bizarre abbot suger quote of the day

Abbot Suger of San Denis.

On why Suger needed to enlarge the church:

"For the narrowness of the place forced the women to run toward the altar upon the heads of the men as upon a pavement with much anguish and noisy confusion."

Which Church Father Are You?

Origen of Alexandria.

According to this quiz (via Diane at Bringing Home the Word), I am Origen, which is cool philosophically, though I am concerned about his taking "make yourself a eunich for Christ" way too literally... I mean, at least with Abelard, it wasn't his idea...

You’re Origen! You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

prayer requests

I'd just like to link to two prayer requests: B's for John Haynes, and Paula's for Laura.

updated links

From a thirteenth-century German manuscript. A monk is picking out a piece of parchment. He will then stretch it on a frame and scrape it smooth with a knife (see background). Then he will add links to his favorite blogs.

Jeff has wondered about the absence of a link on my page to his remarkable blog. The reason behind this absence has to do with a conspiracy involving the CIA, the MI5, the Illuminati and a handful of albino monks. That, and a flood of biblical proportions as well as an odd position of Jupiter in relation to the constellation Anthrax. That, and I'm lazy and afraid of html.

But I should share these great blogs with anyone who may stumble across mine. I also noticed the links to Fay's blog (which she has renamed Chaldean Thoughts) and Habakkuk's Watchpost didn't work, and I think I fixed that.

Jeff's blog, Aun Estamos Vivos, containing his reflections on religion, politics, and society, is one of the most thoughtful and well-written blogs you will find out there. Cura Animarum is a great spiritual blog, also very intelligent and worth reading. I have recently discovered Musing from the Big U, by another Catholic graduate student, a composer. You may have come across Gabrielle in the comment box, and it's about time I listed her blog, The Lost Fort, full of lovely medieval tidbits.

I'm sure I'm forgetting other wonderful blogs and I promise to be better about adding them in the future. Until then, enjoy these links (and the beauty of my cat -- see below).

stealing an idea...

I am too busy/lazy to post right now, so I will just steal an idea from Crystal and post a couple of photos of my cat, Mishea. She actually has beautiful blue eyes, but they always come out a bit luciferian in photos. The lump under the blanket is yours truly.

Good Friday

I will be offline until Sunday. Have a prayerful Triduum, everyone.