Happy Sunday, ADD Irregulars, Friends & Refugees, PHAM & Freethinkers! Good Morning to all the fine members of these Substack and Locals communities.
In Cath-O-Land and most of Christendom, we celebrate the Solemn Feast of Pentecost, which brings the Easter season to its conclusion. For 50 days we have been celebrating the Victor over sin and death. Many may scoff — and perhaps rightly so — that people keep on dying and sinning, so what kind of victory is that? For the souls that disciple to Him, the journey to conquering sin and death begins with each individual calling. It is far from a perfect process. Sin is present along every step of the way, and regressions and abandoning the call abound in our modern world.
One cannot be a disciple and remain the same: you either become like the Master or quit following. Sadly, Christians have a very marred history of following the Master. It seems that when a church possesses power, it almost always faces corruption and interior decay. The good life, the easy life, rarely leads her to the virtuous life. Persecution and hardship, self-denial, and living a meager life do discipleship good.
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” — G. K. Chesterton
I mostly agree with Chesterton, but there are some who have truly tried it. The play Our Town provides a beautiful glimpse.
EMILY: "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it... every, every minute?" STAGE MANAGER: "No. Saints and poets maybe... they do some."
Nothing is more fundamental than life — without it there is nothing else. Life without meaning is pointless. What brings meaning to your life? I hope there is something more than the distraction and consumption that feeds our ego and starves our soul. Your interior “me” has a longing that is beyond things. I hope your “me” has found a “Thee” to cling to. If not, well… good luck in this crapshoot called life. If our horizon ends with us, it is a very small, cruel, and empty world. Believe in a “Thee” and commit yourself to the quest that such an endeavor invites us to pursue.
Tom Miller – Son, Brother, Disciple of Christ, Neighbor to Many, Seeker of Communion with the Holy Trinity, and someone trying to get his life together before the clock runs out. My life is but a small return to the One who paid the debt for my sins. While no amount of works will redeem me, they are my small sanctifying return to the One who calls me to follow Him. My goodness (as frail as that is) is but a thank you to the One who has made a gift of my life and faith. Blessed Pentecost, fellow Disciples, and Happy May 24th to all of the rest of my dear Digital Neighbors.
Holy Spirit - Serge Taeymans - 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.
Happy Friday, Digital Neighbors!! Slept in a little this morning. Woke up at my ordinary time, hit the hour timer, and wandered back into short, incoherent dreamland. It was a good hour to try and get a little more rest after a long day yesterday. We had a good staff team-building day with personal prayer and then looking at the DISC tool as a way to appreciate our gifts as we work together for the good of our parish family.
Had a meeting in the evening to explore using our auditorium for an Emergency Overnight Shelter in the winter for the homeless and unhoused in our local area. Lots of potential, lots of work if that is to come to fruition. As I mentioned last night, this is where the rubber hits the road on personal charity. People feel comfortable giving money to support charities, but the possibility of hosting and staffing one is way out of the comfort zone for most. Prayer and time will tell.
Off to some “ifferisms” for your Friday cup of Joe.
If you get gloomy, just take an ...
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.”
