Vivat Agnus Dei

Whenever someone asks, “why not?” Usually, it seems the right question has been asked, and it’s understood to mean there is not a sufficient reason to think contrary to what someone has said. It is dismissive framing, suggesting either/both ignoratio elenchi or intentional rhetoric to discredit the contrary without engaging counterarguments. This undermines credibility in balanced discourse, prioritizing persuasion over accuracy. This is not unlike the first sin tantamount to: "He said..." which is honest and responsible for the most part, and it is replied to with "but why not? after all, this is really what God is about..." This is similar to the way the world defines freedom or addresses any significant issue regulated by religion, i.e., an undiscerning, uninvestigating, daft, and disinterested Occam's razor interested in mere perpetual apathy via vincible and therefore culpable ignorance. This "ignorance is bliss and I unilaterally decide to strawman an...

"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 ...

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...

Fish are inedible, and there is nothing you can say or do to have me believe anything like the contrary. Am I wrong? Well, it seems people eat fish, so I guess I am wrong. Nevertheless, I very well may choose starvation instead of eating fish, despite the latter point. There are some who, in despising what relativism does, assert the opposite extreme (what we shall call "Objectivism"). However, this really creates the same general problem, placing objectivity where there is none is the same as inventing one’s own truth. The question remains what balance is there? To answer this question, we must clarify our question. Our question is fundamentally an epistemological one. How do we know what our perception of the truth and what is truth itself? Opinion and personal taste are valid independent of objective facts because they are formed of our subjectivity. But here is where the problem arises, when our fallenness is involved in forming our perspective on what is objective truth ...

You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 12:8-9 In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. Judges 21:25  Trust in the Lord with all your heart,  and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 As a rational animal we are agents of truth . There is a natural requirement of logic to either assimilate or reject environmental dynamics and its implications in the realm of faith and virtue. In a world chock full of error, differing opinions/perspective, and many (an increasing number) different claims on what is true and what is false, it is difficult to remain motivated to investigation. Narrative of life, temptation, and bad things in the culture all undermine one's pursuit of what is ...

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 ...

What motivates us? There are always reasons why we do things even that which we do unwittingly. As Christians, everything ought to be done lovingly, as an intended as an actual consequence, and in the means itself. This is the essence of saintliness. There are times when we act with love as a consequence but our actual intent and/or means employed either lack love or are to varying degrees done out of selfishness. When we support well fare programs, we only think about how we do not want people to go hungry. However, hunger is not the problem but what brings people to that place is. Consequently, we are made to think that we can sign a check and everything is fine. Hunger is taken care of, but not what caused it (of course there are many causes). The point here is analogical, we avoid love’s inconvenience and thus it is really more about ourselves than it is about the hungry, hurting, etc. This dynamic is tragically common. We don’t visit loved ones because there is always something mo...

You have heard it said, "one must first love themselves before they can love another". But what should this truly mean? Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between two loves of self, “Well ordered self-love, whereby man desires a fitting good for himself, is right and natural; but it is inordinate self-love, leading to contempt of God, that Augustine reckons to be the cause of sin.”[1] The Catechism defines sin, in part, as a, “…failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods…”.[2] Therefore, to avoid sin and thus make ourselves free to love we must seek detachment. “ If there is a virtue that we are prone to misunderstand today, it is the one known to the ancients as liberality and to the Christian tradition as detachment from material possessions.”[3] Attachment may be veiled or palpable.  Firstly, attachment can be either subtle or palpable. Addiction is the most extreme case of attachment, it yet remains that the addict can be fooled...

The Martyrdom of Saint Cucuphas By Ayne Bru Documented in Catalonia 1500–1507 "I am coming soon; hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown...‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked." Revelation 3 In our lives we can get caught somewhere between faith and doubt, love and apathy, and hope and despair. This can happen when our perspective of God becomes jaded and we lose motivation on our way to heaven. Instead of striving after heaven and loving God with every ounce of our being (cf. Matthew 22:37 referencing Deuteronomy 6:5). In all ways, our enemies (our concupiscence, the culture of sin, and the demonic), work together for our demise in all ways they can. What must be our response? Definitely not com...

At the very source of all our problems lies, the first cause of all that bad, unjust, deplorable, sad, and painful: sin. "Every tree also which God planted in Paradise is assuredly good. Man did not therefore strive after an evil nature when he touched the forbidden tree; but by deserting what was better, he committed an evil deed." Saint Augustine What is so bad about sin? Is it really that bad? I am not hurting anyone but me, why does it matter? The question "why not?" is the most frequently answered either incorrectly or insufficiently The way the world understands happiness is likewise inexhaustive and incorrect. The world recommends we do what we enjoy doing and whatever it takes to do it that we may have life and it to the full. Many, if not, most people follow this recommendation. It has a modicum of truth in it, however, it may as well be completely false. God wants us to be happy with (not only through) what we do, yes. However, not for its own sake. After ...

A Consistent Problem In our day, the word argument no longer truly means the search for truth in the form of a logical dialogue. Instead, it has come to mean a heated and emotional battle to be right. As a jaded response to such violence in words, the world has come to either engage with prejudice and rage or to tolerate and ignore. All the while the "opponent" becomes the target for wielding opposing views. This becomes known as the Ad Hominem (at the man) fallacy. Consequently, the many that hold like views also assume the target as "enemy". Anyone who would dare hold these opposing views become guilty by association. Meanwhile, those who do not desire the carnage of so-called "arguments" become disinterested in any assertion (fearing being the least bit wrong) and/or abandon the idea of truth altogether. Any pursuit of the truth has become violent and against unity, and is then outlawed and belief is a crime. Yet those who seek justice stand confused a...

 Relativism, its Corollaries, and their Fundamental Problems Indifference is a common sentiment regarding others. Relativism is often how this is justified. However, this idealism is hardly an innocent one. Corollaries include self-determination (the idea that one is one’s creator), narcissism (oneself is infallibly at the center of existence and the only protagonist), and moral subjectivism (the idea that morality is a social construct determined, if not by self, by society/majority rule). One may ask, what is egregious about these life-governing principles? What can be problematic about this alternative view of ethics? Relativism and its corollaries are used to justify mortal sins and thus are spiritually dangerous. The most resolute application of relativism warrants moral subjectivism and self-determination. As a philosophy, relativism contradicts itself. It posits the absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth. It requires little review to note that it is a circular ass...

Explain the nature of mortal sin. What is the result of unrepentant mortal sin? Does hell exist? According to the Cambridge Dictionary freedom is, “the condition or right of being able or allowed to do...whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited: ".[1] Under this aegis, we are encouraged to act as we desire. This definition moves one to consider their life an opportunity to act by self, for self, and with regard to only self. If we truly believe that this is truly the case, why would we need mercy? We would not because everything we have done is supposedly justified by this assumption. Therefore, neither God nor repentance is needed or wanted and in fact boldly rejected, for those who chose this path there must be an alternative from eternal life with God. Those who (at least) intuit the graveness of their action, knowing the consequences are harmful to others, and in spite of these, willingly act, chose against God.[2] This act of “self-determination”, by its acti...

1. What is natural law? What role does it play in human positive law? With this, how must human positive law relate to the common good? Natural law is the law to which every conscience has been ordered.[1] It is the innate guide of conscience whose destination is the flourishing of human life and thus love.[2] Natural law addresses our need for God and helps us attain our ultimate end toward salvation by discouraging us from sin.[3] We love God (and thus neighbor) by keeping His commandments, which have been written on our hearts.[4] Natural law induces human growth through grace and providence, because “everything works for the good of those who love God”.[5] Natural law serves as the foundation for human law.[6] A just human law that serves the common good is legitimate.[7] “As Augustine says, (De Lib. Arb. i, 5), ‘a law that is not just, seems to be no law at all.’”[8] If any human law complies with natural law, it is made in good conscience and is just. 2. Does the notion of ob...