Here is today.
joyful marriage →
I love this new video about Joyful Marriage from Likable Art, a new Catholic artists community.
20 things students say help them learn →
A great list of insights from students about what they need to do and what the instructor needs to do for them to excell.
Anne Curzan:
I wondered: What would happen if you asked undergraduate students not about how to please the professor but about what promotes good learning, for all of us, together, as participants in a learning community?
heavy metal
I love my Heavy Metal.
Long ago getting ready for the hockey battles at the Larsen Center at the Brookings Ice Rec Center we all got into game face with our Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Metallica. My team brought metal to ice. We were awesome and I was there.
Well, truth be told, we lost almost every game, but, dude, the rush facing the onslaught of the breach. I will STAND in the BREACH.
And then I met Nirvana's Bleach so much more on point than Nevermind. And the distance between the breach and the bleach ...
I have traveled for a time in softer tones, but in 1999, I discovered Skillet at one of the best festival concerts I've ever attended. It was all summarized by the guy with the "Satan Sucks" tattoo. And then he screamed, "Jesus Christ Reigns."
Everything became clear. Jesus is invincible because He Reigns!
All of this is to say, you must listen to Skillet's new album, Unleashed and their new single. You need to feel the heavy metal.
In Christ, You are Invincible. And here is the full concert.
You are made of fire.
chess
So I play chess ...
Let the pre-judging begin. Yes, I play chess and I play it well. I play well enough to know better and well enough to know that I can sometimes hold my own against the strong.
But I am writing now to let you know what I have learned from playing chess:
- achieve by being tenacious
- achieve by learning from blunders or even leaning into blunders - sometimes your going all in and will go from blunder to gambit
- achieve by seeking the best possible solution even if it takes the maximum amount of time - singular focus solves problems best
- achieve by confidence - God knows the thoughts of men, but your opponent does not - maximize this insight
- tactics matter - the big idea will not give you big results without sound tactics and 99% of sound strategy is 99% of sound tactics - achieve big by achieving small
My favorite chess books:
- Chess Tactics for Champions by Susan Polgar on amazon
- Easy Endgame Strategies by Bill Robertie on amazon
- The Immortal Game: A History of Chess by David Shenk on amazon
- Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady (a colleague of mine at St. John's University) on amazon
You can play me on gameknot. I am henrythefifth.
welcome students of fall 2016
Greetings and Salutations, Students of Fall 2016!
If you're taking my THE 1000C or HON 1050C course - Perspectives on Christianity: A Catholic Approach, please clicky here.
If you're taking my THE 2000 course - Catholic Imagination and Vision, please clicky here.
If you’re taking my THE 3215 course - Theology of Mary and the Saints, please clicky here
You're the cat's pajamas.
earth from 1 million miles away →
This is an amazing video of the earth in one year
NOAA's DSCOVR satellite's EPIC camera captured its first imagery of Earth on July 6, 2015. Since then, it has delivered thousands of images of our world, including the moon's shadow being cast on Earth during a solar eclipse and two lunar 'photobombs' (imagery not used in this video). The DSCOVR team used over 3,000 images to assemble this time-lapse.
family adventure 2016
Over the summer months, my family and I travel. I take my work with me and continue to research and write while also growing closer with my close and extended family. If you would like to follow along, the best place is following my instagram account @samuraimoses or twitter account @doctorsutton.
We have been learning the blessings of freedom in the Spirit and the joy of adventure together. Make adventure not war.
heart's home prayer for care from mary's motherly heart
Mary!
Faithful Mother till the foot of the cross! Since the beginning you stand by our side, looking after the family you founded, leading it always on new paths, carrying it further along.
Keep us in the Heart of your Son, in the heart of the Church!
Source of our smiles, and of our tears of charity, grant that we be comfort for the lonely, expression of your presence, sign of your tenderness.
Drive far away from us whoever wants to crush the passion you give us.
Protect us, for the sake of those who suffer, for the sake of the lonely.
To the members of our spiritual family, to each volunteer, present and past, grant a spirit of discipleship. That we may "follow the lamb wherever He goes," that we may fulfill our promises, and be faithful to our word.
Grant that our lives reflect the love of the Most Holy Trinity.
Put on the heart of each one, as a seal of belonging to Heart's Home, an immense compassion for every being!
Today, we come before you, with joy and gratitude, aware of our limitations and our many failures, but full of confidence and hope, and once again we proclaim:
"Yours is our family, Virgin Mary! And we are yours!"
Amen.
ekstasis and ekklesia
ekstasis (ecstacy) and ekklesia (church) are so close - the "called out of stasis" and the "called out to assemble" are so close. This insight means to me that the mystics and the church are conjoined - the mystics and the church are joined together by being "called out." To be in the church is to be a mystic and to be a mystic is to be in the church.