In their case the god of this world [the Devil] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4) I don't watch professional sports these days, as their main appeal was always as a … Continue reading Why Would You Want Satan As A Mascot?
We Came, We Saw . . . God Conquered – Jan Sobieski and The Holy Name of Mary
Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." (Mark 10:27) Many of us are upset, quite rightly, that twenty years after our intervention in Afghanistan, we seem to have accomplished little aside from the deaths of several thousands of our young men … Continue reading We Came, We Saw . . . God Conquered – Jan Sobieski and The Holy Name of Mary
Be Sober and Vigilant: You-Know-Who is Prowling
Jesus is not at all hesitant about reminding his followers that discipleship is not a warm and fuzzy business. On the contrary, he says: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:11) It’s going to happen.
Kyrie from Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
When we think of Beethoven, Sacred Music might not be the first thing that comes to mind . . . but what he did compose was, as we might expect, moving, powerful, and simply beautiful.
A Dynamic Trio: St. Augustine, St. Monica & St. Ambrose
St. Monica softened Augustine’s heart, and prepared the ground to receive the seeds of his conversion, but she herself was not able to plant those seeds: she could not convince her son to change his life.
The End Point of Progressive Christianity
Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint,but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18) We're not cats, bats, or moray eels, as I pointed out in a recent post. "We humans are different. We are, again, unique among the world’s creatures. We’re not governed by instinct, we alone can make free choices about how … Continue reading The End Point of Progressive Christianity
Spiritual Warfare, the Chain of Command, and St. Equitius
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." -attributed to Leon Trotsky There's a battle raging, and we're all part of it, like it or not. The growing intensity of the Culture War that's engulfing our society is just a surface manifestation of the real war that's been underway since Satan … Continue reading Spiritual Warfare, the Chain of Command, and St. Equitius
Has Tradition Become a Dirty Word?
Picture Sunday Mass in a typical parish. A mother comes up for communion holding a small child in her arms. As she approaches the priest, she awkwardly holds on to her infant with one arm in order to free up the other to take the Eucharistic host and quickly pop it into her mouth before … Continue reading Has Tradition Become a Dirty Word?
God, We Praise You – Domenico Scarlatti’s “Te Deum” and Raphael’s “Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”
Domenico Scarlatti In the teaching world we have a saying: "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree". In other words, when we meet the parents, we often understand why our students are the way they are (my lovely bride often quotes this back to me when one of our children does something particularly egregious … Continue reading God, We Praise You – Domenico Scarlatti’s “Te Deum” and Raphael’s “Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”
We’re Living in the Age of Esau
In pursuit of an illusory freedom we have cut ourselves off from the experience of our ancestors (racist, rigid, old, dead, etc.) and don't even seem to have noticed that at the same time we have cut ourselves off from reality. It's not all up to us. We can't invent ourselves, we can't, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy notoriously opined, "define [our] own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life." A proper appreciation of what we have been given by our predecessors helps us understand our reliance on what has been given to us by God as well (which is one of the main ideas behind this blog). If, like Esau, we listen to our appetites of the moment and disregard everything else, we will lose our own birthright . . . forever.