Thadeus > Recent Status Updates

"Eldrid was the first person Eirik had known who made him feel so comfortable that he dared to keep quiet."

"This was no doubt why Olav, in his heart, had always held greater affection for Arnvid than for any other man. Arnvid was so brave that he never feared bending down, if need be, to let someone place their cross on his back."

"The means (methods) of pure science and pure religion are different, but the end is identical; to conform the soul of man to objective reality…
Science and religion seek truth as their end; magic and technology seek power. Magic is not religion; magic uses religion. Technology is not science; technology uses science."

The story in 1 Kings 21 of the insatiable desire of King Ahab, the contentedness of Naboth, and the deceit of Ahab's wife, Jezebel, is truly instructive and the commentary from St. Ambrose describes it well.

Good reflections on 1 Kings 17 including Bp. Barron's reference to St. John Paul II's law of the gift.

"Christ says, 'Watch and pray;' herein lies our cure. To watch and to pray are surely in our power, and by these means we are certain of getting strength."

So many examples of Eirik's inconstancy in chapter V!

"[The artistic world of his parents and sisters] was reverent, not in the full sense of a supernatural reverence before God, but reverent in the recognition that the world is full of mystery and that great things call for wonder."

"In his soul, Olav had fought without hope, ravaged by a terrifying fear, against forces that were not flesh and blood.

"He now understood that it wasn't the suffering he'd endured that had destroyed all happiness in his life--a man could be happier while he was suffering than when his days were good."

"At the center of the first temptation, and at the heart of all rebellion against God, is a disordered vision of God that distorts him into a master who seeks to oppress us."

Chapter IV seemed to involve a major mental episode for Olav. Definitely disorienting!

Olav decided that Eirik would not inherit the axe called AEttarfylgja, or Guardian of Kin. He needed to remember to send word home from England about this.
The thought was very troublesome and he did his best to put it out of his mind.

"The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret."

"Because Israel did not have arms, it abandoned the country to its enemies. We too grant our enemy an opportunity by our laziness in reading or consulting spiritual teachers, just as the Israelites did by their neglect of making arms or seeking Israelite smiths for them."
- St. Bede commentary on 1 Samuel 13:22-23

Chapter XIII...Big reveal in this one. Wow!

"But the instant Olav caught sight of Ingunn...wonderously beautiful... the realization slowly sank through Olav that a miracle had occurred."

"Olav, who had a hard time getting close to others, was always happy and astonished when anyone sought his friendship."

Chapter VIII was a great view from Eirik's perspective.

"For the use of the ratio, discursive thought, requires real hard work. The simple vision of the intellectus, however, contemplation, is not work."

"I have benefited each day from the healing that cures with certainty the leprosy of sin. But you must know that even the most effective healing remedies and the most costly salves will only slowly cure the sore-disease if one day a man again begins to scratch and opens new lesions in his skin. The same is true of us..."
- Sira Benedikt to Olav when on his death bed asking for continued prayers and intercession

"'Battle is vain. Why should we wish to live longer? Why should we not go to death side by side?' said Denethor.
'Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your death,' answered Gandalf. 'And only the heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair, murdering their kin to ease their own death.'"

I'm struck by the similarities of the angel of the Lord appearing to Manoah's wife, the mother of Samson, in chapter 13 of Judges, to the Angel Gabriel's appearance to Mary in the New Testament. Reading the Old Testament really does strengthen understanding of the New Testament!

It is especially so when having the commentary of the Church Fathers inlaid beautifully in the Word on Fire editions!

"If our religion is something objective, then we must never avert our eyes from those elements in it which seem puzzling or repellent; for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellent which conceals what we do not yet know and need to know."

"The human will cannot be assaulted from without; it can only be betrayed from within, by a free decision which, multiplied, forges the chain of habit..."
Bp. Fulton Sheen on commentary on Judges 10:6-9

In regards to what to pray for...
"They should make their offerings and vow their pilgrimages to obtain from God the amendment of their lives, the gift of Christian patience, contempt for the things of the world and detachment from creatures. Then afterwards they could pray for return of health or success in business..."

"At this moment he sensed no ill will in his heart toward the defenseless young woman who would soon be placed in his care. He wanted nothing more than to protect her and treat her well."
Olav referring to Ingunn

"Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us for nearly a hundred years."

"The Little Flower did not speak so much of the word reparation. She spoke of consolation.That is what we bring to Christ, consolation, consolation of a good and a virtuous life."

Fun first story about her peafowl!

"This 'functionalism,' is a grave threat to interpersonal relationships, because it actually prevents me from discovering myself, and knowing who I am."

"Of greater importance was the fact that she had been put into his arms so that he might carry her over everything, lift any burdens away from her, and protect her. That was what true happiness was; all the rest was merely pleasure."
-Olav