First Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Temptation of Jesus Lectionary:  22 Reading 1 -  Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17 Reading 2 -  Romans 5:12-19 Verse - Matthew 4:4b Gospel -  Matthew 4:1-11 One does not live on bread alone. Every year, we begin our Lenten journey in the same place: the desert.   The Gospel for this Sunday places Jesus in the wilderness, fasting and praying, confronted by temptation. In that stark setting we find the pattern of our own Lenten journey: a movement away from distraction toward the heart of God, a testing that reveals what truly sustains us, and a call to conversion that reshapes our lives.  Throughout our lives, we are frequently confronted with tests … and these tests generally reveal something about ourselves: In school, we demonstrate that we have mastered an academic subject with a test  in sports, we demonstrate our level of a particular skill with a contest  In life, we demonstrate the integri...
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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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