I was raised in an evangelical Christian tradition, one which did recognize the season of Lent. I had heard of it, to be sure, but it was only when I decided to become Catholic did I start taking Lent seriously. And, as I was going to become Byzantine Catholic, I looked into and tried to engage the Byzantine traditions, some of which were quite different from their Western counterparts. Byzantine Catholics start Lent, not on Ash Wednesday, but two days... Read more
Despite Gnosticism being understood as a heresy which rejects many basic teachings of the Christian faith, many of its dangerous elements have been embraced by Christians throughout the centuries. They never seem to be completely overcome. Someone or another will pick them up and use them in their thought, sometimes doing so in such a way, elements of Gnosticism can even be said to have influenced (and tainted) the development of Christian thought. One such influence can be seen in... Read more
Philosophy traditionally tells us about three great transcendentals, that of the truth, the good, and the beautiful. Each of them are understood as their own distinct category, and yet, they are interdependent with each other, meaning, there is a fundamental unity which connects them together. When you have one of them, you have them all. Each of them can be and should be explored in accordance to its own category of thought, but when this is done, we must not... Read more
As a theologian, Joseph Ratzinger promoted a hopeful eschatological vision. He explained that humanity has a common origin, even as they have a common destiny. Both of them are made by God, who created them to experience or participate in the divine life, and so God calls everyone to salvation: The fact of our being formed in God’s likeness (Gottebenbildlichkeit) contains an eschatological, future aspect. Just as the biological commonness of human life points to the common destiny of death,... Read more
I was raised to treat everyone with respect. All my life, I have tried to do my best to treat everyone as equals. My opinions of people are formed based upon what they do, not their background. That is, I didn’t consider someone’s race or gender when forming the way I perceive them as a person. If I did not know someone, my general default has always been to see them as someone worthy of honor and respect. Of course,... Read more
Pope St. Leo the Great exhorts Christians to take their Christian faith seriously, to be true children of light. We are expected to follow the ways of love, not only doing what love suggests we should do, but also what it tells us not to do. In this way, we should learn that love and justice and interdependent with each other, which means, the denial of one leads to the denial of the other: We encourage you to “abstain” in... Read more
In the Byzantine tradition, the two Sundays which come right before the Great Fast (Lent) first have us consider our own spiritual status (the Sunday of the Last Judgment, on which we are encouraged to consider who and what we have become), so that we, we will come to realize how far off we are from what God intended us to be and so accept God’s help to fulfill that potential. Then, on the Sunday which comes the day before... Read more
It is hard not to think about the science fiction movies and novels I’ve seen and read through the years, movies and novels which gave us a warning of the various dark futures which could happen if we were not careful and prevented them from coming to pass. They gave us various dystopian futures, showing us that some of them came to be because the people were complacent, and others came to pass because their worst instincts encouraged them to... Read more
Actions speak louder than words. We must do more than speak, telling people (and ourselves) what should be done; we must act. If all we do is talk, we will not improve anything. This is not to say we should never speak, for speaking can help reveal to others (and perhaps ourselves) what needs to be done. However, our words will prove to be empty if they do not lead us, and others, to do something, to make things better.... Read more
Dorothy Day once said she hoped she would not become a canonized saint because she feared when that happened, her message, and the work which she promoted, would be subverted by the process of canonization. She believed that a hagiographical portrait of her would be made which would ignore much of what she said and promoted, so that ultimately it can be ignored or dismissed. I think her fears have been proven to be true, as now I see many,... Read more
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