After a 90 minute lightning delay, it has turned out to be a beautiful evening for the beautiful game.
Every day of the school year, all adults and students on our campus stop what they are doing to gather together for Noonday Prayer. Starting in January 2026, we will gather in the Sanctuary of our new campus for this daily office. I cannot wait.
“Beauty is goodness made manifest to the senses.”
“If we live for ourselves, we are necessarily unhappy.”
Fr. Joseph-Michel of Solemes Abbey
My contribution to an essay series commemorating the Council of Nicaea was published today.
In it I offer a thought experiment I have used to teach the Councils and Creeds over the years.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/the-nicene-creed-deciding-the-rules-of-the-game/
“In life, giving freely is essential.”
Father Jean-Philippe, of Solesmes Abbey
From MIT’s recently published study Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task:
“Participants who were in the Brain-only group reported higher satisfaction and demonstrated higher brain connectivity, compared to other groups.”
That “higher satisfaction” and “higher brain connectivity” were associated with those who had no access to LLMs confirms the hunch that many of us have had all along:
Avoiding LLMs in academic work is better FOR YOU.
You can read the whole study here: arxiv.org/pdf/2506….
A window pops up, blocking content, to encourage me to download the app for a better reading experience. In the app, a window pops up, blocking content, to encourage me to rate the app. All the while, I have unread paper books next to my bed.
“We are reduced to the role of the weak link in a system we have freely created.”
Dom David (monk) summarizing The Obsolescence of Man by Günther Anders
“If you don’t take risk, you also take risk.”
Thomas Frank is at least speaking the language of Audere est facare; here is hoping it plays out this season. Happy to know he gets the ethos—this has not always been the case!
Social Media that doesn't shrink your soul?
This is a new recording of an essay originally published in June 2022: livingchurch.org/covenant/… Social media is a form of the unexamined life Socrates warned us about. But does it have to be so? Are the current popular iterations of social media, which I will refer to as Big Social, our only option for consuming information, connecting with friends and strangers, and developing bonds across borders and oceans? Transcript
We are increasingly convinced that newer is always better in every arena of life. But what if there are older, better ways to think about what it means to be human?
Read more from a preview of the Introduction to my next book: Rhythms of Habit.
While this certainly resonates, Lewis rightly goes on to argue that the root issue lies in us holding the utterly unrealistic expectation that there will be no “unexpected demands” in the first place.
“Do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.”
William James
What started as intuitive and experimental practices in applying the Daily Office to a K-12 school context years ago is now being formalized so that the best of what we have offered can continue even after the people who cared to do these things well are gone.
The ultimate questions which man asks about himself are partly answered by the very fact of their being asked.
Mortimer J. Adler
I asked him if monks had a difficult time parting with earthly pleasures. His answer was simple: “Religious life does not prevent us from loving the earth. We love it differently, and perhaps more, because the earth is more beautiful with the eyes of faith. Nature is more beautiful, souls a more beautiful, human relationships are more beautiful.”
Father Michael of Lagrasse Abbey in A Time to Die
Sermon: The Upstream waters of Pentecost
The Tower of Babel and Pentecost call us to reject the murky, downstream pursuits of self-reliance and instead seek the pure source of life found in God. At Pentecost, God comes down—not to control us, but to dwell within us, empowering us to live a Spirit-filled, unified, and abundant life. Transcript
Never before, perhaps, has the relationship to death been so impoverished as in this time of spiritual desolation when men, in their rush to exist, seem to avoid all mystery.
François Mitterrand
I have made many attempts to use my phone wallpaper as a reminder of what matters most. This one is proving fruitful. Thanks to jmk.me for pointing me towards Owen’s work.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.