (before Judas Iscariot that is) and Peter comes first. I guess they put them in order of priority because poor old Simon and Jude don't get much more of a mention. The old stories say they ended up preaching the gospel in Persia, which [...]

O Lord, Make Me Happy, But Not Yet…

2021-08-27T09:57:21-04:00August 27th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Patheos|Tags: |

Sister Mary Lucy was a Poor Clare nun who suffered greatly. She lost her eyesight and had a degenerative bone disease which caused her spine to crumble. The doctors could do very little to help her. I used to visit her regularly, but never once heard her complain. Instead she had a huge radiant smile. I [...]

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Aliens, Elephants and Angels

2021-06-28T11:06:20-04:00June 28th, 2021|Categories: Patheos|

I don’t know if anyone else has noticed a seemingly profound, but ultimately silly discussion which is prevalent within popular culture. It’s called the Fermi Paradox and it goes like this: “There are billions of stars out there like the sun. Therefore, statistically there must be billions of planets like earth where intelligent life has developed. Given the [...]

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Exorcism and the Snakes of St Patrick

2021-03-17T12:39:07-04:00March 17th, 2021|Categories: Patheos|

The other day I saw a snarky comment about the legend of St Patrick casting all the snakes out of Ireland: "Thing is" said snarker "Ireland never had any snakes anyway. The climate is too damp and cold. Duh." Duh indeed. The legend was never about snakes anyway. It was about serpents--meaning Satan and the demons. [...]

The Chair of Peter: Furniture Matters…

2021-02-24T09:12:56-04:00February 24th, 2021|Categories: Blog, Patheos|

As a convert you come across some unusual practices within the Catholic faith (said he, making the understatement of the year) One of them for me was to find that there was a feast day for a chair. What was I–poor Bob Jones graduate that I was–to make of such an odd celebration? There it was [...]

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Eliot’s Ash Wednesday

2021-02-17T13:21:18-04:00February 17th, 2021|Categories: Patheos|

T.S.Eliot was baptized in 1927 and turned away from a life in the wasteland of modern atheism, decadence and despair His new found Christian faith inspired his great poem of repentance--Ash Wednesday. Go here to read the poem, and even better, click here to listen to Eliot himself reading the poem. The poem, like most of [...]

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Holy Mary Mother of God and Mother of Me

2021-01-01T13:23:12-04:00January 1st, 2021|Categories: Blog|Tags: , , , , , , , |

I had a Southern Baptist friend who thought it was amusing, when visiting Catholic churches, to wave to the image of Mary and say, "Hi Mary!" When I challenged him on what seemed a mark of disrespect he said cheerily, "Y'all say, 'Hail Mary' and 'Hail' just means 'Hi', so it's my way of saying 'Hail [...]

The Magi: Liberal Myth and Midrash

2020-12-18T13:23:57-04:00December 18th, 2020|Categories: Blog|

When I was researching my book Mystery of the Magi - The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men I discovered the extraordinary amount of legendary and mythical material surrounding the magi story. More than any other gospel story, the tale of the wise men who came to pay homage to the Christ child attracted elaboration [...]

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Monsters and Monks in Star Wars

2020-12-15T08:17:39-04:00December 15th, 2020|Categories: Blog|

One of the riveting themes within the Star Wars saga is the existence of monasticism. The Jedi Knights are also monks. Connecting with the warrior monks of Eastern religions, they also connect with the religious orders of knights in medieval Christendom. The Jedi clearly  remind of the spiritual truths of the New Testament where St Paul [...]

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