In Buddhism, desire is said to be dangerous because it can leads us to attach ourselves to things which are in passing away. Everything is impermanent. What we want will not be with us forever, and when it is gone, we will suffer because our desire will no longer be able to be fulfilled. Desire would not be so dangerous if it were not so powerful. It motivates us and encourages us to act, even if our action does not... Read more
Once, Jesus was called good by someone seeking to flattery him. Not only did Jesus use the situation as an opportunity to denounce the use of such flattery, he also used it to indicate to everyone that only God is unconditionally good: And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. (Lk. 18:18-19 RSV). We must... Read more
What we do in life is important. The way we live, the way we treat others, the way we treat the very earth itself matters. We might have eternity in our sight, but we must remember, time is a part of eternity. What we do matters, for it will help form our eternal existence. We cannot act as if nothing we do matters. We can’t say we seek after eternity as a way to ignore the problems of the present.... Read more
There is trouble brewing in the Catholic Church in the United States. Priests and bishops are not listening to the Pope, but rather, non-Catholic interests, like Jordan Peterson, who stand for principles which run contrary to Catholic teaching. Are they not paying attention? He has already indicated that he thinks Catholics should boycott Mass, which is why it was odd for Bishop Barron in 2019 to suggest that the solution to the problems in the church, the way to get... Read more
The church is full of the spiritually sick and infirm, that is, sinners. As Pope Francis explained, it can be and should be seen as a field hospital. We are its patients. The church, with the graces given to it, has the spiritual draught that not only can heal us, but give us strength to become better than before. However, our sickness is not just our own. When we are sick, we can infect others with our spiritual disease. It... Read more
Tolkien, like his friend C.S. Lewis, contemplated the notion of “unfallen” beings living in a fallen universe. He thought that if they existed, even though they were not tainted by sin, they would still be affected by the fall. It was with this understanding that wrote concerning the Quendi, the Elves, in his writings: The Quendi never “fell” in the sense that Men did. Being “tainted” with the Shadow (as perhaps even the Valar in some degree were, with all... Read more
When we are filled with grace, we must engage it, cooperate with it, live it out by embracing the dictates of Christ, the dictates of love. That is, we should, as Paul said, live our life in such a way as to show ourselves worthy of the calling which we have been given: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and... Read more
When Jesus’ disciples complained about the way he had been anointed by a woman with expensive ointment, Jesus said that the woman who had done so had done a good thing. “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me “(Matt. 26:11 RSV). Jesus, of course, was talking about the way he was being prepared for death, and the woman had done a good thing because it was as if she had prepared his... Read more
In the Gospels, we read of the way many of the apostles were upset when they learned that there were others exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. John wanted to forbid them because he thought they were ignoring the apostles and their role in delegating the activities of the faithful. Jesus, however, said that John was wrong; Jesus indicated that John, the apostles, and therefore, the church should not be so controlling, but rather, they should welcome the good work of... Read more
St. Thomas Aquinas, understanding that God is the beginning and the end of every particular good, that is, God is the source and summit of every good, nonetheless stated that there are many ways in which we could engage the good, and each way is of value. Thus, when talking about the good proper to humanity, he said: But the proper good of man must be considered in various ways, according as man is understood under various aspects. The proper... Read more
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