Author: pilgrim

Sunday Lectionary: Home by another way…

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For western Christians, today is the “Feast of The Epiphany” where we commemorate the visitation of the Magi:

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him…

… On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route” – Matthew 2:1-12

Since the earliest times the appearance of the Magi has been interpreted by Christians as speaking of the universal nature of the God’s Kingdom and a foreshadowing of the incorporation of the gentiles into the promises of Israel.

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2010 in review

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,100 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 59 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 126 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 7mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 6th with 107 views. The most popular post that day was Daughters Of The King.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, forums.catholic.com, realtimeunited.wordpress.com, newcatholicblogs.blogspot.com, and fathersofthechurch.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for jesus, restless pilgrim, this restless pilgrim, st. ignatius of antioch, and daughters of the king san diego.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Daughters Of The King December 2010
1 Like on WordPress.com,

2

Sunday Lectionary: The Hippo Gospel July 2010
1 comment

3

Top Ten, All Time, Catholic Pick-Up Lines July 2010
2 comments

4

About Me August 2010

5

Who’s your daddy? St. Ignatius of Antioch July 2010
4 comments

Which father are you?

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A few years ago, even before I even really knew the Early Church Fathers, I took the quiz “Which Church Father Are You?“.  I took it again yesterday and got the same answer I got the first time around:

“You’re Origen. You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears”

Sounds about right 🙂

If you take the test, please leave a note in the comments below with your result…

Servant Leadership

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The notion of leadership recently came up in discussion and the question was asked: What qualities make for a good leader?

If you go into a secular bookshop today you will find a large number of books which attempt to explain what it is you have to do in order to become a great leader.

In recent years, Christian bookshop shelves too have started to be filled with an increasingly large number of books which try to turn their readers into leaders by explaining the “eight key leadership principles” or the “five simple steps”, etc.

Like Father, Like Son…

The first passage of Scripture which comes to my mind when someone mentions to me the word “leadership” is from the Old Testament book of 1st Kings.  In this passage, King Solomon has just died and his son Rehoboam has ascended to the Throne of David.

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Friday Frivolity: Happy Hanukkah

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Yesterday was the end of the Hanukkah/Chanukah, the eight-day Jewish “Festival of Lights” which commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabean revolt.  I thought it therefore appropriate to share with you this little gem for this week’s Friday Frivolity:

Thanks Wallmart…

Early Church Fathers, Love & Romance

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Yesterday’s post was rather long, so I’ll keep this one nice and short.

After the Office Christmas Party this weekend one of my coworkers, Kevin, and his girlfriend got engaged.  This put me in mind of two of my favourite quotations from the Early Church Fathers on the subject of love and marriage.

As I think I’ve said before, one of the things which constantly surprises me is that, although these men lived so long ago, they have so much wisdom from which today’s world could benefit.

The first quotation comes from a priest of the late 4th Century called John.  His preaching was so renowned, he acquired the name “golden mouth” or in Greek “chrysostomos”.  He is most commonly referred to as St. John Chrysostom.  He is one of the few to be declared a “Doctor of the Church”, a greatly deserved title.

“An intelligent, discreet, and pious young woman is worth more than all the money in the world. Tell her that you love her more than your own life, because this present life is nothing, and that your only hope is that the two of you pass through this life in such a way that, in the world to come, you will be united in perfect love” – St. John Chrysostom

Beautiful, isn’t it?  Superb advice – you’d never guess he was a celibate priest… 😉

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