The Encouraging Thomist

Christ the King Icon I. Have you ever seen a movie that had one of those magical performances by an actor,  the ones that keep you hanging on every moment,   and then in perfect synergy with the cast and the screenwriting,    deliver an iconic moment that lasts in your memory for years? One of those moments for me and a lot of others  is the iconic performance of Kenneth Branagh   in the 1989 movie adaptation    of Shakespeare's play "Henry V." Shakespeare wrote this play around 1599,  and his play "Henry V" contains the riveting lead up to the Battle of Agincourt,   an actual historical battle in the Hundred Years War,    in which the English King Henry V invades France after negotiations fail     and the English army is substantially outnumbered by the French forces,      portrayed in Shakespeare's play as being outnumbered "5:1."      [http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.4.3.html; Henry V,  Act 4, Scene 3] On the e

The Second Coming of the Lord Icon I. There are some buildings in the world  that are so iconic,   that you actually know their names    by just seeing their silhouette. If you ever travel to Paris, France,  and you look across the horizon,   you will see a weirdly shaped pointy structure in the distance    that seems to reach up to heaven. And your reaction is probably not going to be,  "Huh, what a weird tower!"   No, you will almost certainly say,    "Ah, its the Eiffel Tower!" Or, if you go to Washington D.C.,  and you are walking between the marble white buildings   when, all of a sudden, in front of you rises a huge obelisk    that looks like a giant railroad spike reaching up to the clouds,     you will probably not say,      "Huh, what a weird pointy building!"       No, you will almost certainly say,        "Oh, neat! Its the Washington Monument!" I mean,  I remember the first time I went to New York City

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Icon I. "Mommy, where did Grama go when she died?" "Daddy, what happened to Uncle Ken after he died?" You know,  if you think about those questions just a little longer,   those are absolutely terrifying questions. Because those innocent inquiries make us wrestle with one of the most basic questions  that we have as mortal beings:   What happens after we die? And thank goodness for kids  who don't have the baggage associated with this question,   because they aren't scared to ask about it! Our first-world culture of death and dying  is one of the most unhealthy cultures that we live in.   And yet, just like a fish doesn't think about the water it swims in,    we often aren't even aware about how scared stiff our culture is     about dying. When someone comes into a hospital with a beloved family member who is dying,  families can get so caught up with saving someone from dying   that th

All Saints Icon I. A blessed Feast of All Saints to you, friends! Now, what is a saint, anyway?  What do you think of when you think of a saint? Do you picture iconography, with women and men depicted  with a golden halo and their hands extended in prayer? Do think of someone who never left church  and sequestered themselves into pews   in eternal and uninterrupted prayer and contemplation    of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you think that those images and those expectations of saints  are so intense and unattainable   that we begin to wonder why anyone would want to be a saint? So what is a saint, anyway? Well, there is great news, friends:  saints are great!   But, just as many many saints of ages past would tell you,    being a saint has absolutely nothing to do     with how righteous they were,      with how many good things they did,       or with a lack of flaws in their character. Saints believe one simple simple thing:  "Jesus loves me, this