The Encouraging Thomist

The Holy Eucharist Orthodox Icon I. You are walking a cobblestone street in the city of Rome, a city in the territory of Italy, Caesar’s territory.. There are no cars, but a lot of livestock, because we are living in 120 A.D. 120 A.D. within a century of when Jesus Christ fulfilled his earthly ministry. You walk with a nervous pace. Every time you see the legionaries, the Roman Soldiers, golden eagle wings blazoned on their shields, you know your life could end at any moment. Because you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, a faithful follower of an illegal Faith. As the evening sun sets, you know that what you are about to do is illegal. You know that you are taking your life in your hands. You walk into the local sepulchre, the local tomb where many people are buried,               and you descend into the catacombs. But you know that these catacombs, ...

Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd - Orthodox Christian Icon I. His name is Alimayu Tedesse. Or, as his American friends affectionately call him, A.T., because we are way too American to be able to pronounce his Ethiopian name correctly. Now, A.T. has a fascinating story. He grew up in the mountains of Northern Ethiopia The Simien Mountains,                        and he had a most interesting job. He was a shepherd: or, more specifically, a goatherd. But not just any goatherd. He started tending goats when he was six years old. Now, you may have a picture of a small house, with a family, father working in the fields, with a mother making rice and curry for dinner. But that’s not how A.T did his goatherding. No, he was a part of a band of child goat herders, about 15 to 20 children in total, ages ranging from 5 to 10 years old. And A.T., along wi...

The Beheading of John the Baptist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes 1913 I. Most of us I believe, have that one friend in our lives, that when our family members saw y’all together said to themselves: “Well, here comes trouble.” Here comes trouble: in the form of loud laughter and jokes, maybe the occasional mischievous act. I certainly have friends in my adolescent life, that I could say this about even to this day:                When we got together,                         here comes trouble! There was one Fourth of July          not too many years ago                  where friends and I decided                          to have a Roman Candle firefight. Trouble. We would get into the weeds with Christian Th...

He Sent Them Out Two by Two James Tissot (1836-1902) I. Have any of you been on a long backpacking trek before? Or maybe you know someone who has? Often, the most experienced backpackers have an incredible sense of the exact amount of necessities to pack on their backs. In fact, the amount of gear you pack  is one of the most important elements in a successful backpacking trip. Think with me for a moment: if you were to go on a multi-day expedition what are the things that you would pack? What kind of food would you pack? Did you include your sleeping bag? How many changes of clothes do you bring? Hopefully you thought about a tent? Full disclosure, I am NOT an experienced backpacker, nor am I a person who travels very lightly. Having to discern the essential things for a trip is like the worst thing you could ask me to do. I need my sleeping bag (the nice poofy one), and at least several changes of clothes for each day. ...

Woman Touches Jesus in the Crowd I. Have you ever met someone who has the faith to reach out and touch the cloak of Jesus? Well, I have to confess I wasn’t planning on meeting anyone like that. But, last week when I was in Little Rock (with the luck that I have) I ran over some debris on I-40 and got a flat tire. So, there I was in the waiting room of the Firestone Auto Repair. And, let’s be honest: No one wants to go to the auto shop, Much less me, who wasn’t planning to be there in the first place. But God has a funny way of putting you right where you need to be even without everything going to plan. Chrissy is her name ( name has been changed to protect privacy ). She is a short, Black lady who lives in Little Rock, She’s a single mother with a handsome 11 y.o.    son, and she loves her HGTV, which happened to be the channel that was showing in the auto shop. She and I struck ...