Kevin Basil

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In researching freedom of will and determinism in the fathers, I came upon this quote from St. Irenaeus (2nd c.):

How, then, shall he be a God, who has not as yet been made a man? Or how can he be perfect who was but lately created? How, again, can he be immortal, who in his mortal nature did not obey his Maker? For it must be that thou, at the outset, shouldest hold the rank of a man, and then afterwards partake of the glory of God. For thou dost not make God, but God thee. If, then, thou art God’s workmanship, await the hand of thy Maker which creates everything in due time; in due time as far as thou art concerned, whose creation is being carried out. Offer to Him thy heart in a soft and tractable state, and preserve the form in which the Creator has fashioned thee, having moisture in thyself, lest, by becoming hardened, thou lose the impressions of His fingers. But by preserving the framework thou shalt ascend to that which is perfect, for the moist clay which is in thee is hidden [there] by the workmanship of God. His hand fashioned thy substance; He will cover thee over [too] within and without with pure gold and silver, and He will adorn thee to such a degree, that even “the King Himself shall have pleasure in thy beauty.” But if thou, being obstinately hardened, dost reject the operation of His skill, and show thyself ungrateful towards Him, because thou wert created a [mere] man, by becoming thus ungrateful to God, thou hast at once lost both His workmanship and life. For creation is an attribute of the goodness of God but to be created is that of human nature. If then, thou shalt deliver up to Him what is thine, that is, faith towards Him and subjection, thou shalt receive His handiwork, and shall be a perfect work of God.

Treatise against heresies IV:39.2

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My yesterdays are all boxed up
And neatly put away
But every now
and then you come to mind
Cause you were always waiting
To be picked to play the game
But when your name was called
You found a place to hide
When your name was called
You found a place to hide
(when you knew that I was always on
your side)

Everything was easy then
So sweet and innocent
But your demons and your angels reappeared
Leaving only traces of the man you thought you’d be
Leaving me no place left to go from here
Leaving me so many questions all these years

Well is there someplace faraway
Someplace where all is clear
Easy to start over
With the ones you hold so dear
Or are you left to wander all alone eternally
This isn’t how it’s really meant to be
No it isn’t how it’s really meant to be

Well they say that love is in the air
Never is it clear
How to pull it close and make it stay
Butterflies are free to fly and so they fly away
And I’m left to carry on and wonder why
Even through it all I’m always on your side

Well is there someplace faraway
Someplace where all is clear
Easy to start over
With the ones you hold so dear
Or are we left to wander all alone eternally
Well is this how it’s really meant to be
Now is this how it’s really meant to be

Well they say that love is in the air
Never is it clear
How to pull it close and make it stay
If butterflies are free to fly why do they fly away
Leaving me to carry on and wonder why
Was it you that kept me wandering
Through this life
When you know that I was always on your side
Sheryl Crow, “Always On Your Side,” (iTunes)

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iPod

Originally uploaded by Kevin Basil.

I bought an iPod yesterday. Here’s a sampling of the juxtapositions I’ve gotten today:

Are you ready for the thing called love? / Don’t come from me and you / It comes from up above
“Thing Called Love,” Bonnie Raitt

So you’re on your own / Looking down the road / That goes only by one name / And you don’t need the signs / To see lonely still runs both ways.
“Borderline,” Alison Krauss + Union Station

S nami Bog, / razumeyte yazytsy, i pokaryaytesa: / yako s nami Bog. (Translation: “God is with us! Be broken, you nations, and submit yourselves, for God is with us!”)
Festal hymn from Great Compline, from Isaiah 8:9,10

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Love silence above everything else, for it brings you near to fruit which the tongue is too feeble to expound.

First of all we force ourselves to be silent, but then from out of our silence something else is born that draws us into silence itself.

May God grant you to perceive that which is born of silence! If you begin this discipline I do not doubt how much light will dawn in you from it.

After a time a certain delight is born in the heart as a result of the practice of this labour, and it forcibly draws the body on to persevere in stillness.

A multitude of tears is born in us by this discipline, at the wondrous vision of certain things which the heart perceives distinctly, sometimes with pain, and sometimes with wonder.

For the heart becomes small and becomes like a tiny babe: as soon as it clings to prayer, tears burst forth.

Daily Readings from St. Isaac of Syria, edited by A. M. Allchin, translated by Sebastian Brock.

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This was sent to members of St. Athanasius parish in Lexington by our priest. I guess he read it at vespers recently and was asked for a copy. Since I am not able to fast because I eat at the galley, I found it edifying, if very sobering since I am one who neither fasts physically nor spiritually. In one or two places I have paraphrased to preserve the meaning of St. John’s words for as many readers as possible.

Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, can become useless through the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of the body which is to take it, the weather conditions and the season of the year and the appropriate diet of the sick and many other things. If any of these things are overlooked, the medicine will do more harm than good. So, if one who is going to heal the body needs so much accuracy, when we care for the soul and are concerned about healing it from bad thoughts, it is necessary to examine and observe everything with every possible detail.

Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by.

Read the rest of “St. John Chrysostom on Fasting”

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The evolution of life, and the evolutionary origin of mankind, are scientifically established as firmly and completely as any historical event not witnessed by human observers. Any concession to anti-evolutionists, suggesting that there are scientific reasons to doubt the facticity of evolution, would be propagating a plain untruth.
—Theodosius Dobzhansky, in a 1972 letter to J. Kunamoto

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There are times when faith and common sense do not align,
when hard core evidence of you is hard to find,
and I am silenced in the face of argumenative debate, and
it’s a long hill it’s a lonely climb. Cause they want proof,
They want proof of all these mysteries I claim. Cause only
fools would want to chant a dead man’s name.
Maybe it’s true, yeah but….

I would be a fool for You, all because You asked me to.
A simpleton who’s seemingly naive,
I do believe, You came and made Yourself a fool for me.

I admit that in my darkest hours I’ve asked what if,
What if we created some kind of man made faith like this,
Out of good intention or emotional invention,
and after life is through there will be no You.
Cause they want proof of all these miracles I claim,
Cause only fools believe that men can walk on waves.
Maybe it’s true, yeah but…

I would be a fool for You, all because…

Unaware of popularity,
and unconcerned with dignity,
You made me free.
That’s proof enough for me.

I would be a fool for You
Only if You asked me to,
A simpleton who’s only thinkin’ of
your cause of love.

I will speak Jesus’ name.
If that makes me crazy,
they can call me crazed,
I’m happy to be seemingly naive,
I do believe, You came and made Yourself a fool for me.

—Nichole Nordeman, “Fool for You”

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Nevertheless, these people are doing the same: in their delusions they not only defile their bodies and disregard Authority, but abuse the Glories as well. Not even the archangel Michael, when he was engaged in argument with the devil about the corpse of Moses, dared to denounce him in the language of abuse; all he said was, “May the Lord rebuke you.” But these people abuse anything they do not understand; and the only things they do understand—merely by nature like unreasoning animals—will turn out to be fatal to them.

—St. Jude, Brother of God, Ju 8-10 (NJB)

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The mysteries of our Faith are unknown and not understandable to those who are not repenting.

—Archpriest Nicholas Deputatov, “Awareness of God” in the Orthodox Word Magazine, July-August 1976

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People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin’ ’bout my generation)
—The Who, “My Generation”

(In response to Juliana’s post on Kid’s Food and getting old.)

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Heaven bend to take my hand;
I’ve nowhere left to turn.
I’m lost to those I thought were friends,
To everyone I know.

Oh, they turn their heads, embarrassed,
Pretend that they don’t see.
But it’s one mis-step,
One slip before you know it,

And there doesn’t seem a way to be redeemed.

Though I’ve tried, I’ve fallen.
I have sunk so low.
I’ve messed up.
Better I should know,
So don’t come around here,
And tell me, “I told you so.�

—Sarah McLachlan, “Fallen”

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