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Did you help the saints of old to become holy?
There is a remarkable statement at the end of the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. It speaks to the unity of the mystical Body of Christ and to the treasury of merit, which extends both backward and forward in time. Hebrews 11 is devoted to reciting the glory of many Old Testament saints. That litany concludes with the following verses: These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect (Heb 11:39-40). It is astonishing to think that we who live now might have had anything to do with the sanctity and heroism of the saints who came before us, but the text says that without us they would not have been perfected. How can this be? Simply put, it is...
Solving the Archbishop Gänswein suspension puzzle…
Pope Francis speaks with Archbishop Georg Gänswein during the Wednesday general audience inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 15, 2020. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA) In late January, Pope Francis asked Archbishop Georg Gänswein to step away from his duties as prefect of the Pontifical Household and devote more time to his role as personal secretary to Benedict XVI. The curious case of Archbishop Georg Gänswein’s disappearance from papal duties is coming together after what appeared to be conflicting messages emanating from press reports and the Vatican Wednesday. A Feb. 5 article in the German newspaper Die Tagespost claimed that Pope Francis had placed Archbishop Gänswein on indefinite leave from his position as prefect of the Pontifical Household after his handling of the Pope Emeritus ...
Roe v. Wade’s dark road, from abortion to infanticide…
The contemporary frequency of parents, especially mothers, killing their children—not only newborn babies but toddlers too—is a new phenomenon. Does this have something to do with the relentless loosening of abortion laws in America since Roe v. Wade? We live in an era where we pretend that we do not know when life begins, but we certainly do know when it ends and how to end it. In light of the passage of the New York state abortion statute exactly one year ago that brought the issue of “infanticide” into national consciousness for the first time, the fundamental role that abortion has played for a long time in the moral and political division of the country—its importance rivaled only by Brown v. Board of Education—and the certainty that abortion will be an even more important issue in th...
Light, Salt, Temple: Readings for the upcoming 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time…
Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel The Readings for this Sunday remind me of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, which I’ve had the privilege of visiting a couple of times. This beautiful church is built on a hillside and is easily visible from much of the modern city of Nazareth. The architect designed the dome of the basilica to look like a lighthouse, symbolizing the light of Christ going out to all Nazareth and the rest of the Galilee region, in keeping with the theme of last week’s Gospel, “Those walking in darkness have seen a great light.” The theme of light continues in this Sunday’s Readings, in which Jesus calls the people of God, the Church, to be a kind of lighthouse or beacon calling the whole world to the safe harbor with God. 1. The First ...
How to change the Super Bowl halftime show…
Superb Owl, because Super Bowl is copyrighted and I don’t have money – plus I think it is funny. (Nate CC BY-NC 2.0 www.flickr.com/photos/electrobrain/4337714594) In the past few decades, the Super Bowl halftime show has often been inappropriate for kids. Realistically, some have been inappropriate for adults. From the “wardrobe malfunction” in 2004 to the reports of inappropriateness that I saw about this year’s show. Almost every year, I see a bunch of friends talk about how scandalous the halftime show was. However, I want to present a simple way for us, the people, to change it. If you suspect a Super Bowl halftime show will be inappropriate, or it starts being inappropriate, turn off the TV or change the channel. That might seem almost too simplistic but it happened before. The curren...
Pope Francis’ exhortation on Amazon synod to come out next Wednesday…
Vatican City, Feb 7, 2020 / 05:46 am (CNA).- Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the Amazon region will be published Feb. 12, the Vatican announced Friday. The document, which follows October’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, is highly anticipated for how the pope will respond to the recommendation to allow the ordination of married men to the priesthood for ministry in the region. The synod’s final document had also called for women to be considered for diaconal ordination and contained strong appeals on environmental issues and the rights of indigenous peoples, which Francis’ letter is also expected to address. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, special secretary of the Amazon synod, will hold a press conference in the ...
What is an angel?
Aquinas 101 is a YouTube series produced by the Thomistic Institute. These videos seek to introduce viewers to the Christian intellectual tradition through the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. The following text is from the lesson “Angels and Demons,” in which Fr. James Brent, O.P., discusses St. Thomas’s teaching on angels, both the good and the bad ones. He explains why angels are important, how we know they exist, and whether they exercise influence on creation today. God has revealed to us the reality of angels and demons and by doing so, he is telling us something intelligible and wonderful, something that shows us the grandeur of God and illuminates our experience in many ways. We want to understand the angels as much as possible in order to understand the ways of God and the ways of t...
The Devil would like nothing more than for people to think that hell does not exist…..
One benefit of doing academic work in accounting ethics, as I have done, is that one gets a sense of the high standards of truthfulness that public companies must meet in their disclosures. I want to take those high standards and apply them to what theologian David Bentley Hart has written about Basil the Great. Theologians, of course, should be held to even higher standards, because what theologians teach affects people’s lives and souls. But the public company standard suffices to make the point. Let’s examine what Hart says in his recent book, That All Shall Be Saved, as if it were a public company disclosure: The great fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379) once observed that, in his time, a large majority of his fellow Christians (at least, in the Greek-speaking E...
All change in Ireland…
Clare Island, Ireland (Cathal McNaughton/Reuters) The external forces setting the political and economic pace for Ireland will continue to shape the country for some time to come. Ireland is experiencing political upheaval as never before, but the chief driver in this appears to have little to do with the internal politics of the island. Governments, north and south, are being dissolved or formed, elections called or postponed: The only certainty for all living on the island is a changing political reality. The preeminent force behind this is Brexit. Yet, few in Ireland have come to terms with this new reality; fewer still can gauge its consequences. Advertisement Advertisement In the Irish Republic, a general election has been called. On February 8, 2020, across 39 constituencies, voters ...
Catholics and textual criticism…
A correspondent writes: I am wondering, how do Catholics regard textual criticism? What is the Catholic position on the canonicity of various New Testament passages like the Pericope Adulterae, the Comma Johanneum, and the Longer Ending of Mark, for example? What Textual Criticism Is For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, textual criticism involves the study of how texts change over time—how bits get added, deleted, or altered. Some variation in texts was inevitable before the invention of the printing press, since all texts were hand-copied and scribes sometimes made mistakes. Accidental textual variations even occur now that we have the printing press, though not as much. Also, some textual variations are intentional. This happens on both the smaller level—as when a scribe or a p...
Journalism train wreck: Tony Esolen pours acid on news story about abortion and politics…
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Pope Francis says international debt can’t be paid at ‘price of unbearable sacrifices’…
ROME – Speaking at a summit in Rome with some of the world’s most powerful financial officials, Pope Francis said the fact that five million children under five will die this year due to extreme poverty is something that should motivate the world to act. He also alluded to the situation in his home country of Argentina, which is facing a renegotiation of debt with the International Monetary Fund that could save the country from a default. “These are solvable problems, there is no lack of resources,” Francis said on Thursday. “There is no determinism that condemns us to universal inequality. Let me repeat: We are not doomed to universal inequality.” Knowing this, Francis said, can lead to creativity in finding and generating responses to the suffering of so many innocent people, as it is, i...
