The New Year

Happy New Year to everyone! (Civil calendar, that is. The Church new year is on 1 September).
We pulled back in to our home yesterday evening about 6pm. We’d split the return journey in two, stopping overnight just west of St Louis in Fenton, MO. It was a bonus: we got the honeymoon [...]

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On Fear and Joy

And Father Seraphim continued: “When the Spirit of God comes down to man and overshadows him with the fullness of His inspiration, then the human soul overflows with unspeakable joy, for the Spirit of God fills with joy whatever He touches. This is that joy of which the Lord speaks in His Gospel: A woman [...]

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Prayer

I want to thank every one who has commented on previous posts or emailed me regarding the present end to my PhD pursuits. Your words have been an encouragement beyond the simple need.
I have been particularly mindful of the comments that an online radio host, whom I greatly respect, has left, as they have paralleled [...]

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What Now?

I can tell you, this present loss of my PhD program is unpleasant. But if I believe what I’ve said just a few posts before, this, too, is God’s Providence.
But what does that mean? And now what?
This PhD has lived in me, from the time of an idea and a desire, since I [...]

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And That’s That

As anticipated, the leave of absence was only a long shot to cover the last two academic years (not including the present), with the expectation that I would achieve reinstatement by this spring (i.e., January).  That last is not going to happen.  So the first becomes a moot point.
Fifty-one hours of PhD studies, on the [...]

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The Coincidences of Providence (or the Providence of Coincidences)

This past week I was quite saddened by what appears to be the end of my pursuit of a PhD. (I say “appears” because the graduate program director encouraged me to seek out official leave status, which will keep the financial problems at bay. But that may well be a long shot and/or the [...]

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Speaking of Vocation . . .

A short while ago I wrote to my graduate program director to tell him that I would not be continuing with my PhD program.
There are a lot of complex issues involved, financial, changing life circumstances, my naivete and subsequent disappointment with academia, among other things.
I have been unfunded my entire program (being fair to middlin’ [...]

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On Pain of Heart

In the patristic writings, “pain of heart” generally refers to an elemental inward suffering, the bearing of an interior cross while following Jesus Christ, and a spirit broken in contrition. “Suffering,” Fr. Seraphim stated, “is the reality of the human condition and the beginning of the true spiritual life.” From Archbishop John, who [...]

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Wrestling with Academia

When it comes to my academic life, I have, over the past year, entered the disgruntled zone. I’m sure one can come up with a handful of good explanations: the fact that I’ve not been formally enrolled for over a year now; the fact that my dissertation proposal is stalled; which fact is predicated [...]

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In Honor of My Grandfather, Everett Daniel Thompson

I have in past months included posts expressing appreciation for my late paternal grandfather, Clifton F. Healy. There are many reasons for having posted thoughts on my grandfather. I am his namesake. His strength of character showed through the imperfections he, as all of us, had. His Midwestern rural values inform [...]

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