Lights are fitted on ceilings or high up on walls, because if light is to illuminate something, it must be in its vicinity but slightly removed from it.

It is the same with Christians. God uses them to light up the world, therefore they have to be within the world, but removed from it in their thoughts, ambitions, dreams, goals, habits and desires.

Rooms also have lamps in places where extra light is needed. These are the extraordinary saints, whose light burns brightly in the darkest corners where there is greatest need.

Even as a bird sprays many-coloured fires, The plumes of paradise, the dying light Rays through the fevered air in misty spires That vanish in the height. These myriad eyes that look on me are mine; Wandering beneath them I have found again The ancient ample moment, the divine, The God-root within men. For this, for this the lights innumerable As symbols shine that we the true light win For every star and every deep they fill Are stars and deeps within.

GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL (' A. E.) Star Teachers

For some years now I’ve been hearing about rebellious German bishops.

It’s not the first time that an Apostle betrays Jesus, nor will it be the last. The smoke of satan was amongst the first bishops ordained at the Last Supper, and it will continue amongst them until the end of time. But Peter and his successors have a divine guarantee against diabolic contagion. They must cut off the rotten limbs before the gangrene spreads.

God is infinitely majestic, and you can see His majesty reflected in the myriad skills and talents He endows mankind, from the mother to the barista to the lawyer to the truck driver: all of them, a participation in God’s infinite creative action.

I am continually surprised by the time and effort it takes to find the right questions to ask.

Like ships, more souls are destroyed in the shallows than in the deep. Because the world discourages reflection, the extrovert runs a greater risk of remaining in shallowness than the introvert does. The introvert must engage with the outside world in order to survive, but the extrovert can remain blissfully unaware of what’s happening within.

Quiz night at Maria Regina Church. Walked away with first prize along with teammates Kamo, Venny and Tshepo.

The 3 Cs of Communism, Covid and Climate change give us the following definition of Leftism:

“A seemingly noble ideological mask disguising a preparedness to sacrifice the lives of millions for wealth and power.”

It’s important to discover what’s important about the work you do.

“Successful” people who commit suicide and the Christian have this in common: both have come to realize, via different paths, that the world has nothing that can satisfy them, and so both are prepared to leave it. The Christian, however, chooses to see things through to the bittersweet end, out of obedience to a higher power, thus giving the world the proof of love.

When writing, take the path of most resistance.

Writing with neither my phone nor my laptop seems to be remarkably effective for creating. The forte of computers must therefore lie in editing.

Asking the right question is harder than finding the right answer.

A friend of mine was looking for the woman he had been called to marry. Being Catholic, he was open to having as many children as God wanted to send him. The Catholic girls he met were not open to life, and so he despaired of ever finding a good, Catholic girl to marry.

He decided to go to mass daily, offering it for the wish of finding his wife. After a few months, he spotted a young woman who also attended daily mass. He told me about her. I only had one question for him. “Is she attractive?” “Yes.” “Then don’t waste any time. If a woman attends daily mass and is attractive that’s all boxes checked.”

They started dating and a couple of years later got married. Now they have a beautiful growing family and courageously accept all the difficulties that brings with it.

My friend’s story taught me that the mass has this eye-opening effect, enabling one to see and hear “the giift and the call of God.”

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

-EPICTETUS

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.

-HARRISON FORD

When I was a teenager there was nothing I hated more than cleaning my room. I would procrastinate doing it, and that increased the amount of work to be done. This led to further procrastination. But when I grew up I realised that cleaning up regularly made it less unpleasant. It’s not fun, but … read more

Me to ChatGPT: To what extent did The Lord of the Rings inform Dungeons and Dragons? ChatGPT: The Lord of the Rings had a significant influence on the creation of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of D&D, was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works and drew … read more

Wargaming Afternoon!

Played Battletech today with Henku and Enricho. Loved the constant threat and danger, which is something I miss from standard TTRPGs. It kept me on my toes throughout. I wonder what part of that experience can be ported over to RPGs like DnD?

The only book I kept from my years in high school was my notebook from a subject called Ethics. It wasn’t part of the national curriculum in Kenya, so I think I was quite lucky to even come across something like it. The first half of the course was called “Personal Ethics,” and it was all about … read more

What Wise Teachers Know

“The ordinary human mind finds abstract ideas very hard to grasp. The wise teacher knows that every idea must become a person, for the only way in which an ordinary person can grasp an abstract idea is to see it in action, embodied in a person.”

William Barclay

“A visitor was being shown round an art gallery by one of the attendants. In that gallery there were certain masterpieces beyond all price, possessions of eternal beauty and unquestioned genius. At the end of the tour the visitor said: “Well, I don’t think much of your old … read more

Two reasons: The news consists of “stories.” The best definition of “story” I’ve ever come across was from a novelist who defined it as “a record of how a character reacts to danger”. That means that stories always pay attention to that sliver of reality … read more

Have you ever had to debug some lines of code? You had to go into the debugging environment, look at what was written in front of you, think about it, change something, try it out, fail, go away, come back, try something else, make a small change, try again, etc. The spiritual life is the same. The … read more

John D. Rockefeller was asked how much money would be enough. “Just a little more,” he answered. At the time he was the richest man alive. The reason I can never be rich enough, or famous enough, or influential enough or pleased enough, is because those things cannot satisfy. The human … read more

A writer’s most important asset is attention. Attention’s most important resource is energy. Energy’s most important fuel is sleep.