Vivat Agnus Dei

As we have discussed previously, the world's idea of freedom can best be captured by the unanswered, dismissive question, "Why not?"[1] Also, as previously discussed, this reduction of religion to the moral (Kantianism), or of those who believe that which pertains to any religion as blind followers, each in their turn reduces any argument against a behavior with at least probable negative outcomes to mere attempts at control, an obsessive-compulsive perfectionism that would negate subjectivity (rigid psychological tendency), or to a spirituality divergent from corporal legitimacy (Gnosticism). Because our culture clings so foundationally to the demoralization of sex, its role, and its ideal context, cohabitation, like abortion, the definition of marriage, and the nature of love, has become a controversial issue that many come to discuss only once "loaded for bear" and often without listening. Moreover, although the "pro-cohabitation choice" side of thi...

The word hour appears twenty times throughout the Gospel of John. More often than not, Jesus uses it to symbolize the climactic event of His glorification through suffering (cf. John 12:23, 27, NRSVCE). “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (John 13:1). This verse begins the Last Supper discourse, and the language signals that the decisive moment has truly “come.” In chapter 16, the word is used to foretell the suffering of the Apostles (John 16:2–4). Later in the same chapter, Jesus foretells their sorrow at His departure: “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:21–22). Here, suffering is revealed as necessary for th...