One of the ways those who set upon a path towards holiness, engaging all kinds of spiritual disciplines in order to attune themselves to God and God’s holiness, can be taken off that path is if they let themselves be seduced by the fame which often accompanies those who attain some degree of extraordinary spiritual attainment. Even if they do not seek fame for themselves, they might look for those who are famous and attach themselves to them, thinking that... Read more
The Christian faith is not faith in a book; it certainly is not a faith in mere men and women, and what they have to say. Yes, Scripture is invaluable, as it gives us a form of God’s revelation to humanity, and the Holy Spirit helped inspire the way it was written and collected together so that if it is engaged properly, it can point us to the transcendent truth. Yes, tradition is important, as it helps guide us in... Read more
Love is humble, not proud, which is why it should not surprise us that God’s greatness is best revealed to us in the incarnation and not by coming to us in a form or activity which lies beyond our comprehension. That is, God humbly embraces human nature as the normative means by which the divine glory would be revealed to us, showing us, as St. Stephen of Muret suggests, that there is a place for us with God in heaven,... Read more
To non-Christians, the way many Christians act in the world must confuse them. For they often have read what Christ taught and see that Christians not only act contrary to Christ’s teachings, but demand others to do so as well. They read Christ teaching the way of love. They see he is meant to be the prince of peace. Yet, Christians, as history shows, have been far from peaceful, as they have engaged wars of aggression, and they have been... Read more
Every year, I see Christians saying we must not celebrate Halloween (and possibly other holidays like Christmas). Usually, one or two reasons are given. The first is that they say the day is a pagan holiday, and Christians should have nothing to do with paganism. They recount a highly constructed (and false) narrative of pagan traditions, showing the supposed connections between the celebration of Halloween (and Christmas) today with paganism of old. Even if the reconstructed history were true, the... Read more
At the heart of the Christian faith is the teaching of the incarnation, and through the incarnation, the revelation of the Trinity. While we might have found hints concerning the Trinitarian nature of God through natural revelation, we would not have been able to come to conclude its truth on our own, especially because the teaching o the Trinity transcends our comprehension. We must always keep in mind that the truth transcends us, and if it transcends us, it transcends... Read more
Unity in diversity is important to the Christian faith. Each person should be given the freedom to express and develop themselves, that is, to engage grace in their own unique fashion. This freedom, therefore, will create a great diversity, as the way people develop themselves will differ from each other. Nonetheless, they should be reminded that that they are not islands all unto themselves. No one can and will be independent from everyone else. Persons, by their nature, are interdependent... Read more
When I was young, long before I became a Catholic, or even before I considered becoming a Catholic a possibility, I read Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth, and was fascinated with the idea that we were living at the end times. Like many others, I was thrilled to hear that Jesus was going to come again during my lifetime. Not only was it a very exciting thing to hear, it made me feel special without actually having to... Read more
Early in Christian history, especially during the time before Constantine, Christians often engaged and recognized truths found in various pagan religions, their prophets, and the philosophers who emerged from those religious traditions (the division of philosophy and theology into two separate and distinct disciplines is a much later development). We find this especially established by various apologists (like St. Justin Martyr and Eusebius), who pointed out how God could be said to have inspired elements from these other religious traditions... Read more
The prophet Jonah famously misunderstood his prophetic mission; he understood God’s pathos against social unjust and its implications for the people of Nineveh, which led him to point out the doom they faced as a result of their injustices. However, he thought that there was nothing they could do to avert their fate, that they were soon going to be destroyed (like Sodom and Gomorrah). He was right about what would happen if they did not change their ways, but... Read more
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