Dori Moody

The Bones of Memory Dori Moody on the “last service of love” given to the dead, and their connection to the living.

This past year my aunt died which means my father's entire family is part of the upper church.

I'm thinking of them all with love today.

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What the Weeds Are Telling Us Ragan Sutterfield writes that in Arkansas, farmers are fighting and dying over pigweed, or Palmer amaranth. But do weeds have value?

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I enjoyed this on my transit ride to work today. The whole Fall issue has been excellent 🙂

Yes, thank you!

Why Are People Returning to Church? Andrew Davison and Joy Marie Clarkson examine the resurgence of belief in God and all things unseen.

We are seeing an unexpected resurgence of openness to God and spiritual matters, and an uptick in religious participation. What’s behind it?

🎙️ Andrew Davison and Joy Clarkson

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"Once we have experienced the word of God, we do not have the right not to receive it; once we have received it, we do not have the right not to allow it to become flesh in us,"

Madeleine Delbrêl

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This is just a lovely poem in several ways

The Quiet Faith of a Man Plough’s oldest staffer passes on a legacy.

www.plough.com/en/topics/co... - English

Poem: “After Helping My Father Rake the Leaves” Jean L. Kreiling remembers raking leaves with her father, an effort he made despite battling depression.

Years later, I’d learn just how brave
my father was, and how a wave
of chill or doubt could leave him caught
in his own grim cocoon of thought.

Jean L. Kreiling
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Why I Chose Poverty Andreas Knapp, a member of the Little Brothers of the Gospel says wealth is not only an unwieldy burden, but is incompatible with love of neighbor.

"We humans all have the same natural needs: food, clothing, shelter. Ever since humans have existed, however, we have competed for and fought over these basic things."
Andreas Knapp

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“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
—L. M. Montgomery

The Miracle of Simple Happiness Music to touch the heart, to instill joy, to delight the ear.

“Your purpose is to touch the heart, to instill joy, to delight the ear.”
Johann Nepomuk Hummel

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"Saints do shocking things . It's what makes them saints." Spoken by Apple, the pig.

A wonderful Christmas story. #SusannaClarke reads beautifully; the music and audio tracks are exquisite. A gorgeous way to spend 35 minutes today.

Liberate Your Wealth Excerpts from Aurelius Ambrosius and Basil the Great taken from Charles Avila, Ownership: Early Christian Teaching (Orbis, 1983).

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Introducing Another Life Podcast To live better we have to begin with the conviction that another life is possible. That is what this podcast aims to explore.

To live better we have to begin with the conviction that another life is possible. That is what this podcast aims to explore.

@plough.bsky.social

#JoyClarkson, #PeterMommsen and #MaureenSwinger

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Paul Kingsnorth: After the Machine The Machine, the technological-cultural-capitalistic matrix, encompasses much of contemporary existence. In this age, how can we remain human?

If you don't have time for this whole talk, at least start at 16:40. Paul outlines "six little proposals" to help us all live through our times. Do take a listen!
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The Chief End of Marriage The Stoic philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus’s lecture ‘On the Chief End of Marriage’ is a remarkable statement by a thinker who stands outside the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The Stoic philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus (ca. ad 100) lived in Rome as a contemporary of Nero. His lecture “On the Chief End of Marriage” is a remarkable statement by a thinker who stands outside the Judeo-Christian tradition.
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The Freedom to Read Charlie Tyson argues that the future of reading depends on control over our time.

A relevant article I previously stumbled across which discusses leisure’s importance in society and how reading played a role in labor movements: www.plough.com/en/topics/cu...

Liberate Your Wealth Excerpts from Aurelius Ambrosius and Basil the Great taken from Charles Avila, Ownership: Early Christian Teaching (Orbis, 1983).

"Undoubtedly you have subordinated the relief and comfort of many to your convenience. And so, the more you abound in your riches, the more you want in love." Basil the Great
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Am I a Christian if I Don’t Have Spiritual Experiences? Christians often desire ecstatic encounters with the divine. But not everyone has them.

“The criterion of a genuinely Christian spirituality is the experience of spiritual suffering. This is what it means to be marked with the sign of the Son of Man, that is, the cross.” —Benjamin Crosby

How Do You Find Your Calling in Life? I don’t have a secret formula or surefire plan, but I can point you in the right direction.

"Sometimes, people will leave a role and explain their departure by saying God has “called” them elsewhere. At times, I wish they’d simply say, 'Hey, I decided I want to do this new thing.' Because surely that is the case at times."

@karenswallowprior.bsky.social

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YouTube video by Plough Paul Kingsnorth: After the Machine

Watch the video of Paul Kingsnorth speaking about his new book, Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity.

Thanks to sponsor Abigail Adams Institute and thank you Sean D. Kelly and Jacqueline C. Rivers for your responses.

Six Kids and Six Pets A chaotic puppy taught me to embrace the beautiful messiness of life.

"... paint the portrait or the porch. Try again after the miscarriage; love the children whose hands you wash and the children whose hands you never got to. Get the puppy. Live. Live. Live."

Very beautiful short essay:
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Chronically Healthy, Chronically Ill Living with a chronic illness, I’ve traveled between the kingdom of health and the kingdom of sickness.

"A veil now hung btwn me & the world..I still inhabited but fr some surreal distance. Every..thing became a costly calculation.. #Guilt threaded..into every #sensation of #pain. If only I had had more restraint, stayed more still, did even less.": buff.ly/FLIlwMM

via @plough.bsky.social
#spoonie

My Daughter Exists What parenting a child with severe disabilities has taught me about dependence.

"When I became a #mother, I was a productivity-focused graduate student who used her busyness to ignore a fundamental #truth: life is, in its basic nature, unpredictable. So is the experience of bearing it.": buff.ly/UJSLTrk

via @plough.bsky.social
#LifeLessons #parenting #disability

And perhaps my favorite (although it is not the most important):

"I am with book, as a woman is with child."

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”

"Each breath I drew let into me new terror, joy, overpowering sweetness. I was pierced through and through with the arrows of it. I was being unmade. I was no one."

"I could never be at peace again until I had written my charge against the gods. It burned me from within."

"I could mend my soul no more than my face. Unless the gods help. And why did the gods not help?"

“Today I shall meet cruel man, cowards and liars, the envious and the drunken. They will be like that because they do not know what is good from what is bad.”