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| Fun gameSo, this is just a Meme, but it's a pretty good one. I wasn't tagged, I
just grabbed it off another blog because it appealed to me:
1. Grab the nearest book. If you are currently reading something, that'll be fine too.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your Blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet I know that is what you were thinking!
6. Tag 5 people
Here is mine:
When the women disciples of the Lord learned from the angel the joyous proclamation of the Resurrection, casting off the ancestral condemnation, they spake to the apostles exultantly: Death is overturned! Christ God is risen, granting the world great mercy. My Saviour and Deliverer, as God, from the grave hath raised up the earthborn from their fetters; and He hath broken the gates of Hades, and as Master, hath arisen on the third day. The mystery hidden from the ages and unknown to the angels was made manifest to those on earth through thee, O Theotokos: God became incarnate in an unconfused union, and for our sake He willingly took up the Cross, whereby He raised up the first-formed man and saved our souls from death. O ye faithful, let us hymn and worship the Word, Who with the Father and the Spirit is without beginning and Who was born of the Virgin for our salvation; for He was pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh, and to endure death, and to raise the dead at His glorious Resurrection.
~ From the Tones of Pascha in the Old Orthodox Prayer Book,
I honestly had no other book near me, other than the Bible and my Bible is not numbered. Interestingly enough all my books are on my bookshelf. Just for fun, if I got the next nearest and non religous book, this would have been my quote:
Elizabeth made no answer and walked on, her heart swelling with indignation. After watching her a little, Fitzwilliam asked her why she was so thoughtful.
'I am thinking of what you have been telling me,; said she. 'Your cousin's conduct does not suit my feelings. Why was he to be the judge?'
~ Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
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| This coffee pot has never, ever taken a longer time to fill up.
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| PhronemaI was happy to run across this earlier today. I have seen it in my spiritual life, but only now discovered the theological term for it. Here is a short article about it.
Phrónema is Greek; it refers to living the Orthodox life with a
particular mindset or outlook--with an Orthodox mind. It is closely
related with sanctification or Salvation--which is through Grace (the uncreated
Energy of God's Life), and whose three major phases include, in succession, CATHARSIS
or PURIFICATION (Catharsis), ILLUMINATION, and THEOSIS
or DIVINIZATION. It should be noted that even
approaching the beginnings of the first phase is a rare feat among Christians
today. Most of us (with the exception of some Saints) who desire and
try to live for Christ, fail to get through the first phase; all three phases will be
truly accomplished only in the next
life. That consideration offers no grounds for not trying; but it does
warn zealous neophytes against taking on too much at once, only to fall into
despair as one fails to reach one's highest expectations right off.
Salvation proceeds with the Orthodox phronema--a growing feeling for and understanding of God's
and the practice of Orthodox piety--Orthodox Worship and behavior. Salvation
is evidenced in a
longing for Christ that is realized in a synergy of our actions with
His uncreated Life--the uncreated Energies of Grace--of which the Holy Spirit is the
Energizer and believers are those who consent to use the gift of Grace.
But one needs a guide.
Achieving the phronema is accomplished through God’s great and unchanging
love for us and the Energies of Grace, without which we can do nothing.
Manifested directly to us by a growing understanding of revelation and the
Church Fathers and Mothers' response to it, the Orthodox phronema gives us
increasing light for seeing what Orthodoxy is. Conversion can occur in an
instant; this is not so of either Salvation or the Orthodox mindset--which is an
outlook concerning what is . . . and what has to do with how we both think and
will. We can grow up in and with it; or we have got to make the effort to
acquire it when we are inclined to embrace the Orthodox Faith--which is to be
embraced holistically, not selectively: Gradually does not mean piece by
piece. While
God’s Essence is and always will be unknowable and imparticipable, His
uncreated Energies are revelatory and participable. They can lead us to see at
least what God is not; but one can come to relate to God, the Fathers teach,
through a properly oriented nous or transrational, intuitive
mind--traditionally located in the heart. The divine energies
radiate from the Essence of the all-holy Trinity—the Father and Source of all being, Christ YHWH,
the LOGOS ["Reason"] and SOPHIA
["Wisdom] of God, the Creator and Savior of created being; and the all-Holy
Spirit or Paraclete and unfailing Inspirer of the true Church and Christ's
members.
Christianity, as two correspondents have pointed
out, can be either therapeutic (or the hard-to-pronounce
"iatric")--a hospital for the wounded--or it can be
juridically focused, as so generally in Western Christianity; Orthodoxy follows
the former path.
These terms are part of what is called the "therapeutic method" of
Orthodoxy, or the "therapeutic tradition". Orthodox theology teaches
that a faith is true if it heals spiritual sickness, and brings the
faithful to "behold the uncreated Light".
Phronema refers to "the completely self-sacrificial trust and faith in
religious and ethical truths ... from the voice of God.... an
unshakeable certainty about the truth of Faith... undiminished and
vibrant throughout life, a continually verified daily experience," a growing feeling for and understanding of God's and the practice of Orthodox piety — Orthodox Worship and behaviour." The phronema is vested in tradition "against all heresies and schisms of all times". The "mind of the Fathers" is also termed phronema as is the "Mind of the Church."
The phases of phronema, the therapeutic tradition leading ultimately to
theosis, are (1) purification, (2) illumination, and (3) divinization. Orthodox sources state that the Roman Catholic faith lacks the
therapeutic tradition and tends toward sentimentality and ethicology and is "juridically focused" that the union of prayer and theology resulting in a union of heart and
mind "and a knowledge of things that can only come from the Holy
Spirit" is lacking in Catholic theology.
According to St. John the Evangelist
and St. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, Jesus is the LOGOS
("Reason")
and SOPHIA ("Wisdom"--practical
reason) of God in the all-holy Trinity; and in creating all that has been
created, the LOGOS made the cosmos logikós--rational.
But Mysteries beyond the created world are not analysable by finite
reason. We have to stick with what the Spirit has revealed (e.g. John
15:26). The divine Being-beyond-being is not comprehensible as such;
but
in Jesus Christ as well as in the revelations of His Prophets and
Saints, His love and care for us are revealed in many ways both in
words and in
experience. | | |
| "I went to the store the other day to buy a bolt for our front door,
for as I told the storekeeper, the Governor was coming here. Aye, said
he, and the Legislature too. Then I will take two bolts, said I."
- - Henry David Thoreau | | |
| Fordham Among Hottest Schools in AmericaNewsweek Selects Fordham Among Hottest Schools in America
Fordham University has been chosen as one of the “25 Hottest Schools in America” by the editors of Kaplan/Newsweek’s How to Get Into College Guide.
The 2008 edition of the guide, which is excerpted in the Aug. 20 double issue of Newsweek that hit newsstands Aug. 13, listed Fordham in the “Hottest Catholic School” category, describing the University’s ability to attract a national semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search, Amanda Fiscina.
“She was impressed,” according the guide, “not just by the academics, but the school’s commitment ‘to prepare us as people with strong morals, values and ethical behavioral standards.’” The guide also highlighted Fordham’s small undergraduate student body and class size.
“Clearly, Fordham is an institution on the move and it’s wonderful that others around the country are recognizing that fact,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “We’re pleased with the recognition, particularly that the guide highlights our commitment to cura personalis, a concern for the care and educational development of the whole person, for it’s truly at the heart of a Fordham education.”
The media spotlight comes amid a record-breaking year for Fordham in which more than 20,000 students applied for admission. It was the first time in the University’s history that the applicant pool crossed the 20,000 mark during an admissions cycle. In all, applications have increased by 54 percent since 2004, and the acceptance rate has dropped to 42 percent.
The Kaplan/Newsweek guide is different than others in that it doesn’t rank schools. Instead, it briefly describes each of the 25 colleges and universities. According to Kaplan/Newsweek, the list is based on admissions trends and extensive interviews with educators, admissions officers, students and “other longtime observers of the admissions process.” Perhaps the quirkiest listing was New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology as "Hottest in the War on Terrorism."
Kaplan is among the largest test preparation companies in the country and Newsweek has a circulation of four million. Both Kaplan and Newsweek are subsidiaries of The Washington Post Co.
In an article about the 25 schools in the guide, Newsweek contributing editor Jay Mathews wrote: “Some of these schools are large. Some are tiny. Some charge more than $40,000 a year and some only a tenth that amount. Some are celebrated, but one was completely unknown to us and several experts we consulted until a well-traveled counselor pointed it out. All the schools have strong programs that can change young lives for the better.”
Fordham's reputation is catching up with its accomplishments. It is become in the same leauge as Cornell, New York University, Columbia, Notre Dame, Boston College, and Georgetown. The Kaplan/Newsweek and U.S.
News designation as one of the nation's top universities is a recognition of all the University
offers its students: intellectual rigor; unparalleled learning and career opportunities in New York City; and the Jesuit concern for the whole person. We've known for some time now that students who want to be the best
and do the best come to Fordham. Clearly, Fordham is an institution on the move and it’s wonderful that others around the country are recognizing that fact. It is especially good that the Kaplan guide highlights our commitment
to cura personalis, a concern for the care and educational development of the whole person, for it’s truly at the heart of a Fordham education.
Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to more than 15,600 students in its four undergraduate colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx, Manhattan and Tarrytown, and the Louis J. Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y. | | |
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