Vivat Agnus Dei

Read Readings Do you ever notice the feeling of anticipation that accompanies Advent? To me, Advent is a season symbolic of the journey of this life: we wait in eager hope for the life to come—the fullness of health, happiness, and holiness in Christ—and we conform ourselves so as to receive that fullness with eagerness and readiness, that is, to long in the proper way. In this sense, it is a livelier Lent, because it holds the anticipation of Christ in one hand and the strong conviction that all promises are about to be fulfilled in the other. As I read—and even before I read—I could not help but feel overcome by the sense that the biggest thing is about to happen: the one thing God has been laboring toward with us, namely the fulfillment of every covenant, God among us; what was destroyed in our sins and the sins of others beginning to be undone; people who once sneered now rejoicing in communion. It is much like last Sunday’s reading from Isaiah 11, which highlights how those natura...

The argument from miracles is often presented as a proof for the existence of God. However, its strength and persuasiveness are largely dependent upon the interpretive framework of its audience. This essay will argue that while miracles can serve as powerful confirmations of belief, their value as arguments against atheism is significantly limited by the epistemological commitments of non-theists. The epistemological restraint of atheists already disallows them to consider abstract or not immediately present evidence, which is the reason they are not theists. The effectiveness of miracle-based arguments is therefore derivative of the effectiveness of arguments from experience. Even if they were presented with a miracle before them, it is likely they would assert it is just a phenomenon that science does not yet have the capability to describe, predict, or affect—or that the laws of nature do not perfectly obtain at every moment and place. Sometimes even the greatest of miracles cannot...

  My Dearest Maximus, Your letter reached me as the spring rains fell upon Rome, and as I read your words, I felt as though I could hear your voice whispering across the seas. Frugi, our messenger, was greatly delayed. I am sure he will tell you about his travels when you read this. Nevertheless, I wish to share the parts which amazed me most in light of what you said in your letter. Frugi, who carries letters to and from Rome, for us and for our friends, he bears many parchments amid his travels and endeavors to do so by land lest he lose some of the parchments. As he began his journey the temple guards stopped him, fearful he was carrying communication between the Christians, whose leader they had just crucified. Not long after they had stopped him, they got word that the men who were supposed to watch the tomb of Jesus, in the night, while asleep missed the theft of his body. This delayed him longer because they thought to scrutinize our letters again lest they fail to see code ...

Every approach to therapy is based on a particular theoretical interpretation of empirical evidence and experiences, it seems to me one should approach such theory much the same way the Catholic Church understands other religious frameworks and science. Namely, “The Catholic Church rejects nothing true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.”[1] Similarly, my practice and evaluation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (and its variants), or any other form of therapy, does not claim that it alone is true while others are false. Rather, it acknowledges the truth found in the diverse anthropological perspectives within psychological theories. Together, these provide a cohesive and yet multifaceted understanding of human nature: recognizing man as broken and...

Christ's Farewell to Mary Those who cannot understand the Church and what She actually teaches, hastily take up a loose statement or common condemning, one-line tropes which apparently discredit Her. The issue is it becomes a strawman fallacy, condemning something without truly knowing beforehand and looking elsewhere for truth wandering and settling for a normal that is believed to be the best possible as if one themselves has a monopoly on truth. Tragically, this is the state of the culture and because of this, there is no one grand reason in particular for the deference from the faith on the personal convictions of those who hold this or that in contempt whether it be that the Church contains sinners to the fact She must make decisions. The false but powerful narratives drive the darkness that man has invited in place of God and man remains there shocked at the killing of a world at war in every way feeling trapped and alone. This gives a particular expression to what Christ...

In Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., an "inhuman" gifted with the new ability to manipulate vibrations, being formerly an agent, goes rogue being led astray by a hive mind for Inhumans. When, blaming herself and trying to protect her team from who she thinks she has become, she is glad she is in quarantine. When she returns one of the closest of her colleagues says he forgives her, and she refuses to accept. ( View this scene ) We have all done things we regret something more than others, and some things even which we do not tell anyone out of fear of their judgment concluding us to be different than who we are, than we wish to be. When we look into humanity's past all we see oftentimes, is those who used what they were given, what they had promised, and their own idea of goodness and imposed it on people often the minority to bring reality to those ideas. Unfortunately, a fallen man's idea of goodness is seldom truly good. Nevertheless, one may look at that same h...

If God is so good, why is there so much pain? This is a question that all philosophers have been trying to understand up and down the centuries coming with varied answers. If God is so powerful that he can make the universe, and loves humans so much, how can there be so much pain in the world? Those two things seem so contradictory that they cannot both be true. That is why so many different schools of thought accept one at the expense of the other hand have so much appeal. This is where the creation myths of a tyrannical God making humans by accident or for slave labor come from. Even contemporary philosophy can see this as a tenable position, seeing the Christan God as a power-hungry, petty, dictator. Can a rational person believe that God is good, or in the even stronger claim of divine simplicity, that goodness is not just an attribute of God, but God himself is goodness? Is this a superstitious concept that we now should be too enlightened and rational to fall for? The Greek stoic...

Although it is hard to say how serious he was about it, my grandfather once said, "Rules were meant to be broken." Independent of his seriousness in saying it, the culture of man's brokenness agrees. When it comes to moral questions anymore, the existence and nature of the "rules" is more the question that the former has led us to. Still is it true? It would seem it is false and our post on Psalm 147 would demonstrate this. The "rules" it seems are given this negative connotation because people are less and less ok with having restrictions placed on them (independent of political party, it seems our destination is anarchism). The question fails to be asked whether they are right. The rules rather are to guide us to maximum happiness. An argument like this may be claimed as a claim to validate authority, however, such a claim would be near-sighted since I am arguing from a would-be subjugated position. On the contrary, following the rules is where libe...

Adam and Eve try to hide from the sight of God . Artist: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Source: Die Bibel in Bildern, Plate 9. Color added by PlaygroundAI Have you ever played hide-and-seek? The object of the game is to intentionally hide oneself, to be found by the appointed seeker. I always enjoyed playing this game with a family friend, he couldn't hide anywhere but behind the bookcase, and usually his belly stuck out a little, so it helped me feel like I was winning. I also admired that someone much older than me loved me, a very small person, and at the same time his being overweight was something I loved about him. After all, I do not love him as I would prefer him but ought to and aspire to love him as he is. In all of our lives, we experience the effects of sin, our own and those of others, i.e. suffering evil. We can see from the very first sin how we tend to react. Our first move is typically to hide and figured it out later, this can be understood from psychological and ...

Cornelia, my dear wife, I always love writing back to Rome knowing that when this reaches you I can expect to hear from you once more. I am thankful I can read and write most soldiers are not so fortunate. Everything changed when the Emperor sent us with Pilate to control the Jews in Jerusalem. I feel more like an unpleasable parent to children who resent me than a soldier to citizens. Truly, in all my years as a soldier, I have never seen anything like this. Herod is every bit the puppet king the rumors claim he is. Indeed, we are the true servants of Caesar, but Herod seems to be more of a wealthy drunk than a King. My brother soldiers and I are well though, we long to come home. When I do my sweet Cornelia, we shall let our love grow once again. My dear Cornelia, make sure to be stern with our daughter in my absence so that she would still grow to be a great woman as you are.  I shall now tell you about how so much has changed in this culture. We have had the strangest few ...