The Donatists were a schismatic sect that called itself the only true Church. St. Augustine warns that no one—not even an angel—can truly preach any gospel but the gospel Christ preached to us. You were kind enough to tell us about the letter sent to you by a Donatist priest—although, with the spirit of a true Catholic, you hold it in contempt. So, to help you in seeking his welfare (assuming that his folly isn’t incurable), we beg you to forward... Read more
Review by Michele Craig In his book Prayer in the Catholic Tradition: A Handbook of Practical Approaches Robert J. Wicks states , “One of the most rewarding experiences for Catholics happens when they begin to discover the amazing scope of the approaches to prayer in the Catholic tradition.” I wholeheartedly agree! Furthermore, Robert asks, “What if there were a single resource that both adult Catholics and those who minister to them (priests, vowed religious, seminarians, permanent deacons, lay pastoral ministers,... Read more
St. Paul warned the Galatians not to listen even to an angel from Heaven if he preached any gospel other than what they had already heard. Could a heavenly angel actually do that? No, says St. Vincent of Lerins. But St. Paul means that, even if the impossible did happen, we should never deviate from the one gospel. These people were wandering around in provinces and cities, carrying their venal errors with them. Some of them had found their way to... Read more
The angels are sometimes ministers of God’s just chastisement. But they don’t like it, St. Ambrose tells us. Remember, he says, that the angels in Heaven rejoice over the salvation of even one sinner. And shouldn’t we believe that the angels themselves, who in the toils of this world fulfill various ministries, as we read in the Revelation of St. John, also groan when they’re made the ministers of vengeance and destruction? Since their life is blessed, wouldn’t they rather spend... Read more
Are the angels evil when they punish sinners? No, says Dionysius the Areopagite: what is evil is not being justly punished when we have earned punishment. Evil does not exist in the angels. By participation, the angel is in a second- ary degree what God, whom he announces, is in the first degree as Cause. If the angel who has the likeness of good proclaims the goodness of God, then the angel is a likeness of Almighty God: a manifestation of... Read more
Although the good angels want nothing more than our salvation, sometimes they must be the instruments of God’s judgment. St. John Chrysostom points out that, although God came down to earth himself to save us, when it is necessary to punish us that work is usually done by the angels. Let us not be unduly philosophical. Let us show ourselves pitying, that we may be pitied. There’s nothing like this beautiful trait: to us, nothing so marks the stamp of human... Read more
It has been four years since I have launched The Catholic Book Blogger. A lot has transpired in that time. I started blogging on a self-published blog and did that for two years until the day Elizabeth Scalia asked if I wanted to come join the crew at Patheos. To say I was humbled and honored is the best way I can describe that conversation. Since then I have read and reviewed a ton of fantastic books and conducted many,... Read more
A terrifying image from Psalm 35 provokes St. Augustine to meditate on how God punishes. When God sends his angel to pursue the wicked, it’s not out of anger, but simply the nature of righteousness at work. “Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driv- ing them on! Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!” (Ps. 35:5-6). A horrible way! Everyone is afraid of darkness alone,... Read more
St. Augustine argues that the will of God is ultimately the cause of everything that happens in the world. Along the way he gives us a beautiful picture of Heaven, where the angels are “combined in one will by a kind of spiritual fire of love.” Let us turn our thoughts to that heavenly country above, from which we are pilgrims down here. There the will of God, who makes the angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire (Ps. 104:4),... Read more
The magicians of Pharaoh, says St. Augustine, were able to duplicate some of the plagues by magic. But their magic had its limits. Nothing can be done, even by magic, without God’s will. Now, a weak judgment might ask why miracles like these can also be done by magic—for the wise men of Pharaoh also made serpents, and did other similar things. Yet it is still more wonderful that the power of those magicians, though it could make serpents, completely failed... Read more
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