Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Initially, he [St. Augustine] thought that once he was baptized, in the life of communion with Christ, in the sacraments, in the Eucharistic celebration, he would attain the life proposed in the Sermon on the Mount: the perfection donated by Baptism and reconfirmed in the Eucharist. During the last part of his life he understood that what he had concluded at the beginning about the Sermon on the Mount – that is, now that we are Christians, we live this ideal permanently – was mistaken. Only Christ himself truly and completely accomplishes the Sermon on the Mount. We always need to be washed by Christ, who washes our feet, and be renewed by him. We need permanent conversion. Until the end we need this humility that recognizes that we are sinners journeying along, until the Lord gives us his hand definitively and introduces us into eternal life. It was in this final attitude of humility, lived day after day, that Augustine died. - Pope Benedict XVI

What Benedict sees as the great tragedy of the modern age is not that people are “less faithful” to the institution of the Church or have “strayed” from doctrines or dogmas, but simply that innumerable forces both in and outside the Church have worked to sow doubt - real, serious doubt - in the reality of Christ and the redemptive love and mercy he offers, and that brings us back to full, flourishing life in God. Materialism (in the broadest sense) teaches us that the transcendent is really not that real or important after all. Materialism (in the narrow sense) teaches us that God is unnecessary -or even an impediment - to happiness. Both of these and so many other forces in the world shut us up in small rooms with walls made up of our own striving, separating us from others, shutting us off from their suffering. In the Church, the misuse of some forms of Scripture scholarship and some directions in theology work, as they make their way into preaching and catechesis, to cut us off from the reality of Jesus, communicating to us that there is no real way to really know what he was all about...For Benedict, Christ is at the center...This is not a gimmick. It’s not a new communication technique that Benedict and his minions are dreaming up to soften his image or compete with the Protestants or even to avoid hard questions...Seeing our own wretchedness in the light of God becomes praise to God and thanksgiving, for God loves and accepts us, transforms us and raises us to himself. - Amy of "Charlotte was Both"

I lay awake at night hoping that this celibacy is not permanent, but that the chastity - my own properly ordered sexuality - might be. This isn't purity based on unknowing, as if my mind could somehow regain the innocence of my prepubescent past. Rather, it's the purity that comes when you admit that there are some corner's of the devil's hell that you still find overwhelmingly erotic, but still, once more, you decide to look away. - Patrick Still via "Godbody" on suspension of marital relations due to his wife's childbirth

The difference between the works of authors such as Nietzsche, Gibbon, Luther and Joyce, and “The Vagina Monologues” is a difference, not of degree, but of kind. The former have written serious philosophical, theological and literary works, which have influenced Western thought. As such, their work has academic merit and is worthy of serious discussion and critique in a classroom setting. Father Jenkins believes that Eve Ensler’s play was written to shock and offend. How can one put such a play, which many consider pornographic, on the level of serious works such as the writings of Gibbon and Luther? Even if one could make a case that this play has academic merit, it could be read in class. When a book or play is read in class, the student expects it to be discussed and critiqued; indeed, this is an essential part of the classroom experience. This is not so when one attends the performance of a play. - South Bend Bishop D'Arcy's response to Notre Dame's decision to host "The Vagina Monologues"

Sometimes Nemesis does as befits her:
An example is Eliot Spitzer:
He who tortured the law
Is now trapped in its maw,
While the world roars out, "Fiat justicia!"
- Bob of "Trousered Ape"

I support affordable toilet paper for all people because I’m pro-life, and it’s hard to live a purposeful life if you’re chafed. - Eric Scheske spoofing how the term 'pro-life' is becoming a trojan horse

To better serve the community, we may be introducing our very own non-traveling blog carnival...We're still working on a witty name. Some possibilities: "Carnival of Meaty Posts" (too ironical?); "Spanning My Attention-Span To Bring You a Constant...hey, look at that!", "Stuff I Found", "Linkin' Logs" - Robert of "Tribal Pundit"

I yelled to Mary Helyn to get the car open and headed home with the dog. I got the lady into the passenger side and then handed her the dog. That's when I discovered that the little fellow, in the aftermath of his terror, had crapped on my hand. - Bill 'the Onlooker' of Apologia, on the indignities of his saving a small dog from a pit bull.

Americans are obsessed with finding narratives of personal discovery -- finding our true selves. Narratives of transformation are more obvious in this respect than any other kind. Who wants to say, "Yeah, I was born Catholic and . . . am still Catholic now, so I guess that's who I am . . . you know, by default"? That just doesn't have the ring of radical self-discovery that Americans tend to consider "authentic." So perhaps what American Catholics need is a renewed devotion to the saints. The saints offer countless stories of people born Catholic who nonetheless underwent radical personal transformations in the fire of Divine love. Even saints who were born Catholic aren't Catholic by default. If we need some kind of story to tell us who we are, we could do much worse than becoming a self by surrendering that self to Christ. - Eve Tushnet via Amy Welborn & Terrence Berres

Over the next two months, before the Pope arrives in our country, there is going to be a constant battle, it seems to me, to communicate clearly and authentically what this man is all about...Most of those proclamations are about “clear Catholic identity” or involve metaphors that evoke closed doors, tightening reins and battening hatches. Their paradigms are severely limited, it seems to me, because they can’t get out of adolescence - even the Catholics - in their relationship to the Church. Even the “thinking Catholics” see the Church as a fierce parent handing down arbitrary rules, so when Benedict comes along talking about Christ, they don’t know what to, well “think” anymore and they spend (waste) a lot of time trying to twist his words into, first their own definition of Church, and secondly their own pre-conceptions of Benedict. So what we see is a lot of head-nodding, invariable commentary about Benedict “softening his image,” a little bit of sneering that faced with the problems of the Church Benedict will be content to tell us just to “pray more” or even to encourage the malcontents to get out. What they don’t seem to grasp is that Benedict really believes this stuff. He believes that Christ instituted a Church through which He would teach and sanctify until the end of time and that this is it. And that the heart of the Christian faith is, well - faith - a deep personal faith in Christ that is marked by total trust, intimacy and love for the One who saves us from darkness, sin and death. And that it is through the Church, we meet Christ and we nourish that faith relationship. And this faith relationship - this orientation to God - is the most important thing in our lives and the most important thing we can can share with the world and the most important thing that the Church is called to share with the world. - Amy Welborn

I am reading... "The Art of Praying," where they talk about the four types of prayer:

1. "I'm sorry"
2. Praise - loving God for Himself
3. Thanksgiving
4. Petition - "I want," either for yourself or others.

I find that when I have issues, it's usually because I haven't had a balanced prayer life. You can't pray "I'm sorry, I'm an awful person," all the time, it's just not healthy. - commenter on "Darwin Catholic"