I thank God every day that in America I have the freedom to be oblivious.
A new video link: The Papacy, Mary, and MORE
“Civilization—and by this I do not mean talking cinemas and tinned food, nor even surgery and hygienic houses, but the whole moral and artistic organization of Europe—has not in itself the power of survival. It came into being through Christianity, and without it has no significance or power to command allegiance… It is no longer possible, as it was in the time of Gibbon, to accept the benefits of civilization and at the same time deny the supernatural basis on which it rests; that is, Christianity. Christianity is in greater need of combative strength than it has been for centuries.” —Evelyn Waugh
Following Jesus Christ is such a perilous act of faith because you have no idea where you will end up, even though you start out thinking you do. Typically, faith refers to a journey of discovery, not a mere moment in time. And once you set out on the journey of faith, you don’t get to set the destination. That was a lesson learned by all of the Apostles and Saints (cf John 21:17-19).
Within Catholic theology, philosophy, tradition, and history so many Christian ideas have already been explored, debated, tested, settled, and recorded. Catholics don’t have to continuously reinvent the wheel, because they never have to start from scratch. When a Protestant decides to become a Catholic, that’s usually one of the reasons. Protestants will sometimes figure out something that the Catholic Church figured out hundreds of years ago, and then those Protestants will think they’ve come up with some new insight. For us Catholics, it’s like we start a marathon about a mile from the finish line, so we have a clear advantage over the other runners. A lot of the sweating has already been done for us.
A new essay: Politeness or Boldness?
“The essence of the Scriptures is not the letter, but the meaning.” —St Jerome
“[Today] each man decides for himself what the essential doctrines of Christianity are. Each man creates his own creed from scratch, and concepts such as orthodoxy and heresy become completely obsolete. The concept of Christianity itself becomes obsolete because it no longer has any meaningful objective definition.” —Keith Mathison
Have you ever noticed how super-intelligent people seem weird compared to “normies”? Well, I don’t think super-intelligent people are weird. I just think their high-IQs cause them to operate on a different frequency. So you’ll just have to be patient with the super-intelligent folks. Sometimes very patient.
You know, as a Catholic, I’m all for “ecumenical dialogue”. Yes, Vatican leaders and theologians should be having discussions with any “denomination” or religious body that is willing to talk to Catholic envoys in good faith. That’s true at the person-to-person level too, but those personal discussions often devolve into heated “apologetics cage matches”, which aren’t very edifying.
Anyway, I don’t think I could be one of those brave theologians who engages in “official” inter-religious dialogues. I just wouldn’t have the patience for it. And I certainly don’t possess the theological depth for it. At this point in my life, I just want to journey through the Catholic universe and explore all the wonders there without getting bogged down. I don’t want to get held back by the nit-picky, laborious tedium of straining at doctrinal minutiae. To me, that seems like a description of hell. God bless the Catholic theologians who can do that and retain their sanity.
No, Catholicism isn’t designed to be fun. It’s designed to be challenging. That’s kinda the point. Thank God.
“Our response to God occurs now. We are not to be inhibited by our own weakness and failure. We are not to ponder our unworthiness. God is working in our lives now, and we are to respond now.” —Fr David Fleming SJ
I was listening to a Protestant theologian who insisted that the current flood of young adults entering the Catholic Church is “just a trend”. Well, of course it is. Thanks for letting us know. But the real point is that, after two-thousand years, it’s safe to say that Catholicism itself is not just a trend.
In Catholic teaching, what is the highest form of personal prayer? Offering petitions? No. Speaking in tongues? No. Praying the Rosary? No. Lectio Divina (praying the scriptures)? No.
For Catholics, the highest form of personal prayer is contemplation—seeking pure love and communion with God beyond words. So then, in contemplative prayer, we stop, sit down, shut up, calm our agitated minds, and open our hearts to the presence of God. Some Catholics do this at a church building, when nothing is going on. This form of prayer does not involve thinking or speaking. It’s all about “gazing” at the beauty of the Lord (see Psalm 27:4 ).
A new video link: Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of the Internet!
A new video link: I’m a Christian, but I can’t stay Protestant. HERE’S WHY!
The Bible is a mess. First off, it’s a library, not a single book. For another thing, it contains seeming contradictions. For yet another thing, it contains many recondite passages. So if you want to read the Bible as the stand-alone, only-thing-necessary “word of God”, you’re going to run into challenges, as well as endless arguments with others who disagree with your interpretations.
If you decide to enter the “Mixed Martial Bible-Interpretation Arts” arena, you’re going to need a referee who has legit authority to settle the inevitable disagreements and call a stop to the contest when you’re in over your head. Well, okay, but who qualifies to be that referee? Luther? Calvin? Zwingli? John Knox? Henry VIII? John Wesley? Joseph Smith? Thomas Campbell? Charles Taze Russell? Mary Baker Eddy? William B. Johnson? Charles Parham? That megachurch guy in Texas? That LGBTQ+++ pastor? That guy who started his own “church” two weeks ago? The Pentecostal lady who lives across the street? That guy on YouTube? Your uncle? Your proctologist?
Why do we need a Savior? When people begin to ask that question, they’ve arrived at the point where the path to salvation begins.
“Let us therefore stay far away from all that glitters. Let us love our littleness. Let us love to feel nothing. Then we will be poor in spirit and Jesus will come to seek us; however far we may be, he will transform us into flames of love.” —St Thérèse of Lisieux
A new essay: My Mom, the Theologian
Just wait long enough, and your favorite actors, directors, and singers will prove to you (and to the world) that they’re nuts. Or maybe that they’re really aliens from a different reality.
I said in an earlier post that I was pretty much done with Christian apologetics. That’s still true for me. I agree with St John Henry Newman: “Religious truth is reached, not by reasoning, but by an inward perception.” So apologetics don’t really convince me of anything, one way or the other. I view apologetics as something more akin to a team sport, where the goal is to rack up rhetorical points against an opponent.
But I do like to listen to thoughtful people who recount their journeys to the Catholic Faith. I always relate to those stories since my own journey was similar—and filled with the same surprising discoveries. I definitely see a pattern in all these Catholic conversion stories. And that’s a discovery that doesn’t surprise me at all.
Don’t lean Left. Lean West.
A new video link: The DARK Truth About Why Young Women Are Going Hard Left