Good Morning Digital Neighbors and Friends! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! In Cath-O-land and others parts of Christianity they are celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany. Actually celebrated on the 6th of January after the 12 Days of Christmas, it has been transferred to the 2nd Sunday after Christmas.
Our brothers & sisters in the world of Orthodoxy make a bigger celebration out of this than the 25th. They rejoice in the celebration of the Christ begin revealed as Savior of the Nations. Given the commercialization of Christmas and the glut of materialism that often floods it, perhaps they better off distilling the meaning of the event than so many who get caught in themselves. We celebrate the birth of the Son of God by giving one another lots of presents and feasting like it is our last meal to the point of being miserable. I know, I know, I'm leashing the curmudgeon now, but he does like to speak his peace.š
On a related note - God, life, or fate provides plenty of signs, or so I am inclined to think when reflect upon my own story or listen to the experiences of others. For believers in some sort of High Power those are moments of providential awareness, for unbelievers I would think of them as inexplicable serendipitous moments. Our awakened minds are ordered to grasp for meaning, so are we discovering it or imposing it on reality? Our preoccupied mind doesn't bother with meaning, it doesn't bother with much more than gratification, I suspect that is a rather long winded debate.
Either way on this Sunday morning, I pray and hope there are subtle signs in your life and that you are receptive to them. I can't tell you where they come from or what they mean for you. If you are riding the Trinity train, I can provides some comparative notes and insights from much wiser men and woman that have preceded me that speak of how our humble God often acts in the lives of His children. If you aren't on the Trinity Train, I still believe their are signs that life/fate are providing and being receptive to them can be life changing. Sometimes just a simple move in one direction, taking a chance on a point of hesitation, or finally getting past of point of procrastination can be the beginning of profound changes in life. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year my friends!
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman FranƧois-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the āSun Kingā (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaireās main love was writingāan endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.Ā
Blessed Sabbath and Happy Saturday to all of you digital neighbors scattered across the internet. In Cath-O-landia we are celebrating the Solemn Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since about the 5th century the devotion has been recognized in various communities within the Church. By the time of St. Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure it was a widespread devotion and belief among the faithful.
In short, at the moment of her death, the Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven. Our Orthodox brothers and sisters speak of the Dormition (the āfalling asleepā) of the BVM, whose soul was received into Heaven at death and whose body was translated there and reunited with her soul. I am not sure how many, if any, outside of Catholicism and Orthodoxy celebrate it, since it is not explicitly in the Bible. Some see it as āMary worship,ā and sadly there are disciples who mistakenly or errantly place too much emphasis on the BVM and lose sight of the fact that ...
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The Beautiful
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Said the Disciple to the Lover, āSir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved.Ā Were they then speaking the truth?ā
The Lover answered, āThose who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved.Ā So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.ā
