Son – "His Tongue shall Speak Judgment"

From the Son to the Father

I promised Dear Reader to say a bit more about Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), and Lent is a good time to keep promises unbroken. Besides, having a meditative listen to his version of Stabat Mater (tracks 13-30, lyrics here) is an excellent way to keep holy this Saturday in Passion Week. Scarlatti père is gifted inContinue reading “From the Son to the Father”

Mother and Son

Stabat Mater is a medieval poem, originally designed for private devotion, and eventually incorporated into the liturgy of Holy Week. This amazing site provides a line-by-line examination of the Latin text, with various possible English renditions. The version most familiar to Anglophones, “At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping,” provides easyContinue reading “Mother and Son”

Receiving the Spirit of Sons

Despite his Jesuit education, which often serves him so well, Tocqueville appears to miss the memo on magnanimity, that virtue by which we humbly accept the greatness to which God and nature call us. Responding to “moralists” who “complain constantly that the favorite vice of our period is pride,” Tocqueville asks us to look deeper.Continue reading “Receiving the Spirit of Sons”