Posts with the tag “culture”

Dear Peregrinus: I’m glad to hear from our friends Tara and Rick that you are doing well and staying safe and healthy in the midst of this global pandemic. This year has been quite different than I ever could have imagined, but then again, most years (most days, even!) ebb and flow in an unanticipated rhythm. I am grateful that my family is safe and healthy. We have even experienced great blessings...  Read More

Dear Peregrinus: The high heat in Portland has for the moment expended itself. This means – to speak only about me and my comfort! – that the temperature in my office registers today a temperature less than 80-degrees for the first time in five weeks. My later afternoons each day have been “wilted” ones. I have been thirsty, a lot. For a second she stared here and there, wondering...  Read More

Dear Peregrinus: In a text by Romano Guardini (1885-1986) I found this: “The animal does not err in matters concerned with the conduct of its life. If it does, it is sick and it perishes. But a person can err, and so he or she is confronted with the task of learning.” You wrote to me about the inner tumult you have felt roiling your peace before, during, and after the national election ...  Read More

Dear Peregrinus: You expressed to me what I have heard spoken almost constantly by others – that you find it distasteful having to choose between two (un-) presidential candidates. I know what you mean. But voting is something much deeper and more significant than merely choosing. Our English verb “to vote” derives from the Latin verb vōvere meaning “to vow; that is, solemnly to promise or formally to consecrate something" to God ...  Read More

Dear Peregrinus: You write artfully, which I always experience as an expression of respect ... for yourself as much as for me. I deeply appreciate that you care about meaning. Nothing slapdash about you. Thank you. One of your thoughts caught my attention more than the others, because of the intensity of feeling you communicated with it. You wrote, “I am feeling bleakness at the choice of candidates foisted on us by our political system ...  Read More

Dear Peregrinus: We always get surprised by things; that is for sure! You have been lurking among the books in the theological Library to do with Satan and with Witchcraft! And this caused you to ask me about censorship, and whether it would not be quite appropriate for the Library to remove such books from the shelves. Good question. First of all, I was not aware of such a collection of books...  Read More