Colorado Musing

Duuuuuh!

2012-01-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

I know if haven't posted much lately but hey, I'm an accountant, this is tax season, duh!

Idealogy vs Principle

2012-01-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Cover of C.S. LewisThis is from a piece by David J. Theroux on a site called the Independent Institute, noted by Fr Phillip Neri Power on his Hanc Aquam blog as a "must read.". I was thinking about this this morning, that the problem in society today is that idealogy has replaced principle, or the First Principles. Now I know why I thought so.

“We live in an increasingly secularized world of massive and pervasive nation states in which traditional religion, especially Christianity, is ruled unwelcome and even a real danger on the basis of a purported history of intolerance and “religious violence.” This is found in most all “public” domains, including the institutions of education, business, government, welfare, transportation, parks and recreation, science, art, foreign affairs, economics, entertainment, and the media. A secularized public square policed by government is viewed as providing a neutral, rational, free, and safe domain that keeps the “irrational” forces of religion from creating conflict and darkness. And we are told that real progress requires expanding this domain by pushing religion ever backward into remote corners of society where it has little or no influence. In short, modern America has become a secular theocracy with a civic religion of national politics (nationalism) occupying the public realm in which government has replaced God.

For the renowned Christian scholar and writer C.S. Lewis, such a view was fatally flawed morally, intellectually, and spiritually, producing the twentieth-century rise of the total state, total war, and mega-genocides. For Lewis, Christianity provided the one true and coherent worldview that applied to all human aspirations and endeavors: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” (The Weight of Glory)[1]

In his book, The Discarded Image, Lewis revealed that for Medieval Christians, there was no sacred/secular divide and that this unified, theopolitical worldview of hope, joy, liberty, justice, and purpose from the loving grace of God enabled them to discover the objective, natural-law principles of ethics, science, and theology, producing immense human flourishing. [2] Lewis described the natural law as a cohesive and interconnected objective standard of right behavior:

‘This thing which I have called for convenience the Tao, and which others may call Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not one among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgements. If it is rejected, all values are rejected. If any value is retained, it is retained. The effort to refute it and raise a new system of value in its place is self-contradictory. There has never been, and never will be, a radically new judgement of value in the history of the world. What purport to be new systems or (as they now call them) “ideologies,” all consist of fragments from the Tao itself. Arbitrarily wrenched from their context in the whole and then swollen to madness in their isolation, yet still owing to the Tao and to it alone such validity as they possess. If my duty to my parents is a superstition, then so is my duty to posterity. If justice is a superstition, then so is my duty to my country or my race. If the pursuit of scientific knowledge is a real value, then so is conjugal fidelity’”. (The Abolition of Man)[3]

Founders Friday, January 20, 2012

2012-01-20T03:00:00.002-07:00

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"Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being....And, consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker's will...this will of his Maker is called the law of nature. These laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil...This law of nature dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this..."

Sir William Blackstone

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, January 18, 2012

2012-01-18T03:00:00.002-07:00

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"If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze." -- St Catherine of Siena

Founders Friday, Friday, January 13, 2012, James Madison

2012-01-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

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A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, January 11. 2012, St Dominic

2012-01-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaA man who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either command them, or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.

Miscellaneous Musings, Tuesday, January 10, 2012.

2012-01-10T03:00:00.001-07:00

I haven’t done much in the way of posting since early in Advent’ it seems I’ve had very little to say of any notable worth. Fr. Don, at our parish, offered a good joke during at the start of the Christmas Eve Mass that I’ve been meaning to share.

The parish only offered two or three masses on Christmas weekend, two were on Saturday, one in the sanctuary and one in the school gym, both at 4:00 PM. The sound system in the school gym wasn’t the greatest, but the crowds were huge and there was no place left to sit but there. At the start of the Mass, Fr Don commented that the sound was somewhat better than expected, and also commented on the changes in the Mass translation, for those who hadn’t been to Mass since Easter. He said he welcomed the changes for many reasons. One was he hoped to avoid the situation of a priest friend of his who was offering Mass in a similar setting to our own. This priest was standing at the microphone, trying to get it to work and said to one of the nearby technicians, “There’s something wrong with the mike.” To which the congregation immediately responded, “And also with you.”

† † †

I noted that several bloggers I follow posted on plans for their blog for the coming year. I’ve hesitated to do the same. It seems everytime I announce some future plan for Colorado Musing, I’ve failed to follow through, so I’ll just say I have two or three new things planned during the year and see if you spot them when, and if, they appear.

† † †

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I read a meditation in an inspirational magazine, written by a modern author and was disappointed. I wonder sometimes if we have nothing to say, even on things so important to us as the Christmas season or the Epiphany. Is simply stringing seasonal words together and hope they inspire someone the best that can be done? It would be better, then, not to write anything at all and turn to the saints who have gone before us who did have something to say. Why waste the ink on paper?

The Epiphany, which we celebrated this weekend, is an odd thing though. We celebrate the revelation of the Incarnation to the world. Yet, it was a quite limited revelation. It involved, at best, only a few shepherds, perhaps the city of Jerusalem, and three kings from who knows where. There is little Scriptural evidence that it spread any further until Jesus disappeared, only to show up three days later in the temple, and then it was hidden again until Jesus began his public ministry, perhaps10 years after that. You would think that if God were to truly reveal himself, it would be an earth shaking event, yet nothing much seems to have happened.

I’m reminded of one of Gibbs’ Rules, “The best way to keep a secret is to tell no one, the second best way is to share it with one other person, there is no third best way.” God told a few persons, He chose the third best way, and it was enough. Like so much that He does, it’s enough, no more was needed. That is perhaps the best lesson we could have to begin this year with, remember that God will do enough to share His Truth with us. We may have to look for it, but it’s there.

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, January 8, 2012 - Abercius

2012-01-08T03:00:00.001-07:00

Image via WikipediaIf a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (I Cor., 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works. (Patres Groeci. XIII, col. 445, 448 [A.D. 185-232]). Abercius

Founders Friday, Friday, January 6, 2012, Thomas Jefferson

2012-01-06T03:00:00.002-07:00

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If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, January 4. 2012, St John Vianny

2012-01-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

“I can’t stop praying for poor sinners who are on the road to hell. If they come to die in that state, they will be lost for all eternity. What a pity! We have to pray for sinners! Praying for sinners is the most beautiful and useful of prayers because the just are on the way to heaven, the souls of purgatory are sure to enter there, but the poor sinners will be lost forever. All devotions are good but there is no better one than such prayer for sinners."

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, January 1, 2012, St Jerome

2012-01-01T03:00:00.002-07:00

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Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us "in mystery" by the tradition of the Apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will contradict; - no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in these matters… (On the Holy Spirit 27 [A.D. 375]). Jerome

Founders Friday, Friday, December 30, 2011 – James Madison

2011-12-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

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"A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species. "

2011-12-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

My wife had a very minor medical procedure on Tuesday and when we arrived at the doctors office, this sight greeted us. The balloon was trying to land, apparently, in a park just across the street from the medical complex. I don't know if it finally made a safe landing, but there was no news of a crash.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 – St John Bosco

2011-12-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaNever read books you aren't sure about . . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?

St. John Bosco

Christmas, Sunday, December 25, 2011 - Robert Southwell

2011-12-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaFROM St. Peter's Complaint, 1595

THE BURNING BABE.
By Robert Southwell

As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow,
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow ;
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear ;
Who, scorchëd with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.
Alas, quoth he, but newly born in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I !
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,
Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns ;
The fuel justice layeth on, and mercy blows the coals,
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defilëd souls,
For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.
With this he vanished out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I callëd unto mind that it was Christmas day.

Founders Friday, Friday, December 23, 2011 – John Quincy Adams

2011-12-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isaiah 52:10)."

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 – St John of the Cross

2011-12-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaWhenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

St. John of the Cross

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, December 18, 2011

2011-12-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

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"Since then these things are manifest to us, and we have looked into the depths of the divine knowledge, we ought to do in order all things which the Master commanded us to perform at appointed times. He commanded us to celebrate sacrifices and services, and that it should not be thoughtlessly or disorderly, but at fixed times and hours. He has Himself fixed by His supreme will the places and persons whom He desires for these celebrations, in order that all things may be done piously according to His good pleasure, and be acceptable to His will. So then those who offer their oblations at the appointed seasons are acceptable and blessed, but they follow the laws of the Master and do not sin. For to the high priest his proper ministrations are allotted, and to the priests the proper place has been appointed, and on Levites their proper services have been imposed. The layman is bound by the ordinances for the laity."

Founders Friday, Friday, December 16, 2011 – Thomas Jefferson

2011-12-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

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"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 – St Basil the Great

2011-12-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

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A woman who deliberately destroys a fetus is answerable for murder. And any fine distinction between its being completely formed or unformed is not admissible among us.

St. Basil the Great

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, December 11, 2011 – St Gregory of Nyssa

2011-12-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaWhen we lay bare the hidden meaning of the history, scripture is seen to teach that the birth which distresses the tyrant is the beginning of the virtuous life. I am speaking of the kind of birth in which free will serves as the midwife, delivering the child amid great pain. For no one causes grief to his antagonist unless he exhibits in himself those marks which give proof of his victory over the other.

Tebowing, Saturday, December 10, 2011

2011-12-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

There’s a good article in today’s Wall Street Journal about Tim Tebow and his conspicuous display of his faith. Of course, I’m somewhat interested in this, being a Denver Bronco’s fan, but also because it seems such a refreshing change to have an openly Christian young man doing good things. Possibly unlike many people who are cheering Tebow on, I don’t think his success says much about God’s interest in football, and I don’t think his winning or losing proves that God is “on our side”, so to speak. What the Tebow phenomena does show is that it’s equally possible to be successful in pro sports being a man of upright character as it is being a man of weak character; perhaps even more so.

One point in the article I take exception to is the conclusion the writer seems to reach as to why so very many people seem to hate Tebow and wish him to fail. Here is a short quote from the article:

Mr. Tebow may indeed turn out to be a hypocrite, like other high-profile Christians in recent memory. Some of us might even want that to happen, because moral failure is something we understand. We know how to deal with disappointed expectations, to turn our songs of praise into condemnation.

What we are far less sure how to do is to take seriously a public figure's seemingly admirable character and professions of higher purpose. We don't know how to trust goodness.

And who can blame us? We don't want to be fooled again.

I don’t think the reason is that people fear being let down. I think the reason is that people don’t like to compare themselves to someone with a higher standard; I think they fear they are letting themselves down. Tebow sets a high moral standard, one that few of us can live up to; it’s easier to tear him down than to try to build ourselves up to the standard he sets.

Founders Friday, Friday, December 9, 2011 – Samuel Adams

2011-12-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."

A A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - St Ignatius Loyola

2011-12-07T03:00:00.000-07:00

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"Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly."

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, December 4, 2011 – St Symeon the New Theologian

2011-12-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

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When a man walks in the fear of God he knows no fear, even if he were to be surrounded by wicked men. He has the fear of God within him and wears the invincible armor of faith. This makes him strong and able to take on anything, even things which seem difficult or impossible to most people. Such a man is like a giant surrounded by monkeys, or a roaring lion among dogs and foxes. He goes forward trusting in the Lord and the constancy of his will to strike and paralyze his foes. He wields the blazing club of the Word in wisdom.

Founders Friday, Friday, December 2, 2011 – Patrick Henry

2011-12-02T03:00:00.004-07:00

Image via Wikipedia"This book [The Bible] is worth all the books that ever were printed, and it has been my misfortune that I never found time to read it with the proper attention and feeling till lately. I trust in the mercy of heaven that it is not too late."

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 30, 2011 – St Thomas Aquinas

2011-11-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

"To love God is something greater than to know Him." -- St. Thomas Aquinas

Desert Fathers, Sunday, November 27, 2011 – St John Chrysotom

2011-11-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

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"We must thoroughly quench the darts of the devil and beat them off by continual reading of the divine Scriptures. For it is not possible, not possible for anyone, to be saved without continually taking advantage of spiritual reading. Actually, we must be content, if even with continual use of this therapy, we are barely able to be saved. But when we are struck every day, if we do not use any medical care, what hope do we have of salvation?”

Friday, November 25, 2011 – Lewis Morris

2011-11-25T03:00:00.002-07:00

Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr"Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare." - - Lewis Morris

Thanksgiving Day, 2011

2011-11-24T03:00:00.003-07:00

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The original Thanksgiving Day proclamation by George Washington

General Thanksgiving

By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our fincere and humble thanksfor His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the fignal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpofitions of His providence in the courfe and conclufion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have fince enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to eftablish Conftitutions of government for our fafety and happinefs, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are bleffed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffufing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleafed to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in moft humbly offering our prayers and fupplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and befeech Him to pardon our national and other tranfgreffions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private ftations, to perform our feveral and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a bleffing to all the people by conftantly being a Government of wife, juft, and conftitutional laws, difcreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all fovereigns and nations (especially fuch as have shewn kindnefs unto us); and to blefs them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increafe of fcience among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind fuch a degree of temporal profperity as he alone knows to be beft.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 23, 2011 – St Vincent Pallotti

2011-11-23T03:00:00.002-07:00

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"Not the goods of the world, but God. Not riches, but God. Not honors, but God. Not distinction, but God. Not dignities, but God. Not advancement, but God. God always and in everything." -- St. Vincent Pallotti

Monday Musings, Monday, November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T03:00:00.004-07:00

Last night, looking for something a little different to read, I downloaded a sample chapter from Fr. Robert Spitzer’s book on proofs of God from modern day physics to the old Kindle. Normally I avoid such books. My idea is that, the existence of God doesn’t depend on any proof or disproof we could offer, we’re finite beings, of very limited knowledge, and God is something we could never definitively prove. Our understanding of science changes quite rapidly, I hate to say progresses, and a “proof” offered one day based on our existing knowledge, risks being thrown out, taken to actually disprove God’s existence the next day, when in fact, as stated above, there is no such proof available to us. These are mostly mind games, to my mind (so to speak).

And yet, and yet. I realized there is value in such books. The value is in the fact that they show that there is little in “science” as we know it that disproves God’s existence, contrary to the claims made by atheistic so called scientists. They show, in fact, that what we are learning in the fields of physics and astronomy more points to the fact of God existing than not.

+ + +

Speaking of the old Kindle (K2 version), I’m now tempted greatly by the new Kindle Touch. From what I gather, it is a bit smaller and noticeably lighter than my current version, and has far better battery life and available memory, too. All at a fairly reasonable price. Who knows, maybe Santa will read this.

A lady who works with me just received her Kindle Fire and I have reservations about it after a quick look. The screen is very nice, however, controls seem poorly thought out and it is also quite heavy, almost to the point I think it would be tiring to try to hold it while reading for any length of time. I’m leaning much more to the Touch version.

I find I’m buying more ebooks these days, for several reasons. First, the house is nearly full of books and space is becoming a concern; it’s nice to buy books and not have them take up a lot of room, or have to worry about where to put them. Also, it’s very convenient to be able to take a small but growing library with me wherever I go. If I’m stuck somewhere and have to spend time waiting, I can pull the trusty Kindle out of the bag and start reading. It’s very handy.

+ + +

I’ve started reading Mortimer Adler’s book, How to Read a Book. I thought it about time; with retirement possibly immanent, I will have time to read some fairly serious tomes and it would be nice to have some level of real understanding of them, maybe even learn something from them. I tend to breeze through books without really taking them in, and that's not a good practice. One thing that is puzzling me is that Adler, of course, recommends some serious level of note taking during reading. The thing that has me a bit stumped is that I’d like to have some truly systematic way of taking notes and keeping the organized so that they can be easily retrieved and reviewed (maybe even used in blog posts). I don’t think 3x5 cards are up to the task, not really, they are too small and too easily lost or misplaced. I’m thinking it may be a matter of just buying some loose leaf paper and a notebook and starting there, but I don’t find that a totally satisfying solution. Anyone have any good ideas?

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, November 20, 2011 – Justin Martyr

2011-11-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

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We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these, but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus (First Apology 66 [A.D. 151]).

Make You a Bet!

2011-11-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is from Domine, da mihi hanc aquam! (what a name, but a great blog):

"YouKnow It's A Myth. This Season, Celebrate Reason," was one tagline offered up on a billboard by the American Atheists organization one holiday season. The atheists intend to put up more billboards this year, some featuring images of Santa, Jesus, Poseidon and the devil next to the message: "37 Million Americans know MYTHS when they see them."

It seems the atheists are at it again with the billboards. They ask us to celebrate REASON during the upcoming holy season of Christmas. The problem is, I think reason would have to tell us that we DON’T know it’s a myth, we can’t possibly know. There is no measurement we can make that will tell us definitively whether this is a myth or not. It isn't reasonable to want something to be true and insist that is but not offer any sort of concrete proof. There is, however, considerable historical evidence to suggest that the factual claims made in the Bible concerning those events, given by eye witnesses, are accurate. Still, there is nothing that allows us to know or not know what is true about these events.

To paraphrase Pascal, there is a point to make if you find yourself in an argument with a similarly minded atheist. If his claims that all of this is a myth are correct, none of us will ever know it; it will make no difference if I believe or not. If my claims are correct, we’ll both know it forever.

WaPo and the OWS Outlaws

2011-11-19T03:00:00.002-07:00

This is from James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal:

Yesterday the erstwhile denizens of New York's Obamaville called for a day of rage that included disruptions in the Wall Street area, on the subways and at Foley Square, site of the state and federal courthouses. WCBS-TV reports that "some grade school students were forced to walk a gauntlet of screaming 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters just to get to school."

"In the middle of thousands of protestors yelling and chanting--some kicking and screaming--CBS 2's Emily Smith found little school kids trying to get to class," the report continues. "Nervous parents led them through the barriers on Wall Street. The [New York City Police Department] helped funnel the children, anything to ease their fears while some protestors chanted 'follow those kids!' "

"A big failure? No, quite the opposite," writes the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson. "Lower Manhattan was swarming not just with demonstrators and police but with journalists from around the world--and with tourists who wanted to see what all the fuss was about. A small, nonviolent protest had been amplified into something much bigger and more compelling, not by the strength of its numbers but by the power of its central idea."

I fail to see how this is a good thing. Just sayin'

Friday, November 18, 2011 – George Washington

2011-11-18T03:00:00.001-07:00

Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr"A people... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything." - - George Washington

Modern Day Issues, Wednesday, November 16, 2011

2011-11-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

This little notice popped up on my computer home screen today. This is about as wrong an assessment of the Catechism as could be written. The issues addressed in that volume are as old a humanity itself, certainly as old as the Church itself: the faith, sin, death, prayer, and many others. If there was an update, I’d suggest it’s only to allow the Catechism to cover development of doctrine over the centuries. It’s amazing how sure we are of the difference between ourselves and those who have gone before us. The height of arrogance, I call it.

“Events: 1992
The Roman Catholic Church issued a new universal catechism, addressing modern-day issues.”

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 16, 2011 – St Aelred of Rievaulx

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia"Charity may be a very short word, but with its tremendous meaning of pure love, it sums up man's entire relation to God and to his neighbor." -- St Aelred of Rievaulx

Written on the Heart, Tuesday, November 15, 2011

2011-11-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Fr. James Schall, one of my favorite writers these days, has a review of a new book by Fr. Robert Spitzer on the Roe v Wade case and it’s intellectual merits. Fr. Schall writes:

The fact is, as Spitzer points out, from Blackstone and previous decisions of State Courts, legal precedent existed that the human fetus at all its stages was a human person. The Court simply ignored this background.

The Court’s effort to make a distinction between a “human being” and a “person” was spurious from the beginning. Spitzer’s analysis of the legal, linguistic, and metaphysical use of the word “person” in every instance identifies it with a human being protected both by natural and constitutional law. Why the Court could not find the word “person” in previous Court decisions was simple. The issue never came up before. It would be, Spitzer suggests, like saying that because the old maps did not show the existence of the American continent, therefore, it did not exist.

This background also leads to the issue of the scientific status of the human fetus. No longer is there any doubt that the fertilized human zygote from its beginning is an independent human life separate from the mother. Spitzer cites the work of Jerome Lejeune on the DNA of the human fetus. This work became known a few years after the decision, but the Court has not recognized its force. The Court equivalently said that, if it is in doubt about whether a thing is human, we can assume that it is not. This is a principle directly contrary to reason. If in doubt about a thing’s humanity, we do not act until we find out.

Fr. Schall goes on to point out that a constitution doesn’t stipulate all of the conditions under which people live in society. There are laws that people should know and live by that exist in their hearts. In other words, to take an innocent life is always and everywhere wrong, a sin, and a person can know that “in his heart,” without the need to have it written in a constitution. I think I’ll need to add this book to my Kindle collection pretty soon.

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, November 13, 2011 -- Clement of Alexandria

2011-11-13T03:00:00.002-07:00

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A multitude of other pieces of advice to particular persons is written in the holy books: some for presbyters, some for bishops and deacons; and others for widows, of whom we shall have opportunity to speak elsewhere (The Instructor of Children 3:12:97:2 [pre-A.D. 202]).

In Flanders Fields, Friday, November 11, 2011

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Role of Honor of Clan McCrae for WWI dead.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Founders Friday, Friday, November 11, 2011 – Samuel Adams

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Image via Wikipedia“It is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.”

Miscellaneous Musings, Thursday, November 10, 2011

2011-11-10T03:00:00.001-07:00

Brother Bonaventure Chapman, O.P. has a really good post on the blog, Dominicana, referencing a new book (I think its new) titled Our Contempory Nihilism. It’s well worth reading, as I believe, the book is too.

First, it is true that contemporary American culture seems to be moving in a more nihilistic direction every passing day. This is true whether one reads academic tomes like Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age or merely watches the latest reality TV show highlights on the Internet. People are certain of less and less; Dreyfus’ and Kelly’s diagnosis of a culture with an overemphasis on freedom leading to a form of suicide strikes me as prescient. As the Dominican tradition is wont to emphasize, freedom of indifference is no substitute for the true freedom of excellence, which is the freedom which comes not from our whim but from Truth.

Secondly, I think Dreyfus and Kelly are correct in recalling us to a life filled with “shining things.” Jesus says: “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Today’s materialist reductionism leads to a truncated sense of life. Catholic philosopher Jean-Luc Marion talks of the “saturated phenomena” where the content of revelation overwhelms our finite capacity to receive and interpret. The world is so saturated with meaning that even the banal events of everyday life should be filled with significance. As Hamlet says: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” This saturated sense may not be possible at all times, but if it is not present in the Christian life something is certainly amiss.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 9, 2011 – St John of the Cross

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"At the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity." -- St. John of the Cross

What Time is it?, Tuesday, November 8, 2011

2011-11-08T03:00:00.001-07:00

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I bought a book of Ted Kooser’s poems, Delights and Shadows¸ a few weeks ago. For some reason, I bought a used copy from Amazon. It turns outs to have been very obviously used by a young lady for a college class, I imagine in literature or poetry.

     I guess my first thought was, why would anyone turn in such a book, especially one they had had so much involvement with and worked so hard over those poems?. How could it have meant so little to them to have so quickly outlived its usefulness? We live in an age that has become much too utilitarian and I expect there may come a day when she would like to have it back.

     The next point that I found fascinating was the note she wrote at the bottom of the page holding the poem below. It was something to the effect “TV – watching the war from afar.” What? Are kids today so unaware of even the most recent history not to recognize that during World War II there was no such thing as TV? Was she so ill prepared to read this poem, that even the most basic facts escaped her? Without that, she could have had no appreciation of the very significant difference between listening to news reports of a far distant war and watching it. And what of the professor, was he the source of this anachronistic idea? If so, we’re really in trouble.

     I have, only recently discovered Mr. Kooser’s poetry, but I thoroughly enjoy it, perhaps you will enjoy this one too.

Zenith

It was part of her parlor's darkness

during the war years – its Gothic cabinet,

its shadowy speaker behind a thin lattice

like the face of a priest – but when

my grandmother snapped its switch

each evening to tune in the news,
it opened the tiny Japanese fan

of its dial and light spilled over her fingers,

swollen and stiff. And in the near darkness

my sister and I, shushed into silence,

and Grandmother, rubbing and kneading

the pain from her hands, sat there

at the rear of the action, a patrol

in the weak yellow glow from the war.

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, November 6, 2011 -- Tertullian

2011-11-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia"Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago – in the reign of Antoninus for the most part – and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled." (On the Prescription Against Heretics 22,30 [A.D.200])

Offering Ourselves

2011-11-05T03:00:00.002-06:00

Here's a good quote from Fr Brendan Freeman in his book Come and See:

The Eucharist is a mystery and as such cannot be fully understood by reason alone; faith must supplement our reason. But there has to be something we understand about it, something to hold onto and practice. I believe that by washing his disciple’s feet, Jesus is telling us something about the mystery of the Eucharist, something easily understood, something as easily understood as, who is more privileged? The one who serves the table? Or the one who sits at the table and is served? What does this tell us about the Eucharist? In the Eucharist, Jesus hands over his body and pours out his blood for us. Jesus’ words are repeated every day at the consecration: “This is the cup of my blood … it will be shed for you and for all. Do this in memory of me.” We know that our blood is our life force, our life. When someone says, “I offer you a cup of my blood,” they are saying very graphically that they are offering themselves, their very existence to us. Now, we cannot offer actual blood, but we can serve each other and in this way pour out our blood for the other. St. Benedict calls the monastery a school of the Lord’s service. As such, it is a eucharistic school, a place where we connect liturgy and life. However, you do not have to be in a monastery to be in this school. The message is so simple: serve each other and you will fulfill the law of Christ who came among us to serve and not to be served.

Good Point

2011-11-04T13:18:00.000-06:00

Then there's this from Jonah Goldberg:

If you didn't know, Fringe is a TV show. If it wasn't so enjoyable, the charge that it's a ripoff of The X-Files would sting more.

One of the central premises of the show is the existence of a parallel universe where a near-exact replica of Earth exists with all the same people, living under just slightly different circumstances.

This, of course, gives me a chance to offer my longstanding complaint about the multiverse. First of all, you'd think with an infinite number of universes, it'd be easier to find good deli.

Founders Friday, Friday, November 4, 2011 – Josiah Bartlett

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Image via Wikipedia"Firstly I commit my Soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author." - - Josiah Bartlett

Music and Culture, A Connection?

2011-11-03T03:00:00.005-06:00

Cover via Amazon

I've been reading Fr. James Schall's wonderful book, The

"Plato, it is said, asked that the flute be played by a young Thracian maiden on the evening he died. When she hit a wrong note, he indicated the proper tune with his finger. This was his last act in this world. An act worthy of Plato, since it indicated the harmony of the world even in death. Still, Plato was quite certain that, while music could move us to our depths, it could also, almost without our noticing it. Corrupt our very souls and cities by attuning them to patterns of emotional disorder. We underestimate the power of music and its rhythms at our peril. "

I couldn't help but think back on all the changes that have occured, both in musical tastes and culture during the course of my life time. I think Plato may have been on to something.

Life of the Mind, Schall, pg 80

Life of the Mind, and came across this interesting passage on music:

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 2, 2011 – Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

2011-11-02T03:00:00.000-06:00

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"Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is." -- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Brilliant

2011-11-01T09:31:00.000-06:00

Here’s a bit of trivia I just figured out. It turns out 2011 is an unusual year, there are four dates in particular made up of one number, one:

1/1/11

1/11/11

11/1/11

11/11/11

Can’t think of any other year where this might occur. My brilliance is amazing sometimes! (Ever wonder if some people don't have enough to do?)

Days gone by

2011-10-31T12:51:00.000-06:00

The Railroad came to town today. I remember when these were in actual operation! It's scary, it was, of course, Halloween!

I have a few more shots to post later.

After the Storm

2011-10-31T11:45:00.001-06:00

I've been struggling mightily since last Thursday, to get this one photo uploaded. It's a not very good shot out our rear window of the scene after the most recent snow storm here in the Springs.

Early Church Fathers, Sunday, October 30, 2011, St. Irenaeus

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"As I said before, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes these things just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart; and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the tradition is one and the same" (Against Heresies 1:10:2 [A.D. 189]).

Founders Friday, Friday, October 28, 2011, John Adams

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"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."

John Adams

Is Law only by Convention?, Thursday, October 27, 2011

2011-10-27T03:00:00.003-06:00

There is a good column by Hadley Arkes on The Catholic Thing, here’s a quote:

“At the time of the American Founding, Alexander Hamilton thought it critical to reject the argument of Thomas Hobbes that all morality is conventional; that until laws are made, there can be no clear sense of right and wrong. What Hobbes rejected, said Hamilton, was the existence of that “superintending principle,” that God who is the source of “an eternal and immutable law, which is. . .obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever.” Even when governments break down, there is no “right” to rape or murder or commit any other wrongs, as though there was no right and wrong without the law.”

A Word On Wednesday, Wednesday, October 26, 2011 - Alexander Pope

2011-10-26T03:00:00.001-06:00

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The Dying Christian to His Soul

Vital spark of heav'nly flame!
Quit, O quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling'ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.

Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?

The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav'n opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?

The “Free” Man, Tuesday, October 25, 2011

2011-10-25T09:17:00.000-06:00

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This from The Republic, seems a pretty good description of much of what is going on, and admired today in this country and the West. It comes down, as shown in the Occupy Wall Street movement, which seems a rather feckless purposeless gathering only for the sake of gathering. We need better, not sure we deserve it.

“And,” I said, “he doesn’t admit true speech or let it pass into the guardhouse [of his soul], if someone says that there are some pleasures belonging to fine and good desires and some belonging to bad desires, and that the ones must be practiced and honored and the others checked and enslaved. Rather, he shakes his head at all this and says that all are alike and must be honored on an equal basis.”

“That’s exactly,” he said, “what a man in this condition does.”

“Then,” I said, “he also lives along day by day, gratifying the desire that occurs to him, at one time drinking and listening to the flute, at another downing water and reducing; now practicing gymnastic, and again idling and neglecting everything; and sometimes spending his time as though he were occupied with philosophy. Often he engages in politics and, jumping up, says and does whatever chances to come to him; and if he ever admires any soldiers, he turns in that direction; and if it’s money-makers, in that one. And there is neither order nor necessity in his life, but calling this life sweet, free, and blessed he follows it throughout.”

“You have,” he said, “described exactly the life of a man attached to the law of equality.”

Plato; Allan Bloom (1991-10-02). The Republic Of Plato: Second Edition (pp. 239-240). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Where Your Treasure Is . . .

2011-10-22T03:00:00.001-06:00

On Monday, in the October Magnificat magazine, there was a wonderful meditation by Fr John Tauler, O.P, a 14th century Domincan, on detachment and eternal life. Here’s a quote:

“From this detachment is born kindness, and also separation from all worldly things; so that one now receives freely from God’s hands and with entire thankfulness, joy or sorrow, or whatever else, may befall him in the inner life or the outer: everything helps him to eternal happiness. Such a man has the grace to feel that whatever happens to him has been eternally foreseen by his heavenly Father, and in the very way it does happen, and, viewing all things as God does, he rests in peace of mind, no matter what occurs.”

The phrase that really struck me was, . . .”whatever may befall him in the inner life or the outer.” That’s the hard one, the inner life. Things don’t always go my way, and I find it easier to accept the external circumstances while still arguing and rethinking those circumstances in my mind. It’s hard to let it go. Fr Tauler tells us, and I really welcomed this reminder, that to be detached we need to accept the things that befall us and, even harder, be truly grateful for it. I remind myself that, whatever happens, if it weren’t for God’s grace in my life, I wouldn’t be here to be grateful for them. No matter how much they irk me at the moment.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, October 19, 2011

2011-10-19T03:00:00.005-06:00

Mass at Dawn
I dropped my sail and dried my dripping seines
Where the white quay is chequered by cool planes
In whose great branches, always out of sight,
The nightingales are singing day and night.
Though all was grey beneath the moon’s grey beam,
My boat in her new paint shone like a bride,
And silver in my baskets shone the bream:
My arms were tired and I was heavy-eyed,
But when with food and drink, at morning-light,
The children met me at the water-side,
Never was wine so red or bread so white.

Roy Campbell

Limiting our Horizons, Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2011-10-18T03:00:00.001-06:00

After a tooth extraction and implant on Thursday last week, it’s been a rough few days. That procedure was a bit rougher than I expected, especially the after effects. Luckily, the procedure itself went very well to all appearances and I think I’m finally able to lay off the Vicodin in order to sleep at night. While recovering at home on Friday afternoon, I finished reading, and began rereading Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I’d like to do one or two posts on my impressions, but that may be a couple of weeks down the road, at best. I need to try to understand what’s he’s saying more completely.

Reading Chesterton is like having literary fireworks go off in your face. His style is so very distinctive, and his ideas come so fast and furiously (to borrow a phrase that’s much in the news recently), not to mention that they are so original, that you have to stop and really think about what it is he’s saying. It’s very easy to be blinded by the fireworks. Here’s a mild example:

Spiritual doctrines do not actually limit the mind as do materialistic denials. Even if I believe in immortality I need not think about it. But if I disbelieve in immortality I must not think about it. In the first case the road is open and I can go as far as I like; in the second the road is shut. But the case is even stronger, and the parallel with madness is yet more strange. For it was our case against the exhaustive and logical theory of the lunatic that, right or wrong, it gradually destroyed his humanity. Now it is the charge against the main deductions of the materialist that, right or wrong, they gradually destroy his humanity; I do not mean only kindness, I mean hope, courage, poetry, initiative, all that is human.

The materialist, rationalist view that is being so actively promoted these days as the only “reasonable” way to look at the world, with those who dare to disagree being branded mean spirited or even fascist or racist, is really a very closed way of looking at things. It absolutely cannot tolerate dissent, all in the name of rationality and diversity. It’s nonsense, and only the fact that it has so pervaded and weakened our educational system allows this view to go on so unchallenged. People are, tragically, no longer educated to think these kinds of things through, much less think in a way contrary to the herd.

Anyway, back to Chesterton and my ice pack.

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, October 16, 2011, St. Cyprian

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Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built, teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not hear or obey may depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another (Letters 66 [A.D. 253]).

Founders Friday, Friday, October 14, 2011

2011-10-14T03:00:00.004-06:00

Cover of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Today, not exactly a quote from the Founding Fathers, but certainly a quote following in their footsteps.

"Every step we take towards making the State our Caretaker of our lives, by that much we move toward making the State our Master."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, October 12, 2011

2011-10-12T03:00:00.010-06:00

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This is from Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton. It seems appropos in light of the so-called "Wall Street" protests going on across the country. While the protests are not specifically against the Church, I'd think it a pretty safe bet that most of those involved are not great supporters. It seems to me the point of their protest is simply to break down society in whatever way they can, not to replace it with something better, but to leave it broken down. Not a good thing.

Men who begin to fight the Church for the sake of freedom and humanity end by flinging away freedom and humanity if only they may fight the Church. This is no exaggeration; I could fill a book with the instances of it. I have known people who protested against religious education with arguments against any education, saying that the child's mind must grow freely or that the old must not teach the young. I have known people who showed that there could be no divine judgment by showing that there can be no human judgment, even for practical purposes. They burned their own corn to set fire to the church; they smashed their own tools to smash it; any stick was good enough to beat it with, though it were the last stick of their own dismembered furniture. We do not admire, we hardly excuse, the fanatic who wrecks this world for love of the other. But what are we to say of the fanatic who wrecks this world out of hatred of the other? He sacrifices the very existence of humanity to the non-existence of God. He offers his victims not to the altar, but merely to assert the idleness of the altar and the emptiness of the throne. He is ready to ruin even that primary ethic by which all things live, for his strange and eternal vengeance upon some one who never lived at all.

Too Much Technology?

2011-10-11T03:00:00.003-06:00

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Bevil Bramwell, OMI, has a very interesting column that appeared Sunday on the Catholic Thing web site. Here’s an excerpt:

Thomas Aquinas makes a striking comment about imagination: “because a man seeks to occupy a higher grade as to accidentals, which can increase without the destruction of the subject, he can also seek a higher grade of nature.” Here is the heart of the problem: for all its usefulness technology is accidental, peripheral.

Yes, I too appreciate twenty-first century medicine and the car and other technological gains. But that is not the real business of becoming more human. It’s telling how many people show an odd identification with Steve Jobs. The BBC calls it a cult. Some people built their lives around Apple technology. This is not like a locomotive driver whose life depends on the locomotive. The driver still produces useful services for society. But those in a cult? Not so much. The focus of the Jobs cult seems not the great spiritual struggle, but simply a fashionable way to fill time, to connect with people who are not here (perhaps while not connecting with people who are here), to get caught in the flow of facts and not to achieve real knowledge.

It ties in to something I’ve felt for a long time, that technology has become for many people a means of escape from real life.

Listening to Tradition, Sunday, October 9, 2011 – Isaac of Stella

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Incited by something external
Is like a small lamp
Whose flame is fed with oil,
Or like a stream fed by rains,
Where flows stop when the rains cease.
But love whose object is God is like
A fountain gushing forth
From the earth.
Its flow never ceases,
For He Himself is the source of this love
And also its food,
Which never grows scarce.

An Early October Morning

2011-10-08T09:16:00.000-06:00

This was the scene just outside my backdoor around 9:00 AM. It was supposed to snow overnight, actually a "rain/snow" mix was called for, at 8:00AM it was still snowing, and I took this picture an hour later. It shows little sign of letting up for the moment. Ah, just another day in Colorado!

Founders Friday, Friday, October 7, 2011

2011-10-07T03:00:00.001-06:00

Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

John Jay

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, October 5, 2011

2011-10-05T08:09:00.000-06:00

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'Why should we be attached to this world, where we can breathe only air poisoned by so many crimes?'

St. Paul of the Cross

Listening to Tradition, Sunday, October 2, 2011

2011-10-02T03:00:00.004-06:00

A Song

Lord, when the sense of thy sweet grace
Sends up my soul to seek thy face.
Thy blessed eyes breed such desire,
I dy in love's delicious Fire.
     O love, I am thy Sacrifice.
Be still triumphant, blessed eyes.
Still shine on me, fair suns! that I
Still may behold, though still I dy.

     Though still I dy, I live again;
Still longing so to be still slain,
So gainfull is such losse of breath.
I dy even in desire of death.
     Still live in me this loving strife
Of living Death and dying Life.
For while thou sweetly slayest me
Dead to my selfe, I live in Thee.

Richard Crashaw

Founders Friday, Friday, September 30, 2011 – Benjamin Franklin

2011-09-30T03:00:00.002-06:00

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

Too Orthodox?

2011-09-29T03:00:00.009-06:00

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One thing that happened over the weekend that I didn’t note down yesterday, is that I searched the web (I hate the verb Google) for some material on lectio divina, for no particular reason, and came across a website by obviously zealous Catholics. On there they included a little write up on Bible versions to use for lectio. In that discussion, they wrote that the NAB Bible was heretical, citing the example of the translation of 1 Corinthians 9:5. This verse reads, in the NAB, “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and cCephas? The reason they say that passage is heretically translated is that it seems influenced by “Catholics” who are attacking celibacy, the word used for wife is translated “sister” in the Douey Rheims version. Well, a couple of obvious problems with that idea. One is that the notes to the NAB fully acknowledge that it’s possible to translate the word as “sister”, rather than wife. Another is that heresy is defined by St Thomas Aquinas thus, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

". . . a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". "The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics.”

Further, the Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to say,

"Before turning to the history of this observance it will be convenient to deal in the first place with certain general principles involved. The law of celibacy has repeatedly been made the object of attack, especially of recent years, and it is important at the outset to correct certain prejudices thus created.”

The practice of celibacy is not a doctrine, it is a law, or regulation of the Church, it can, quite legitimately be overturned at any time. I’m not saying that is a good idea, but to clarify that I think we should be careful flinging about the term “heresy”, where none can be found. I also don’t say the NAB is my preferred text of the Scriptures, it isn’t, although the NABRE does represent a considerable improvement over the old version. No, it’s a bad translation, but it’s not heretical.

Also, I sometimes wonder, even though I wish to be a very orthodox Catholic, if orthodoxy can’t be taken too far, at the expense of charity. We don’t after all place our faith in the Church, rather in the person of Christ. I firmly believe doctrine must be protected, but not in a way that becomes judgmental and lacks charity and patience. As St Paul says, we are to speak the truth in love.

Oh, by the way, I think any translation accepted by the Church can be used for lectio, including the NIV. My favorite is the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. It translates the verse in question this way, Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, September 28, 2011 – St John Bosco

2011-09-28T03:00:00.000-06:00

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When tempted, invoke your Angel. he is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: He trembles and flees at the sight of your Guardian Angel.

It's the Little Things

2011-09-26T12:37:00.000-06:00

My father-in-law, Bill McGaw was many things, including an actor in a movie with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck, no less, but he always considered himself a newspaperman first and foremost. In the 1970’s in El Paso he started a weekly newspaper dedicated to getting at the truth of many stories that seemed to always go unreported in towns with a very strong and closely knit power structure. One thing that he always said was that, for many powerful people, it was usually some small and very trivial mistake that tripped them up, something they never considered important at the time. As an example, think of Al Capone and the failure to file tax returns in a timely manner.

It turns out this is good advice in the Christian life also. Here’s a good quote from Blessed Peter Favre, SJ (no I don’t think he was a quarterback long ago).

"Seek grace for the smallest things, and you will also find grace to accomplish, to believe in, and to hope for the greatest things. Attend to the smallest things, examine them, think about putting them into effect, and the Lord will grant you greater. Many seek anxiously for grace to perform good works of a more general kind while neglecting in the meantime particular tasks for which it would have been easy to find grace. "

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, September 25, 2011 – St Sebastian of Optina

2011-09-25T03:00:00.000-06:00

“What is more precious than anything in the world? Time! And what do we waste uselessly and without being sorry? Time! What do we not value and what do we disregard more than anything? Time! When we waste time, we lose ourselves… Time is given by God to use correctly for the salvation of the soul and the acquisition of the life to come… The Lord will call us to account for having stolen time for our own whims, and for not using it for God and our souls.”

Founders Friday, Friday, September 23, 2011 – Charles Carroll

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-06:00

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Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, September 21, 2011 – St Francis of Assisi

2011-09-21T03:00:00.001-06:00

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It would be considered a theft on our part if we didn't give to someone in greater need than we are.

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, September 18, 2011 – Isaac the Syrian

2011-09-18T03:00:00.001-06:00

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Burden the soul with the labor of reading the Scriptures which make known the narrow ways of ascetic life and of contemplation, as well as the stories of the saints; that you may exchange one habit for another even if in the beginning your soul does not feel the pleasure because of the thick darkness and confusion of present memories. Then when you arise for prayer and for the office, instead of musing upon the things of the world, ideas from Scripture will be imprinted in the mind. And wih these, the memory of what it already has seen and heard will be erased from it. In this way your mind will come to purity.”

Founders Friday, Friday, September 16, 2011 – John Adams

2011-09-16T02:00:00.001-06:00

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We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

John Adams (The Works of John Adams, ed. C. F. Adams, Boston: Little, Brown Co., 1851, 4:31)

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 – Pope St Gregory the Great

2011-09-14T03:00:00.001-06:00

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The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue. Therefore, if you want to be rich, beloved, love true riches. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of Heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the Angels.

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, September 11, 2011 – St. Augustine

2011-09-11T03:00:00.000-06:00

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I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord's table, which you now look upon and of which you last night were made participants. You ought to know that you have received what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That bread which you see on the altar having been sanctified by the word of God is the body of Christ, That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the blood of Christ (Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).

Founders Friday, Friday, September 9, 2011 – Alexander Hamilton

2011-09-09T02:00:00.000-06:00

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To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules theworld and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; andstill to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectlyfree from all restraints of law and government, appears to a commonunderstanding altogether irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, haveembraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from therelations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternaland immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior toany human institution whatever. This is what is called the law ofnature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 – Fulton J. Sheen

2011-09-07T07:28:00.000-06:00

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"TheRosary is the best therapy for these distraught, unhappy, fearful, andfrustrated souls, precisely because it involves the simultaneous use of threepowers: the physical, the vocal, and the spiritual, and in that order."

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, September 4, 2011 – St Ignatius of Antioch

2011-09-04T07:04:00.000-06:00

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Follow your bishop, every one ofyou, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Obey your clergy too asyou would the apostles; give your deacons the same reverence that you would toa command of God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken byanyone without the bishop’s sanction. The sole Eucharist you should considervalid is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself, or by some personauthorized by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be;just as, wherever Jesus Christ is present, there is the Catholic Church (Letterto the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).

New Blogger SUCKS

2011-09-03T10:04:00.002-06:00

UPDATE

After I posted this, I noticed the option to switch back to the old format, which I have done. Now everything seems back to normal. I hope they don't make the new version mandatory at some time or other.

Blogger has come out with a new version, which, quite honestly, sucks. It's unstable, difficult to work with and may necessitate my looking for some new outlet with which to publish this blog. Or may spell the end of it, I don't know which, In any case, they either need to fix this thing or I'm history. There are some things that just aren't worth putting up with a lot of frustration, this is one of them.

I began to blog because it was fun and something of an outlet, and also as an avenue for exploration of all the myriad of things that go through my mind from day to day. Mostly because it was somewhat fun and entertaining. This version is NOT fun.

So, there's one rant for today.

Founders Friday, Friday, September 02, 2011 – Elbridge Gerry

2011-09-02T06:50:00.001-06:00

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Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and libertiesof the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise anarmy upon their ruins.

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 31, 2011

2011-08-31T03:00:00.001-06:00

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As for what concerns our relations with our fellow men, the anguish in our neighbor's soul must break all precept. All that we do is a means to an end, but love is an end in itself, because God is love.

Edith Stein

The Desert Fathers, Sunday, August 28, 2011

2011-08-28T07:52:00.000-06:00

The Lord's Day is a mystery of the knowledge of the truth that is not received by flesh and blood, and it transcends speculations. In this age there is no eighth day, nor is there a true Sabbath. For he who said that `God rested on the seventh day,' signified the rest [of our nature] from the course of this life, since the grave is also of a bodily nature and belongs to this world. Six days are accomplished in the husbandry of life by means of keeping the commandments; the seventh is spent entirely in the grave; and the eighth is the departure from it.

St. Isaac of Syria, The Ascetical Homilies.I

Founders Friday, Friday, August 26, 2011 – Joseph Story

2011-08-26T03:00:00.000-06:00

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"We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For ‘the Word was made flesh.' Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts."

Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 24, 2011 – St Thomas Aquinas

2011-08-24T03:00:00.002-06:00

Image via WikipediaTo love God is something greater than to know Him. -- St. Thomas Aquinas

Busyness and What Is

2011-08-23T12:45:00.000-06:00

I feel guilty for not posting much except quotes from other sources this summer, adding nothing of a personal touch. So, this is a brief attempt to correct that situation, since I think a blog should reflect personal reflections from its purveyor from time to time. (Let me know if you don't agree!)

The problem has been that I’ve had a busy summer, not a good busy but so busy I hardly feel like I have time to think busy. I can’t put my finger on any particular reason for this, nothing has greatly changed for us over the last 12 – 18 months, except that we’re another 12-18 months older. That may slow down our response to all that is going on.

If I haven 't been productive, the Spirit has. There are times when I believe the Spirit leads us in directions we would never think of ourselves to go. This has happened to me this summer, beginning with the accidental ordering of a book by Fr James Schall, S.J. briefly titled, Another Sort of Learning. I was browsing on my Kindle for something concerning the Jesuits and this book popped up. I was going to navigate away to something else, but instead navigated the “Buy” button. I figured, since I’d bought the thing, I might as well read it, so I did.

Fr Schall is a philosophy professor at Georgetown (political philosophy) and this book is, I think, about the philosophy of learning and what it is we should learn. Heavy stuff, yet he has a light touch. The book starts out this way:

“Several years ago, almost thirty now, I ran across the following passage in a book called Self-Made Mad, which, of course, is nothing less than the famous Mad Magazine. Let me cite it here: ‘Did you ever stop to wonder about how recent historical events will be reported in elementary school history books 100 years from now? We hate to think so, but in the year 2060, say, elementary school history books will probably be exactly the way they are now. Which means they will be simply written so that children who study them can find easy answers to everything, even things that college professors and historians won’t fully understand. For instance, every historical figure will be either good or bad, with nobody a little good and a little bad, the way most people really are.’”

Schall, James (2011-05-12). Another Sort of Learning (p. 9). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

While I have my doubts that history books in the year 2060 will be the same as they were in 1960, that is with at least a modest attempt to objectively present the historical facts under consideration, I believe that any book of philosophy that begins with a quote from Mad Magazine, perhaps the greatest philosophical endeavor of all time, can’t be all bad. So, I continued reading. This was over a month ago, and I’m still at it, an indication of both my “busyness” and the wonderful things presented in this book, things I’d felt and wanted to articulate, but didn’t have the words for. Fr Schall is giving me the words.

Anyway, this book is one of the few pure re-creational activities I’ve been able to pursue this summer and I'm grateful for it. I can truly say that I believe my finding it was the work of the Spirit, so the summer hasn’t been a total waste after all.

More to follow, if I don’t get too busy.

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, August 21, 2011 –Ignatius of Antioch

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Founders Friday, Friday, August 19, 2011 – James Madison

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Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 17, 2011 – St Aloysius Gonzaga

2011-08-17T03:00:00.002-06:00

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It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world. -- St. Aloysius Gonzaga

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, August 14, 2011 – St Jerome

2011-08-17T03:00:00.000-06:00

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But as regards Victorinus, I assert what has already been proven from the gospel—that he [Victorinus] spoke of the brethren of the Lord not as being sons of Mary but brethren in the sense I have explained, that is to say, brethren in point of kinship, not by nature.

(Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19 [A.D. 383]).

Founders Friday, Friday, August 12, 2011 – Samuel Adams

2011-08-12T03:00:00.000-06:00

Image via WikipediaA general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.

Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

A Word on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 10, 2011

2011-08-10T03:00:00.001-06:00

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"Charity may be a very short word, but with its tremendous meaning of pure love, it sums up man's entire relation to God and to his neighbor." -- St Aelred of Rievaulx

The Early Church Fathers, Sunday, August 7, 2011 – Origen

2011-08-07T03:00:00.000-06:00

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If a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (I Cor., 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works. (Patres Groeci. XIII, col. 445, 448 [A.D. 185-232]).

Founders Friday, Friday, August 5, 2011 – James Madison

2011-08-05T03:00:00.000-06:00

A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts.

James Madison, essay in the National Gazette, February 2, 1792