A Course of Action, by Anthony Esolen

Anthony Esolen is a lecturer, translator, and writer. Among his books are Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, and Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World, and most recently The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord. He is Distinguished Professor at Thales College. Be sure to visit his new website, Word and Song.

Note: Professor Esolen provides a call for action today. And one action we need urgently, today — tomorrow is Sunday when no one should fundraise — is to get this funding for 2024 done. We’d like to finish by next Friday, for the Feast. Help that to happen. Donate. Today. — Robert Royal

It’s a hard time to be Catholic, but when have the times ever been easy?  Still, I wish to recommend a course of action, or a habit of mind, to those among us who are apt to grow discouraged, hearing the ax laid to the temple door.  Consider this verse, which I translate from the Hebrew: “And they were both naked, the man and his woman, and were not ashamed. And the serpent was shrewd, of all the living creatures of the field which the Lord God had made.” (Genesis 2:25-3:1)

Years ago, a generous Christian, hearing that I was interested in learning Hebrew, gave me one of his Hebrew Bibles. And as I made my slow way through Genesis, I saw he had circled two words here, ‘arummim and ‘ārum, the first one plural, the second singular, and otherwise almost identical.  The first means naked; the second, shrewd, crafty, subtle.  They are near homonyms and near opposites, and the sacred author, who had the soul of a poet, set them side by side. ….