St. Thomas Aquinas, Ora Pro Nobis

In honor of his feast day, a passage that hit close to home from my current read, The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion by Nicholas E. Lombardo, O.P.

A work of theology that cites Conrad Baars and Walker Percy? Yes, please

Among the moral virtues Aquinas ranks prudence first. Quoting Augustine, Aquinas defines prudence as "knowing what things to desire and what things to avoid." Prudence, however, does not determine the ultimate end of human striving, which is implicit in the structure of human nature, but rather determines the proper meant to that end. Prudence is not only concerned with knowledge. It also involves the execution of an intellectual judgment about what is to be done. In fact, the implementation of a prudential decision is the chief act of prudence, and someone who executes a poor decision is less imprudent than someone else who fails to execute a good decision.

Solar System in the Driveway

Joseph was very eager to show me what he had drawn outside, and so I stepped out the backdoor expecting another driveway full of trains. Not this time.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

For the past two years I have really forced myself to be modest in my Christmas crafting plans. It's worked - the gifts have been completed, wrapped and under the tree on Christmas morning. This year, my two younger brothers were the recipients. The programmer got fingerless mitts (my frugal mom does not crank the heat up much in the winter). I LOVED how these turned out - they are Straightforward Mitts in KnitPicks Stroll Sport.

My youngest brother got a gift that combined one of his nerdy passions with one of mine.

An Alabama Chanin-style TARDIS t-shirt, hurriedly photographed.