Ecce Verbum
Framework of a Christian State Rev Cahill.pdf
Patriotism, nationalism and the foundation of internationalism
Excerpts taken from
The Framework of a Christian State: An Introduction to Social Science
E. Cahill S.J
Chapter XXVIII, pages 573-599
Virtue of Patriotism, Patriotism and the Christian Law, Duties of Patriotism
"Augustine says… Now one man's connection with another may be measured in reference to the various matters in which men are engaged together; (thus the intercourse of kinsmen is in natural matters, that of fellow-citizens is in civic matters, that of the faithful is in spiritual matters, and so forth): and various benefits should be conferred in various ways according to these various connections, because we ought in preference to bestow on each one such benefits as pertain to the matter in which, speaking simply, he is most closely connected with us."
Summa Theologiae I-II.105.3
Patriotism, in other words, leads to a properly ordered social love. (Not going into extremes but insisting on sober middle ground). [1]
#patriotism
Excerpts taken from
The Framework of a Christian State: An Introduction to Social Science
E. Cahill S.J
Chapter XXVIII, pages 573-599
Virtue of Patriotism, Patriotism and the Christian Law, Duties of Patriotism
"Augustine says… Now one man's connection with another may be measured in reference to the various matters in which men are engaged together; (thus the intercourse of kinsmen is in natural matters, that of fellow-citizens is in civic matters, that of the faithful is in spiritual matters, and so forth): and various benefits should be conferred in various ways according to these various connections, because we ought in preference to bestow on each one such benefits as pertain to the matter in which, speaking simply, he is most closely connected with us."
Summa Theologiae I-II.105.3
Patriotism, in other words, leads to a properly ordered social love. (Not going into extremes but insisting on sober middle ground). [1]
#patriotism
Ecce Verbum
Modernism.Card.Mercier-fi32575083 (1).pdf
Patriotism and endurance:
the pastoral letter of His Eminence Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, Christmas 1914
A 34 page pamphlet created in Britain as a tool for education, regarding Belgium and religion- descrying the "Rape of Belgium" during the Great War
Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier (21 November 1851 – 23 January 1926) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a noted scholar. He was known for his book, Les origines de la psychologie contemporaine (1897). His scholarship gained him recognition from the Pope and he was appointed as Archbishop of Mechelen, serving from 1906 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1907.
Sparked by the "Guns of August," the Great War intensified when the German Army invaded Belgium in attempting a surprise invasion of France. Mercier had to leave his see on August 20 to travel to Rome to attend the funeral of the late Pius X and participate in the following conclave to elect Giacomo della Chiesa as Pope Benedict XV on September 3rd.After the invasion, he distributed a strong pastoral letter, Patriotism and Endurance, to be read in all his churches, urging the people to keep up their spirits.
Dated, "Christmas 1914," this letter consists of a brief prologue, two main passages ('Patriotism' and 'Endurance') and a Conclusion. Addressing "My very Dear Brethren," Mercier describes the accounts of the German atrocities in neutral Belgium that have which have reached him in Rome. His description of the sack of Louvain (Leuven) on August 25th was particularly distressing for English Catholics: "In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, the magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former splendour...all this accumulation of intellectual, of historic, and of artistic riches, the fruits of the labours of five centuries—all is now in dust." The destruction is so pervasive, Mercier says, "We can neither number our dead nor compute the measure of our ruins." Mercier is noted for his staunch resistance to the German occupation of 1914–1918 during the Great War.
Patriotism and Endurance -link
further reading :
Mercier's "Modernism"
#patriotism
the pastoral letter of His Eminence Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, Christmas 1914
A 34 page pamphlet created in Britain as a tool for education, regarding Belgium and religion- descrying the "Rape of Belgium" during the Great War
Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier (21 November 1851 – 23 January 1926) was a Belgian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a noted scholar. He was known for his book, Les origines de la psychologie contemporaine (1897). His scholarship gained him recognition from the Pope and he was appointed as Archbishop of Mechelen, serving from 1906 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1907.
Sparked by the "Guns of August," the Great War intensified when the German Army invaded Belgium in attempting a surprise invasion of France. Mercier had to leave his see on August 20 to travel to Rome to attend the funeral of the late Pius X and participate in the following conclave to elect Giacomo della Chiesa as Pope Benedict XV on September 3rd.After the invasion, he distributed a strong pastoral letter, Patriotism and Endurance, to be read in all his churches, urging the people to keep up their spirits.
Dated, "Christmas 1914," this letter consists of a brief prologue, two main passages ('Patriotism' and 'Endurance') and a Conclusion. Addressing "My very Dear Brethren," Mercier describes the accounts of the German atrocities in neutral Belgium that have which have reached him in Rome. His description of the sack of Louvain (Leuven) on August 25th was particularly distressing for English Catholics: "In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, the magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former splendour...all this accumulation of intellectual, of historic, and of artistic riches, the fruits of the labours of five centuries—all is now in dust." The destruction is so pervasive, Mercier says, "We can neither number our dead nor compute the measure of our ruins." Mercier is noted for his staunch resistance to the German occupation of 1914–1918 during the Great War.
Patriotism and Endurance -link
further reading :
Mercier's "Modernism"
#patriotism
digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca
Digital Collections - Patriotism and endurance: the pastoral letter of His Eminence Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, Christmas…
- CU15843158
A 34 page pamphlet created in Britain as a tool for education during World War I regarding Belgium and religion.
A 34 page pamphlet created in Britain as a tool for education during World War I regarding Belgium and religion.
Ecce Verbum
online read De regno/ On Kingship by Thomas Aquinas The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1949 Introduction As I was turning over in my mind what I might present to Your Majesty as a gift at once worthy of Your Royal Highness and befitting my…
Aquinas contra globalism
“A city which must engage in much trade in order to supply its needs also has to put up with the continuous presence of foreigners. But intercourse with foreigners, according to Aristotle’s Politics, is particularly harmful to civic customs. For it is inevitable that strangers, brought up under other laws and customs, will in many cases act as the citizens are not wont to act and thus, since the citizens are drawn by their example to act likewise, their own civic life is upset.”
This is related to a theme Aquinas develops elsewhere, in Summa Theologiae I-II.105.3. Of ancient Israel, he observes, approvingly, that:
“When any foreigners wished to be admitted entirely to their fellowship… a certain order was observed. For they were not at once admitted to citizenship: just as it was law with some nations that no one was deemed a citizen except after two or three generations, as the Philosopher says (Polit. iii, 1). The reason for this was that if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people.
The Catechism teaches that:
The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
*Note that the Catechism teaches that immigrants have a duty to respect the laws and “spiritual heritage” of the nation they seek to enter, and that political authorities may restrict immigration so as to uphold the “common good” of the nation they govern.
https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2020/09/aquinas-contra-globalism.html
further reading:
De regno/ On Kingship by Thomas Aquinas
In defense of the nation and patriotism
#patriotism
“A city which must engage in much trade in order to supply its needs also has to put up with the continuous presence of foreigners. But intercourse with foreigners, according to Aristotle’s Politics, is particularly harmful to civic customs. For it is inevitable that strangers, brought up under other laws and customs, will in many cases act as the citizens are not wont to act and thus, since the citizens are drawn by their example to act likewise, their own civic life is upset.”
This is related to a theme Aquinas develops elsewhere, in Summa Theologiae I-II.105.3. Of ancient Israel, he observes, approvingly, that:
“When any foreigners wished to be admitted entirely to their fellowship… a certain order was observed. For they were not at once admitted to citizenship: just as it was law with some nations that no one was deemed a citizen except after two or three generations, as the Philosopher says (Polit. iii, 1). The reason for this was that if foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they settled down in its midst, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might attempt something hurtful to the people.
The Catechism teaches that:
The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. Public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him.
Political authorities, for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption. Immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens.
*Note that the Catechism teaches that immigrants have a duty to respect the laws and “spiritual heritage” of the nation they seek to enter, and that political authorities may restrict immigration so as to uphold the “common good” of the nation they govern.
https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2020/09/aquinas-contra-globalism.html
further reading:
De regno/ On Kingship by Thomas Aquinas
In defense of the nation and patriotism
#patriotism
Blogspot
Aquinas contra globalism
In Book Two, Chapter 3 of his little work De Regno (or On Kingship ), Thomas Aquinas addresses matters of trade and its effect on the mate...
Ecce Verbum
The Vocation of Love "Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being" (Familiaris Consortio, n. 11; also cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1604). The vocation to a particular way of life is a determination of this common…
Love and Responsibility (1).pdf
45.1 MB
Love and Responsibility
Karol Wojtyła
Karol Wojtyla has produced a remarkably eloquent and resourceful defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality. He writes in the conviction that science--biology, psychology, sociology--can provide valuable information on particular aspects of relations between the sexes, but that a full understanding can be obtained only by study of the human person as a whole.
Central to his argument is the contrast between the personalistic and the utilitarian views of marriage and of sexual relations. The former views marriage as an interpersonal relationship, in which the well-being and self-realization of each partner are of overriding importance to the other. It is only within this framework that the full purpose of marriage can be realized. The alternative, utilitarian view, according to which a sexual partner is an object for use, holds no possibility of fulfillment and happiness.
#love #marriage
Karol Wojtyła
Karol Wojtyla has produced a remarkably eloquent and resourceful defense of Catholic tradition in the sphere of family life and sexual morality. He writes in the conviction that science--biology, psychology, sociology--can provide valuable information on particular aspects of relations between the sexes, but that a full understanding can be obtained only by study of the human person as a whole.
Central to his argument is the contrast between the personalistic and the utilitarian views of marriage and of sexual relations. The former views marriage as an interpersonal relationship, in which the well-being and self-realization of each partner are of overriding importance to the other. It is only within this framework that the full purpose of marriage can be realized. The alternative, utilitarian view, according to which a sexual partner is an object for use, holds no possibility of fulfillment and happiness.
#love #marriage
Ecce Verbum
Love and Responsibility (1).pdf
The Phenomenon of shame and its iinterpretation
Chapter III- The Person and Chastity, pages 174-181
Taken from
Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyła
#love #chastity #shame
Chapter III- The Person and Chastity, pages 174-181
Taken from
Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyła
#love #chastity #shame
Ecce Verbum
On Christian Decorum The attire of the body and the laughter of the teeth and the gait of the man show what he is. (Eccl 19:27) 'Whether we think, speak or act in a good or an evil manner depends upon whether we cleave inwardly to virtue or to vice.' St.…
Christian-Decorum-reprint-2007(1).pdf
2.2 MB
The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility
John Baptist de La Salle
A book of decorum and civility.
One of the most significant symptoms of the crisis of the European conscience was the disappearance of the gentleman, the person of culture and refinement.It is not pretentious to consider De La Salle’s book a courageous effort to preserve and to perfect that type of human being by giving decorum and civility a religious motivation. De La Salle sought to revive the concept and the reality of the gentleman, the person who acts with decorum, self-controlled modesty, and propriety, even when alone, and with civility, evangelical courtesy practiced in the presence of others.It is significant for the light it sheds on the personality of the author, revealing him as a person of great sensitivity and refinement. The historian Georges Rigault described this book as “the work of a gentleman and a saint, a basic document of our history.”
more:
Newman's "Gentleman"
#decorum
John Baptist de La Salle
A book of decorum and civility.
One of the most significant symptoms of the crisis of the European conscience was the disappearance of the gentleman, the person of culture and refinement.It is not pretentious to consider De La Salle’s book a courageous effort to preserve and to perfect that type of human being by giving decorum and civility a religious motivation. De La Salle sought to revive the concept and the reality of the gentleman, the person who acts with decorum, self-controlled modesty, and propriety, even when alone, and with civility, evangelical courtesy practiced in the presence of others.It is significant for the light it sheds on the personality of the author, revealing him as a person of great sensitivity and refinement. The historian Georges Rigault described this book as “the work of a gentleman and a saint, a basic document of our history.”
more:
Newman's "Gentleman"
#decorum
Ecce Verbum
Christian-Decorum-reprint-2007(1).pdf
Decorum in speech
St. Jean- Baptiste de la Salle
taken from
"The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility"
-You must avoid all useless and foolish questions, because they only give rise to disputes.
-You ought not to argue because, as a servant of God you must not be contentious.
- If others put forward anything that either is not true or seems inappropriate, you may simply express your opinion with so much deference that those who think differently will not take offense.
-If someone contradicts what you have said, you ought to show that you willingly submit your view to his, unless it is altogether contrary to Catholic maxims and the rules of the Gospel.
-You must never argue with a voluble person, lest you fuel his fire.
-Never contradict the word of truth in any way.
-If you are not well versed in a given subject, prefer to keep quiet and to listen to others.
-You must listen attentively to what others say.
-If you believe that the opinion you have set forth is correct, you must defend it in a mild and courteous way.
- Don't interrupt a speaker by asking, for instance "Who is that","Who said so","Who did that".
-Don't interrupt someone who is telling a story and try to tell it better yourself; don't say that you know all about it or that you know exactly what the speaker wants to say, or to declare openly: "I bet it did not happen like that".
-If someone makes a mistake, you have no right to call his attention to it, but must wait until the speaker catches the error himself and corrects it.
-Pay close attention to what the other person is saying, so that he is not obliged to repeat it.
-When a speaker had difficulty in finding the right words or hesitates, don't suggest words or add the words the speaker has not pronounced properly.
-You must not take it upon yourself to reprimand anyone, unless you are obliged to do so, or the matter is important; don't set yourself up as critic and public censor.
-Never poke fun at someone who proposed something a little unreasonable, and still less ought you to treat him with disdain, for it may be that you did not correctly understand what he had in mind.
-Don't reveal secrets to one and all . Before revealing a secret to anyone, you must make sure who is the person to whom you intend to tell the secret, whether he is able to keep the secret and whether he will indeed do so.
-To speak prudently, consider whether it is the proper time to speak or to remain silent.
🔗Part2
more:
🔗•Ignatian rule of charity in conversation
🔗•humility in conversation
#decorum #speech
St. Jean- Baptiste de la Salle
taken from
"The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility"
-You must avoid all useless and foolish questions, because they only give rise to disputes.
-You ought not to argue because, as a servant of God you must not be contentious.
- If others put forward anything that either is not true or seems inappropriate, you may simply express your opinion with so much deference that those who think differently will not take offense.
-If someone contradicts what you have said, you ought to show that you willingly submit your view to his, unless it is altogether contrary to Catholic maxims and the rules of the Gospel.
-You must never argue with a voluble person, lest you fuel his fire.
-Never contradict the word of truth in any way.
-If you are not well versed in a given subject, prefer to keep quiet and to listen to others.
-You must listen attentively to what others say.
-If you believe that the opinion you have set forth is correct, you must defend it in a mild and courteous way.
- Don't interrupt a speaker by asking, for instance "Who is that","Who said so","Who did that".
-Don't interrupt someone who is telling a story and try to tell it better yourself; don't say that you know all about it or that you know exactly what the speaker wants to say, or to declare openly: "I bet it did not happen like that".
-If someone makes a mistake, you have no right to call his attention to it, but must wait until the speaker catches the error himself and corrects it.
-Pay close attention to what the other person is saying, so that he is not obliged to repeat it.
-When a speaker had difficulty in finding the right words or hesitates, don't suggest words or add the words the speaker has not pronounced properly.
-You must not take it upon yourself to reprimand anyone, unless you are obliged to do so, or the matter is important; don't set yourself up as critic and public censor.
-Never poke fun at someone who proposed something a little unreasonable, and still less ought you to treat him with disdain, for it may be that you did not correctly understand what he had in mind.
-Don't reveal secrets to one and all . Before revealing a secret to anyone, you must make sure who is the person to whom you intend to tell the secret, whether he is able to keep the secret and whether he will indeed do so.
-To speak prudently, consider whether it is the proper time to speak or to remain silent.
🔗Part2
more:
🔗•Ignatian rule of charity in conversation
🔗•humility in conversation
#decorum #speech
Ecce Verbum
Could Mortification play a role in Penance? On the Importance of Mortification: St. Anthony says, "I look to St. Paul for my example, for he mortified himself, and said: 'I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to…
St. Thomas Aquinas - Meditations for Lent.pdf
7.5 MB
Meditations for Lent
St. Thomas Aquinas
"Sin-original sin and actual sin--is taken away by Christ, that is to say, by Him who is also the remover of all bodily defects. He shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom. viii. II).
But, according to the order appointed by a wisdom that is divine, it is at the time which best suits that Christ takes away both the one and the other, i.e., both sin and bodily defects.
Now it is only right that, before we arrive at that glory of impassibility and immortality which began in Christ, and which was acquired for us through Christ, we should be shaped after the pattern of Christ's sufferings. It is then only right that Christ's liability to suffer should remain in us too for a time, as a means of our coming to the impassibility of glory in the way He himself came to it."
#lent
St. Thomas Aquinas
"Sin-original sin and actual sin--is taken away by Christ, that is to say, by Him who is also the remover of all bodily defects. He shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom. viii. II).
But, according to the order appointed by a wisdom that is divine, it is at the time which best suits that Christ takes away both the one and the other, i.e., both sin and bodily defects.
Now it is only right that, before we arrive at that glory of impassibility and immortality which began in Christ, and which was acquired for us through Christ, we should be shaped after the pattern of Christ's sufferings. It is then only right that Christ's liability to suffer should remain in us too for a time, as a means of our coming to the impassibility of glory in the way He himself came to it."
#lent
Practical_theology_Spiritual_direction_from_St_Thomas_Aquinas,_358.pdf
2.8 MB
(for beginners)
Practical Theology
Peter Kreeft
"St. Thomas wrote a very short preface to his very long (4,000-page) Summa Theologiae. In it he says he wrote his Summa “for beginners.
I too will give you a fairly short preface (though not as short as his) to tell you why I wrote this fairly long book (though not as long as his), and why “beginners” should read it.
In a lifetime of browsing through Aquinas, my amazement has continually increased not only at his theoretical, philosophical brilliance and sanity but equally at his personal, practical wisdom, his “existential bite”. Yet this second dimension of St. Thomas has usually been eclipsed by the other. I wrote this book to help bring that sun out from its eclipse."
Practical Theology
Peter Kreeft
"St. Thomas wrote a very short preface to his very long (4,000-page) Summa Theologiae. In it he says he wrote his Summa “for beginners.
I too will give you a fairly short preface (though not as short as his) to tell you why I wrote this fairly long book (though not as long as his), and why “beginners” should read it.
In a lifetime of browsing through Aquinas, my amazement has continually increased not only at his theoretical, philosophical brilliance and sanity but equally at his personal, practical wisdom, his “existential bite”. Yet this second dimension of St. Thomas has usually been eclipsed by the other. I wrote this book to help bring that sun out from its eclipse."
Forwarded from Ecce Verbum
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The influence of Christianity on the early European nations
Collectivism_Individualism_and_Card.pdf
295.3 KB
Article
Collectivism, individualism and Bl. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński's personalistic concept of man
"In personalistic philosophy, the matter’s essence is rooted in a correctly interpreted integral vision of the human person. Therefore, the solution to contemporary problems in today’s world is related to promoting the “man’s issues” understood in personalist terms..."
"..Thus, the contemporary world functioning in the “post-Cold War” period requires a reinterpretation and redefinition of the interests of individuality and collectivism: two opposing socio-cultural, political, and economic frameworks recognized as the primary source of global conflict in the past as well as in the future.."
"According to Cardinal Wyszyński, the main problem affecting the above
systems lies in the so-called “anthropological error,” which does not allow for forming an integral vision of man reflecting the full truth about himself"
#personalism
Collectivism, individualism and Bl. Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński's personalistic concept of man
"In personalistic philosophy, the matter’s essence is rooted in a correctly interpreted integral vision of the human person. Therefore, the solution to contemporary problems in today’s world is related to promoting the “man’s issues” understood in personalist terms..."
"..Thus, the contemporary world functioning in the “post-Cold War” period requires a reinterpretation and redefinition of the interests of individuality and collectivism: two opposing socio-cultural, political, and economic frameworks recognized as the primary source of global conflict in the past as well as in the future.."
"According to Cardinal Wyszyński, the main problem affecting the above
systems lies in the so-called “anthropological error,” which does not allow for forming an integral vision of man reflecting the full truth about himself"
#personalism