Few figures in history have had as powerful an impact on American masculinity as the cowboy. While the mythologization of the cowboy began all the way back in the late 1800s with dime novels and Wild West shows, it wasn’t until the advent of twentieth century cinema that the cowboy cemented his place as an icon of manliness. In the same way the myths of the Greeks and the legends of the Vikings espoused certain ideals and inspired men of the past, Western films contain lessons in heroism, epic adventure, and meditations on the line between good and evil. They form a fun, ponderous, sometimes contradictory, undeniably indelible, and thoroughly American canon on what it means to live with honor and be a tough, gritty, self-reliant man.

With that in mind, a few years ago we published a list of what we deemed to be the 17 best Western films. Of course readers chimed in that we had inevitably left out a few fan favorites. So a couple years later we did another list of more than a dozen films that readers recommended. Even then, there were a few more that just had to be added in. So for your reading convenience we combined those first two lists and included a handful more to give you the ultimate guide to the greatest Western films ever made. Enjoy!

High Noon

High Noon is film about being torn between duty and love and standing up for what you believe in, even when everyone else abandons you. Gary Cooper plays Will Kane, a town marshal from New Mexico, who settles down with his pacifist Quaker wife (played by Grace Kelly, one of your grandpa’s babes). Kane’s plans to retire to a peaceful life are interrupted after he gets word that a former gunslinger is coming in on the noon train to settle an old score with him. His wife pleads with him to leave town, but Kane knows he can’t. He has a duty to defend the town and his honor. Will finds himself alone in the battle as everyone in town, including his deputy sheriff, have turned away from him. The tension builds, leading up to the final gun battle — the quintessential mano-a-mano showdown that historians say rarely actually happened in the Old West, but has become an indelible part of popular culture.

Best line: “Don’t shove me Harv. I’m tired of being shoved.”

3:10 To Yuma (1957)

Small-time, down-on-his-luck rancher Dan Evans needs to do something to keep food on the table for his family. So when a stagecoach company offers $200 to transport the outlaw Ben Wade to Contention City in order to put him on the 3:10 train to court, Evans volunteers. But Wade’s gang has other plans, and their journey is fraught with danger at every turn. As often happens in Westerns, the demarcation between good and bad becomes a little blurred.

Originally based on a short story by great Western writer Elmore Leonard, 3:10 To Yuma was selected in 2012 to be part of the National Film Registry because of its cultural significance.

Best line: “What are you squeezin’ that watch for? Squeezin’ that watch ain’t gonna stop time.”

Stagecoach

This is the movie that made John Wayne a star and set the standard for all subsequent Westerns (some would say it set the standard for all 20th century cinema). Directed by the legendary John Ford and shot on scene in Monument Park, Stagecoach follows a group of nine strangers as they cross dangerous Apache territory in — you guessed it — a stagecoach. All of the characters have their own personal demons that they’re running from and the journey through the treacherous Apache territory in many ways serves as a symbolic road to redemption for each of them. The acting and screenplay is top notch. Despite being filmed in 1939, the movie is still fresh and engaging. Be on the lookout for the epic chase scene featuring one of the most famous movie stunts of all time performed by Yakima Canutt.

Best line: “Well, there are some things a man just can’t run away from.”

Open Range

Made in 2003, many commenters on our original list of movies noted this film as their favorite modern Western. Starring genre regulars Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner, the plot is fairly familiar: Boss (Duvall) embarks on a long cattle drive with his crew, which includes Charley White (Costner), a Civil War vet. They stop near the town of Harmonville to resupply, which is controlled by the ruthless land baron Denton Baxter. When one of the cowhands doesn’t return, Boss and Charley depart from the herd to go investigate, and run into some local trouble. Even though the plot is somewhat expected, the action and acting are no less spectacular, with the final gunfight being called one of the best of all time by Guns & Ammo magazine. That right there should be enough to convince you of Open Range’s inclusion on this list.

Best line: “We come for justice, not vengeance. Now them is two different things.”

Broken Arrow

Based on historical characters, but dramatized and fictionalized, of course, this film stars James Stewart as Tom Jeffords, an Army scout and Indian agent who was instrumental in making peace with Chief Cochise and the Apache people. After saving a young Indian boy, Jeffords learns the language and customs of the Apache, and then attempts negotiating for the safe passage of mail riders who are frequently ambushed. He makes a deal, but not everyone agrees with it. Both settlers and Indians are miffed, and it may cost Jeffords everything he holds dear. Broken Arrow was the first Western that took a sympathetic view towards American Indians.

Best line: “To talk of peace is not hard. To live it is very hard.”

The Searchers

In this film, also directed by John Ford, John Wayne gives the most intense acting performance of his career as the dark and vengeful Ethan Edwards, a man who vows to kill the Comanche raiders who murdered his beloved sister-in-law and brother, and took captive two of their daughters. Wayne does a fantastic job in embodying a conflicted, complex man whose racism and desire for revenge sets up a situation far more morally ambiguous than Cowboys vs. Indians.

Best line: “That’ll be the day.”

My Darling Clementine

Another John Ford film. This one stars Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp in the period leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral. Earp and two of his brothers ride into the town of Tombstone, leaving brother James behind to watch the cattle herd. Finding the town mired in lawlessness and without a marshal, Wyatt is the only man willing to handle a dangerous Indian in town. Upon returning to the herd, James is dead and the cattle are stolen. Wyatt vows revenge, and stays in Tombstone as the marshal until the perpetrators are found. You can’t be without a love interest, so along the way a gal named Clementine Carter (Linda Darnell) arrives in town and stays in the same hotel as Earp. As with most great Westerns, both sparks and bullets fly in this film.

Best line: “When ya pull a gun, kill a man.”

Lonesome Dove

Technically this isn’t a movie, but rather a TV mini-series, but I don’t care. Lonesome Dove is a Western every man should see. Even if you don’t like Westerns, you’ll love Lonesome Dove. Its themes of friendship, regret, and love will resonate with any man. The action scenes are just icing on the cake. Based on one of the best books of all-time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove follows two retired Texas Rangers — Augustus McCrae (Robert Duvall) and Woodrow Call (Tommy Lee Jones) — as they lead a cattle drive from South Texas all the way to Montana. The production on Lonesome Dove is, bar none, the best in Western cinema. The costumes, the locations, even the way the characters speak make you feel like you’ve been plopped on a horse in 1876 America. But what really separates Lonesome Dove from the rest of the Westerns on this list (and I’d go as far as saying most movies ever made) are the characters. Thanks to top-notch writing and acting, Lonesome Dove is one of those rare movies that makes you feel like its fictional characters are real life people. Not only that, you feel like old friends with them by the end. You’ll cheer their triumphs and bawl your eyes out when tragedy strikes. Do yourself a favor and rent the complete series and watch it. You’ll be a better man for it.

Best line: “It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living.”

McLintock!

George Washington McLintock, “GW” to friends and foes alike (played by John Wayne), is an aging and wealthy self-made rancher. He has eagerly awaited the return of his daughter Becky, who’s been away at school for the last couple years. To his surprise, though, his wife Katherine, who left GW after suspecting adultery, has also returned. And she’s intent on taking their daughter back to the state capital with her. That’s not the only drama, of course. There are shady bureaucrats, Indians on the verge of forced relocation, plenty of brawls and gunfire, and one of the last and most memorable scenes of cinematic wife spanking.

Best line: “You have to be a man first before you’re a gentleman.”

Unforgiven

Cinema often glorifies the Old West as a mythic time when good guys wore white and the bad ones wore black. In Unforgiven, director/actor/producer Clint Eastwood shines a light on the dark, violent, and morally ambiguous aspects of life in frontier America. Clint Eastwood plays William Munny, a once notorious and violent killer. Now, he’s just a quiet and tired farmer who is a devoted father still mourning his dead wife. But Will’s old life comes back to haunt him when he’s asked to do a hit on a cowboy who slashed the face of a prostitute. Will is transplanted from his farm in Kansas to a town in Wyoming where he meets Sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), a mean son-of-a-bitch who is determined to not let the hit go down, no matter what it takes. Hold onto your hats, partners, this isn’t your grandpa’s Western.

Best line: “Hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”

No Country For Old Men

While not fitting neatly into the Western genre, this 2007 thriller definitely has the dusty, country grit that comes with the other films on the list. It won that year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, and features one of the scariest villains (Javier Bardem) of all-time.

Set in 1980, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds two million dollars, along with a slew of dead Mexicans, in a desert drug deal gone wrong. He takes the money, but is tracked by hitman Anton Chigurh (Bardem), so he sends his wife away to her mother’s house. On the run, Moss finds himself in trouble at every turn, and reluctantly accepts the help of both his wife and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). Gunfights, games of chance, aging lawmen — this film really does carry all the elements of a Western, but with the twist of the modern thriller. In staying with the genre, it may not have a neat and tidy ending, but it’s one that leaves you satisfied with the story. The book is great too.

Best line: “I always figured when I got older, God would sorta come inta my life somehow. And he didn’t. I don’t blame him. If I was him I would have the same opinion of me that he does.”

Shane

This is a great sheepdog movie. A quiet gunslinger who is trying to escape his past befriends a pioneer family that has settled out west. He attempts to settle down and become a hired hand to the family, but the ranchers who want to drive cattle through the homesteaders’ property are attempting to push them out. Shane tries to stay out of the disputes, but keeps being drawn in and is finally compelled to put his six shooter back on to protect his adoptive family. Perhaps the most touching part of the movie is the relationship Shane develops with the farmer’s son.

Best line: “A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel, or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the last in Sergio Leone’s trilogy of “spaghetti westerns.” Despite being the last, it has come to stand on its own. Even if you haven’t seen the film, you probably know something about it. Most likely you’ve heard the iconic theme song with its spooky “wha wha wha” shouts. And you’ve probably seen images and scenes of Clint Eastwood wearing a poncho and smoking a cigar. The film follows three cowboys during the Civil War who try to double cross each other in search of Confederate gold. There’s not much of a deep message in this film. It’s just a lot of fun to watch.

Best line: “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”

The Ox-Bow Incident

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name (which is marvelous in its own right), this 1943 Academy Award-nominated movie fell more into the Western noir side of the genre than your classic gunslinging action flick. Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews star as two drifters passing through a small town, in which a rancher has just been murdered and had his cattle stolen. The townspeople are outraged and form a posse (which includes our drifters) to go catch the murdering rustlers. The angry group catches up with three men who are in possession of the stolen cattle, claiming they were purchased on the up and up. About half the posse is willing to wait for a judge to make some sort of ruling, while the other half is ready to hang the supposed thieves then and there. Does groupthink win the day, or will reason have the last word? There’s not much action here, but the questions asked, and answered, remain remarkably relevant even 75 years later.

Best line: “Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It’s everything people ever have found out about justice and what’s right and wrong. It’s the very conscience of humanity. There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience, because if people touch God anywhere, where is it except through their conscience? And what is anybody’s conscience except a little piece of the conscience of all men that ever lived?” 

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Based loosely on the real lives of Western outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker (aka Butch Cassidy) and Harry Longabaugh (aka the Sundance Kid), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a classic movie about two buddies trying to make it in a changing world. What’s funny about this flick is that you forget that these guys were hardened criminals who robbed banks and trains for a living. The easygoing charm Robert Redford and Paul Newman bring to their roles makes you like the characters despite their choice of profession. Their clever hijinks and humor make the movie an enjoyable ride.

Best line: “Rules? In a knife fight? No rules!”

The Sons of Katie Elder

Another John Wayne classic, this one co-starring Dean Martin. Katie Elder had four adult sons: John (Wayne) — an (in)famous gunman, Tom (Martin) — a professional gambler, as well as Bud and Matt. The brothers meet up at their mother’s funeral, bemoaning the fact that they shouldn’t have neglected her like they did. They’d like to re-take the family ranch, which has been nefariously seized by one of the townspeople. As you can imagine, plenty of ruckus ensues, and the Elder brothers do all they can to make their dearly departed mother proud. The popular 2005 movie Four Brothers is loosely based on this story, with a more modern and urban take, and is also worth a watch.

Best line: “Texas is a woman, she used to say, a big, wild, beautiful woman. You raise a kid to where he’s got some size, and there’s Texas whispering in his ear and smiling, saying, ‘Come and have some fun.’ It’s hard enough to raise children, she’d say. But when you’ve got to fight Texas, a mother hasn’t a chance.”

The Magnificent Seven

Inspired by the classic Japanese film Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven follows a group of seven American gunfighters (including Steve McQueen) who band together to defend an oppressed Mexican village. This film has it all: great story, great cast, and one of the most iconic movie scores of all time.

Best line: “It’s only a matter of knowing how to shoot a gun. Nothing big about that.”

Red River

What happens to a man when he’s consumed by obsession? That’s the question that we see answered in 1948’s Red River. John Wayne plays Thomas Dunson, a determined and sometimes ruthless man who has the goal of forming the largest cattle ranch in America. With nothing but his trusty trail-hand (Walter Brennan) and a young boy who survived an Indian attack on his wagon train (Montgomery Clift), Dunson does just that. To make money, though, he’s got to get the cattle to market, so Dunson sets out to drive thousands of cattle from Texas to Missouri. Along the way, Dunson’s brutal and dictatorial leadership causes his young protege and adopted son to mutiny and take the cattle from Dunson. Dunson vows to find and kill his boy. Does he do it in the end? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.

Best line: “Get a shovel and my Bible. I’ll read over him.”

True Grit (2010)

Hired by a young girl to track down the man that killed her father, Jeff Bridges takes on the role of Rooster Cogburn, the marshal with “grit” enough to bring the man to justice. The 2010 version is definitely better than the 1969 John Wayne version. Bridges simply did a superior job portraying Rooster Cogburn, and thanks to the Coen brothers, the movie just seemed more real and alive.

Best line: “Fill your hand you son-of-a-bitch!”

Silverado

This 1985 flick features quite the ensemble cast: Kevin Costner, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt, and more. Set in 1880, four men find themselves brought together in the midst of gunfights and jail breakouts. (Check out our podcast about the gunfighting history of the Wild West.) They end up in the town of Silverado, and although they part ways, are quickly reunited by their desire to fight the town’s injustices. After fighting common foes, the men also avenge their personal demons, and although they end up going their separate ways, will always retain the kinship of fighting together for the justice of a small Western town.

Best line: “I always figure you might as well approach life like everybody’s your friend or nobody is; don’t make much difference.”

The Wild Bunch

The Wild Bunch is a tale about a group of outlaws who see the world they know quickly disappearing. Set in 1913, the West by then was no longer “wild.” The old rule of “might makes right” had been replaced by government-dispensed justice. Moreover, technology had made many of the skills and know-how needed to survive and thrive in the Wild West obsolete. Sensing that their time is up, a group of outlaws decide to go out in a blaze of glory and gore. The Wild Bunch was and is a controversial film. Its violence and nihilism paints a bleak picture of life at the end of the American West. In many ways, The Wild Bunch symbolized the end of the classic American Western. Just as the outlaws in the film were out of step with a changing society, so too were Westerns out of step with 1969 America. It’s interesting to note that very few new major Westerns were produced after The Wild Bunch was released in 1969.

Best line: “Let’s go.”

Pale Rider

Another movie that Eastwood produced, directed, and starred in. As with many of his other roles, he plays a lone ranger figure just called the “Preacher.” He rides into a gold mining settlement in which a group of thugs led by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) are pushing the panners to give up their territory. Preacher attempts to first negotiate with LaHood, but he sets out unreasonable terms that the gold panners refuse to agree to. And so a rough and corrupt Marshal is sent in by LaHood to clear everyone out. That’s where Preacher’s mysterious background — he has six unexplained bullet wounds in his back — comes in handy and he joins the settlers to fight off the bad dudes. Being one of the only Hollywood Westerns made in the 1980s, it received excellent reviews, and was nominated by the American Film Institute as a Top 10 film in the genre (although it ultimately wasn’t included in that prestigious list).

Best line: “There’s plain few problems can’t be solved with a little sweat and hard work.”

Rio Bravo

A small-town sheriff (John Wayne) in the American West enlists the help of a cripple (Walter Brennan), a drunk (Dean Martin, of course), and a young gunfighter (Ricky Nelson, still dreamy even as a cowboy) in his efforts to keep the brother of the local bad guy in jail. Director Howard Hawks made this film in reaction to High Noon. Both he and John Wayne despised what they saw as the wimpy and unmanly lack of resolve in Gary Cooper’s character. I’m not sure I agree with Wayne and Hawks about that, but that’s a debate for another day. Overall, Rio Bravo has everything you should expect in a good 1950s Western: action, adventure, and heroics. We even get to hear old Dean-O sing a tune. 

Best line: “Hey, Dude! How do ya like them apples?”

Major Dundee

Union cavalry officer Major Amos Dundee (Charlton Heston) has been assigned to a POW camp in New Mexico after making a tactical error in the Battle of Gettysburg. After an Apache war chief named Sierra Charriba, along with his band of comrades, massacres a family of ranchers and a group of cavalrymen, Dundee takes it upon himself to get revenge. So he recruits a private army of Union soldiers, Confederate prisoners, Indian scouts, and even mercenaries. They venture into Mexico to fight the Apache, with whom they engage in several bloody battles. Dundee is able to show off his tactical prowess, and we see how even enemies can come together in the face of a common foe. While this film wasn’t held in terribly high regard when it came out, in the last decade or so that tide has been turning; one modern reviewer describes it as “likely the most gritty and realistic Western ever made.”

Best line: “I have only three commands. When I signal you to come, you come. When I signal you to charge, you charge. And when I signal you to run, you follow me and run like hell!”

Tombstone

After years of chasing outlaws, legendary lawman Wyatt Earp retires and takes up residence in the town of Tombstone, Arizona. His plans to live out his days as a respectable businessman are interrupted when a gang of hell-raisers called “the Cowboys” starts causing trouble in the area. Not able to stand the lawlessness, Earp joins his brothers in getting rid of the Cowboys. Tensions between the Earps and the Cowboys heats up and eventually leads to the infamous showdown at the O.K. Corral. Action-packed and fast-moving, Tombstone is definitely a Western that suits modern moviegoers’ tastes. Not to mention, it has some of the best mustachery in the history of cinema.

Best line: “I’m your Huckleberry.”

Once Upon a Time in the West

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was supposed to be Sergio Leone’s last Western. But then Paramount Pictures offered him access to Henry Fonda (who plays the villain), and he couldn’t say no. Although Clint Eastwood turned down the role of protagonist, Charles Bronson did not, and over time the film has come to be known as one of the best Westerns of all-time (famous directors like Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and George Lucas credit this film with influencing them), even though it didn’t gain critical or box office success when it first came out.

The story revolves around Jill McBain, who has just moved from New Orleans to the Utah frontier, only to find her new husband and his children brutally murdered. She’s joined in the hunt for the killer by outlaw Cheyenne and the mysterious fellow named Harmonica (Bronson), who knows a few tunes on both his classic cowboy instrument and his gun.

Best line: “How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can’t even trust his own pants.”

How the West Was Won

This 1963 film has perhaps the most star-studded cast ever assembled: John Wayne, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Carroll Baker, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, and more. It’s an epic, so rather than focusing on a single story or time period, it follows four generations of one family over 50 years in the mid-1800s as they move westward. You get a little bit of everything: river fordings, Indian raids, plains crossings, Civil War battles, gold rushes, railroad construction, and skirmishes with outlaws. Over the course of almost three hours you span nearly every subject covered by the genre. And it’s not like today’s celebrity-stuffed films that are poorly made and clearly just vying for more eyeballs; How the West Was Won has a perfect 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a dang good film, and one that stands out not just among Westerns, but among all genres.

Best line: “The west that was won by its pioneers, settlers, adventurers is long gone now. Yet it is theirs forever, for they left tracks in history that will never be eroded by wind or rain — never plowed under by tractors, never buried in compost of events. Out of the hard simplicity of their lives, out of their vitality of their hopes and sorrows grew legends of courage and pride to inspire their children and their children’s children.”

The Outlaw Josey Wales

Directing and starring Clint Eastwood, the film’s about a man named Josey Wales who lost home and family during the Civil War to a band of pro-Union Jayhawkers. Driven by revenge, he joins a posse of pro-Confederate soldiers so he can find the men who destroyed the things he loved. The Civil War ends and the band of Confederate fighters surrender. But not Josey. Revenge, sorrow, forgiveness, betrayal, love, family, and honor take center stage in this Eastwood classic.

Best line: “Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy.”

Comanche Station

Some Westerns are big-budgeted affairs loaded with stars and running for up to a few hours. While those are great, sometimes you want to see what the smaller-budget guys can do with just a couple good actors and a solid story. That’s where Comanche Station comes in, having recently been noted by some as one of the great underrated Westerns. With a running time of just 74 minutes, there’s no fluff. When loner Jefferson Cody trades with a band of Comanches to release a white woman, he assumes that getting Mrs. Lowe back to her husband will be a piece of cake. But with a handsome reward on the line for her return and a couple of nasty outlaws, the going ain’t so easy.

Best line: “Not talkin’ about right. Talkin’ about stayin’ alive.”

The Big Country

East coast sea captain James McKay (Gregory Peck) heads West with his fiancee Patricia (Carroll Baker — who also co-starred in How the West Was Won) to live on her father’s ranch. McKay doesn’t realize he’s walking into an old water rights feud between his soon-to-be father-in-law and the neighbor, Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives — who won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for his supporting role).

Terrill (the father-in-law) and Hannassey trade barbs and trouble-making stunts, but after declining to duel, ride unbroken horses, or otherwise prove his manhood, everyone, including his fiancee, starts to consider McKay a bit of a coward. Unbeknownst to the family, however, he’s been settling things and trying to make peace behind the scenes. Turns out the seaman knows a thing or two to be able survive in the West after all. This film has it all: literally dueling neighbors, vivid landscapes and wild horses, and even a love triangle. President Dwight Eisenhower was a big fan of this film, and in fact once screened it on four consecutive evenings in the White House.

Best line: “There’s some things a man has to prove to himself alone, not to anyone else.”

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

This 2007 film directed by Andrew Dominik is the film version of the 1983 novel of the same name. Brad Pitt stars as Jesse James with Casey Affleck taking on the role of his killer, Robert Ford. When James’ gang plans a train robbery in Missouri, Ford makes multiple attempts to join the gang. Ultimately, Ford gets rejected by James, and so sets out to get revenge. The film is star-studded, but surprisingly had lackluster results at the box office despite excellent reviews, with one critic even saying that it is “one of the most wrongly neglected masterpieces of its era.”

Best line: “It seems to me if you have something to confess, you outta be right and you spit it out now.”

Dances With Wolves

Kevin Costner both starred in and directed this 1990 Best Picture winner (one of only three Westerns to win the prestigious Academy Award). During the Civil War, Lt. John Dunbar becomes a Union hero for an act of bravery he did not intend to commit. Wanting to get away to the Western frontier, he requests a posting at a remote fort. Finding it abandoned, he mans the outpost alone, and quickly befriends not only the local Indians, but a wolf too, which he names Two Socks. He also finds a white woman who’s been raised by the tribe, and comes to earn the trust and respect of the native people. This doesn’t exactly sit well with the military, though, and Dunbar soon has to choose where his loyalty really lies.

Best line: “It seems every day ends with a miracle here. And whatever God may be, I thank God for this day.”

The Shootist

Nobody wants to die alone. Especially gunslingers. In a haunting portrayal that foreshadowed his own fate, John Wayne plays J.B. Books, an aging gunfighter dying of cancer who resigns himself to live out his days in private. But skeletons from his past prevent him from fading away, so he decides to go down the only way he knows how – with his six-shooter blazing.

Best line: “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a-hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

Vera Cruz

Starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, 1954’s Vera Cruz was one of the first big Westerns to feature morally ambiguous characters who were nonchalant towards violence. It paved the way for those themes to be realized in big Hollywood fashion in the late 50s and 60s.

Set during the Franco-Mexican War of 1861, Cooper plays ex-Confederate soldier Ben Trane. He’s gone down to Mexico looking for work as a mercenary and teams up with gunslinger Joe Erin (Lancaster). They are hired by Emperor Maximillian I to escort the Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to the port city of Vera Cruz. Trane and Erin discover that the locomotive they’re traveling aboard has a stash of $3 million. As you can imagine, a lot of people want that gold, and I don’t need to tell you the rest of the story.

Best line: “Don’t take any chances you don’t have to. Don’t trust nobody you don’t have to trust, and don’t do no favors you don’t have to do.”

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

US Senator James Stoddard (James Stewart) has rolled into a small Western town to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Why would a big-time politician come all the way out West for that? We flashback 25 years to when Stoddard was a young attorney whose stagecoach was robbed by the ruthless Liberty Valance. The lawyer was whipped and left for dead, but saved by Doniphon and brought to the town of Shinbone, where the community as a whole tended to his injuries. Stoddard opens a law practice, but Valance is still a terrorizing presence. Doniphon — who only knows the ways of brute force — debates with him the best way to bring justice to Valance. Is it through the grim violence of the West, or the more civilized path of the law and courts?

This movie was shot in black and white, even though color was available. Many speculate that director John Ford was moving to a grittier, more realistic view of the West over the more colorful, romantic, and optimistic pictures he had previously done. Ford and Wayne worked on ten(!) Westerns together, but many single out The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as the most impactful. Roger Ebert said it was “the most pensive and thoughtful,” and Sergio Leone called it his favorite film by the famed director.

Best line: “I know those law books mean a lot to you, but not out here. Out here a man settles his own problems.”

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With our archives now 4,000+ articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in October 2017.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

“Good King Wenceslas” is a Christmas Carol that celebrates generosity, sacrifice, and the power of holy imitation. Although it is adapted from a legend about Saint Wenceslaus (sometimes spelled Wenceslas), a 10th-century Bohemian duke (not a king!), the story is more fundamentally a parable of Jesus’ sacrifice and his call to Christian service and martyrdom. That’s why the song is linked to the feast of Stephen, which celebrates the deacon and first martyr of the church.

Anglican priest and author John Mason Neale wrote the hymn in 1853, drawing from a Czech poem by Václav Alois Svoboda. The tune, TEMPUS ADEST FLORIDUM, had previously been used in a medieval hymn to spring. Some scholars have criticized its pairing with a Christmas text. But only adult critics could be so Scrooge-like. In my experience, children adore this carol both for its bouncy tune and the story it tells.

Verse by Verse

The form of this carol is a ballad—a narrative set to verse. In fact, before he wrote this hymn, John Mason Neale published a prose account of Wenceslaus in his book, Deeds of Faith: Stories for Children from Church History.

Verse 1

Good King Wenceslas looked out, 
on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, 
deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night, 
tho’ the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, 
gath’ring winter fuel.

The first verse sets the scene and the atmosphere. A good King, warm in his castle, looks out to see deep snow, a bright moon, and cruel frost. Then the King sees a poor man, in the cold outdoors, gathering wood to burn.

At first, the Feast of Stephen seems merely to be a marker of time and season. Since the Feast of Stephen is on December 26th, it makes sense that the story has a winter setting. But what unfolds in the subsequent verses is a story of service to the poor and personal sacrifice, precisely the qualities of Stephen, a deacon and the Church’s first martyr.

Verse 2

“Hither, page, and stand by me, 
if thou know’st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? 
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence, 
underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence, 
by Saint Agnes’ fountain.”

The second verse records a conversation between Wenceslas and his page. Wenceslas asks after the poor man, his identity, and where he lives. Evidentl,y the King is considering some act of generosity.

The page explains that the poor man lives “a good league hence,” which is to say, far away. Moreover, he lives near Saint Agnes’ fountain, a convent that should be generous to its own neighbors. In other words, the page gives the King permission to forgo any generosity because of the distance and his nearer neighbors.

Verse 3

But the King comes to a dramatic decision.

“Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, 
bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I shall see him dine, 
when we bear them thither.”
Page and monarch, forth they went, 
forth they went together;
Through the rude wind’s wild lament 
and the bitter weather.

Not only does the king decide that he will give the poor man both warmth and sustenance, he decides to do so personally. When he could send the page to go alone, this verse emphasizes that the King and the page go out together. This shows how generosity creates the conditions for social solidarity.

In the background here is the letter of James, which exhorts the wealthy to generosity and emphasizes the works of faith:

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

James 2:15-16

Verse 4

This is where the story takes an especially interesting turn. We expect the next verse to narrate the arrival of the King and the page at the house of the poor man, but instead, we find them still on their journey:

“Sire, the night is darker now, 
and the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how; 
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, good my page; 
Tread thou in them boldly:
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage 
Freeze thy blood less coldly.

The King and the page are still on their journey (the page was right about the distance!), and now the page has grown cold. The allegorical point is that the Christian walk is not always easy to sustain. Like a cold and windy night, the way of the cross tests us and takes us beyond our limits.

The King responds that the page should follow behind him, walking in his footsteps. Taken literally, this is good advice since the King’s body will block the wind, his feet compress the snow, and his rhythm sets a pace to follow. Allegorically, Christ has already walked the way of the cross, and now we follow in his footsteps.

Verse 5

In his master’s steps he trod, 
where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod 
which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, 
wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, 
shall yourselves find blessing.

Obediently, the page follows after the king, and to his delight and ours, he discovers heat emerging from the King’s footsteps. And that’s where the story ends; the King and the page never arrive at the home of the poor man. But I think that is because the page has become the poor man. The King gives the page what he needs so that they both can do the work of generosity in the world.

Taken literally, the carol recounts the story of a King who, inspired by Stephen, takes his page on a winter journey to give to the poor. But allegorically, the King represents King Jesus, who left the warm castle of heaven to enter the cold night of our world. There, he walked the way of the cross, and now he calls his servants to that same journey. But our King is always with us, encouraging us with his word, blocking the wind with his body the church, and warming us as we continue in his way. Thus, he turns us into Stephens, bringing food to the poor and enduring to the end.

Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Galatians 6:9-10

On Video

The first video is a stunning 1985 recording from Winchester Cathedral under the direction of David Hill. Note how the narrator, king, and page are sung respectively by boy choir, baritone, and boy soprano. Be sure to listen to the end; the last verse breaks out into brilliant polyphonic harmonies.

The second video features the classic recording by Bing Crosby, accompanied by orchestra and choir. I especially enjoy the repeated use of a muffled bell, which sounds like a church bell in the falling snow.

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Image: Illustration from sheet music of “Good King Wenceslas” in a biscuit container from 1913, preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The post Hymn Guide: Good King Wenceslas appeared first on Anglican Compass.

I seem to have been added to the email list of a women’s ordination activist. From time to time I’ll get an amateurish graphic or a passage of shallow theology speak from this guy. I don’t argue with him because I’ve learned that arguing with ideologues is a waste of time, but as far as I can remember this is what the latest mumbo jumbo consisted of something like this:

God is not male and not patriarchal

Before he was incarnate God the Son was not male and not patriarchal

The Holy Spirit is not male and not patriarchal

Therefore the church is not patriarchal and should ordain women.

I call this Gnostic Nonsense because the gnostics were those early heretics who were “spiritual but not religious”. This self indulgent sentimentality is abhorrent. It exchanges the solid, concrete, dogmatic rock of the Catholic religion for vague, saccharine, feel good spirituality. I call it “Coca Cola Catholicism”–a sweet tasting, bubbly confection with no nutritional value that doesn’t actually quench your thirst and may become addictive.

How to answer this theological sleight of hand?  Yes, yes, we all agree that God does not have a penis and xy chromosomes. But God the Son did and he was ascended into heaven so we must admit that in some mysterious way the physical realities are now part of the spiritual realm. Which leads to an interesting speculation: how and in what way and to what extent is heaven “physical”?

We know the supernatural realm is not physical like this temporal realm is physical and mortal, but we should not therefore imagine the spiritual realm as spiritual in some sort of ethereal, ghostly or ectoplasmic way. When we try to imagine the spiritual realm as “pure spirit” we end up thinking either of a bottle of gin or, as C.S.Lewis quipped as “a vast tapioca pudding in the sky.”

Lewis was right, as he speculated in The Great Divorce that the afterlife is not less physical, but more physical. Remember how the departed soul found the apples in heaven too heavy to lift and the blades of grass punctured his feet? St Therese of Lisieux had a similar insight when she said, “In heaven every grain of dust is a diamond.”

With respect to God then, we must posit that he IS in fact male. Jesus reveals God as “Our Father” so in some way there is a masculinity to God’s character–a masculinity that, of course, transcends our puny masculinity. As heaven is not less physical but MORE physical, so God’s masculinity is not less than our own, but more than our own. In fact theologians who are wiser than both me and my occasional emailer would try to explain that God’s masculinity embraces, includes and transcends both male and female-ness. That is why, by the way, Genesis says that both Adam and Eve were created in his image and that this is reflected in the male having both X and Y chromosomes and the female two X. Does this also explain why the sexual identity of men is often more complicated and often ambiguous than that of women?

Patriarchy is therefore not only written into the genetic code of the Christian religion. It is written into the genetic code of the cosmos.

Christians should thus beware of every attempt to negate the natural God-given gender differences. Women’s ordination? Nope.

The reason I stress this is not secret misogyny, but remembering Hilaire Belloc’s observation, “All arguments are theological arguments”. Women’s ordination is a product of feminism which seeks to negate the complementarity of the sexes and promote (in Phyllis Zagano’s wording) a “single nature anthropology”. In other words–no distinctions between men and women. This vague, wishy washy, beige religion is repugnant. It is lukewarm and should be spat out.

The post Enough Gnostic Nonsense first appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker.

 

Regular readers will have seen mention of Killer Bees Honey in these pages on several occasions.  They produce what I believe may be the finest honey in North America.  The "beekeeper", Sean, is an online friend of many years' standing.

The apiary is in the the Pisgah National Forest area of North Carolina, and took a pounding from Hurricane Helene last week.  Here's Sean's after action report to his friends, shared on this blog with his permission.

Things are slowly returning to normal here. Food is coming back onto the grocery store shelves, but it’s still cash only for some. Banks are still limiting withdrawals of $1k.

As I wrote the below, I continually thought about your dealings with Katrina.

Sean

******************************************************************

Like all good horror stories involving a demonic woman, it began in the darkness of night. I awoke Friday at 0230 and watched as the metal patio furniture, sans cushions traveled S/B past the bedroom windows. My drowsy WTF reaction was mirrored by the cats WTF stare. The whole house generator had already kicked on. Ten minutes later and with a head lamp piercing the driving rain, I was in the lower bee yard placing heavier rocks on the hives. When I was done, Helene’s 55 knot gusts were pushing the hives off their foundation. Luckily, each hive had around 65 pounds of stored winter honey. I’m sure that’s what kept them from being blown over. I could not say the same for me as I had to get on my hands and knees with each blast of wind. Retreating back to the safety of the house, I could hear trees falling, some snapping in half deep in the forest around me. No bueno. All I could now do is start the coffee maker and wait for dawn. First light came with continued howling winds and rain. A sourwood tree narrowly missed the house and was laying across the pad in front of the kitchen window. Its leaf laden boughs frantically waving to me in distress with each shock of wind.Too dangerous to step outside, I went downstairs to the mechanical room to begin the quick process of charging up the battery bank.

Since then it’s been a total shit show in WNC. I celebrated my 69th birthday chainsawing my way down our mile long driveway. Two days, several naps and six bar chains later, the driveway was passable. This can’t be said for adjacent mountain roads. The 26” of rain washed out or made local roads and bridges impassable. I jumped into the Polaris Ranger once I cleared the driveway and drove the four miles to the main road. What I saw can only be described as post apocalyptic. Neighbors working chainsaws clearing roads and driveways. Head on collisions of trees into houses. Many homes were uninhabitable. Peaceful creeks and flowing water rock falls turned into churning rivers and torrential waterfalls. Bridges and damns were breached. Duke power was releasing water from lakes causing more destruction, but they had no choice; a damn failure would have been more disastrous. 

The ham radio community immediately initiated an emergency net. Numerous surrounding repeaters were connected and a call went out for volunteers, SAR and swift water rescue crews. This was the only way to communicate for four days. People from all over the world were using their HF stations to contact net control for welfare checks on loved ones or family members. Net control then used UHF and VHF frequencies to contact local ham operators. They in turn left the safety of their homes to brave dangerous conditions. Some had to abandon their cars and hike into hazardous conditions. It was heartbreaking to hear one station report back on a welfare check of an isolated elderly couple's home located deep in a holler. He radioed that all he found was a driveway at the end of which was a raging river.

I was on generator and battery b/u power for nearly five days. There was no damage to the hives and out buildings. AVL was closed to all traffic for four days. Denise was in Chicago, but I was able to pick her up when HWY 64 and the airport reopened. My immediate neighbors, a young family of five had no power. I gave them a five gallon water bladder, a daily thermos of coffee, venison and a Honda 2200 generator along with a jerry can of gas to keep the fridge and essentials powered. They came up to the house to eat and shower, but left last Wednesday to be with relatives in Raleigh. 

We now have grid power and cellular. WISP (internet) is spotty.

Intial Impact

Massive flooding and wind destruction. Total devastation. No power. No cellular. No internet. No water. Land lines were down. Everything was closed. Many towns and communities were literally swept away. Chimney Rock, Swannanoa no longer exist. Boone and half of Asheville were inundated with water. Interstates 40, 26 and HWY 64 were impassable. The geography was literally changed by the flood. I don’t know how some roads, businesses and homes can be rebuilt. Many deaths; a community near the French Broad river in Hendersonville was told to evacuate at the beginning of the storm. Some stayed. Two days later, several bodies were found hanging out of windows and trees. Five were found in a debris field a mile away. Around 250 water plants were destroyed or inundated with muddy water and won’t be operational for weeks if not months. Within 24 hours 37 private helicopters were air dropping food and water to isolated communities. FEMA was non existent.It was private citizens and small businesses helping each other. 

Presently

230 deaths and rising. Nearly 1000 still missing. I was talking to a local Sheriff’s Lt who said they’ll be pulling bodies out of debris fields through the holidays. 50% of homes in the county are still without power.  Most roads leading into town are clear. Interstate 40 at the TN border will remain closed for approximately a year during repair. 26 now has passable lanes, but will need repair. Hwy 9 leading into Chimney Rock is non existent. Hwy 19 leading into Asheville is severely damaged and unusable. All national and state parks are closed due to immense tree falls and trail damage. The Blue Ridge Parkway and all buildings along the Pkw are closed. The nearest town to us is Brevard which now has power. Prior to that, the local grocery stores were open for two days after the event, but it was cash only. I understand they closed soon thereafter because they were cleaned out. Propane is still in short supply. Gas stations which have power have no 93% and are limiting gas to ten gallons per vehicle. There isn’t any non ethanol gas. Lines for gas go for 100’s of yards. Portable generators along with chainsaws and 2 stroke fuel are sold out. Nightly looting around Asheville. The Ingles (grocery) warehouse and Walmart were looted within 24 hours of the storm. Cash only stores and gas stations are causing a run on the banks. As a result, customers are only aloud $1K cash withdrawals. Essentials such as food, water, diapers and baby formula are currently being distributed at churches and community centers by local citizens. What people need isn’t FEMA’s $750. They need food and water. It’s been eight days and some isolated communities are literally going hungry. Good Samaritans, some from out of state trying to reach those in need are being held up at gun point for supplies. There is fear among health professionals of dysentery caused by lack of clean water and unsanitary conditions. 

I read there is a loss of some 60,000 bee hives in the Southeast. There may be greater losses if beekeepers can’t get to the remaining hives and feed them sugar water. My bees are good; they keep their first 65 pounds of spring wildflower honey for the winter.

There were multiple episodes of civil unrest and violence. A dude in Brevard shot out the tires of someone else cutting into a gas line. A fist fight broke out near the local credit union. My bee out yard is near a sketchy neighborhood. Apparently, some local meth heads broke into a home thinking the owners had split. Nope. The husband comes out of the bedroom busting caps from a 357 revolver… we’re old school up here. Said meth heads retreated to their vehicle and returned fire. Husbands wife opens the bedroom window and throws down with a full mag from an AR-10. The next morning nothing was found other than broken glass and some blood. The sheriff’s dept. never responded because no one called (no phones) Like I said, old school.

For further information, I urge you to read the below link regarding Helene’s impact written by an eloquent local writer for USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/10/03/helene-asheville-north-carolina-flooding-climate-change/75490093007/

Opinion: Helene devastated my NC community. What I saw next helped me survive.

My Preps

My wife and I live in the Lake Toxaway zip code area, but not in the HOA. We have 75 acres on the apex of Walnut Cove Mountain. Our driveway is exactly one mile long. We are surrounded by 512,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest and game lands which is adjacent to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Nantahala Wilderness. We are very isolated from the rest of the world which is fine by me. Most of my prep education came from being a LEO out of Southern California. I was an active participant in earthquakes, wildfires and riots. Until recently, I was a certified AEMT and SAR member. Presently, I am a beekeeper, a full time house bitch and part time sex slave. Titles I proudly embrace. I hunt deer, wild turkey and bear off my property. My wife, Denise is a retired CFO of a company in NYC. She is an anti gun liberal who happens to know the benefits of capitalism. Go figure.

All our preps worked out amazingly well and without issues. From the initial storm to grid up, all I missed were fresh bananas. First world problem.

Power: We are grid tied with 21 roof mounted solar panels producing 7kW midday. Energy we don’t use from the PV system is stored in a Sonnen Battery 18kW system. During grid down situations, which happens a lot up here, A 30kW, water cooled, Generac powers the entire house. Combined with a buried 1000 gallon propane tank, I can live off grid indefinitely. The Generac was utilized just three hours a day to charge the batteries until I had full sun. Afterwards, everything was powered by stored solar energy. 

Water: We are on a well and septic system. The well is powered by both the grid or generator and PV array/Sonnen system.

Food: I have three freezers filled with wild game. Most I give away to my sister’s in law who are also anti gun liberals, but will take wild meat killed with my guns. Again, go figure. Besides the wild game, we have two walk in pantries filled with supplies for immediate use. I have other food supplies for the real ZA. Bags and cans of food for the Children of Satan (cats).

Cooking: Propane stove top. Electric range. Outside propane grill with multiple tanks. 

Fuel: I have several caddies filled with 93 [octane] non ethanol gas treated with Startron. We have several vehicles including a UTV and ATV. Both with winches and other accessories to make them more functional for our mountainous property. We have not been to a gas station since Sept 26.

Security. Multiple overlapping surveillance systems one on a local server (not dependent on WiFi or cellular)

I have preps specific for such events and had the chainsaws gassed and ready. All vehicles were gassed up and garaged. Speaking of preps, it’s a bit ironic that Sept was “preparedness month” and the national prepper conference in nearby Sylva was washed away. Both emails I received two Thursdays ago saying it was definitely on was not only irresponsible, but dangerous. Stupid decisions lead to stupid results.

Fall back: A separate fully functional building with a Jotul wood stove, running water and stored cots with sleeping bags. 

Fall back #2: A sprinter 170 chassis van converted by Outside Vans in OR. It has 45 gallons of diesel fuel, 20 gallons of fresh water and 630 amp hours of lithium ion batteries with solar. The van has a Guzzle H20 which can purify more water (we have 3500 linear feet of spring fed streams on the property).

Hope everyone is well. 

Sounds like Sean and his wife had quite a time of it.  Good to know you're both safe, buddy, along with your bees!  Thanks for the great after-action report and feedback.  We'll all learn from it.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:  Take note of the "cash only" nature of business after the storm.  This happens very often when power and/or communications are knocked out.  If you haven't got an emergency cash reserve at home, this can leave you stranded, particularly if banks aren't open for any reason.

Killer Bees Honey is currently donating all profits from honey and merchandise sales to local hurricane recovery efforts.  If you'd like to support them, please do - and enjoy the honey!  They haven't yet updated their Web site to reflect that, because Web access is extremely difficult for them right now;  but that'll happen soon, I'm sure.

Peter

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from C.S. Lewis’s essay, “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” [1954?]:

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. Their very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.

I am aware of so many who read the news, spend too much time on social media and allow themselves to become upset over the terrible state of affairs in the church and the world.

If you are one who is regularly upset, worried, fretful, dismayed, angry and concerned I would remind you of several important facts about the modern world in which we live.

First. Remember that with modern means of communication we now have instant access to news from the entire globe. Not only do we have instant access, but probably someone had their cellphone out, recorded the event and put it up on Twitter. Consequently we hear about famines in Africa, revolutions in Asia, economic disaster in Europe, war in Russia, killings, murders, rapes, child abuse and just about every horror you can imagine from all over the world.

Secondly, remember that the news organizations thrive on bad news, not good news. The newspaper editors (and those who run websites) still follow the old dictum, “If it bleeds, it leads”. They focus on the horror, the gossip, the infidelity, the adultery, the crimes of humanity because that is where the big drama is.

Thirdly, if there is a religious dimension to the crime it pumps the story even bigger. If the criminal is a priest, monk, bishop or pope then the “Shock horror!!” is even bigger, more dramatic and newsworthy.

Consequently, it is easy to allow oneself to drift into a state of permanent dismay and even despair over the state of affairs.

In the face of this I would remind you to read Psalm 37. Here are the first eleven verses.

Do not fret because of those who are evil
or be envious of those who do wrong;
² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
⁹ For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.

 

The post Fret Not first appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker.