Good morning, digital neighbors—a prayer for the end of this year and the beginning of the new one. I am sure I will see you around our digital neighborhoods on Locals or Substack. Know of my prayers for all of you, known or unknown. And while I am just another traveler on the internet with you, my door is just as open to you as it is to my flock at both of my parishes. There I strive to be a good spiritual father; here I try my best to be a good neighbor. Many thanks for all of you who make these communities I enjoy full of life, humor and worthwhile thought. Off to the prayer and last day of 2025! Peace from your neighborhood Padre!
Dear Father, for whom the beauty of your world became the medium of the Incarnation, grant us the power, through newly awakened senses, to respond to the beautiful in our daily lives—whether within the familiar frame of household chores or the majesty of Nature’s changing moods.
May we see it in the dancing eyes of a happy child, in the sweat-gleaming muscles of toiling workmen; let it touch our heart and ear through the careless laughter of young girlhood and the quiet wisdom of silvered age. Teach us to recognize it in Autumn’s scudding clouds, in the liquid grace of gliding fish, and in the restrained strength of a champing horse.
But more especially, sweet God, may the manifestations of Your beauty be most truly seen in high thought, in the sacrificial life, the spontaneous gesture, the encouraging smile, the patient ear, the apt word—all of which are but a reflection of the peerless life of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ, whose sorrow was turned to joy and for whom death was defeated in the Resurrection. – Melville Harcourt
Short Prayers for the Long Day
Russian countryside -Олег Мороз - Unsplash
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.
Quite apart from the fact that I utterly admire, even love, her, this is the best possible response to an idiot, who, in his defense, asked a pretty good question.
https://x.com/TBifford/status/2087992591279407133/video/1?s=61
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, 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. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those 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. 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.”
