Vivat Agnus Dei

It is tempting, especially when we are hurt by the sins of others or when we find ourselves enslaved to our own "favorite sins" but also generally, to question "Should God really be as sure as He seems to be, that the permission of evil (usually through allowing free will) actually brings about a greater good?" We must remember at such times that we are tempted to deny a few key truths when we ask this question. The title question is not formulated in a clear or Catholic way but in a common way. Thus, let us reformulate it to allow for a more meaningful answer. We will set aside the problem of evil for another more in-depth and direct post(s) on that. Our question perhaps ought to be "In the context of free will, why did God not create us sufficiently wise, virtuous, in relationship to God, etc. to inspire us to better recognize the full weight of sinfulness that it was not only death but suffering of many kinds all often the worst imaginable." I would ans

Building from  Carter Carruthers, "Good isn't What We Think It Is", Vivat Agnus Dei, September 22, 2024. If good isn't what we think it is, and God gives gifts that are good, it seems we have one thing to do in order to learn what is good, meet its Author  (James 1:17, Matthew 7:7-11).  Clearly, we are not interested in God only because of what He offers, although it is grand.[1] Even when it comes to gifts, their worth is only derivative of the love with/from which they are given, like an encrypted message and the encryption key.[2] If we lose sight of God, we lose sight of His gifts. This will destroy us, this is hell. Without God, we have no life, and maybe this is coercive, but it is what takes to bring the beloved home, wouldn't you do that for your child  (Matthew 16:25) ? We were made for goodness and not just any good, but Goodness Himself, and our nature makes that very clear. First, the enemy from the beginning has made us to believe God is not the one t

"Lay your heart into my perfect machine I will use it to protect you from me I will never let you see what’s beneath So good for you and good for me We told ourselves we’re Right where we ought to be Even you know, even you know This was all for nothing Just a sad show, just an ego" STARSET, PERFECT MACHINE Building from  Carter Carruthers, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil", Vivat Agnus Dei, May 30, 2021. We are sick of how we give, expect, and receive love, not that we shouldn't but we should question how we do it in any relationship. The song quoted above is a great allegory for how the secular world approaches love, trying to fill the cracks, holes, and wounds in our hearts. It isn't very difficult to see the connection between this and the first sin. In our every sin, whether of omission or commission, we fail in willing the good often for lack of knowing what is truly good.  First, in the first sin, we can recognize the problem as Eve &quo

Regarding the Sabbath, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “If God ‘rested and was refreshed’ on the seventh day, man too ought to ‘rest’ and should let others, especially the poor, ‘be refreshed’” ( CCC, 2172. ). Those last two words, “be refreshed,” speak directly to the heart. Amidst the hubbub of everyday life, we yearn for heavenly rest—the kind that rejuvenates and inspires, that rejoices in the face of beauty, truth, and goodness. This is reflected in the Roman Canon’s remembrance of the faithful departed: “Grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace” (Eucharistic Prayer I). The hope of heaven as this place for us and our loved ones ought to motivate us to attach ourselves to God, bring others to Christ, and run the race to the finish. Beyond this hope for the next life, the Sabbath “helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives” ( CCC, 2184. ). All

God is the source and summit of beauty; He attains to beauty’s perfection always and forever. C.S. Lewis expounds on this in his masterpiece Till We Have Faces , where the main character, aware of her unworthiness, encounters God: “And he was coming. The most dreadful, the most beautiful, the only dread and beauty there is, was coming. The pillars on the far side of the pool flushed with his approach. I cast down my eyes” ( C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold (San Francisco: HarperOne, 14 February 2017), 146. ). Similarly, Peter, James, and John experienced the overwhelming effect of God’s beauty on the Mountain of Transfiguration. In awe of Christ’s revealed glory, they were “overcome by sleep”  (Luke 9:32). Our hearts burn with longing to gaze upon His loveliness, which is why Heaven is called the beatific vision: our truest bliss will come when we see God face to face. Yet, as the Catechism states, “Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as He is, unless He Himse