Thursday, October 26, 2006

visit to Clear Creek

I stumbled upon a wonderful article from the blog, Notes of a Thirsty Scribe, on the author's visit to Clear Creek monastery in Oklahoma. Apparently this one post has made his blog pretty popular! The author duly notes how interesting it is that this single post accounts for most of his traffic and gets hits from all over the world... he's not the only one thirsty...
Unfortunately, he's had to quit blogging because his ISP got a little pricey... dude, Add a Paypal Button like mine! (hint, hint)

Anyway, I wanted to share the link here. I think it may be a good Winter Break idea...

Please check out this post if you have time. He's got some great pics and a well-written account of his retreat there.

Monday, October 23, 2006

beautiful, moving poem

My brother Nick shared this poem with me and it is so beautiful and moving that I had to post it here:

The Robe of Christ
by Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

At the foot of the Cross on Calvary
Three soldiers sat and diced,
And one of them was the Devil
And he won the Robe of Christ.

When the Devil comes in his proper form
To the chamber where I dwell,
I know him and make the Sign of the Cross
Which drives him back to Hell.

And when he comes like a friendly man
And puts his hand in mine,
The fervour in his voice is not
From love or joy or wine.

And when he comes like a woman,
With lovely, smiling eyes,
Black dreams float over his golden head
Like a swarm of carrion flies.

Now many a million tortured souls
In his red halls there be:
Why does he spend his subtle craft
In hunting after me?

Kings, queens and crested warriors
Whose memory rings through time,
These are his prey, and what to him
Is this poor man of rhyme,

That he, with such laborious skill,
Should change from role to role,
Should daily act so many a part
To get my little soul?

Oh, he can be the forest,
And he can be the sun,
Or a buttercup, or an hour of rest
When the weary day is done.

I saw him through a thousand veils,
And has not this sufficed?
Now, must I look on the Devil robed
In the radiant Robe of Christ?

He comes, and his face is sad and mild,
With thorns his head is crowned;
There are great bleeding wounds in his feet,
And in each hand a wound.

How can I tell, who am a fool,
If this be Christ or no?
Those bleeding hands outstretched to me!
Those eyes that love me so!

I see the Robe -- I look -- I hope --
I fear -- but there is one
Who will direct my troubled mind;
Christ's Mother knows her Son.

O Mother of Good Counsel, lend
Intelligence to me!
Encompass me with wisdom,
Thou Tower of Ivory!

"This is the Man of Lies," she says,
"Disguised with fearful art:
He has the wounded hands and feet,
But not the wounded heart."

Beside the Cross on Calvary
She watched them as they diced.
She saw the Devil join the game
And win the Robe of Christ.
- - -

Joyce Kilmer, The Robe of Christ, in Regis Martin, Garlands of Grace: An Anthology of Great Christian Poetry, (Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2001) 90-92.

new links

Since I've updated my blog, I've added and edited some links in the sidebar.
1. I've added a link to my twin brother Nick Hardesty's blog, phatcatholic Apologetics. Nick is the Apologetics Director for Phatmass.com, a popular Catholic website and message board for youth and young adults. It gets 6 million hits and week and is currently the #31-most visited website in the "Catholicism" category at Alexa.com. He's an apologetics guru and on his blog you'll find all the tracts he's produced over the years... very informative... check it out!
2. Former and beloved seminarian brother, David Myers has an awesome blog in which he shared some of his personal and religious artwork, Art is Servant. His blog has been in the sidebar for a while but since he's recently gotten engaged (!) I've, needless to say, moved his link from "seminarian blogs" to "favorite blogs". Way to go Dave!
3. Since St. Mary's trusty network blocking software has nixed Bebo.com, seminarian brother Keith Cervine has joined the blogger nation with his new one: Just a guy from Jersey
4. I've also added Amy Moca...uh...Monaco...uh...Mocha...uh...Manocchia! I was way off! She's Nick's girlfriend and has a nicely designed blog that is self-hosted: In the Meantime. She also designed Nick's cool St. Michael the Archangel-themed blog.
5. Finally I'm ashamed and feel like such a loser to admit that I've only known about Whispers in the Loggia for like one month! haha This guy's like the most connected Catholic insider in the whole world, or something like that. Case in point: The Raleigh guys here at St. Mary's said he knew about their new bishop before Raleigh did. Anyway, I'm addicted to his blog now so if you start reading, be careful! Here's his only inside info on the Archdiocese of Louisville so far. But, yunno how these things go... it's like trying to guess who the next pope will be and at the end of the day you just have to trust the Holy Spirit.

That's it, enjoy!

acolyte and m.c.

I was honored to acolyte and m.c. ("master of ceremonies") my brother's wedding over the summer. Here are a couple pics:


A couple seminarian brothers, upon seeing this picture, graciously informed me that I was holding the crucifix wrong. My grip should have been more like this. Oh well :)

Sunday, October 22, 2006

more wedding pics




Ya'll know how we do! Louisville Slugger and St. Louis Cardinals, baby!
And Ben gives a speech: "True love is hard to find. Sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego..." (shame on you --and me!-- if you know that movie reference!)


My dad's a stud, that's all there is too it. And Drew and Rachel dance.

this is a great mystery (eph 5:32)

Below are some pics of my younger brother Andrew's wedding over the summer, in which I was honored to serve:


Here's the family (l-r): Me, twin Nick, Dad Perry, Rachel Hardesty, Drew, Mom Jan, & Ben


Me, Nick, Dad, Drew, and Ben the youngest

back in black

Hello!

Well... if you're reading this, then you're either new to this blog or a die-hard T.S.O.M. fan! It's been forever and a day since I've updated this blog. This semester has been pretty tough and frankly every time I sit down to update this thing I feel like I should be doing something else! But, it's a good hobby to have so I'll try to keep it up.

So, by popular demand from some seminarian brothers who've been bugging me and a couple friends who've checked in to see if I'm still alive, here's an update! For now, here's some pics from the summer.

In Jesu, per Mariam,
Matt