Abraham and Moses

Faith and Works

The faith-works controversy may be assisted by looking back at the two main covenants of the Old Testament: God’s covenant with Abraham was based on a test of faith; and His covenant with Moses came with moral obligations: the Ten Commandments. Faith then works; in that sequential order. In the new and eternal covenant in […]... Read More
Moses seat

Do as they say, not as they do?

Today’s gospel reading includes this from Matthew 23:1-3: . “Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.'” . Jesus speaks of […]... Read More
Emperor has no clothes on

Be the Proverbial Child Who Mentions the Emperor is Naked

Whenever you imitate the proverbial child who says the emperor has no clothes on, people react in one of three ways. They: a) ignore you, rationalizing “he’s just a kid” (or a religious fanatic, or one who’s ‘out of touch’, etc.); b) attack you personally with the wrath of hell for daring to challenge their […]... Read More

How Can Jesus Command Us to Love Our Enemies?

Today’s gospel reading has Jesus exhorting His followers to love their enemies, contrasting this with Jewish and pagan teaching. . There are two places mentioned in scripture that Jesus’ followers express dismay at the difficulty of His teaching: consuming Him in the Eucharist (Jn 6:66) and His ban on divorce (Mt 19:10). If there were […]... Read More

The Logic from Contraception to a Culture of Death

The logic is consistent. Whenever a people accept contraception, abortion and other perversities are soon to follow. With U.S. law, it was contraception (1965), abortion (1973), and unnatural “marriage” (2015). In Ireland, it was contraception (1979), unnatural “marriage” (2015), and abortion (2018). Contraception is the catalyst that by attempting to separate love from life, it […]... Read More

God and His Secondary Causes

Rational inconsistencies fascinate me. . The ancient world had a simple grasp of the universe that saw all phenomena as direct signs from God or the gods. . While almost all modern Christians willingly give credence to the notion that in the order of nature, God as first Cause uses secondary causes to bring about […]... Read More

Neo-cons and Neo-cul-cons

While neo-cons are known for being war hawks, the new cutural conservatives (neo-cul-cons?) occupy the space of “I don’t care what people do in their private lives as long as they don’t force it on others.” This position, libertarian at heart, is unteneble within the egalitarian anti-discrimination ethos that is part of the American creed. […]... Read More
Trinity symbol

Reflecting the Trinity

Love begets truth, which together produces life. Likewise, truth is the form of love, which is inherently life-giving. This eternal paradigm of the Blessed Trinity reflected in creation corresponds to the truth of our being, i.e. human nature. Acts that contradict the truth of human nature can never be love, despite any subjective desire or […]... Read More
creation

Reason and Science Lead to One Fundamental Choice

Human beings have a tendency to personify, even deify animals, objects, and natural forces. We see this in ancient polytheism, modern cartoons, and the contemporary naming of hurricanes. Ancient religions based in panthesism and polythesism embraced this tendency. Polytheism, which directs humanity’s strong penchant for personifying the forces of the universe into many ‘gods’, is […]... Read More
Prayer

Why Not Just Pray Directly to God?

One of the most common errors about Catholicism that invariably pops up among non-Catholic Christians is often found in question form: . Why don’t Catholics just pray directly to God? . In short, Catholic DO pray directly to God. We just recognize the Church is a family. In the order of grace God is Father, […]... Read More
Assigned at birth

Those Who ‘Assign’ Rather than Recognize Reality

The notion of someone’s sex being “assigned at birth” has been made popular by people who believe we create reality rather than discover it. This aberration has become popular today throughout society. By refusing to recognize objective truth, people of this mentality reject that anything can be objectively disordered – unless we declare it to […]... Read More
male & female

The Two Halves of Humanity

Woman is home, the womb from which all humanity springs. Man is destination, humanity seeking its end. Together they represent being and becoming, the earth and the sky, roots and dreams, the familiar and the mysterious, the present and future, love and truth. Every member of the body needs the influence of the heart and […]... Read More
Angry emoji

Since it’s born of a sense of justice, what’s wrong with vengeance?

I was thinking of the concept of forgiveness at Mass today, considering why the desire to ‘get even’ with one who has done grave injury is a bad thing. After all, such evenness indicates a desire for justice, which is good. In fact, justice – which is to give what is due to another – […]... Read More
Plato and Aristotle

3 Simple Signs of the Human Soul

Archeologists agree that 3 basic signs of being human are abstract thought (including creative imagination), symbolic language, and religion – each distinguishing us from the other animals. What do these have in common? The ability to rise above the spatial-temporal realm of the physical senses to tap into a transcendent reality. Pre-Christian pagan philosophers could […]... Read More
Open-closed mind 2

Analogies and the Narrowing of the Mind

Studies show students can’t grasp analogies anymore. Analogies enable us to see the interrelations of things and expand our minds to more than just discerning what the senses detect. The narrowing of the mind to just univocal thinking is the result of decades of philosophical materialism and scientific positivism preached through the messages of the […]... Read More

Tragic Rejection of the Intuitive Intellect

The intuitive intellect, common to all people from the age of reason, is the true canvas on which the details of reality can be analyzed. Aquinas called the blueprint of reality that the intuitive intellect grasps the natural law, C.S. Lewis called it the Tao. All people have access to it from the age of […]... Read More
Cell phone

‘Phone-Choice’ Mentality

This may sound like a lame comparison, but I sense we can see a glimpse of the ‘pro-choice’ mentality in the way people respond to dialing a wrong number. I’ve never understood why a person immediately disconnects after being informed he’s dialed a wrong number. There is no “Oh, I’m sorry, it looks like I […]... Read More
Blood and water 2

Salvation for the 3 Levels of Life

Water, blood, and spirit are the 3 sustaining elements for earth’s 3 levels of life – vegetative, animal, and rational – all of which are constituent of the human person. It is no mistake that the God-man gave His water, blood (Jn 19:34) and Spirit (Mt 27:50; Acts 2:3) on the cross in order to heal, […]... Read More
Outside looking in

The Grave Danger of Being a Cultural Catholic

No matter how many good deeds I do as a next-door neighbor to my friend’s billionaire father, I will not receive a penny of his inheritance. Even if my friend is lazier than me, has vices I don’t have, and doesn’t give alms like I do, he will get the inheritance and I won’t. So […]... Read More