Pros & Cons of Foreknowledge
Tis better to know or not know? Who couldn't enjoy rafting down the beautiful Niagra river if you didn't know there were some falls were ahead?
All humans know they will die, which is a sort of harshness. But we know not the hour which is a sort of blessedness. By comparison with animals - who do not anticipate pain they way we do - we have a less advantageous situation. But in comparison with saints, who sometimes have foreknowledge, we have a more advantageous situation. For example, Jesus told his apostles they too would drink the martyr's cup he would drink. Jesus himself knew for the bulk of his ministry how it would all turn out, of his crucifixion. Mary was told that a "sword would pierce her heart" by Simeon, which perhaps was a way of preparing Mary but which, in a lesser person, might've seemed to be "too much information". It might be that knowing in advance makes the offering sweeter to God since He rewards saints more than sinners and sinners more than animals.
Update: On rewarding sinners more than animals: that's assuming two things: if there are animals in heaven, they won't share the Beatific vision, and that the sinners spoken of are repentant.
October 18, 2006
Guess Who?
We were on vacation in South Carolina almost ten years ago and I recall thinking it odd that the priest invited someone wearing a dark suit to say a few words before the final blessing. From my journal in June 1997:
We were on vacation in South Carolina almost ten years ago and I recall thinking it odd that the priest invited someone wearing a dark suit to say a few words before the final blessing. From my journal in June 1997:
Heard nice chat at Mass today from a former Episcopalian minister who converted to Catholicism. He admitted in his former life he had tried to subtly convert catholics to protestantism, but finally couldn’t square John 6 - “those who eat of my flesh and drink my blood shall have eternal life”, since the original words pre-translation meant this literally & not symbolically. You could tell he’d struggled with it, taking a leave of absence and probably losing a some friends. Jesus said, ‘they know not what they do’, and cradle catholics could say ‘we know not what we have’ with respect to the Eucharist. His family huddled in group prayer after Mass, combining the best aspects of the Prot’s outgoingness with the Catholic’s Mass. Too bad this guy had to take a demotion; he obviously can’t become a priest.Guess I thought he was Episcopalian rather than Presybterian. But, if despite that, you answered "Scott Hahn" then pass go and collect $200.
Latin Cheers
Link:
Link:
With baseball coming to its annual apex (“the extreme end of a thing, the point, summit, top”), a friend recently asked the meaning of a Latin phrase, Eamus Catuli, visible in large letters in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field in Chicago. This is, of course, “Let’s Go Cubs!” Eamus is the first person plural jussive subjunctive of the verb eo and catulus means “the young of animals, a whelp”.Would it be Eamus Rubrums for "Let's Go Reds"?
Augustine's Advice
St. Augustine references this passage from Ecclesiasticus 30:22-24:
St. Augustine references this passage from Ecclesiasticus 30:22-24:
Give not up thy soul to sadness, and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man, and a never failing treasure of holiness: and the joy of a man is legnth of life. Have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God, and contain thyself; gather up thy heart in his holiness: and drive away sadness far from there....in his commentary on Luke 11:37-41, the gospel reading from yesterday and whose human author we celebrate today:
After he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.St. Augustine says of the last verse:
To give alms is to show mercy. If thou art wise, begin with thyself: for how art thou merciful to another, if cruel to thyself? Hear the Scripture, which says unto thee, Have mercy on thy own soul, and please God. (Ecclus 30:23) Return unto thy conscience, thou that livest in evil or unbelief, and then thou findest thy soul begging, or perhaps struck dumb with want. In judgment and love give alms to thy soul. What is judgment? Do what is displeasing to thyself. What is charity? Love God, love thy neighbor.
October 17, 2006
Bonaventure & Thomas
From The Thought of Benedict XVI:
From The Thought of Benedict XVI:
With his roots in the ground of Franciscanism, Bonaventure sees the entire phenomenon of Scholasticism and of scientific thought in a new and different way. He does not cease to recognize its great value for the present time; he himself does not cease pursuing it and loving it; he does not give up his concern for its correctness. But at the same time, he sees that it is not final in itself.More:
This is the sapientia omniformis, the omnibus wisdom, whereby created things become meaningful for us and speak to us of the glory of their Maker. In his Commentary on the Sentences Bonaventure had early developed the view that, in the contemporary period, man's contemplative power is so reduced that only the healing and helping grace of God can revive his understanding of the 'book' of creation. Divine grace so acts upon us as to set up a ladder leading from the creation to the Creator...
In the Church of the final age, Francis' own manner of life will triumph, impracticable though it is if lived sine glossa here and now. The Poor Man of Assisi, the simplex, the idiota, will turn out to have more penetration than all the learned men of his time, because he loved God more.
The Smile
The modern corporation often seems a tundra of homogeneity but occasionally there are moments.
Like today as I was waiting for an elevator. Beside me stood a couple. She was speaking a foreign language which I assumed to be Russian because they both looked exquisitely Russian. His face was craggy as the Ural mountains, gargoyled with boils and dominated by a large and fleshy nose. Her dark eyes had a baggy, sunken look, like she hasn't slept in awhile, or perhaps it was natural in the way sunken eyes are for some Russian women. They may not have been conventionally handsome or pretty but the very lack was a mark of authenticity.
The elevator comes and we all board and I decide I'm going to try the only Russian phrase I know, learned a decade ago from a co-worker who'd escaped the USSR. They were getting off six and the rest of us had more to go. Since this seemed perfectly juvenile, I didn't want to say it so loud that the others would hear. But I counted on the fact that the familiarity of the language would allow one of them to pick up my quiet das vadanya -- if in fact they were Russian.
It worked to perfection. I don't think anyone else on the elevator heard but him. His partner had gotten off first and he was just exiting. The broadest smile crossed his face as he looked back at me. He replied in Russian in response as the door closed. Of course I don't know what he said.
The modern corporation often seems a tundra of homogeneity but occasionally there are moments.
Like today as I was waiting for an elevator. Beside me stood a couple. She was speaking a foreign language which I assumed to be Russian because they both looked exquisitely Russian. His face was craggy as the Ural mountains, gargoyled with boils and dominated by a large and fleshy nose. Her dark eyes had a baggy, sunken look, like she hasn't slept in awhile, or perhaps it was natural in the way sunken eyes are for some Russian women. They may not have been conventionally handsome or pretty but the very lack was a mark of authenticity.
The elevator comes and we all board and I decide I'm going to try the only Russian phrase I know, learned a decade ago from a co-worker who'd escaped the USSR. They were getting off six and the rest of us had more to go. Since this seemed perfectly juvenile, I didn't want to say it so loud that the others would hear. But I counted on the fact that the familiarity of the language would allow one of them to pick up my quiet das vadanya -- if in fact they were Russian.
It worked to perfection. I don't think anyone else on the elevator heard but him. His partner had gotten off first and he was just exiting. The broadest smile crossed his face as he looked back at me. He replied in Russian in response as the door closed. Of course I don't know what he said.
 |  |
The popes of our era have earnestly exhorted the recitation of the rosary. They have taught authoritatively that the Rosary always leads us to the Lord, through Mary. Pope Pius XII called the Rosary a, "compendium of the Gospels," and urged the faithful to turn in confidence to the Virgin Mother of God. John XXIII said that the rosary is a wonderful meditation and that in saying it we: "Weave a garland of Ave Maria's, Pater Noster's, and Gloria Patri's." Paul VI called the Rosary a Gospel Prayer, and as such, it is an unceasing praise of Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul I, in his charming way, said that the recitation of the Hail Mary's of the rosary: "sweetens the soul like a song". All know of the devotion that Pope John Paul II had for the Rosary. When I studied in Rome, I was one of a small group of priests one day that concelebrated Mass with Pope John Paul in his private chapel. After Mass, he pressed into the hand of each priest a rosary. When he came to me he said: "Father, pray this rosary every day!" And I do! - Fr. Rego
The Scandal revealed a deep rotting disease within American Catholicism that has only begun to be recognized, let alone treated. [Dreher] saw it up close and personal as a journalist covering the story for years. As much as I am loathe to quote him, Nietzsche's insight cannot be denied: "And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." - Dale of "Dyspeptic Mutterings"
Mr. Dreher says he was afraid that he would not be able to give his children faith if they were in the Catholic church. But I submit that unless he gives his children logical, intellectual reasoning for what they are to believe as Christians and backs that up in the home living an authentic faith, they'll leave anyway whether they are Catholic, Orthodox or apparently Amish. For those reasons, although I understand his reasoning, I find his argumentation to be less than compelling. - Elena of "My Domestic Church"
It would be fair to say that I can empathize with Dreher more than most committed, orthodox Catholics: as a college student I once found myself in a position pretty close to his, and almost did what he has done. I had been sexually abused by a priest as a high school student and was quite generally fed up with the "progressive" Catholic theology and liturgy which was then the norm in New York, at least for students. Since I've told the story of my flirtation with Orthodoxy elsewhere, however, I shall leave out the details here. Suffice it to say that I remained Catholic because, unlike Dreher, I could not get around the pope. - Mike of "Sacramentum Vitae"
I have thought at times about what would have happened if the Tridentine rite had never been replaced in the first place? I have a feeling that we would still have been treated to Clown and Polka Masses, only Ad Orientum and in Latin. - Jeff Miller
Tridentine. That's the sugarless Mass? - Terrence Berres
Humor stems from a sense of displacement, it is, in a sense, an ultimately Christian virtue. Humor often results from the juxtaposition of impossible events, from the use of a word in two or more ways, from the sudden and unexpected. These are the deep seams of humor, the understanding that things are not as they seem, that we are not what we seem, and that ultimately we are not really where we belong. Humor then, a Christian virtue stemming from the recognition of the anomalies resulting from our pilgrim status, is one essential for readable fiction. - Steven of "Flos Carmeli"
This fellow was telling me that his friend, the pastor [of a Protestant megachurch], was about to collapse under the pressure of running the megachurch, the specific pressure of The New - of having to constantly create programs to attract folks, to keep them coming, to keep them "on fire," and the pressure of the necessity of him being onstage all the time, of being the central figure on whom all this rested. I believe in his own conversion story, Jeff Cavins speaks along the same line - how exhausting it was as a person engaged in ministry in the Protestant evangelical churches to always be having to think of the Next Big Thing lest people drive down the street to the next Church of the New. - Amy of "Open Book"
The classic text here is St. Augustine’s The City of God, and book XIX should be regularly reread by any Christian pondering ultimates and preultimates in relation to any political order. The larger truths engaged are not limited to Christians. In the forthcoming November issue of First Things, I explain why a writer in Time is quite wrong to be worried by the fact that so many Christians in America say they are Christians first and Americans second. The right ordering of their loves and loyalties is what makes them, contra the proponents of the naked public square, better Americans. - Richard Neuhaus
When liberals like Jon Stewart or Bill Maher criticize a political party, the abstract level of their critique depends on what party they are criticizing. So that, when they speak out against Republicans, they speak out against GOP policy - what the party stands for. When they speak out against Democrats, they tend to denounce Democrats for going along with Republicans or, as they see it, acting like Republicans. Either way, the net result is a slam on Republicans. This is not an "independent" view. - Ham o' Bone of soceng.blogspot.com
You can read biographies of all those to be canonized on Sunday here - and it's worth doing. The lives of these men and women show so clearly that the life of holiness - of a saint - is anything but quiet, conformist passivity - the stereotype of one deeply committed to God. We know the stereotype is a lie, but sometimes even we need reminding, don't we? We forget that the goal of spiritual growth, as our culture defines it that even creeps into our churches - that it's all about finding a space where I'm feeling comfortable and accepted and okay and am basically getting along with the world - is just a lie. At least for Christians. - Amy Welborn
Silly Season
Is there a greater waste on earth than political ads? They have all the subtley of a drunk guy at the opera. They also play into what we already know of Republicans and Democrats. I mean, are there really that many swing voters who are swayed by these things? Why not target the opposition party's base instead?
For example, the Ohio Republican Party put out a little piece against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy for raising taxes and for granting a plea bargain that allowed an illegal immigrant and suspected member of a terrorist group to stay in the United States. Big deal. That's what Democrats do - they raise taxes and they're kinder & gentler on crime. That's why God put them on the earth. I mean who doesn't know that? If they cut taxes and were hard on crime they'd be Republican.
And Kilroy put out some stuff on her opponent, saying that Pryce cut veterans benefits, raised her own pay, and voted with President Bush 88% of the time. Uh, duh! Of course Republicans are the "mean" party and of course incumbents will vote with their own president 88% of the time and of course they're going to take care of their own pocketbook. I mean this is stuff everyone and their brother knows. I could write both scripts while not even knowing the candidates.
Why not be daring and try to hurt each other's base? Why doesn't Kilroy put out ads saying that Pryce is weak on the life issues? And why doesn't Pryce say that Kilroy...uh, maybe once said that George Bush wasn't quite as bad as Hitler?
Is there a greater waste on earth than political ads? They have all the subtley of a drunk guy at the opera. They also play into what we already know of Republicans and Democrats. I mean, are there really that many swing voters who are swayed by these things? Why not target the opposition party's base instead?
For example, the Ohio Republican Party put out a little piece against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy for raising taxes and for granting a plea bargain that allowed an illegal immigrant and suspected member of a terrorist group to stay in the United States. Big deal. That's what Democrats do - they raise taxes and they're kinder & gentler on crime. That's why God put them on the earth. I mean who doesn't know that? If they cut taxes and were hard on crime they'd be Republican.
And Kilroy put out some stuff on her opponent, saying that Pryce cut veterans benefits, raised her own pay, and voted with President Bush 88% of the time. Uh, duh! Of course Republicans are the "mean" party and of course incumbents will vote with their own president 88% of the time and of course they're going to take care of their own pocketbook. I mean this is stuff everyone and their brother knows. I could write both scripts while not even knowing the candidates.
Why not be daring and try to hurt each other's base? Why doesn't Kilroy put out ads saying that Pryce is weak on the life issues? And why doesn't Pryce say that Kilroy...uh, maybe once said that George Bush wasn't quite as bad as Hitler?
October 16, 2006
My Tributary to "The Synonymous Bengal"
Gary Burbank of WLW radio in Cincinnati has a funny skit he does regularly. It's of a Bengal talking the usual sports cliches, only something is just a bit off. It might go something like this:
Gary Burbank of WLW radio in Cincinnati has a funny skit he does regularly. It's of a Bengal talking the usual sports cliches, only something is just a bit off. It might go something like this:
Q: "Coach, what do you have to do to win Sunday?"
A: "Well I think the key to victory is to estimate our running game early. We have to play ball-patrol offense and stop the big play. We need to dominatrix the line of cribbage and play good old-fashioned smath-moush football. Another important element in our overall stratomatic is to go out and exonerate our plays, and to keep the gassing lanes open. Most of all, we have to prevent turnabouts such as imperceptions and fumbles. Hopefully our quarterback can scrabble and avoid getting caught in the sack."
Saints Gone Wild
Kind of surprised to see the secular media, in this case the Columbus Dispatch, review Thomas J. Craughwell's Saints Behaving Badly. Reviews in the Dispatch of books about religion, at least books about religion that do not involve politics, are about as rare as buffalos in New York City.
Review is here:
Kind of surprised to see the secular media, in this case the Columbus Dispatch, review Thomas J. Craughwell's Saints Behaving Badly. Reviews in the Dispatch of books about religion, at least books about religion that do not involve politics, are about as rare as buffalos in New York City.
Review is here:
St. Callixtus (an embezzler) was forgiven his sins and, in his turn as pope, forgave those of others.
He was challenged by Hippolytus, who "taught that any Christian who committed even a single mortal sin ought to be driven out of the Church and never permitted to return."
Craughwell estimates the number of saints at 40,000. If Hippolytus had his way, that number would be dramatically pared — and this entertaining book would not exist.
Songs & Art
It’s hard not to feel autumn's nostalgia in light of the ‘80s song (the Cars “Magic”) playing on the radio now. I’m even nostalgic for Hambone's nostalga, nostalgic for his early '90s-era contemplative Floyd-ian white guitar chords and Alice ‘n Chains predilection. I recall the reverie produced by a 1975 Pizza Hut, the Osmond song “Deep Purple” playing in the background while drinking rootbeer from one of those ‘70s coolmoe purple glasses. Even back then I think the drinks were refillable. And the pizza was delectable.
If there’s a country song that has stood the test of time it’s John Conlee’s “Rose-colored Glasses”. Brings me immediately to our one visit to the Grand Ole Opry. It tears a gut to hear it to this day, brings to the lips the taste of mint julep, both because of the song itself and its context. The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Gonna Take a Lot of River” is another classic. “Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio / Gonna take a lot of river / To wash these blues away.” The song sounds like a river, with rumbling bass and warbling tenor.
___
It’s hard not to feel autumn's nostalgia in light of the ‘80s song (the Cars “Magic”) playing on the radio now. I’m even nostalgic for Hambone's nostalga, nostalgic for his early '90s-era contemplative Floyd-ian white guitar chords and Alice ‘n Chains predilection. I recall the reverie produced by a 1975 Pizza Hut, the Osmond song “Deep Purple” playing in the background while drinking rootbeer from one of those ‘70s coolmoe purple glasses. Even back then I think the drinks were refillable. And the pizza was delectable.
If there’s a country song that has stood the test of time it’s John Conlee’s “Rose-colored Glasses”. Brings me immediately to our one visit to the Grand Ole Opry. It tears a gut to hear it to this day, brings to the lips the taste of mint julep, both because of the song itself and its context. The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Gonna Take a Lot of River” is another classic. “Gonna take the Mississippi, the Monongahela and the Ohio / Gonna take a lot of river / To wash these blues away.” The song sounds like a river, with rumbling bass and warbling tenor.
___
 | The Word Among Us has a winsome image of Pompeo Batoni's "Holy Family" on the cover for October. How beautiful. Jesus grabs his mother’s wide, swan-like neck. How sweet her gaze! (The picture at left doesn't do it justice.) How wrong for men to think they've outgrown the need for womanly breasts (figuratively speaking), or to see the sweet succulence of God as other than a necessity. And the child Jesus is greedy, hungry for love, and it's a incomprehensibility that God thirsts for our love but there you have it... |
Hey Wally, I'm my own Representative!
They say that all bad ideas originate in California and slowly move east. That may not be completely accurate but it's close enough for guvmint work.
The latest scam moving eastward from the Golden State is the notion that even though we send representatives to the statehouse to vote on and make laws, let's outsource controversial issues back to us in the form of ballot initiatives. Sort of like an elaborate game of hot potato. To be fair, the representatives themselves aren't the ones doing the outsourcing and initiating. That comes from guys like George Soros or trial lawyers or the tobacco institute, often spending as much as $11 per signature in order to get the hundred thousand (or whatever) signatures required to receive life on the ballot.
This time we have five new initiatives, some of which amend the Ohio Constitution over such matters as whether you can smoke in a bowling alley. I kid you not. At this rate, by 2020 we'll be deciding whether to amend the constitution concerning the right of motorists to pick their nose at intersections.
Issue 1 requires that I bone up on Worker's Compensation law. I don't mind telling you that what I know about WC law could fit in a Tokyo phone booth. I've decided to purchase a handsome barrister library case - complete with glass window - to hold the law books I'm going to be buying over the next few years.
Issue two proves that writing up an issue means never having to say you're sorry for overreaching. If you're spending so much dough per signature you're not going to do something even a friendly legislature would do. So let's not just raise the minimum wage thirty percent, let's destroy the confidentiality of employer work-related records while we're at it!
____
Update: Ohio Catholic Conference Voter's Guide of questions to ask.
They say that all bad ideas originate in California and slowly move east. That may not be completely accurate but it's close enough for guvmint work.
The latest scam moving eastward from the Golden State is the notion that even though we send representatives to the statehouse to vote on and make laws, let's outsource controversial issues back to us in the form of ballot initiatives. Sort of like an elaborate game of hot potato. To be fair, the representatives themselves aren't the ones doing the outsourcing and initiating. That comes from guys like George Soros or trial lawyers or the tobacco institute, often spending as much as $11 per signature in order to get the hundred thousand (or whatever) signatures required to receive life on the ballot.
This time we have five new initiatives, some of which amend the Ohio Constitution over such matters as whether you can smoke in a bowling alley. I kid you not. At this rate, by 2020 we'll be deciding whether to amend the constitution concerning the right of motorists to pick their nose at intersections.
Issue 1 requires that I bone up on Worker's Compensation law. I don't mind telling you that what I know about WC law could fit in a Tokyo phone booth. I've decided to purchase a handsome barrister library case - complete with glass window - to hold the law books I'm going to be buying over the next few years.
Issue two proves that writing up an issue means never having to say you're sorry for overreaching. If you're spending so much dough per signature you're not going to do something even a friendly legislature would do. So let's not just raise the minimum wage thirty percent, let's destroy the confidentiality of employer work-related records while we're at it!
____
Update: Ohio Catholic Conference Voter's Guide of questions to ask.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)