Vivat Agnus Dei

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...

It seems to me there is a lot of confusion surrounding the faith vs. works disagreement between Protestant and Catholic Soteriology. There are distinctions between homophonic definitions and the rhetoric continually gets stuck here. Let us begin there: "Works" as actions in general, without faith being necessary, including all human actions, whether morally good, neutral, or sinful. These works may stem from natural abilities and dispositions but lack salvific value apart from faith and grace. Without the proper orientation toward God, even virtuous actions remain within the natural order and cannot justify a person (cf.  Isaiah 64:6). "Works" as actions ad salutem to human cooperation with the grace of God, where one’s actions are oriented toward forming virtue, disposing the soul to receive the infused virtue of justice (justifying grace) but are not themselves the cause of justification (cf.  Ephesians 2:8-10). "Works" as actions ex salutem  or from h...

"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 ...

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...

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) This command is profoundly clear from Christ and yet its practical implications can often feel elusive. What does it mean to "make" disciples? What does it mean to be a "disciple"?  Simply it is putting on the Mind of Christ through "apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers"(cf. 1 Corinthians 2:16, Acts 2:42). The sacraments are a part of this insofar as He mentions Baptism in the same command. It is also clear there is a call for preserving, living, and passing on the faith. Just as discipleship was simply a fraternal education in the Christian life. The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls (Donald DeGrood) casts a vision that encompasses much of...

If you are interested at all in being a great Christian, you have either asked the question yourself or heard the disparity between the Catholic and Protestant answers to "How are we saved?". I have friends that I will thank for something and they, knowing the goodness of God being truly the cause of every goodness, redirect (as it were) the thanks to God. "How are these related" you may wonder. Welcome to the subject of the post. It has everything to do with whether there is much wisdom in this action or if there remains the tiniest error. Every thank you from one finite, contingent good to the next, is never truly to fall upon the finite, contingent good, but include all the good transmitted to and through them. This is to say: an act of gratitude is applied to its source which is finally praise of God but also in the measure the finite, contingent being/good willed freely whatever is praised, the gratitude is analogically applied to them and analogically all that...

Commissioned to Paint "POPE JOHN PAUL II" by Vatican representatives August 2003 American Master "RUTH MAYER" unveils the painting for His Holiness, Rome Italy Nov 2004 So what makes it new? Haven't we always done evangelization? The answer is the same for the New Atheism, it’s just adapted to the new information, technology, and thus current in its expression and approach. In the coming weeks, we will look at Why someone would evangelize, ways of doing that, and things that stand in its way. For now, though let’s just focus on the distinctions from the old to new and what concerns evangelization. The New Evangelization makes explicit demands of every Christian, it concerns every aspect of our life, and has new demands. First, in distinguishing between the “old” and “new” is really more like a part of the whole system and an emphasized, active, and closer to the whole of the system. To give some background, it is the very same as the Second Vatican Council. It i...

   Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Many have called the Christian life difficult, and indeed, loving with everything we have is hardly described by “difficult”. Yet, this is the minimum expectation, since God’s grace affords us so much more than only our will can. The question remains, what is a fallen creature to do to make this happen at all times, in all circums...

 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind… ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?’” (Job 38:1, 4-7). “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” (John 15:14-15). The above quotations paint two very different pictures of God. In the first, Job is confronted with the terrifying reality that he is speaking with an all-powerful Creator, infinitely Other and incomprehensible. In the second, Jesus (who made it clear that “He and the Father are One” in the Gospel of John) reveals His simple intimacy...

We know that feeling after the best sleep we have had and needed for a while. Very little is quite as subliminal. We feel a restoration of what we were starving for. Thomas Merton is sometimes quoted as saying something to the effect of "being a contemplative is to be present to where God is creating oneself in the here and now". Although I am unsure of where exactly this quote originated, it draws us to contemplate just how true it is that God's work of creation is never done in us (perhaps in Heaven but maybe not). Christ, we find, is the Giver of Life always has been and always will be physically and spiritually. First, we know that "all things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people." (John 1:3-4) Christ was there at the beginning and He is here now creating anew at the moment of every conception directly creating a soul, spiritual in the i...