This week Carmel Communications, marketing firm for Ignatius Press, is sponsoring the giveaway. One lucky winner will receive one copy of DOCAT . I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts at midnight tonight EST and will end 12 AM EST 11/20 with a winner being announced later that day. a Rafflecopter giveaway Read more
Degrees of knowledge Each creature, says St. Ephrem the Syrian, has a degree of knowledge proper to it. The different ranks of angels never ask questions beyond what they know to be their ability. Yet some human philosophers think they can vault over all the ranks of angels and figure out the most hidden secrets of God’s own nature! The knowledge of angels searches in measure; human knowledge roams without measure. Your mercy put inns and milestones in your way, so... Read more
All creation gives thanks to God All God’s works give thanks to him, the psalm says. How? St. Augustine asks. Not because stones and trees can speak, but because the perfectly ordered beauty of creation makes God’s intelligent creatures praise him. “All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all thy saints shall bless thee!” (Ps. 145:10). “All your works shall give thanks to you.” How will they give thanks? Isn’t the earth his work? Aren’t the trees... Read more
“Lord of all” includes the angels When Peter says that Christ is “Lord of all,” he means Lord of everything, says St. Cyril of Jerusalem. That includes angels and all the heavenly beings. “He is Lord of all” (Acts 10:36). But when he says “of all,” do not leave out anything from his lordship. Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, or any other created thing named by the Apostles—they are all under the lordship of the Son. He is the Lord of... Read more
Everything is under God’s control When all the forces of nature and even the angels themselves seem to be arrayed against us, says St. Gregory the Great, we must remember that it is not the things acting of themselves, but God arranging everything for the true good. All things continue to exist in God, by whom they were created. Things that live do not owe their life to themselves, and things that move but do not live are not set... Read more
Devin Rose is a convert to Christianity from atheism. After spending some time as an Evangelical Protestant, he became convinced of the Catholic Church’s claims. He is a professional software developer by day and a lay apologist by night. He lives in central Texas with his wife and two children. This week Devin and I discussed how to evangelize in a loving manner and his latest book Navigating the Tiber. PETE: The prospect of debating with a Protestant can be... Read more
The body as a map of the angels’ mind In a flight of philosophical fancy, Dionysius the Areopagite uses the human body as a symbol of the intellectual powers of the heavenly beings, and our own similar intellectual powers as well. I think we can find fitting images of the heavenly powers in the parts of our own body. Vision symbolizes the clear elevation toward the light of God, and the reception of enlightenment from God. The power of distinguishing smells symbolizes... Read more
Each order interprets the order above Dionysius the Areopagite tells us that the angels on any level of the hierarchy interpret what they learn from the rank above for the sake of the rank below. The Seraphim, at the top of the hierarchy, learn from God himself. And even within the same rank of the hierarchy, there are different positions. All angels are interpreters of those above them. The most reverend an- gels interpret God, who moves them, directly. The rest... Read more
This week we have two titles to give away! One lucky winner will receive a copy of Navigating the Tiber: How to Help Your Friends and Family Journey Toward the Catholic Faith by Devin Rose and sponsored by Catholic Answers (you can read the review here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts NOW and will end 12AM EST Friday 9/02. a Rafflecopter giveaway Read more
The orders of angels teach one another The hierarchy of Heaven, like the hierarchy on Earth, keeps to a definite order of teaching, according to Dionysius the Areopagite. The higher levels teach the subordinate levels. Like some other Fathers, our writer imagines the beginning of Isaiah 63 as a description of the scene in Heaven when Christ ascended. Theologians show that the superior orders of heavenly beings teach the subordinate orders the knowledge of becoming like God. The highest orders of... Read more
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