Good Morning Digital Neighbors; ADD Irregulars & Curmudgeons on Padre’s, Refugees at the Report, Phamily members of Phetasy and all you Wanderers and Seekers across the internet. Wherever you find yourself today, know of my prayers on your behalf as many people wrestle with a rough week of humanity placed in our laps by the internet. It is not easy to see murder once, but many saw it twice and often inadvertently on X with the murders of Iryna Zarutska and Charlie Kirk. It is not easy to process the massive indifference many had to the former and the ghoulish, gleeful celebrations of the later by people more than happy to post celebratory videos. Humanity displayed some of its worst behavior this week and that makes for long days, heavy hearts and often an internal anger that is hard to process and manage. It is hard not to go somewhere dark in our own hearts as we come to terms with many of this week’s revelations.
Many Christians today celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross today in their churches. This feast celebrates what is believed to be the finding of the Cross by the mother of Emperor Constantine, St. Helena. I am true to my namesake and as a doubting Thomas I am not sure I accept the belief at 100% that it was the True Cross she found, but I understand the significance of it and the desire to confirm the historicity of our faith. I am at about 75% there, but even if I was a 0% it would not change the importance of this day to me. The value of the Cross, true or not, is about the person who said yes to it, not the thing itself.
The yes to the Cross that Jesus gave in the garden was a yes to meet all of humanity in those dark places where we are tempted to think God is most absent and indifferent to our plight. His yes was to drink fully of the human experience so that in meeting us in those dark valleys of pain, suffering, loss and confusion, He might be our strength in that moment and our path back to the light. Often Catholics and Orthodox get criticized for focusing on the death of Jesus too much, but we all know that is not the end of the story. We know He is Risen. Crucifixes adorn our lives because we do not want to forget what He went through and what it cost Him.
I often remind my parishioners that God does not promise deliverance, He promises to be with us. He can deliver, but He invites us to trust Him as much as he prompts us to gratitude. Disciples are not spared the trials of life; they are aware that the Master is with them. They are aware that He knows their experience, not from the point of an omniscient Godhood, but from one who suffered so many of the horrors we hope to avoid.
Few if any start with this awareness and I have found it difficult to maintain. Life has too many distractions. The only way I know to maintain it or at least try is by prayer and reflection. Without those two things being first in my life and first in my day I surrender to the moment far too easily. I become swept up in the drama of the day and the temptation to join the outrage on the most recent thing to be outraged about in life or culture. That list is endless and tiresome.
After prayer and reflection, community and laughter, interactions with actual people in your life are the next best things. There doesn’t have to be many, (I am blessed with an abundance because of my calling) but some friends that help you love humanity when your exposure and saturation to them in the news or on-line make you want to loathe nearly everyone. Face to face is best, in person and real communication is irreplaceable to learning to love others. Talking via the phone, ZOOM or TEAMS is a close second to being there in person. It is one of the few things I am thankful for from the awfulness of 2020. Out of the lies of that year and its histrionics came Locals and so many of the wonderful people I met that would never have entered my life without it. I know the PHAM has migrated to Substack, but some of the Local’s vibe is still there and I am appreciative for that. I don’t haunt the Rubin Report or Phetasy like I have in the past, but I am thankful for it then and now. I am so very thankful for the small clutch of people that have found their way to Padre’s. They, along with my daily Mass goers and staff are the among the greatest blessing in my life. Coffee is calling, see you around the Digital Neighborhood my friends.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (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, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an 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.
Good morning, digital neighbors! Happy Friday, my fellow pilgrims across Locals & Substack! The forecast for next week looks downright chilly, with lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. It will make for some wonderful mornings and make that hot coffee even more enjoyable. We shall see what it does for the long-awaited autumn colors.
One cannot rush the turning of the seasons, and the trees let go of their leaves without any drama at all. Not a bad example for those of us who cling to what we can't keep and fret over what we can't control. I often wonder how much time I have wasted on things I can't affect in the least, except to express frustration and aggravation. It is difficult at times to find the balance when you venture forth on the internet.
I want to be aware, not obsessed. I want to be informed, not consumed. I can strive for self-possession or surrender to groupthink and herd feeling. It can be challenging, because the sense of belonging and the desire for connection are real. Most ...
XIII
The Proud Minister
One day there came into the Garden a man in torn clothes badly bruised and cut, who said to the Lover, “In the name of the Beloved I demand your help.”
So the Lover and the Disciple let him in and dressed his wounds and prepared the best of the vegetables from the Garden for him to eat. When his wounds had been dressed and he had eaten and rested the Lover asked him how he had fallen into this plight, to which the man replied, “I was Minister of the Beloved in a city near this place, where I preached His gospel and expounded His doctrine to the people. I pointed out to them how their sins had made them wholly hateful to the Beloved and how therefore they were utterly beyond the range of His love and He would condemn them to eternal torments, whereon some fell into despair and wept bitterly but many were angry. One day the magistrates called me before them and begged me to leave the city and preach elsewhere for they said I had made many people so angry and desperate that they feared there might be a riot and they might not be able to protect me but that I might suffer some injury. I, however, very zealous for the Beloved and believing that the magistrates only feared that their own sins might be proclaimed, preached the more vehemently, denounced the magistrates and made it abundantly clear that the whole wicked city was foredoomed to eternal punishment by the just provision of the Beloved. Whereon a mob, stirred up no doubt by the corrupt and venal magistrates, fell upon me with sticks and stones, nearly killing me and driving me out of the city in the state in which I came to you.”
“My friend,” said the Lover, “this was not a good deed of yours, for besides denying the unfathomable compassion of the Beloved, you have by your obstinacy caused these people to commit a grievous sin, and this cannot be pleasing to the Beloved, that through you who profess to be His minister the people should become worse. Surely you remember that He Himself said, ‘If they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”
Therefore the man was very angry, and cursing the Lover, said, “I see that I have had a very false report of you and I do not believe that you are a servant of the Beloved at all. When I came to you so injured for the Beloved’s sake you set before me only herbs and fruits although the garden is full of birds which you could have killed to make me a worthy meal. I shall proclaim everywhere that you are no true servant of the Beloved but a mere falterer who dares not suffer in the cause of the Beloved. Be sure that you are foreordained to eternal torments who suffer nothing here.”
For the man was so blinded by his own pride that he could not perceive the scars on the hands and feet and the brows of the Lover nor how the cloth beneath the armpits of his tunic was dyed with a red dye. So he went out of the Garden cursing and shouting.
But the Lover looked sad and said, “A man like this does much harm to the cause of the Beloved, for by thus speaking falsely about the Beloved he may bring men to fear Him but none to love Him, and by love alone can any man approach the Beloved.”
