Year: 2026

St Moses the Black, Desert Church Father, Former Ancient Gang Leader
Early Church Writing

St Moses the Black, Desert Church Father, Former Ancient Gang Leader

05/31/2026 Bruce Strom 0

The old man said: ‘If we are on the watch to see our own faults, we shall not see those of our neighbor. It is folly for a man who has a dead person in his house to leave him there and go to weep over his neighbor’s dead. To die to one’s neighbor is this: To bear you won faults and not to pay attention to anyone else wondering whether they are good or bad.
Do no harm to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart to anyone, do not scorn the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his neighbor, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbor.” […]

The Hymn Inspired by John I AM the Bread of Life
Bible Stories and Parables

The Hymn inspired by John, I Am the Bread of Life, with Commentary by Church Fathers and Reformed Preachers

05/27/2026 Bruce Strom 0

John Chrysostom teaches us: “Jesus calls this the true bread, not because the miracle of the manna was false, but because it was a type and not the very truth itself.” “After Jesus says, ‘Moses did not give,’ he does not say, ‘I give,’ but says that the Father, and not Moses, gives.”
“When they heard this, the people replied: ‘Give us this bread to eat.’ They still thought it was something material, and they yet expected to satisfy their appetites, and so they quickly ran to him. What does Christ do? Leading them on little by little, he says, ‘The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’” […]

Psalm 137: Should We Bash the Babylonian Babies? Spiritual and Historical Interpretations
Biblical Interpretation

Psalm 137: Should We Bash the Babylonian Babies Against the Rocks? Spiritual and Historical Interpretations

05/07/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against the rock!
Origen was one of the first Church Fathers who interpreted this troublesome verse allegorically, as did St Ambrose, who catechized and baptized the young St Augustine. Origen teaches us that “the little ones of Babylon, which signifies confusion, are those troublesome sinful thoughts that arise in the soul, and one who subdues them by striking their heads against the firm and solid strength of reason and truth, is the person who ‘dashes the little ones against the stones;’ and he is therefore truly blessed.”[2] Likewise, St Ambrose comments that we should “dash all corrupt and filthy thoughts against Christ.” […]

Stoic Quotes from Paul Harris, Founder of Rotary International
Philosophy

Stoic Quotes from Paul Harris, Founder of Rotary International

05/04/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Early in its history, the Rotary Clubs adopted the Four-Way Test. The Rotary website states that “the Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say, or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”
The Four-Way Test is a restatement of the Golden Rule that is the core teaching of all Judeo-Christian traditions, encouraging fellowship among Rotarians.[3] The Four Way Test is a restatement of the Golden Rule that is the core teaching of all Judeo-Christian traditions, with an emphasis on developing fellowship with fellow Rotarians. […]

Literature and Myths

Comparing Seven Sleepers’ Saint Golden Legend to Rip Van Winkle, and Edward Gibbons’ Observations

04/28/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Gibbon wonders what it would be like for eons to pass quickly by while one is asleep, especially for the “two centuries between the reigns of the pagan Decius and the Christian emperor Theodosius the Younger. During this period, the seat of government has been transported from Rome to a new city,” Constantinople, “on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus,” with a loss of the pagan military spirit. “The throne of the persecuting Decius was filled by a succession of Christian and orthodox princes, who had extirpated the fabulous gods of antiquity. Instead, the public devotion of this new age exalted the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman Empire was dissolved: its genius was humbled in the dust, and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.” […]

Spiritual Proof That Jesus Lives, The Famous Hymn, He Lives in My Heart
Bible Stories and Parables

Spiritual Proof That Jesus Lives, The Famous Hymn: He Lives in My Heart

04/22/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Bob De Moor, a Christian Reformed pastor, recalled an incident from many decades ago when he was a delegate to his denomination’s convention, where he was assigned to the advisory committee that evaluated which hymns should be included in their hymnal. He remembers:
“The most difficult decision, one we debated endlessly, was whether or not to advise synod to include a perennial favorite hymn, He Lives. Throughout the process, the song had been included, tossed out, reintroduced, and tossed out again. Reason? The closing line in the refrain goes like this: ‘You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.’”
Bob De Moor continues: “That line was perceived by many to be subjective, basing our belief in the resurrection on our own (subjective) experience rather than on the (objective) Word of God that clearly tells us that Jesus rose. Others argued that the hymn does not actually deny the importance of the objective truth of Scripture, but that it merely highlights the reality that the Holy Spirit also confirms the truth of the resurrection in our personal experience, or in our hearts. But, of course, the song doesn’t actually say that.” […]

Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi Te, On Love for the Poor. Is Leo a Woke Pope?
Vatican II

Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi Te, On Love for the Poor. Is Leo a Woke Pope?

04/01/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Pope Leo XIV teaches us: “Love for the Lord, then, is one with love for the poor” ““This is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, he continues to speak to us.” “Care for the poor was also a great concern of St Francis of Assisi: in the person of a leper, Christ himself embraced Francis and changed his life.”
Pop Leo XIV teaches us: “By embracing poverty, he wanted to imitate Christ, who was poor, naked, and crucified. In his Rule, he asks that “the brothers should not appropriate anything, neither house, nor place, nor anything else. And as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, they should go about begging with confidence, and should not be ashamed, because the Lord made himself poor for us in this world.” […]

Polycarp, Christian Martyrs, and Stoic Philosophers: Dying the Good Death
Epictetus and Rufus

Polycarp, Christian Martyrs, and Stoic Philosophers: Dying the Good Death

03/24/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Did the Christian martyrdoms and the Stoic view towards suicide both reflect the ancient Greek and Roman concern that the virtuous person should die the good death, facing death with courage, not fearing death?
What we are not concerned with is whether the Christian views towards martyrdom affected the Stoic views of suicide, or the reverse, or vice versa. How one influenced the other is both impractical to conjecture and impossible to prove.
We cannot assume that all Stoic philosophers enthusiastically condoned suicide. In the City of God, St Augustine opposed suicide in all cases. The Stoic Seneca obsessed about suicide because he spent his last few retirement years wondering when the evil Emperor Nero would send his sword-wielding soldiers to his estate to insist that he commit suicide. Like St Augustine, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus opposed suicide in most circumstances. […]

Psalm 71: Encouraging Us In Our Old Age
Biblical Interpretation

Psalm 71: Encouraging Us In Our Old Age

03/11/2026 Bruce Strom 2

John Calvin speculates that David composed Psalm 71 after experiencing the trauma of losing the life of his son Absalom during his rebellion against him, which was sparked by the favoritism Davis showed towards his newly resented wife, Bathsheba. “The particular reference which David makes to his old age renders this conjecture not improbable.”
If so, this psalm should be a comfort to those who old age is lonelier due to mistakes, miscalculations or misfortunes occurring many years earlier. […]

Psalms 40 and 70: Deliver Both Young and Old from Suffering and Trials
Biblical Interpretation

Psalms 40 and 70: Deliver Both Young and Old from Suffering and Trials

03/10/2026 Bruce Strom 0

St Ambrose rejoices: “Christ has heard the prayer of his own servants and has brought us out from the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. We were drowning there; our whole flesh was clinging to the mire, trapped in the whirlpool of our sins. Our soul was powerless to save itself; fallen and ruined as it was by the multiplicity and dreadfulness of our offenses.”
St Ambrose continues: “Christ came to save us from the pit and slime of this world, from the mud and mire of this earth, from this body doomed to death.” “May that rock, which follows those who thirst, confirm the weak and unsteady; may that water never be lacking to those who long for it; and may that firm foundation never be wanting to those in danger of falling.” […]