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Faith does not depend upon our own reasonings and feelings. It responds to the revelation of God, which exceeds all of our own capacities. On our own, we could not know God and could have no certainty of supernatural realities. This includes our happiness, which is not found in the realization of any earthly good; it is found in God himself, transcending every finite thing, including our own selves. Faith draws us to salvation by opening our minds and our whole being to God and his will for us, enabling us to partake even of the divine nature.   Today, however, we often hear that the Church’s teachings are unpopular. Rather than conforming to the will of our maker, we would like to think that we know better. We seek our fulfillment in ourselves and not only excuse our sins, but e...

But today there is a third city affecting the other two. Silicon Valley, this third city, is not governed primarily by reason (it is practically the mark of a great entrepreneur to not be “reasonable”), nor by the things of the soul (the dominant belief seems to be a form of materialism). It is a place, rather, governed by the creation of value. And a large component of value is utility—whether something is useful, or is at least perceived as good or beneficial. I realize that some people in Silicon Valley think of themselves as building rationalist enterprises. Some of them might be. The city’s guiding spirit, however, is summed up by investor and podcast host Shane Parris, popular among the Silicon Valley set, when he says: “The real test of an idea isn’t whether it’s true, but whether i...

The proto-Protestants were heretics in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries whose teachings and actions laid the groundwork for Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other sixteenth-century Reformers. They advocated the later bedrock Protestant principle of sola scriptura, or the belief that the only authoritative source of God’s divine revelation is Sacred Scripture. These proto-Protestants also called for the reform of Church abuses and advanced various heretical opinions in an effort to undermine the Church. The two main proto-Protestants were John Wycliffe (1324-1384) and Jan Hus (1369-1415). John Wycliffe was born in Yorkshire, England and studied at Oxford, where he was recognized as a brilliant student. He became a professor of philosophy and theology at his alma mater. Wycliffe was a p...

Jesus gives a lesson in humility that he fulfills in the most amazing way possible on the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. What he does is so amazing, in fact, that many Christians in America simply don’t believe he actually did it. Jesus enters the home of a leading Pharisee and is watched very carefully by his guests. The Gospel passage in Mass from Luke starts on the first verse of Chapter 14, and then immediately leaps to Verse 7. The first verse reminds us that Jesus is dining among enemies who are always looking for evidence to prove that he’s not as special as he claims. This, of course, is exactly what Christians face in an increasingly secular culture. People watch us, eager to say, “See, those Christians aren’t anything special!” Jesus’s advice is very much targeted toward th...

ROSWELL, N.M. — It was 75 years ago, in July 1947, when press reports surfaced that a crashed “flying saucer” had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico.  The ‘Roswell Daily Record’ reports on the unusual incident. | Public domain(Photo: Public domain) Days later, an official denial came from the same source that had initially confirmed the capture, namely, the U.S. military. In those few days the template was set for the modern unidentified flying object (UFO) phenomenon — reports followed by counter-reports, sightings by official explanations, cries of disinformation, talk of alleged cover-ups accompanied by the insistence on various “proofs” that “we are not alone.” What are Catholics to make of all this?  Jimmy Akin is a convert to the Catholic faith and a Register contribut...

Listen to this story: ROME – Vatican politics take center stage this weekend in Rome, as Pope Francis presides today over a consistory to create new cardinals and then will lead two days of discussions with all the cardinals of the world on Vatican reform on Monday and Tuesday. In effect, this makes the next 96 hours the equivalent of the Iowa Caucuses on the Vatican beat, with basically all the plausible contenders to be the next pope on display. For Italians, this Vatican drama is unfolding at the same time their country’s future is also up for grabs, with national elections looming in less than a month. One key difference is that while only God knows who the next pope may be, by now the identity of the next Italian Prime Minister is almost a mathematical certainty. Polls show a commandi...