Saturday, March 8, 2025
Clean Saturday
Good strength to all now that East and West both have entered the season of Great Lent. As weather begins to warm in the northern hemisphere, I pray that our hearts warm towards things of God and overcome the deadening distractions of this world which St. John the Beloved testifies, “… is passing away.“
In addition to spring and lent, it is also the season for spring formals. When I was a young man, I loved to dance. Every dance offered by my high school throughout the year saw me cutting a rug with the best of them. When the more formal dances were held like homecoming and prom, I especially enjoyed the pageantry and the chance to exercise whatever few social graces American culture teaches to young adults. First step, find a date: someone agreeable and attractive who would not read too much into the request (unless there was reason for such a reading). Secondly, rent/buy something formal for the occasion: smart, but not too smart; elegant, but not beyond that mall store clerk salary. Finally, pick the young lady up in the best vehicle your recently acquired driver’s license and limited connections can provide. And don’t forget the fresh corsage and boutonniere, giving the lady all the time she needs, opening doors and escorting her to and fro, and finally arriving to the big dance fashionably late. At the event itself, colored lights and festive banners transform the school gymnasium into a delightful paradise of young flowers in their new bloom meeting and possibly making plans that will last a lifetime.
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The following is a guest post from a 10-year-old boy who is one of my classmates. This research project is the culmination of a year’s study in English grammar and writing styles that homeschoolers in 
“I mean, like, with culturally relevant teaching…[?]…” her high-pitched voice droned, lilting upwards at the end of the phrase as if everything said was more of a question than a statement. Was she really that unsure of what she was saying or was it a habit learned from an academy which no longer believed truth to be something definitive? I was sitting through yet another required teacher training seminar wondering if I was the only one in the room more interested in the message than in these interminable lectures on teaching methods. Yet this particular post-modern drill sergeant took the message/method dichotomy a step further than I had ever heard it taken. She delivered a conclusion to her talk that can only make sense to a brain thoroughly washed in ideology and completely abandoned by common sense: “It doesn’t matter what we teach our students…[?] as long as we teach them with the right method.” 
Like Mendicant Monks... 