Modern world
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Unamuno on his Quixotic quest
My work—I was about to say my mission—is to shatter the faith of some, and even of a third party: faith in affirmation, faith in denial, and faith in abstention; and this through faith in faith itself. It is to fight all those who resign themselves… Continue reading
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Unamuno on Don Quixote
I feel I have a medieval soul, and I believe that the soul of my homeland is medieval, that, by necessity, it has passed through the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Revolution, learning something from them, certainly, but without letting its soul be touched, preserving the spiritual heritage of those so-called foggy times. And quixotism is only… Continue reading
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Postscript (by Georges Mathieu)
If France's misfortunes are exemplary, it will take us thirty years to recover from the latest: that of the right's laxity combined with the left's sectarianism. For nearly half a century, we have been subjected to the terrorism of an intelligentsia successively corrupted by Marxism, Leninism, Maoism, socialism, and social democracy, without… Continue reading
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Antigone, defiant and intimate (3/7. Destiny)
Part 3: Destiny. Man descends from the tree. Man, like the tree, is defined as much by his roots as by his fruit. Man, like the tree, depends on external and internal elements to reach maturity. Man resembles this trunk sculpted by trials, leaning on its roots and bearing fruit of varying quality… Continue reading
Antigone , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , forgiveness , religion , revolution , totalitarianism , vulgarity -
Antigone, defiant and intimate (2/7. The funeral)
Part 2: The Funeral — “My dearest Ismene. I came this morning to tell you that I've taken care of everything. I used the same funeral home for both our brothers. I couldn't choose, and since our brothers didn't leave any last wishes, I took matters into my own hands to… Continue reading
Antigone , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , death , forgiveness , priest , religion , revolution -
News from Louis-René des Forêts
On this rainy Sunday, rereading the notes I jotted down in the margins of the marvelous Ostinato, I came across this gem among gems: Let us not veil our faces with our hands. There is no longer anything to venerate, no act of glory or intelligence to absolve a world seduced by force, spreading its defilement everywhere, and which… Continue reading
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News about Hyppolite Taine
He's a pedant, a pedant is a hollow, puffed-up mind that, because it's full of words, believes itself full of ideas, revels in its own phrases, and deceives itself to rule over others. He's a hypocrite who believes himself sincere, a Cain who fancies himself Abel. In this shrunken brain, given over to abstraction, and… Continue reading
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News from Nicolàs Gómez Dàvila
Let us call a totalitarian state the one that results from the attempt to replace social integration, destroyed by the liberal and democratic mentality, with state integration. Continue reading
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Antigone, defiant and intimate (1/7. The family)
Part 1: The Family From the very first reading of Antigone, an ambiguity arises in the reader's mind. Does Antigone embody action or reaction? What drives Antigone? Reaction never exists on its own, whereas action needs no one; it is legitimized by the act itself. Action always inaugurates something. Unlike what is often… Continue reading
Antigone , Charles Maurras , counter-revolution , ethics , history , intimacy , forgiveness , priest , religion , revolution -
Charlie's Destiny
“The enemy limits you, therefore shapes you and establishes you.” This quote from Saint-Exupéry aptly expresses our condition at the end of this first week of 2015. The enemy forces me to operate according to its rules, within a space it has circumscribed. I am, first and foremost, a prisoner. It chooses the terrain and compels me to… Continue reading
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Two thousand and fourteen years ago…
Christmas can be summed up in four letters: fiat. Before being an industrial symbol, it is the word, the acceptance of Mary by the angel. This acceptance precedes all reflection. It is docility and trust in the epiphany. Four little letters like a breath but also like a feverish expectation. Thy will be done! And may all our… Continue reading
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Novena for France
What a beautiful initiative! A novena for France. A novena to express our love for the Blessed Virgin and ask her to watch over our beautiful country with all the saints. It's pointless to rant on social media or the internet, or even in the street; it's pointless to rant… Continue reading
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A day at the job center in 2014
An inspiring story I heard this week… A far cry from the grandstanding of our leaders on television. A day at the job center for a young unemployed woman with a project quickly turned into an ordeal. Continue reading
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The Humanity of Cheyenne Carron — Reflections on the film The Apostle
What astonishment overwhelmed me one recent morning as I listened to the voice of a young woman being interviewed by Louis Daufresne on his program, Le Grand Témoin, on Radio Notre-Dame. I was about to learn that this young woman's name was Cheyenne Carron. A Christian, she had made a film, L'Apôtre (The Apostle), the story of a Muslim touched by grace who decides to convert to… Continue reading