God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul. To say we are living souls is not to say that we have a ghost hiding inside the machine of our bodies. Living souls are bundles of desires, creatures moved by hungers and thirsts.
Our desires don’t lead us in the right direction.
We want things that are not good; we want some good things too much; we don’t want the best things. The world is a shop window where all the prices are changed so we can’t tell the real value of anything.
Our disordered desires create chaos in our lives. We can’t get what we want, so our hearts overflow with hatred and anger and murder. We are envious of others, so we fight and quarrel. Lust of the flesh and eyes dominates us, not longing for God, His kingdom and His righteousness.
Lent retrains our desires. We deepen our share in the victory of Jesus over flesh so that we can throw down sin and its lusts. In the Spirit, we fight back against the lusts that wage war against the soul. By observing Lent, we cultivate a Lenten lifestyle, a life of holy passion. During Lent, we learn again to move in the right direction.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
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If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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