The Encouraging Thomist

Christ Taking His Leave of the Apostles by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1250? - 1318) I. When you go to school, or to work each day, have you ever wished that you were like someone else? When you see Jordan roll up in that brand new, midnight black Dodge Challenger SRT and you say, “I wish I had a car like his.” Or perhaps you see Bailey come into work; and as she walks in the door, you see her shoes and, oh you know, those are Stuart Weitzman Stilettos, and you think to yourself, “I wish I could afford those.” Shantell, a young mother is up at 3:00am for the fourth night in a row because her young infant just won’t sleep for any length of time. And as she sits in utter exhaustion, in utter exasperation and tears, she thinks, “I wish I could be a better mom, whatever that looks like.” You visit your family out of state, and you attend Sunday worship at their Mega-Church, hundreds of people, coffee is gr

The Anastasis (Resurrection of Jesus) Orthodox Icon I. I don’t know if y’all know, but something very important happened this past weekend. It is not something that will necessarily grab headlines or generate enough electricity to set social media abuzz. But, I’ll speak for myself, it was super important for my mental health. It was balm for the weary soul. Because now we are going to have 4 straight months of this Good News. That’s right: its FOOTBALL season, y’all! The NFL preseason just kicked off on Thursday with 12 preseason games! It's like Christmas in August! My hope is that I can explain why I enjoy this time of the year so much. You see, the NFL preseason is the time when you get to see players take the field who you might not even know about otherwise. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string players all vying for a roster spot on the final 53 man roster all play their hearts out and showcase their skill. Anyo

St. Thomas Aquinas - Orthodox Style Icon I. “Oh yeah? Prove it!” That’s a familiar line, for sure. You might have even had this said to you at some point in time or another. The five-year-old boy on the playground looks at his friends and says, “I can climb up that slide backwards!” and his friends reply: “Oh yeah? Prove it!” The 16-year-old sits in the driver’s seat of her dad’s car for the first time, and her driver’s education teacher sitting quietly with a clipboard is silently saying, “So, she thinks she can drive? Well, she better prove it!” The high school coach before the big homecoming game gathers the players around in the team circle and says, “If you think you deserve to wear our colors time for you to prove it.” Or, maybe a much less innocent use of this phrase: “You say that you love me: oh yeah, well prove it!” “You say that you’re a good person, huh? Prove it!” “Prove it!” Those words are so often are