“Christ is at once rich and poor: as God, rich; as a human person, poor. Truly, that Man rose to heaven already rich, and now sits at the right hand of the Father, but here, among us, he still suffers hunger, thirst and nakedness: here he is poor and is in the poor.” -St. Augustine Christ “is poor and is in the poor,” says St. Augustine, providing a most succinct justification of the Church’s “preferential option for the poor.” Structurally,... Read more
It sometimes seems that for a Catholic family to prove their fidelity to the Church, they must have large families. They promote themselves and their Catholic identity by saying how many children they have had. Anything but a large family is seen, by some, as proof of sin. Even though salvation history shows how this attitude often has hurt some of the holiest people in history (such as Sts. Joachim and Anne), this attitude comes up again and again, constantly... Read more
Introduction and Part II XXXIII. “The eye perceives the visible; the intellect apprehends the invisible. The intellect that enjoys the love of God is the light of the soul. He who has such an intellect is illumined in his heart, and sees God with his intellect.”[1] No one who is good is “immoral,” while the wicked is a “lover of the body.”[2] “The first virtue is to reject the demands of the flesh.”[3] If we avoid all that is changeable,... Read more
Dear Texas, It’s me, Mark Gordon. Former resident. Frequent visitor. Big fan of SRV, Townes, and Willie. Connoisseur of East Texas barbeque and West Texas landscapes. Texas, I’m writing because as much as I like you I’m really getting tired of your act. You always say, “Don’t Mess With Texas!” Okay, but why do you keep messing with the rest of us? What’s got me hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch is the politicians you insist on sharing with... Read more
Father Robert Barron’s book Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith is the single best volume on the subject to date. Give it to your godchildren, your roommates, your parents, your next door neighbor, and the friendly neighborhood agnostic. I’ve published a full review here but want to focus on a larger issue for those unfamilar with Fr. Barron or his work. I’ve read several of his pieces, and wrote a review of his earlier book Bridging the... Read more
The Diocese of Phoenix has been in the news recently. First, the rector of the Cathedral there banned altar girls. His rationale is that there is a close connection between serving at the altar and vocations to the priesthood, and boys and young men do not want to be altar servers if girls are allowed. Now the bishop, Bishop Olmstead, has announced that the distribution of communion under both species is going to be radically restricted in his diocese. Instead... Read more
In his magisterial work The Four Cardinal Virtues, Josef Pieper concludes his reflection on Justice with a section on “The Limits of Justice.” Here are the last two paragraphs: Communal life will necessarily become inhuman if man’s dues to man are determined by pure calculation. That the just man give to another what is not due to him is particularly important since injustice is the prevailing condition in our world. Because men must do without things that are due to... Read more
Hat tip: Michael Iafrate. Read more
While the imminent execution of Troy Davis by the State of Georgia has gained worldwide attention and generated a firestorm of protest, he isn’t the only American facing capital “justice” tonight. In Texas, Lawrence Russell Brewer is scheduled to receive what Michelle Bachmann calls a “government injection” sometime after 6:00 pm. Only this one will truly be lethal. Brewer was convicted along with two of his white supremacist pals of lynching James Byrd Jr., a black man, in 1998. You... Read more
“The Lord appeared to Moses, the merciful man, in a flame of fire; that is, in compassion of mind. But where does this flame come from? It comes from the midst of the bush: of the poor, the pierced, the troubled, the bereft, the naked, the afflicted. When the just man is pricked with the thorns of their poverty, he is set ablaze with compassion to have mercy on them. He sees that the bush, the poor man, burns with... Read more
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