Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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Review: Paradoxes of the Highest Science

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Paradoxes of the Highest Science Paradoxes of the Highest Science by Éliphas Lévi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Performance: **
Story: ****


The narration was a bit laconic for my taste and I found it a little difficult to stay focused. This seems to be the favored style for spiritual/mystical books, where this definitely sits. Organized in 10 unlabeled chapters over 4.5 hours, the first 7 cover the advertised paradoxes (aka oxymorons) that were fairly interesting given the confluence of christian theology and occult magic (not normally grouped together). In that respect, it really comes across as a pseudo-gnostic text that tries really hard to pivot away from literal translations of the christian new testament to provide a more allegorical interpretation (that apparently allows for magic). Even more surprising was the strong defense of Catholicism in chapter 9, which summed up the author’s 51 precepts, beginning with a statement that man only has two (2) means by which s/he may attain certainty: mathematics and common sense (something akin to natural philosophy/law). If you have he patience, there are a few hidden gems here that make it worth the effort.

Note: The term magic here is really more about metaphysics and mysticism; not spells or the like (which would be anathema to judeo-christian thought).


1. Religion is Magic Sanctioned by Authority
2. Liberty is Obedience to the Law
3. Love is he Realization of the Impossible
4. Knowledge is the Ignorance or Negation of Evil
5. Reason is God
6. The Imagination Realizes What It Invents
7. The Will Accomplishes Everything That It Does Not Desire

8. Synthetic Recapitulation: Magic and Mageism
9. Let Us Now Sum Up (51 Precepts)
10. The Great Secret of Magic

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#ParadoxesOfTheHighestScience #FreeAudiobookCodes

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