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The Power of Music
“...from enjoying the imitation, they come to enjoy the reality.” Socrates, in Plato’s Republic If Socrates is correct then we have in music a remarkable opportunity to expand our souls. We also have the danger of deforming them. Reading good books is an irreplaceable...
Being a Man or Woman: Nature’s Gift
“Nature, as we often say, makes nothing in vain.” Aristotle, Politics “Can you deny that a woman is by nature very different from a man?” Plato, Republic It is not surprising that the most controversial, and personally challenging, moral issues of our day touch...
Reading Aloud and Renewing Life in the Home
"The household is the association established by nature for the supply of man's everyday wants." Aristotle, Politics Experience shows that changes that happen slowly can go almost unnoticed, even when they have significant negative consequences. Perhaps the most...
To Receive Reproof
“If he should try to indict me, I think I would find his weak spots and the talk in court would be about him rather than about me.” Plato, Euthyphro “The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.” Proverbs One reason to read great works is the...
Growing Food as Education for Life
“...while, from a very small piece of ground, a large part of the food of a considerable family may be raised, the very act of raising it will be the best possible foundation of education of the children of the laborer.” William Cobbett, Cottage Economy (1824) One of...
For Sex to Be What It Should
“Fasting is the guardian of chastity.” Thomas Aquinas We have a problem with the marital act. Please allow me to speak frankly. Many engage in it who should not. Even for many who are married, intimacy is not what it can and should be. And these two facts only begin...
Manners: One Major Reason Why
“These people will also discover the seemingly insignificant conventions their predecessors have destroyed. Things like this: When it is proper for the young to be silent in front of their elders, when they should make way for them or stand up in their presence....”...
The Gift in One Man’s Death
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Sir Walter Scott Damian P. Fedoryka, my wife’s father, passed from this life early in the morning July 26, 2022. His life, and his death, can teach me how to...
Dinner at Home: The Key Ingredient
“When you coming home, dad?” “I don't know when” But we'll get together then You know we’ll have a good time then. Cat’s in the Cradle, song by Harry Chapin I wonder how many children—and let’s talk about households with the father in it —have the kind of time and...
Stronger than Fortune
“But the category of friends, which is truly the most holy of desirable things—this is not assigned to Fortune’s list but to Virtue’s.” Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy One of our greatest fears is of bad things that happen to our friends and loved ones. In a great...
Raising a Child Like the Little Prince
“As for me,” said the little prince to himself, “if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince A merchant is selling special pills—one pill will quench thirst...
Dead Time, Living Time, Technology, and Leisure
“I have time when I am not conscious of time which presses in upon me in its empty quality, as lifeless time. He who has leisure thereby disposes of boundless time; he lives in the fullness of time, be he active or at rest.” Friedrich Juenger, The Failure of...