Observances

A Blog of News and Notes from Michael Magree, SJ

Author: Michael, SJ

  • A new moment

    I’m back working on the website, because I have been grateful for how much people want to stay in touch and to see what I am up to during the next year. I will be on sabbatical after receiving tenure, and I will be spending a good portion of that time from September 2026 until August 2027 overseas. In future posts, I will report more of what the coming year will include.

    Now seemed a good time to come up with a new title for the blog. Bailiwick, the former title, is a favorite word of mine, but it does not communicate enough about my work or vocation.

    Some other options for blog titles that I considered:

    • Eastern Promises
    • Spiritual Formation
    • A Time of Gifts
    • Ad Orientem
    • To the East
    • To the Sunrise
    • Toward the Rising of the Sun

    None of these satisfied. I settled instead on Observances.

    For myself, the new title indicates an aspiration of the next year, to become more obedient and disponible to God within the vocation and the mission that I have been given. I want to be “an observant,” one with his eyes on God and with real adherence to the way of life in which he continues to place me. I also want to be “an observer,” one who is attentive and watchful, noticing the world around him, especially as I encounter in this year new ways of being Christian, being religious, and being human. 

    I will soon add a way to sign up for a monthly newsletter, so that people can stay informed about updates to the blog. You can always follow the blog via any RSS feed reader such as NetNewsWire.

    Thanks in advance to any and all who follow along. May this social (and parasocial) relationship be useful and AMDG: for the greater glory of God.

  • Interview Podcast Appearance

    I was blessed to appear on Dr. John Solheid’s podcast, PatristiCast, to discuss my recent book. Check it out!

    For more info on the book and to order check your favorite local bookseller or the Oxford website.

  • Happy feast

    https://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/battle.html

  • teaching

    καταβατέον οὖν ἐν μέρει ἑκάστῳ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἄλλων συνοίκησιν καὶ συνεθιστέον τὰ σκοτεινὰ θεάσασθαι.

    So you have to descend in turn to the common dwelling of the others, and you have to get used to contemplating the darkness.

    — Plato, Republic 7, 520c.

  • Craig’s Hair-shirt

    “Pointing at these things makes you feel like an old man screaming at a cloud. And yet, staying plugged-in feels like wearing the world’s stupidest hair-shirt.”

    — Craig Mod, https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/213/

  • more than the telephone

    “I do tend to talk about the devil more than the telephone, because I’m interested in enduring themes. The human condition: that’s where I like to sit most of the time.”

    — Gillian Welch, “World Café,” 9/6/24.

  • no struggle

    εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀγὼν, οὐδὲ νίκη· εἰ δὲ μὴ νίκη, οὐδὲ στέφανοι.

    “And if there is no struggle, there is no victory; and if no victory, there are no crowns.”

    Leontius of Byzantium, Contra Aphthartodocetas PG 1349d, Daley 380.24–5.