Fr. Jon Jordan

While in New York on a family vacation we stopped by the Burke Library at Columbia to grab a quick picture with my Galatians book. Our youngest’s best question after we found it in the stacks: “Did you really think all of those words??”

I stumbled upon this brief text at church today, written by the 18th century Italian St. Alphonsus de Liguori.

His distinction between conformity with God’s will and uniformity is helpfully described in the definitions below. And in the illustration that follows he excellently explains why it matters—what is to be gained through the pursuit of uniformity.

Conformity is bending our will to the will of God. Uniformity is making one will of God’s will and ours, so that we will only what God wills; that God’s will alone is our will.

And here is why that “uniformity of will” is worth pursuing:

If souls resigned to God’s will are humiliated, says Salvian, “they want to be humiliated; if they are poor, they want to be poor; in short, whatever happens is acceptable to them, hence they are truly at peace in this life. In cold and heat, in rain and wind, the soul united to God says: “I want it to be warm, to be cold, windy, to rain, because God wills it.”

This is the beautiful freedom of the sons of God, and it is worth vastly more than all the rank and distinction of blood and birth, more than all the kingdoms in the world.

This is the abiding peace which, in the experience of the saints, “surpasseth all understanding.” (Phil. 4:7). It surpasses all pleasures rising from gratification of the senses, from social gatherings, banquets and other worldly amusements; vain and deceiving as they are, they captivate the senses for the time being, but bring no lasting contentment; rather they afflict man in the depth of his soul where alone true peace can reside.

Solomon, who tasted to satiety all the pleasures of the world and found them bitter, voiced his disillusionment thus: “But this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.” (Eccles. 4:16). “A fool,” says the Holy Spirit, “is changed as the moon; but a holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun.” (Eccus. 27:12). The fool, that is, the sinner, is as changeable as the moon, which today waxes and tomorrow wanes; today he laughs, tomorrow he cries; today he is meek as a lamb, tomorrow cross as a bear. Why? **Because his peace of mind depends on the prosperity or the adversity he meets; he changes with the changes in the things that happened to him. **

The just man is like the sun, constant in its serenity, no matter what betides him. **His calmness of soul is founded on his union with the will of God; hence he enjoys unruffled peace. **

I am wrapping up an essay on three recent tech commercials that each typify a distinct approach to the role of technology: (1) technology as a tool, (2) technology as an Everything Machine, and (3) technology as a replacement for human activity. The commercials are from Instacart, Apple, and Google.

After a denial last spring by a count of 5 (against) to 1, the City Council has now unanimously approved our permit that will allow us to purchase a permanent home for our campus in the City of Richardson. Very grateful to our community for rallying support and showing up en masse!

A sermon on rest, interruptions, and what it means to be human. Mark 6 is the primary text. Proper 11, the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 2024.

By moving Jesus’s words about his body and blood out of the Last Supper and into the context of this chapter, what is John trying to reveal about humanity, and what is John trying to reveal about Jesus? A sermon for Proper 13 2024: the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. The primary text is John 6:24-35.

Transcript

The smile on Simone Biles' face at the end of her floor routine was the look of a woman who knows that she has run her race well, with all of its ups and downs. What an absolute joy to watch.

We finally started and finished a built-in bunk bed set for the kids and Bandit. This is the second time that Viv has drawn out an idea that I have mostly executed, with plenty of advice from friends and the internet along the way.

Finishing touches: glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.

Part 2: This world is enchanted.

This is the second exploration of the various realizations that contributed to my conversion into the worlds of Anglicanism and classical education at (roughly) the same time.

Not all updates happen automatically, and computer attacks often occur because people or businesses are slow to adopt patches sent by software companies to fix vulnerabilities—in essence, failing to take the medicine the doctors prescribe. In this case, the medicine itself hurt the patients.

Kudos for a helpful tech explanation of the unique nature of the crash in this WSJ article about the CrowdStrike update.

Those whose livelihood depends on this being “the most consequential election of our lifetime” are not the most trustworthy people to determine whether or not this is actually the case. The fact that it has been said about each of the past dozen elections should also cause us to reconsider.

God save the Kane. ⚽️

This is the (perhaps?) first short exploration of the various realizations that contributed to my conversion into the worlds of Anglicanism and classical education at (roughly) the same time.

A stomach bug and multiple driving days have made it difficult, but my current run streak is alive and well at 30 days.

It was a bit of a scramble towards the end, and I’m really proud of our family for making it to this remarkable view of a 120 foot waterfall just outside of the Great Smoky Mointains National Park.

Running (on) the Appalachian Trail with Zoë (10) and Rowan (8).

A sermon from Lent 2024 on adopting Psalm 22 as a prayer for Lent.

I am taking the next couple of days away from work in order to take a writing retreat to SMU’s Bridwell Library during work hours. Significant progress on day one towards the completion of a long-overdue manuscript.

Beef as a means of grace?

Kicking off the run streak again. Last one was 366 days and ended in March of 2022.

“The inmost significance of the exaggerated value which is set upon hard work appears to be this: man seems to mistrust everything that is effortless; he can only enjoy, with a good conscience, what he has acquired with toil and trouble; he refuses to have anything as a gift.”

Joseph Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

You don’t have to travel across the world to be baptized in the Jordan River; only through the space time continuum.

By the power of the Spirit of God The still clear water of the modern font Becomes the flow of that ancient river; Cleansing you as it was itself once cleansed by him who came after and yet before.

“This is my beloved,” the voice beckons, Echoing from those first century shores, And into our very own, and beyond.

Calling out to the called out ones, it rings Truer than our own truths we held so dear Before we, too, were brought through that River.

Brad East’s observations ring true in my experience. Those who have moved on from points 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 may be “loosening” some modern evangelical convictions, but in doing so they are actually realigning with an older and more widespread Christian understanding of these things. Re-connecting?

This was a letter sent to our student body in May 2023 about the rise of AI in education. You can read an essay of mine that expands on these things here.

Let Them Be Born in Wonder is the title of an excellent article that highlights the work of the storied, but relatively short-lived, Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.

Part of the reason the program no longer exists is that a disproportionate number of students in the program were converting to Christianity as a result of their studies. The program was closed for this reason in 1979, despite the fact that the investigative committee found “no evidence that the professors of the program have engaged in such activities in the classroom.” It was, in many ways, the mere exposure to great minds and works of the past that drew students to God.

But the three founding professors also noticed something about the students entering the program that is worth us considering today: they had lost an interest in real things. These professors were convinced that before their students could encounter great works, they needed to reencounter, and be drawn again, to reality itself.

Aristotle and St. Thomas teach that the human person, as a union of body and soul, lives an integrated life in which the intellect and will rely on the senses, the imagination, and emotions. The professors recognized that the new generation of students was sensibly and emotionally disconnected from reality. Their technology, their whole environment, pre-internet thought it was, cut them off from God’s creation, and inclined them toward fantasy. Their basic correspondence to reality, to the true, good, and beautiful, had been blunted. They were not interested in real things, were restless, and could not focus.

What makes these observations more poignant is that they were made in 1968. Our world has grown to prefer the virtual and the digital even more in the decades that have followed.

I share all of this for three reasons.

First, I hope that you read the article, and grow to appreciate what the IHP sought to be and do.

Second, I hope this gives you some perspective on why any classical Christian school worth its salt will insist on nature studies, physical activity, art and music appreciation, and a direct encounter with great works from the past. We learn to learn from thinkers who we may not entirely agree with, but who nonetheless had a better picture of ultimate reality than most in our own age.

And finally, I hope this encourages us to remedy our own preference for the virtual and the digital; to sharpen our “blunted correspondence to reality” by seeking to “be born in wonder” by the natural order and human community around us.

If we are all determined to begin this work in our own lives, we might just stand a chance at leading our students to do the same.