Vivat Agnus Dei

In light of  Carruthers, Carter. " Divorce: Rupture of the Highest Human Communion" Vivat Agnus Dei, August 25, 2024. https://vivatagnusdei.blogspot.com/2024/08/divorce-rupture-of-highest-human.html. In a world where individualism often reigns supreme, the bonds of marriage are frequently undermined by societal values that promote personal freedom over communal responsibility. The rise in divorce rates reflects a cultural shift away from the enduring commitment that marriage requires. Let us attempt to invert the post on divorce so that we can see what Christian families are called to. Jesus's teaching on the house built on a solid foundation versus a house divided against itself serves as a poignant reminder of the need for stability and unity in our relationships  (Matthew 7:24-27; Mark 3:25).  Just as a strong foundation is essential for a house to withstand the storms of life, a marriage built on mutual love, respect, and the teachings of Christ is vital for a thrivin...

Building from  Commandments Toward Communion , and the Series on Love. Undoubtedly, in a culture where individualism is so esteemed, it is no wonder divorce rates soar and discussion of its immoral nature is avoided.[1] Whether we are discussing an indissoluble marriage or a friendship, division is not the will of God, because the closer the relationship the greater damage a rupture of communion brings. Divorce, producing preeminently negative effects, is a rupture of the foundational communion essential for society and the formation of children in love/holiness, severing the highest and most complete communion material man is capable of, and undermining the dignity of man, which rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion. First, divorce is a rupture of the foundational communion essential for society, severing the highest, most complete communion amid material man. Marriage (between a man and woman) is the most profound union that human beings can achieve, because ...

Building from  Made for Communion , What is love? Revisited with AI , others from this series on Love, and from reflection on Marriage and Theology of the Body. In praying about the Theology of the Body, I was struck by a repeated line from Scripture, "a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh."(Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:8, Ephesians 5:31). It made me realize that often we don't recognize the sacredness of marriage and family, not only to society but to each other. As we have previously discussed, love is the act of the will which brings communion. Thus, marriage is understood properly as the forming and maintaining of wholistic interpersonal communion, which results in the family. First, we must understand how to begin, by understanding the process. When we think of marriage, sometimes we only think of companionship, starting a family, or a wedding day. However, these fall immensely short of describing the reality ...

In the Christian understanding, the dignity of humanity is fundamentally rooted in the call to communion with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) articulates this idea, stating, "The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God"[1]. This call to communion is the foundational goal of human existence, encapsulating the state of "shalom" from the beginning, which represents the original state of man[2]. Communion, as an essential aspect of human dignity, is a multi-faceted concept deeply intertwined with love, spirituality, the reality of one's physical nature, and interpersonal relationships, ultimately reflecting our divine purpose and nature. Communion is a multi-faceted concept, deeply intertwined with love, which is its efficient cause. The mutual, abiding, dialogical state of communion between persons (the final cause) arises from both parties willing the good of the other through vulnerability. Love of God se...

50 years ago today (the date of the publication of this post in 1973) a tragic Supreme court decision became a landmark case for the culture of death and a symbol of man's self-imposed depravity. In our day, we find our society and beliefs tossed about primarily by the media. Our culture today gives the conditions for lives that matter and if we believe them we, not just have everyone else's dignity laid in ruins, but also thereby our own. Our culture tells us that life is something we are in control of and it is our right to be in control of it. We do not define our worth nor anybody else's. Our life is not something we have ever been in control of much less anyone else's. Our value is not greater or less because of the money we have, the way we choose to live, our physical attributes, what we know, our talents, nor even what people think of us. The day we tell our neighbors they don't matter is the day we start believing it of ourselves. When we adhere to the ...

Listen to Post What good is loving someone if they don’t know it? It is one thing to love unconditionally and with great intensity in your mind and heart, it is another to reveal it in action. God, Himself, communicates His love to us constantly in His providence in addition to the history we read about in Sacred Scripture. Never did Christ abandon our adulterous hearts but rather never ceases to win them back because “no one is good except God alone”(Mark 10:18). Love, by its nature, is self diffusive and therefore must be expressed in a way that the beloved can detect it and it is the part of the beloved to try to detect. God loves His people from the beginning. When He ransomed Israel from its captors, they groaned and complained. "O how oppressive was God to bring them into the desert?", etc. The beloved here took the ransom for granted and hated the lover because of what was taken instead of what was given. The beloved failed here because instead of adhering to God and t...

The last phase and goal of conversion is union. This phase is one in which our enemies lose their power over us. In the prior phases [ 1 ][ 2 ], and most viciously in the previous one, our enemies fight with great strength to prevent our coming to this state. As we reflect on the battle that is the Christian life, it is not like our enemies stop trying but it is that they begin losing effect, potency, control over us. At this moment in our relationship with God, our longing finds its path toward infinity, our love for others becomes boundless, God becomes our spouse , and we become living landmarks of the kingdom. If you have ever been attached to something, you understand the unsatisfiable desire for more. When falling in love with God and beginning to live out of our spiritual marriage, we do not find our longing for God quenched but exponentially increased. Marriage is a physical sign of spiritual grace . However, this spiritual marriage lacks a physical dimension without the sacram...

As I study Medieval Philosophy and the application of philosophy in life in general, but also theology; I am struck by a truth that subordinates all human activity to one thing, love.  The most essential human ability is to love, the rest of our being act in accord with this purpose insofar as they are used for authentic and whole love. No human preoccupation is greater than love, and other human activities are acting in accord with their highest purpose and God's will insofar as they move all they involve to greater love. In love, we were created, are called, are given meaning, are rightly ordered, and we are rightly destined. God is good and infinitely so. Goodness by nature is self-diffusive. God being good, created all things in this goodness, to reflect this goodness, and only by reason of His goodness. God does not need what He created and even with the reality of sin is more prone to lose what He loves. God, to love, must necessarily allow for the possibility of evil, becaus...

Before we approach the minutia of this topic it is critically important to remember the Gospel and our missionary vocation as Catholics and Christians. To this end, I used a depiction of martyrdom. There are circumstances in which there is a need for defense of one's body or another's, however, it should also be important to defend the soul of an assailant. If there is someone who has determined that their best course of action is to threaten another's life, well-being, and/or possible usurp possessions, then they are in need of prayers, help, compassion, etc. Bearing this in mind, the Church via its saints has developed the idea of self-defense, employing the only moral application of the principle of double effect. The use of force should be directed at disarmament and exacted proportionally to the clear and actual danger and/or the use, degree, direction, and method of force given by the assailant. Using force in self-defense is always permissible when danger is more tha...

Why should anyone want to be subjected to authority or consider obedience advisable? A seemingly common perception is that the only obstacle between oneself and true freedom is government and religion. However, this conviction assumes that man without regulation is truly free. Contrarily, if man is not a slave to one thing, he will become a slave to another, if not many things.[1] Therefore, the question is not whether or not one should act in accord with an institution, but “whom or what shall I serve?”. We must, then, discern which master is the least harmful, most benevolent, most powerful, and/or desires the best for us. If we choose to serve ourselves (as Adam, Eve, and the prodigal son did) and to satisfy our own desires (which are often manipulated by evil, lack of concern for others, and concupiscence), we shall neither be satisfied, happy, provided for, nor attain a desirable eternal life.[2] Conversely, if we choose to be obedient to God and those He would have us obey, then...