In the medieval collection detailing the lives of the saints, The Golden Legend, there is a story about St. Jerome in which he and his monastery brethren befriend a lion. The lion came to the monastery with a hurt paw. While many of the monks fled from its sight, afraid of what the lion might do, St. Jerome went up to it and welcomed it as if it were a guest of the monastery. He had several of the monks... Read more
One of the most unusual saints from Russia (Rus), St. Alexander Nevsky (1221-1263), is famous in part for being a heroic protector of the Russian lands from various invaders, but is infamous because he acknowledged and defended the Tatar Yoke. There has been a lot of debate as to the reason why Alexander accepted the Tatar Yoke. Critics suggest many reasons, including the power they gave him by recognizing his royal position in Rus; his defenders believe that he was... Read more
When the Jesuits began their mission to China, they had to find a way to engage the Chinese. Matteo (Matthew) Ricci came to the conclusion that he had to come to the Chinese embracing their cultural heritage, looking to and accepting what could be demonstrated as a natural theological truth. Initially, he and his fellow Jesuits entered China, shaved their heads, acting like Buddhist monks, but that did not bring much success; it was when they studied the classical Confucian... Read more
Plato taught that philosophy serves as preparation for death. Life is impermanent. What comes next relies, in part, on what we have done in life, and philosophy, with its love for wisdom, gives us the guidance which we need in order to have a good death. That is, philosophy prepares us not only to die well, but to be well in our death. Coming to terms with death will help us accept not only death but the process of dying... Read more
God entered creation and became a part of it as a human man in order to save the rest of humanity. For many, this is all they understand about the incarnation. While it is true, it is not the whole of the truth. In reality, the incarnation is about the establishment of God’s deifying grace to the whole of creation, to elevate creation so that the whole of creation, and not just humanity, can participate in and experience the kingdom... Read more
Eschatology can be difficult to dealt with because those who write on eschatological themes, though using the same words, often mean and are discussing different things with those words. Even what is meant by the word eschatology differs from person to person: some use it to discuss the end of the world, while others use it to explain what happens at the end of life. Of course, the two are connected, and some theologians make that connection more explicit than... Read more
Jesus, in his preaching, indicated that the way we treat others, especially the most vulnerable among us, the “least of these,” is how we treat him (cf. Matt 25:40). Such words were not mere metaphors. They represent something about Jesus himself and the life he came to live. The one who is, was, and ever shall be God emptied himself to become the least among us. [1] He was wounded for our transgressions because it was our transgressions which wound... Read more
On April 4, 2001, for the 33rd anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr, Cardinal George released his pastoral letter on racism, Dwell in My Love, which he celebrated in 2011 with a 10th anniversary edition of the letter. Recognizing at the time that explicit forms of racism was readily condemned, Cardinal George pointed out that the influence and power of racism continued in four different forms: In examining patterns of racism today, four forms of racism merit... Read more
The world is being transformed, indeed, malformed, by modern humanity. The reality of climate change demonstrates the way humanity can and does negatively influence the world. It’s not just climate change. It is how human treat ecological threats as a whole which should concern us. Humanity has destroyed countless species of life in its attempt to control and dominate nature. But these species of life were invaluable for the delicate balance of life on the planet. Remove too many of... Read more
The great Robert Taft, commenting upon the spirituality of the East, explained that a major component of it is the realization of tradition through liturgical worship: “An attachment to tradition, to the ways handed down from time immemorial by their fathers in the faith, is evident in every aspect of church life in the East, but above all in worship.”[1] While this could be used to suggest that the East tends to be conservative in liturgy, this must not imply... Read more
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