‘The glory of Christianity is its claim that small things really matter and that the small company, the very few, the one man, the one woman, the one child are of infinite worth to God’ +Michael Ramsey, as relevant as ever.

Liturgy, "the work of/for the people," means at the very least that any group of people--even a tiny, insignificant church, for example-- gathering to pray is doing a work for others, for the world. Prayer always matters, & it's one of the chief ways the church impacts the world.

"For your penance, pray 3 Hail Mary's..." "Father, could you give me a more appropriate penance?" "Very well. Go be crucified, die, and go to hell." "Oh, I can't do that." "No? Then go pray your Hail Mary's. The work has already been done." - Confession with a French priest

Andrew Davison Doug Chaplin If Candlemas is celebrated a day early, perhaps we should call it Tallowe'en?

#feastofthepresentation shows the light of the world in infant form, like a candle you can hold in your hand. Might seem insufficiently small, but it’s God’s very commitment to becoming small that reveals his great power. In making himself nothing, Jesus wins for us everything.

I know I post this every year, but it's too fun. St. Blasé. What? You want your throat blessed? Whatever. #🕯️😇🕯️

Choose your fighter

I’m doing a Jane Austen reread and I always get worried that maybe she won’t be as brilliant as I remember and she always ✨is✨. After inhaling Persuasion last week, I was up til two am this morning reading Sense & Sensibility with my eyes hanging out on stalks. Truly the best

Hard to articulate how *personally* God has met me at his Table. But part of that personal transformation came through the corporate reality of the church— his Table makes a family. I say more in #feastingonhope with ⁦InterVarsity Press⁩ (out in 2 weeks).

Oh, man. San Felipe de Jesus’s last letter hits hard.

Axios! Axios! A new deacon, indeed a whole batch of new deacons, for the Church of God. What a joy! Please pray for the fourteen of them and the people of God whom they are to serve.

"Beware of Philip, Lord. He may yet betray you." A usual prayer of St. Philip Neri

I need you to know that one of the little girls at the parish hasn’t quite worked out the biomechanics of genuflection yet so when she sees the tabernacle she crouches down and jumps up like a frog

Spa day

pronouncing "pneumonia" like it's an eastern orthodox theological term

Any voice note longer than twenty seconds is a podcast

Happy birthday to my favourite of all the haters, Charles Darwin