Category: Catholicism

Do you pray like a Hobbit?

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I have no idea whether or not Tolkien intended it to be this way (although I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he did), but have you ever noticed that all the mealtimes mentioned by the Hobbits in “Lord of the Rings” correspond with points in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours?

LOTRHobbit Meal #1: Breakfast (7am)
The office of “Vigils” is prayed just before sunrise.

Hobbit Meal #2: Second Breakfast (9am)
“Lauds” takes place sometime between sunrise and 8:30am.

Hobbit Meal #3: Elevenses (11am)
“Tierce” is prayed between 8:45am and 10am.

Hobbit Meal #4: Luncheon (1pm)
This corresponds to “Sexte”, which is prayed between 11:30am and 1:30pm.

Hobbit Meal #4: Afternoon Tea (4pm)
The office of “None” is between 2pm and 4pm

Hobbit Meal #5: Dinner (6pm)
Evening pray of “Vespers” is any time between 4:30pm and 8pm.

Hobbit Meal #6: Supper (8pm)
Finally, “Compline” is prayed before bed.

Does anyone know for certain if Tolkien did this on purpose?

Last Minute Post #1: Wear The Veil Day

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I know in my last post I said I wasn’t going to blog anymore, but since it’s not quite December yet, I figured I wouldn’t be “breaking the rules”, if I got out a last couple of posts before December 1st…

So, this is a post just to remind everyone that next week is “Wear the Veil Day”:

(If you’d like to change your Facebook profile to raise awareness of this event, you might like to consider the “Wear The Veil” graphics I created last week)

See you in January…

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I’m going to be taking a bit of a sabbatical from blogging.

I’m going to take a break for all of December. Advent will be beginning and I think I could do with a bit of time off. Also, the next few weeks are going to be rather busy, involving a lot of travel, as well as the wedding of my housemate, Nathan.

I’ve got a couple of special things planned for the New Year, but if there are any particular topics you’d like me to tackle when I get back, please feel free to leave a comment below.

If you’d still like something to read every day next month, simply “Like” my Facebook page. Each morning I’ll still be sharing an old post (“Classic Pilgrim”) which should then appear in your newsfeed. See you in January 🙂

Historicity of Jesus Debate

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A few days ago I published a post of a debate which Trent Horn from Catholic Answers had on the subject of abortion. Today’s post is of another debate in which Trent recently engaged, this time with the famous mythicist, Dr. Richard Carrier:

I was fortunate enough to ask a question Dr. Carrier a question concerning Ignatius of Antioch. There other question I wanted to ask though. Given that Dr. Carrier regards the Gospels as large works of allegory, what does he make of all the New Testament scholarship which explores the different senses of Scripture, one of which is the allegorical sense. Wouldn’t that mean that we have allegories inside allegories?

I will certainly say that Dr. Carrier knows his stuff, but by the end of this debate I was honestly bewildered by his position. Not only is it rather complicated, he has to go to great lengths to explain away the all the evidence which points to a far simpler narrative: that there was a man named Jesus of Nazareth who lived in the First Century whose followers claimed rose bodily from the dead.

Hark the herald angels sing…

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As we’re a few days away from Advent, I wanted to highlight a campaign currently underway here in San Diego, lead by my friend Salma:

Screen Shot 2014-11-20 at 9.41.19 AM

As is well-known, the Christmas liturgy attracts many visitors to church who will otherwise not darken the doorway for the rest of the year, with the possible exception of Easter. As such, it is a ripe mission field! In order to capitalize on this, my friend Salma is raising money to allow her to hire professional musicians to augment the music at the Sunday Mass, to provide a setting in which souls will be more docile to the moment of God’s Spirit. Please check it out and, if you live in the area, go listen to the results 🙂

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