The greatness of intellectual people is not visible to kings, rich men, captains, who are all great in a carnal sense… Archimedes in obscurity would still be revered. He fought no battles visible to the eyes, but enriched every mind with his discoveries. How splendidly he shone in the minds of men! Jesus without wealth or any outward show of […]
Read moreA joyous celebration of the Nativity to all readers of this blog, on whatever date you celebrate it. From on high did you descend, O merciful Lord, For us did you endure three days in the tomb That we may be released from passions in this world You who are our resurrection and our life. Glory unto thee O Lord! […]
Read morePeople have been recommending for years that I get to know the writing of the versatile Alexander McCall Smith, and now I know why. The book I’ve been reading is a trilogy of short novels, themselves sometimes operating like sequences of loosely linked short stories, to do with Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, a scholar who works at the Institute of […]
Read moreThe hoax perpetrated by two presenters on the Sydney radio station 2DAY fm who impersonated the Queen, Prince Charles and some corgis in a call to a hospital in London does not make me proud to be an Australian. It was cruel in that it ridiculed and mocked the Queen, an elderly woman entitled to respect and dignity, and deceptive in […]
Read moreThe other day I found myself listening to a lively and rich Sicilienne written by a friend of Mozart, its composer noteworthy for having laboured under two handicaps, those of being blind and a woman. Maria Theresia von Paradis is one of the very few women to have made a name as a serious composer. There are people like Sofia Gubaidulina, whose […]
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