"They say unto Him, 'We are able.'"
These words from this past weekend's Gospel provided John Henry Newman (then Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, Fellow of Oriel College, and leader of the Tractarian Movement in the Church of England) with all the inspiration he needed to preach one of the greatest sermons in the English language: "The Ventures of Faith." One of his "Parochial and Plain Sermons," it is easily accessed online by doing a search on "The Ventures of Faith/John Henry Newman." It is worth the 30 seconds of search and perhaps 20 minutes of reading to be inspired.
Newman knew the importance of communication of thoughts, feelings, ideas; he was capable of communicating them with the utmost clarity and conviction. Though pamphlets and publications were the main--even sole--means of 'mass communication' in the 19th century, it's hard to think that he would have been reluctant to embrace the new media of the 21st century, including blogs, e-mails, and the sundry other forms of internet-based dialogue. So I hope my 'maiden voyage' into blogging appropriately embraces my hero and fellow-Orielense, and celebrates the many possibilities of the 'new evangelization' encouraged by the popes from Paul VI through Benedict XVI.
More will come...
Thanks for the push towards Newman's sermon. It was a very good read.
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