Pondering/Reflection
Ponder with Paul, beneath the surface.
The Paradox of Love
This week’s mass readings have been focusing on the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus shocks the world with His wisdom, as He continues to do today. Anger, lust, greed, dishonesty, and ultimately idolatry, are condemned as violating the natural moral law and causing barriers to happiness and union with God. There’s much to ponder […]... Read More
“Love” Isn’t Love
We are reminded by secular progressives during their pride month that “love is love.” This of course is kept vague and ambiguous as a bumper-sticker slogan, to avoid the scrutiny of reason. Without further definition, one must presume it means that sexual expression may be perverted in any way desirable as long as there is […]... Read More
The war on God, and on human nature, continues
Survey: U.S. Approval Rates as of May 2019: (a) contraception 92% (b) fornication (premarital sex) 71% (c) abortion 42% (50% disapprove, but many with exceptions) (d) divorce 77% (e) euthanasia 51% (f) pornography 61% (g) homosexual relations 64% The war on God, and on human nature, continues. What many ‘pro-lifers’ don’t get is that with […]... Read More
What would it take to be an abortion advocate?
Being a student of human nature I continuously seek to understand why people think the way they do. My primary means is to ask them, but I also imagine what it would be like to believe what they believe and what it would take for me to do so. I often ponder what it would […]... Read More
Natural Purpose and Personal Motive
Many people ignorantly accuse the Church of teaching that people must have procreation on their minds as a conscious motive in order to engage in sexual union. This is false. To see why, we must appreciate the notion of telos, which in Greek means end/purpose/fulfillment. This applies especially to the two bodily appetites inherent in […]... Read More
Word, Meaning, and Interpretation
Words without interpretation are meaningless. Words with improper interpretation become subjective falsehoods. The only foolproof way of knowing the right interpretation of words is to be informed by the one who has spoken them. This is an important principle. So too, the divine Word without proper interpretation becomes something false in the subjective minds of […]... Read More
Death, Burial, and Resurrection
“By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity… She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or permit rites that involve erroneous […]... Read More
The Right to Another’s Body
Recently, in a “friendly” debate, a woman whom I did not seek out proudly declared between her F-bombs that it doesn’t matter if a preborn child is a human being. What really matters, she defiantly claimed, is that no one has an obligation to ‘lend’ her body to someone else against her will. It’s a […]... Read More
Rape, a deliberate smokescreen
From the National Catholic Bioethics Center: When it comes to abortion, the state of Louisiana in past years required some of the most comprehensive reporting in the US, and their detailed records are a helpful resource for determining how frequent abortions for rape really are. Abortionists were required to fill out a form entitled “Report […]... Read More
Three Different Acts called Abortion
The word ‘abortion’ means to end something (anything) prematurely, and is too vague a term to use with regard to pregnancy. Further, it is commonly used for three very different acts, each of which should have their own unique terms: a) Miscarriage (often called spontaneous abortion). b) Indirect abortion, when the child dies unintentionally as […]... Read More
Intellectus and Ratio
Pre-moderns recognized two ways that the mind know things – in Latin, intellectus and ratio. Some say it’s the difference between heart-knowledge and head-knowledge, or right-brain vs. left-brain understanding. Intellectus is more of an intuitive, passive understanding, while ratio is more of a logical, active knowledge. Intellectus sees the puzzle and appreciates it as a […]... Read More
Anger, Intelligence, and Compassion: A Portrait of ‘Pro-choice’ People
Anger, Intelligence, and Compassion. Three words that are double-edged swords. Anger can destroy but can also be channeled to right a wrong. The intellect can see truth or it can blind one to the truth. Compassion is a gift when it moves someone to comfort and console, but a weapon when used to enable destructive […]... Read More
Trump, Pence, and Moral Confusion
The Trump-Pence split on same-sex marriage, brought to the fore by the presidential candidacy of Pete Buttigieg, clearly illustrates a major intellectual defect of our times. With Trump supporting and Pence opposing because of “religious conviction”, the presumption is that there is no intrinsic objective right or wrong on this or any act relating to […]... Read More
The Problem with a Little Science
Have you ever noticed that many of those who reject Catholicism have a grammar school level understanding of it? I would venture to guess these people make up the second largest group of ex-Catholics today. The largest group, I think it’s safe to say, are those who have accepted the invitation from the devil to […]... Read More
Which Would You Choose?
I have a hypothetical question, which could point to something very important. I will begin with four premises before stating the question. 1) There is a good chance that human beings who die before birth are with God, either in heaven or in a state of natural happiness traditionally called Limbo. 2) The sexual act […]... Read More
Alyssa Milano is Half Right
Actress Alyssa Milano calls for a sex-strike until abortion is solidified in America. Here’s one of her quotes: “Until women have legal control over our own bodies we just cannot risk pregnancy.” Well, she’s half right, in a very wrong kind of way. The truth is that without abortion as a birth control method people […]... Read More