Modern thought's faulty conception of civilisation
"You speak to us of progress, liberalism and civilization, just as if we were savages, and did not know the meaning of the words. But these grand words, which you take out of their proper sense, it is we who taught them to you, and have given you the real meaning of them and the realities they represent. Every one of these words has and will have, forever, a thoroughly Christian signification; and on the day when that sense perishes all sincere liberalism, all real civilization, will perish also."
source: The Thoughtlessness of
Modern Thought, Rev. Demetrius Zema, pages 13-18
#civilisation
"You speak to us of progress, liberalism and civilization, just as if we were savages, and did not know the meaning of the words. But these grand words, which you take out of their proper sense, it is we who taught them to you, and have given you the real meaning of them and the realities they represent. Every one of these words has and will have, forever, a thoroughly Christian signification; and on the day when that sense perishes all sincere liberalism, all real civilization, will perish also."
source: The Thoughtlessness of
Modern Thought, Rev. Demetrius Zema, pages 13-18
#civilisation
Ecce Verbum
The relationship between theology and the interior life Fr R. Garrigou-Lagrange, 1943 "Theology and the spiritual life should not be opposed, but rather should strengthen each other. For this reason, it is misguided to dismiss the theology manuals of the…
Scientific knowledge and virtue
"Roger Bacon, who is considered the earliest founder of the scientific method based upon Aristotle’s logic, said the following in his Sixth Part of the Opus Majus on Experimental Science
“For this reason true philosophers have labored the more in morals for their integrity of virtue, concluding among themselves that they can not see the causes of things unless they have souls free from sins.”(Selections From Medieval Philosophers Vol II. Ed. Richard McKeon. Charles Scribner’s Sons: NY. 1930. p.76)
Bacon thought it essential for the philosopher-scientist to be free from faults, free from vices, free from selfishness or evil, in a word: holy:
“Virtue, therefore, clarifies the mind that man may understand more easily not only moral things, but scientific things.”(p.77)
A clear mind, a mind that is able to apprehend the truth in moral reasoning spiritually, will have an advantage discerning the truth in scientific reasoning mentally about what he is sensing in his judgement in the world.
Bacon said, “For this reason the Scripture says, Wisdom will not enter into an ill-disposed soul. For it is impossible that the soul repose in the light of truth while it is stained with sins, but it will recite like a parrot or a magpie the words of another which it learned by long practice…”(p. 77)
In other words, the character, the disposition, the virtue of the scientist matters to his science. He is not a disembodied objective Cartesian mind without a body, soul and personality, but a whole person."
"Bacon suggests that from the earliest times in history, the holy patriarchs and the prophets, who also practiced science, did not depend solely on their external senses for knowledge but actively sought it out spiritually in their contemplative prayer.
The famous Second century astronomer and geographer, Ptolemy, thought that divine inspiration was a superior source of knowledge of things, not to the exclusion to the experience of scientific knowledge, but in addition to it.
Bacon said wisely, “And, therefore, he who acts contrary to the truth, must necessarily be ignorant of it, although he may know how to put together very elegant phrases and to quote the opinion of others…”(p. 76)
In other words, the inspiration from faith and scientific reasoning together stretch the imagination of the mind in order to discover the creativity and complexity of nature in a way that is not possible when they are separated from each other."
article
#fidesetratio
"Roger Bacon, who is considered the earliest founder of the scientific method based upon Aristotle’s logic, said the following in his Sixth Part of the Opus Majus on Experimental Science
“For this reason true philosophers have labored the more in morals for their integrity of virtue, concluding among themselves that they can not see the causes of things unless they have souls free from sins.”(Selections From Medieval Philosophers Vol II. Ed. Richard McKeon. Charles Scribner’s Sons: NY. 1930. p.76)
Bacon thought it essential for the philosopher-scientist to be free from faults, free from vices, free from selfishness or evil, in a word: holy:
“Virtue, therefore, clarifies the mind that man may understand more easily not only moral things, but scientific things.”(p.77)
A clear mind, a mind that is able to apprehend the truth in moral reasoning spiritually, will have an advantage discerning the truth in scientific reasoning mentally about what he is sensing in his judgement in the world.
Bacon said, “For this reason the Scripture says, Wisdom will not enter into an ill-disposed soul. For it is impossible that the soul repose in the light of truth while it is stained with sins, but it will recite like a parrot or a magpie the words of another which it learned by long practice…”(p. 77)
In other words, the character, the disposition, the virtue of the scientist matters to his science. He is not a disembodied objective Cartesian mind without a body, soul and personality, but a whole person."
"Bacon suggests that from the earliest times in history, the holy patriarchs and the prophets, who also practiced science, did not depend solely on their external senses for knowledge but actively sought it out spiritually in their contemplative prayer.
The famous Second century astronomer and geographer, Ptolemy, thought that divine inspiration was a superior source of knowledge of things, not to the exclusion to the experience of scientific knowledge, but in addition to it.
Bacon said wisely, “And, therefore, he who acts contrary to the truth, must necessarily be ignorant of it, although he may know how to put together very elegant phrases and to quote the opinion of others…”(p. 76)
In other words, the inspiration from faith and scientific reasoning together stretch the imagination of the mind in order to discover the creativity and complexity of nature in a way that is not possible when they are separated from each other."
article
#fidesetratio
Intellectual Charity
Can Science Be Consistent with Faith and Virtue? Roger Bacon, the originator of the Scientific Method thought so…
It would seem that virtue and faith are really not that important to science. Such ideas seem to be guided by a much more simple time, the Middle Ages perhaps or earlier, but it seems that …
Ecce Verbum
A Good Rule for Finding the Truth "A good rule for finding the truth is to draw near it with an unprejudiced mind and a will equally disposed to receive whatever the truth has to give -- if we do not approach in this way, we hear not what it says to us, but…
True good stems from Truth
Just as Socrates maintained that no god was ill-disposed to mankind, so I maintained that those who love and pursue truth -- a divine gift which constitutes the glory of the human spirit not because the human spirit forms truth but because the truth informs it -- are the best disposed, indeed the only people well-disposed towards humankind and to the systems which others have thought out. They alone offer human nature the true good which stems from truth and is reduced to truth. Within their systems they willingly recognise, love and prize everything that is lovable and can be appreciated, that is, the immortal element of their systems, the truth on which the systems agree and unite. This is not the case with those who imagine that the human spirit itself deserves honour independently of any share in the truth. For them, the truth is honoured as a creation of the human spirit just as error is. And error, certainly, is an authentic creation of the human spirit.
Bl. Antonio Rosmini, About the Author's Studies (Introduction to Philosophy, Volume 1), Murphy, tr., Rosmini House (Durham: 2004) p. 91.
#fidesetratio
Just as Socrates maintained that no god was ill-disposed to mankind, so I maintained that those who love and pursue truth -- a divine gift which constitutes the glory of the human spirit not because the human spirit forms truth but because the truth informs it -- are the best disposed, indeed the only people well-disposed towards humankind and to the systems which others have thought out. They alone offer human nature the true good which stems from truth and is reduced to truth. Within their systems they willingly recognise, love and prize everything that is lovable and can be appreciated, that is, the immortal element of their systems, the truth on which the systems agree and unite. This is not the case with those who imagine that the human spirit itself deserves honour independently of any share in the truth. For them, the truth is honoured as a creation of the human spirit just as error is. And error, certainly, is an authentic creation of the human spirit.
Bl. Antonio Rosmini, About the Author's Studies (Introduction to Philosophy, Volume 1), Murphy, tr., Rosmini House (Durham: 2004) p. 91.
#fidesetratio
Ecce Verbum
Consolation in time of adversity "Now one should consider further that the adversity of an impious man is graver than that of a just man, since when a just man suffers temporal adversity there remains to him the support of virtue and consolation in God; hence…
Consolation in time of adversity II
"The Church does not grow old, the faith does not grow old, the Holy Ghost does not grow old ; say not, The days that have been are better than those which are. We can go into this city and find as strong faith, as tender piety, as thorough self-annihilation, as the world in any age ever witnessed. God is as near us as ever ; we have all the aids we ever had, and we may emulate the virtues of any past age. God has not changed; his religion has not changed ; man's nature has not changed. What was possible aforetime is possible now. Let us not, then, suppose we have come too late into the world to aspire to holy living. Let us turn our eyes, not out upon the barren wilderness without, but in upon the vast treasures we have been accumulating for ages, and dare use them.
Who cares for the heretics and infidels around us, — except for their conversion? They cannot harm us against our will. Were not the early Christians in a hostile world? Were they not surrounded by Jewish and Pagan relatives and friends ? Had they not apparently even greater obstacles than we to overcome? Why, then, shall we not speak to this age as they spoke to theirs ? Suppose we are sneered at, ridiculed, abused, insulted, trampled on. Suppose the world becomes mad against us, mobs us, shoots us down, sends us to dungeons, the scaffold, or the stake; worse it cannot do. Suppose all this. What then? We have only to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Woe unto us only when all men speak well of us. Woe unto us only when we prefer the praise of men to the praise of God."
Orestes Brownson, "St. Stanslas Kostka", Brownson's Quarterly Review, October, 1847
source
"The Church does not grow old, the faith does not grow old, the Holy Ghost does not grow old ; say not, The days that have been are better than those which are. We can go into this city and find as strong faith, as tender piety, as thorough self-annihilation, as the world in any age ever witnessed. God is as near us as ever ; we have all the aids we ever had, and we may emulate the virtues of any past age. God has not changed; his religion has not changed ; man's nature has not changed. What was possible aforetime is possible now. Let us not, then, suppose we have come too late into the world to aspire to holy living. Let us turn our eyes, not out upon the barren wilderness without, but in upon the vast treasures we have been accumulating for ages, and dare use them.
Who cares for the heretics and infidels around us, — except for their conversion? They cannot harm us against our will. Were not the early Christians in a hostile world? Were they not surrounded by Jewish and Pagan relatives and friends ? Had they not apparently even greater obstacles than we to overcome? Why, then, shall we not speak to this age as they spoke to theirs ? Suppose we are sneered at, ridiculed, abused, insulted, trampled on. Suppose the world becomes mad against us, mobs us, shoots us down, sends us to dungeons, the scaffold, or the stake; worse it cannot do. Suppose all this. What then? We have only to rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Woe unto us only when all men speak well of us. Woe unto us only when we prefer the praise of men to the praise of God."
Orestes Brownson, "St. Stanslas Kostka", Brownson's Quarterly Review, October, 1847
source
www.newadvent.org
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Stanislas Kostka
Polish Jesuit, died in 1568 at the age of 17, less than a year after entering the Society
Ecce Verbum
Is faith alone enough to justify a sinner? The Sacraments of Baptism and Penance-the means by which Justification is obtained Q. What does the sinner become by receiving the sacrament of baptism or penance? A. He becomes a child of God, a temple of the…
Justification by Faith- a Catholic interpretation of St. Paul and St. James
"If indeed you keep the royal law, according to Scripture, You shall be devoted to your neighbor as yourself, you do well. If however you discriminate, you work sin, being rebuked by the law as violators. For whoever shall guard the whole law but trip up on one thing, he has become liable for all. It having said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not murder. But if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. Thus talk and thus act as being about to be judged by the law of liberty. For merciless judgment is to the one who has not done mercy. Mercy boasts against tribunal."
"What is the point, my brothers, if anyone claims to have faith but has no works? Is the faith not able to save him? If a brother or sister is naked and lacking in daily nourishment, but anyone of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and satisfied, without having given them bodily necessities, what is the point? So also faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself."
"But someone will say that you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that there is one that is God. You do rightly; even demons believe and tremble. But do you want to learn, O foolish man, that faith apart from works is useless? Was Abraham our father not rendered just by works, having raised Isaac his son on the altar? You see that the faith was cooperating with his works, and by the works, the faith was completed. And the Scripture was fulfilled, saying, But Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as justice, and he was called 'friend of God'. You see that from works man is rendered just, and not from faith alone. And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute rendered just, having entertained the messengers and by a different way having sent them forth? Just as the body apart from spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."
*[James 2:8-26, The Greek here was rough going; it definitely is not as smooth to translate as Luke. The word for 'dead', nekra, is interesting; it seems to be associated less with death as an abstract idea and more with corpses in the concrete. Could also be translated as 'corpsified'. The point is that without being completed by works, faith is made corpse-like, as is clear from the last sentence in the passage.]
article
#justification
"If indeed you keep the royal law, according to Scripture, You shall be devoted to your neighbor as yourself, you do well. If however you discriminate, you work sin, being rebuked by the law as violators. For whoever shall guard the whole law but trip up on one thing, he has become liable for all. It having said, You shall not commit adultery, also said, You shall not murder. But if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. Thus talk and thus act as being about to be judged by the law of liberty. For merciless judgment is to the one who has not done mercy. Mercy boasts against tribunal."
"What is the point, my brothers, if anyone claims to have faith but has no works? Is the faith not able to save him? If a brother or sister is naked and lacking in daily nourishment, but anyone of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and satisfied, without having given them bodily necessities, what is the point? So also faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself."
"But someone will say that you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that there is one that is God. You do rightly; even demons believe and tremble. But do you want to learn, O foolish man, that faith apart from works is useless? Was Abraham our father not rendered just by works, having raised Isaac his son on the altar? You see that the faith was cooperating with his works, and by the works, the faith was completed. And the Scripture was fulfilled, saying, But Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as justice, and he was called 'friend of God'. You see that from works man is rendered just, and not from faith alone. And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute rendered just, having entertained the messengers and by a different way having sent them forth? Just as the body apart from spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."
*[James 2:8-26, The Greek here was rough going; it definitely is not as smooth to translate as Luke. The word for 'dead', nekra, is interesting; it seems to be associated less with death as an abstract idea and more with corpses in the concrete. Could also be translated as 'corpsified'. The point is that without being completed by works, faith is made corpse-like, as is clear from the last sentence in the passage.]
article
#justification
EWTN Global Catholic Television Network
Justification by Faith | EWTN
EWTN is a global, Catholic Television, Catholic Radio, and Catholic News Network that provides catholic programming and news coverage from around the world.
Ecce Verbum
Adultery vs the ethos of the Gospel notes based on The Redemption of the Body and Sacramentality of Marriage, John Paul II 1)"For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Mt 19:8). 'Hardness…
politics_of_chastity_edward_feser_2021_edward_of_annas_archive_2.pdf
10.2 MB
The politics of chastity
Edward Feser
The article is part of a symposium on Reinhard Hütter’s "Bound for Beatitude" book.
The article addresses the nature of chastity, vices contrary to chastity, the effect such vices (and in particular pornography) have on society at large, and the implications all of this has for political philosophy and in particular for the question of integralism."
more:
Cooperation with Sins against Prudence and Chastity, on the way in which sexual vice tends to corrupt moral understanding.
How to be a pervert [On the connection between perversity and irrationality]
Mired in the roiling tar pits of lust [On the mechanism by which sexual immorality corrupts the intellect]
Bad lovin' [How the nature of love, romantic and otherwise, is widely misunderstood in modern times]
Psychoanalyzing the sexual revolutionary [On the psychological factors underlying hostility to traditional sexual morality]
#chastity
Edward Feser
The article is part of a symposium on Reinhard Hütter’s "Bound for Beatitude" book.
The article addresses the nature of chastity, vices contrary to chastity, the effect such vices (and in particular pornography) have on society at large, and the implications all of this has for political philosophy and in particular for the question of integralism."
more:
Cooperation with Sins against Prudence and Chastity, on the way in which sexual vice tends to corrupt moral understanding.
How to be a pervert [On the connection between perversity and irrationality]
Mired in the roiling tar pits of lust [On the mechanism by which sexual immorality corrupts the intellect]
Bad lovin' [How the nature of love, romantic and otherwise, is widely misunderstood in modern times]
Psychoanalyzing the sexual revolutionary [On the psychological factors underlying hostility to traditional sexual morality]
#chastity
Temperance as a riverbank for virtue
"Discipline, moderation, chastity, do not in themselves constitute the perfection of man. By preserving and defending order in man himself, temperantia creates the indispensable prerequisite for both the realization of actual good and the actual movement of man toward his goal. Without it, the stream of the innermost human will-to-be would overflow destructively beyond all bounds; it would lose its direction and never reach the sea of perfection. Yet temperantia is not the stream. But it is the shore, the banks, from whose solidity the stream receives the gift of straight unhindered course, of force, descent, and velocity."
Josef Pieper, Four Cardinal Virtues, 175
#temperance #virtue
"Discipline, moderation, chastity, do not in themselves constitute the perfection of man. By preserving and defending order in man himself, temperantia creates the indispensable prerequisite for both the realization of actual good and the actual movement of man toward his goal. Without it, the stream of the innermost human will-to-be would overflow destructively beyond all bounds; it would lose its direction and never reach the sea of perfection. Yet temperantia is not the stream. But it is the shore, the banks, from whose solidity the stream receives the gift of straight unhindered course, of force, descent, and velocity."
Josef Pieper, Four Cardinal Virtues, 175
#temperance #virtue
Ecce Verbum
The authority of Church's interpretation of Scripture St. Vincent of Lerins "But here some one perhaps will ask, Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it…
The Successor of Peter and Biblical Interpretation
“The Bishop of Rome sits upon the Chair to bear witness to Christ. Thus, the Chair is the symbol of the potestas docendi, the power to teach that is an essential part of the mandate of binding and loosing which the Lord conferred on Peter, and after him, on the Twelve. In the Church, Sacred Scripture, the understanding of which increases under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the ministry of its authentic interpretation that was conferred upon the Apostles, are indissolubly bound. Whenever Sacred Scripture is separated from the living voice of the Church, it falls prey to disputes among experts.
Of course, all they have to tell us is important and invaluable; the work of scholars is a considerable help in understanding the living process in which the Scriptures developed, hence, also in grasping their historical richness.
Yet science alone cannot provide us with a definitive and binding interpretation; it is unable to offer us, in its interpretation, that certainty with which we can live and for which we can even die. A greater mandate is necessary for this, which cannot derive from human abilities alone. The voice of the living Church is essential for this, of the Church entrusted until the end of time to Peter and to the College of the Apostles.
This power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”
The Pope knows that in his important decisions, he is bound to the great community of faith of all times, to the binding interpretations that have developed throughout the Church's pilgrimage. Thus, his power is not being above, but at the service of, the Word of God. It is incumbent upon him to ensure that this Word continues to be present in its greatness and to resound in its purity, so that it is not torn to pieces by continuous changes in usage.
Benedict XVI, 2005
source
***Papal teaching, then, including exercises of the extraordinary Magisterium, cannot contradict Scripture, Tradition, or previous binding papal teaching. Nor can it introduce utter novelties. Popes have authority only to preserve and interpret what they have received. They can draw out the implications of previous teaching or clarify it where it is ambiguous. They can make formally binding what was already informally taught. But they cannot reverse past teaching and they cannot make up new doctrines out of whole cloth.
***Along the same lines, the Second Vatican Council taught, in Dei Verbum, that the Church cannot teach contrary to Scripture:
"The living teaching office of the Church… is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully"
***The pope would not be speaking infallibly if he taught something that either had no basis in Scripture, Tradition, or previous magisterial teaching, or contradicted those sources of doctrine.
#scripture #tradition #pope
“The Bishop of Rome sits upon the Chair to bear witness to Christ. Thus, the Chair is the symbol of the potestas docendi, the power to teach that is an essential part of the mandate of binding and loosing which the Lord conferred on Peter, and after him, on the Twelve. In the Church, Sacred Scripture, the understanding of which increases under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the ministry of its authentic interpretation that was conferred upon the Apostles, are indissolubly bound. Whenever Sacred Scripture is separated from the living voice of the Church, it falls prey to disputes among experts.
Of course, all they have to tell us is important and invaluable; the work of scholars is a considerable help in understanding the living process in which the Scriptures developed, hence, also in grasping their historical richness.
Yet science alone cannot provide us with a definitive and binding interpretation; it is unable to offer us, in its interpretation, that certainty with which we can live and for which we can even die. A greater mandate is necessary for this, which cannot derive from human abilities alone. The voice of the living Church is essential for this, of the Church entrusted until the end of time to Peter and to the College of the Apostles.
This power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”
The Pope knows that in his important decisions, he is bound to the great community of faith of all times, to the binding interpretations that have developed throughout the Church's pilgrimage. Thus, his power is not being above, but at the service of, the Word of God. It is incumbent upon him to ensure that this Word continues to be present in its greatness and to resound in its purity, so that it is not torn to pieces by continuous changes in usage.
Benedict XVI, 2005
source
***Papal teaching, then, including exercises of the extraordinary Magisterium, cannot contradict Scripture, Tradition, or previous binding papal teaching. Nor can it introduce utter novelties. Popes have authority only to preserve and interpret what they have received. They can draw out the implications of previous teaching or clarify it where it is ambiguous. They can make formally binding what was already informally taught. But they cannot reverse past teaching and they cannot make up new doctrines out of whole cloth.
***Along the same lines, the Second Vatican Council taught, in Dei Verbum, that the Church cannot teach contrary to Scripture:
"The living teaching office of the Church… is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully"
***The pope would not be speaking infallibly if he taught something that either had no basis in Scripture, Tradition, or previous magisterial teaching, or contradicted those sources of doctrine.
#scripture #tradition #pope
www.vatican.va
Dei verbum
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation - Dei verbum
Ecce Verbum
Temperance as a riverbank for virtue "Discipline, moderation, chastity, do not in themselves constitute the perfection of man. By preserving and defending order in man himself, temperantia creates the indispensable prerequisite for both the realization of…
Temperance and elegance
On the first, and most fundamental, kind, we can start with the recognition that any genuine temperance must be consistent with the other cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, and fortitude), and facilitating such temperance in others must be consistent with the conditions for these, not imposing undue burdens on those trying to do act in accordance with them.
Therefore, to aid through temperance the prudence of ourselves and others, we get something like the first canon of elegance:
(1) To make allowances for honest differences in judgment.
(To aid through temperance the justice of ourselves and others)
(2) To prefer, where different options are available, the options that seem most obviously conducive to mutual benefit.
(To aid through temperance the fortitude of ourselves and others)
(3) To make allowances for those who are enduring obvious difficulties, even where it causes some difficulty to oneself.
(To aid through temperance the temperance of ourselves and others, directly)
(4) To make one's pleasures, especially one's social pleasures, reside in things that seem most conducive to cultivating virtue in oneself or making the lives of others more quietly pleasant or less difficult.
(On the other side, rules that help us and others more easily to do what virtues of the temperance family require, namely, to subordinate the pursuit of pleasure to more fully human things, the guidelines are perhaps more diverse. But there are a number of obvious candidates.
First, virtues in the temperance family are always very obviously concerned with some kind of moderation)
(5) To avoid apparent extremes that are neither physically nor morally necessary.
(That canon is about bringing our actions more in line with what seems moderate to our judgment in the moment. But we are social creatures, and therefore we can also take into account what appears moderate to people in general. Therefore we have another canon)
(6) To defer to reasonable custom.
(The moderation of the temperate virtues brings our actions into harmony, proportion, and balance, and thus the temperate virtues are most closely associated with beauty of character)
(7) To respect all things physically or morally beautiful.
(If one asks why the 'physically' is there, it is because, first, physical beauty can serve as a reminder of our need for spiritual beauty, and, second, because the physically beautiful is a symbol of the morally beautiful, and to respect the latter properly we must respect its symbols)
Finally, all of the virtues of the temperance family deal in great measure with pleasure, and, as Aristotle notes, pleasure tends to bias us, thus requiring special precaution. From this we get another canon of elegance
(8) To prefer the obviously virtuous or useful to the obviously pleasant.
The canons of elegance will not make you temperate, in part because they clearly deal with appearances and not directly with realities, but they are guidelines that aid in determining how to be temperate.
As noted above, they are not obligations, and there are situations in which they will not be the best rules, as well as situations in which violating them will be morally permissible. But they are the rules that in most situations are most likely to aid you toward the kind of temperate action that facilitates the temperate actions of others.
source
#decorum
On the first, and most fundamental, kind, we can start with the recognition that any genuine temperance must be consistent with the other cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, and fortitude), and facilitating such temperance in others must be consistent with the conditions for these, not imposing undue burdens on those trying to do act in accordance with them.
Therefore, to aid through temperance the prudence of ourselves and others, we get something like the first canon of elegance:
(1) To make allowances for honest differences in judgment.
(To aid through temperance the justice of ourselves and others)
(2) To prefer, where different options are available, the options that seem most obviously conducive to mutual benefit.
(To aid through temperance the fortitude of ourselves and others)
(3) To make allowances for those who are enduring obvious difficulties, even where it causes some difficulty to oneself.
(To aid through temperance the temperance of ourselves and others, directly)
(4) To make one's pleasures, especially one's social pleasures, reside in things that seem most conducive to cultivating virtue in oneself or making the lives of others more quietly pleasant or less difficult.
(On the other side, rules that help us and others more easily to do what virtues of the temperance family require, namely, to subordinate the pursuit of pleasure to more fully human things, the guidelines are perhaps more diverse. But there are a number of obvious candidates.
First, virtues in the temperance family are always very obviously concerned with some kind of moderation)
(5) To avoid apparent extremes that are neither physically nor morally necessary.
(That canon is about bringing our actions more in line with what seems moderate to our judgment in the moment. But we are social creatures, and therefore we can also take into account what appears moderate to people in general. Therefore we have another canon)
(6) To defer to reasonable custom.
(The moderation of the temperate virtues brings our actions into harmony, proportion, and balance, and thus the temperate virtues are most closely associated with beauty of character)
(7) To respect all things physically or morally beautiful.
(If one asks why the 'physically' is there, it is because, first, physical beauty can serve as a reminder of our need for spiritual beauty, and, second, because the physically beautiful is a symbol of the morally beautiful, and to respect the latter properly we must respect its symbols)
Finally, all of the virtues of the temperance family deal in great measure with pleasure, and, as Aristotle notes, pleasure tends to bias us, thus requiring special precaution. From this we get another canon of elegance
(8) To prefer the obviously virtuous or useful to the obviously pleasant.
The canons of elegance will not make you temperate, in part because they clearly deal with appearances and not directly with realities, but they are guidelines that aid in determining how to be temperate.
As noted above, they are not obligations, and there are situations in which they will not be the best rules, as well as situations in which violating them will be morally permissible. But they are the rules that in most situations are most likely to aid you toward the kind of temperate action that facilitates the temperate actions of others.
source
#decorum
Blogspot
Evening Note for Tuesday, April 5
Thought for the Evening: Canons of Elegance We have an obligation to be temperate. However, temperance is by its nature a virtue very focus...
Ecce Verbum
Above all else, we ought to reform ourselves “We are under an obligation to be the light of the world by the modesty of our behaviour, the fervour of our charity, the innocence of our lives and the example of our virtues. Thus shall we be able to raise the…
Spiritual childhood
"Christ loves the Childhood that he first took up in both soul and body. Christ loves childhood, the teacher of humility, the rule of innocence, the image of gentleness. Christ loves childhood, to which he directs the characters of older people, to which he brings back old age. Those whom he would raise up to an eternal kingdom he disposes to follow his own example.
So that we may be able to recognize clearly how this wonderful change might be accomplished and by what alteration we might return to the level of childhood, let blessed Paul teach us and say, "Do not be made into children with respect to your senses, but become very little with respect to wickedness." It is not to the amusements of childhood and to our imperfect beginnings that we must return, but we must extract from childhood something fitting for later years.."
Pope Leo I, Sermons, p. 161 (Sermon 37.3-4).
"Christ loves the Childhood that he first took up in both soul and body. Christ loves childhood, the teacher of humility, the rule of innocence, the image of gentleness. Christ loves childhood, to which he directs the characters of older people, to which he brings back old age. Those whom he would raise up to an eternal kingdom he disposes to follow his own example.
So that we may be able to recognize clearly how this wonderful change might be accomplished and by what alteration we might return to the level of childhood, let blessed Paul teach us and say, "Do not be made into children with respect to your senses, but become very little with respect to wickedness." It is not to the amusements of childhood and to our imperfect beginnings that we must return, but we must extract from childhood something fitting for later years.."
Pope Leo I, Sermons, p. 161 (Sermon 37.3-4).
Ecce Verbum
Communion in the Early Church They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” Acts 2:46 The celebration…
Melchizedek and Eucharist
*Melchizedek is notable in a number of ways; for instance, he is the first person in the Bible who is explicitly called a priest.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen. 14:18-20 NIV)
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. (Psalm 110:1-4 KJV)
This "King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him"; and to him Abraham apportioned "one-tenth of everything." His name, in the first place, means "king of righteousness"; next he is also king of Salem, that is, "king of peace." Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. See how great he is! (Heb. 7:1-4a NRSV)
*According to one common Jewish tradition, Melchizedek was Shem, son of Noah; 2 Enoch makes him Noah's nephew. Christians seem largely not to have been interested in these legends, although I'm told that Jerome somewhere mentions them. Philo interprets Melchizedek as a symbol of the Logos, which in a way we find in the book of Hebrews, as well, and the latter, of course, is the primary influence on what Christians have thought about him. The second thing that caught their attention was the bread and wine (in some modern translations bread and raisin-cakes), which has generally been read as a type of the Eucharist; Clement of Alexandria seems to be the first person to have discussed this explicitly:
Righteousness is peace of life and a well-conditioned state, to which the Lord dismissed her when He said, "Depart into peace." For Salem is, by interpretation, peace; of which our Saviour is enrolled King, as Moses says, Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who gave bread and wine, furnishing consecrated food for a type of the Eucharist. And Melchizedek is interpreted "righteous king;" and the name is a synonym for righteousness and peace.
*Cyprian is a major influence on this line of thought in the West; from his Letter 62 to Caecilius:
Also in the priest Melchizedek we see prefigured the sacrament of the sacrifice of the Lord, according to what divine Scripture testifies, and says,
"And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine." Now he was a priest of the most high God, and blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, saying from the person of the Father to the Son: "Before the morning star I begot You; You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek; " which order is assuredly this coming from that sacrifice and thence descending; that Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God; that he offered wine and bread; that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the most high God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, His body and blood?
source
#eucharist #priesthood
*Melchizedek is notable in a number of ways; for instance, he is the first person in the Bible who is explicitly called a priest.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Gen. 14:18-20 NIV)
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. (Psalm 110:1-4 KJV)
This "King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him"; and to him Abraham apportioned "one-tenth of everything." His name, in the first place, means "king of righteousness"; next he is also king of Salem, that is, "king of peace." Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. See how great he is! (Heb. 7:1-4a NRSV)
*According to one common Jewish tradition, Melchizedek was Shem, son of Noah; 2 Enoch makes him Noah's nephew. Christians seem largely not to have been interested in these legends, although I'm told that Jerome somewhere mentions them. Philo interprets Melchizedek as a symbol of the Logos, which in a way we find in the book of Hebrews, as well, and the latter, of course, is the primary influence on what Christians have thought about him. The second thing that caught their attention was the bread and wine (in some modern translations bread and raisin-cakes), which has generally been read as a type of the Eucharist; Clement of Alexandria seems to be the first person to have discussed this explicitly:
Righteousness is peace of life and a well-conditioned state, to which the Lord dismissed her when He said, "Depart into peace." For Salem is, by interpretation, peace; of which our Saviour is enrolled King, as Moses says, Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who gave bread and wine, furnishing consecrated food for a type of the Eucharist. And Melchizedek is interpreted "righteous king;" and the name is a synonym for righteousness and peace.
*Cyprian is a major influence on this line of thought in the West; from his Letter 62 to Caecilius:
Also in the priest Melchizedek we see prefigured the sacrament of the sacrifice of the Lord, according to what divine Scripture testifies, and says,
"And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine." Now he was a priest of the most high God, and blessed Abraham. And that Melchizedek bore a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, saying from the person of the Father to the Son: "Before the morning star I begot You; You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek; " which order is assuredly this coming from that sacrifice and thence descending; that Melchizedek was a priest of the most high God; that he offered wine and bread; that he blessed Abraham. For who is more a priest of the most high God than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered a sacrifice to God the Father, and offered that very same thing which Melchizedek had offered, that is, bread and wine, to wit, His body and blood?
source
#eucharist #priesthood
www.newadvent.org
CHURCH FATHERS: The Stromata (Clement of Alexandria)
Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.
Ecce Verbum
Duty of Moral Culture It is very important for us to teach that we can possess virtues, only by being virtuous; and that to have been virtuous is not necessarily to be so:—-—that Virtue in general, and every virtue in particular, is a living thing, which…
The Society of Descendants
" ...I can provide simultaneously for my own good and that of all my descendants. This is a bond of society, which I form with them. It is a society in which every member who arrives thereafter into the world contributes to the common good. Each shares his work and profits in common, providing for the good of the future members, and performing filial duties towards the departed by respecting their memory and honouring their tombs. Only the materialist mocks a religion which honours the dead and breaks the bond which holds generations together. For the believer in immortality the person does not perish; divested of its body and made invisible, the person co-exists with members of the family who come to live upon the earth. The human race believes this and has a profound understanding of it. This truth gives rise to customs, religion, literature, laws and art which speak both to and of future members. They do not yet exist, but they are protected and represented; they receive rights and duties, and a heritage of memories, teachings, support and riches produced by the arduous labour of others. The end of this society of descendants therefore is all the good that it brings to all the new members, everyone of whom must share in this good."
Antonio Rosmini, Rights of the Individual, Vol. 2 of The Philosophy of Right, p. 208.
#culture
" ...I can provide simultaneously for my own good and that of all my descendants. This is a bond of society, which I form with them. It is a society in which every member who arrives thereafter into the world contributes to the common good. Each shares his work and profits in common, providing for the good of the future members, and performing filial duties towards the departed by respecting their memory and honouring their tombs. Only the materialist mocks a religion which honours the dead and breaks the bond which holds generations together. For the believer in immortality the person does not perish; divested of its body and made invisible, the person co-exists with members of the family who come to live upon the earth. The human race believes this and has a profound understanding of it. This truth gives rise to customs, religion, literature, laws and art which speak both to and of future members. They do not yet exist, but they are protected and represented; they receive rights and duties, and a heritage of memories, teachings, support and riches produced by the arduous labour of others. The end of this society of descendants therefore is all the good that it brings to all the new members, everyone of whom must share in this good."
Antonio Rosmini, Rights of the Individual, Vol. 2 of The Philosophy of Right, p. 208.
#culture
Ecce Verbum
Papacy This section will deal with various aspects of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome in patristic thought. Corunum will include such things as: Peter's presence in Rome, Peter's primacy amongst the apostles, and the primacy of the Apostolic See. Papacy(html)…
The position of Clement
*Some falsely claim that there are gaps in the record of apostolic succession
The very first extant list of of the first Bishops of Rome that we have is that of St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. 3.3.3):
The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses, set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for the devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached by the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are now propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus.
We have the letter of St. Clement to which Irenaeus refers, which does say what Irenaeus says, although these things are not particularly singled out (Irenaeus is focusing on them because his point is that already with Clement we have a clear expression of the tradition that Gnostics deny or treat as a superficial guise for their views). Irenaeus had been to Rome, and had fairly good connections to it, so our best early list of the first bishops of Rome is:
St. Linus, St. Anacletus, St. Clement.
Tertullian, who knew the Roman traditions, tells us this (Praescr. Haer. 32):
But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, — a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.
So Tertullian seems to suggest that Clement was ordained as bishop of Rome directly by Peter.
Also in the fourth century, Jerome gives us the view of things as they were understood then (De Vir. Ill. 15):
Clement, of whom the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians says “With Clement and others of my fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of life," the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle.
So Jerome tells us that the general Latin view was that Clement followed directly after Peter, but recognizes that there is a tradition in which he is third after Linus and Anacletus...
...
full text
#churchistory #pope
*Some falsely claim that there are gaps in the record of apostolic succession
The very first extant list of of the first Bishops of Rome that we have is that of St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. 3.3.3):
The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome despatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spake with Moses, set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for the devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached by the Churches, and may also understand the apostolical tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are now propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus.
We have the letter of St. Clement to which Irenaeus refers, which does say what Irenaeus says, although these things are not particularly singled out (Irenaeus is focusing on them because his point is that already with Clement we have a clear expression of the tradition that Gnostics deny or treat as a superficial guise for their views). Irenaeus had been to Rome, and had fairly good connections to it, so our best early list of the first bishops of Rome is:
St. Linus, St. Anacletus, St. Clement.
Tertullian, who knew the Roman traditions, tells us this (Praescr. Haer. 32):
But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, — a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.
So Tertullian seems to suggest that Clement was ordained as bishop of Rome directly by Peter.
Also in the fourth century, Jerome gives us the view of things as they were understood then (De Vir. Ill. 15):
Clement, of whom the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians says “With Clement and others of my fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of life," the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle.
So Jerome tells us that the general Latin view was that Clement followed directly after Peter, but recognizes that there is a tradition in which he is third after Linus and Anacletus...
...
full text
#churchistory #pope
www.newadvent.org
CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, III.3 (St. Irenaeus)
Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.
Ecce Verbum
What is a Father 1.Fatherhood as a path to Sanctity "..That is the importance of fatherhood, to become less and less important until one is not important at all. There is really nothing new in this. It has been perceived by all truly great men." He is one…
Men as Husbands and Fathers
Within the conjugal and family communion-community, the man is called upon to live his gift and role as husband and father.
In his wife he sees the fulfillment of God's intention: "It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper fit for him,"(Gn 2: 18) and he makes his own the cry of Adam, the first husband: "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."(Gn 2: 23)
Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a profound respect for the equal dignity of his wife: "You are not her master," writes St. Ambrose, "but her husband; she was not given to you to be your slave, but your wife.... Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her love."(St. Ambrose, Exameron, V, 7, 19: CSEL 32, I, 154.) With his wife a man should live "a very special form of personal friendship."(Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 9: AAS 60 (1968), 486). As for the Christian, he is called upon to develop a new attitude of love, manifesting towards his wife a charity that is both gentle and strong like that which Christ has for the Church."(Cf. Ef 5: 25).
Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance. (Cf. John Paul II, Homily to the Faithful of Terni (March 19, 1981), 3-5: AAS 73 (1981), 268-271).
As experience teaches, the absence of a father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in family relationships, as does, in contrary circumstances, the oppressive presence of a father, especially where there still prevails the phenomenon of "machismo," or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives which humiliates women and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships.
In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God,(Cf. Eph 3: 15) a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family: he will perform this task by exercising generous responsibility for the life conceived under the heart of the mother, by a more solicitous commitment to education, a task he shares with his wife,(Gaudium et spes, 52) by work which is never a cause of division in the family but promotes its unity and stability, and by means of the witness he gives of an adult Christian life which effectively introduces the children into the living experience of Christ and the Church.
Familiaris Consortio
#fatherhood
Within the conjugal and family communion-community, the man is called upon to live his gift and role as husband and father.
In his wife he sees the fulfillment of God's intention: "It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper fit for him,"(Gn 2: 18) and he makes his own the cry of Adam, the first husband: "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."(Gn 2: 23)
Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a profound respect for the equal dignity of his wife: "You are not her master," writes St. Ambrose, "but her husband; she was not given to you to be your slave, but your wife.... Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her love."(St. Ambrose, Exameron, V, 7, 19: CSEL 32, I, 154.) With his wife a man should live "a very special form of personal friendship."(Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 9: AAS 60 (1968), 486). As for the Christian, he is called upon to develop a new attitude of love, manifesting towards his wife a charity that is both gentle and strong like that which Christ has for the Church."(Cf. Ef 5: 25).
Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance. (Cf. John Paul II, Homily to the Faithful of Terni (March 19, 1981), 3-5: AAS 73 (1981), 268-271).
As experience teaches, the absence of a father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in family relationships, as does, in contrary circumstances, the oppressive presence of a father, especially where there still prevails the phenomenon of "machismo," or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives which humiliates women and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships.
In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God,(Cf. Eph 3: 15) a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family: he will perform this task by exercising generous responsibility for the life conceived under the heart of the mother, by a more solicitous commitment to education, a task he shares with his wife,(Gaudium et spes, 52) by work which is never a cause of division in the family but promotes its unity and stability, and by means of the witness he gives of an adult Christian life which effectively introduces the children into the living experience of Christ and the Church.
Familiaris Consortio
#fatherhood
Ecce Verbum
Men as Husbands and Fathers Within the conjugal and family communion-community, the man is called upon to live his gift and role as husband and father. In his wife he sees the fulfillment of God's intention: "It is not good that the man should be alone,…
Challenges of fatherhood
"Today [there is] a need for fathers who are able to fulfil their role, balancing tenderness with seriousness, forbearance with strictness, comradeship with authority" (Saint Joseph - Man of Work and Prayer, "L`Osservatore Romano" No. 3 (39) 1983)
Today, unfortunately, we are repeatedly witnessing a father identity crisis. It is often associated with a crisis of masculinity. It manifests itself above all in spiritual and emotional immaturity, in indolence and in a lack of self-confidence. An attitude of casual enjoyment of life and a fear of entering into lasting relationships and making lifelong decisions is also dangerous. Painful consequences for the wife and children arise when the father often identifies himself more with his profession or business than with his own family. One cannot fail to mention here the physical absence of the father from the family and "as experience teaches, the absence of the father causes mental and moral imbalance and considerable difficulties in family relationships" (Familiaris Consortio 25).
The father's participation in the child's faith development process is also fundamental. This is because they form an image of God through the example of their father's behaviour. The Holy Father referred to this in his work entitled The Gift and the Mystery: "Sometimes I woke up during the night and found my Father on his knees, just as I always saw him on his knees in the parish church." (Gift and Mystery, p. 23). Perhaps this is why, years later he asked: "And you fathers, do you know how to pray with your children, with the whole household community, at least from time to time? Your example - of right thinking and action - supported by common prayer is a lesson of life (...) Remember: in this way you build up the Church" (FC 60).
The fullness of the revelation of God as Father was brought by Jesus Christ. His unique relationship with the Father is based on the love which God solemnly confessed to his Son at his baptism in the Jordan (cf. Mk 1:9-11) and in the act of transfiguration on Mount Tabor (cf. Mk 9:2-8). Christ, in his dialogue with the Father, responds with the tender word Abba (cf. Mk 1:36), which we can render as Dear Father. With this expression, the Lord Jesus also reveals his deepest respect towards the Father, a relationship full of peace and mutual understanding, and a total and voluntary placing of himself at the Father's disposal in the work of salvation. "There is a reciprocity between the Father and the Son in terms of what they know of each other (cf. Jn 10:15), who they are (cf. Jn 14:10), what they do (cf. Jn 5:19; 10:38) and what they possess" (Jesus' bond with the Father - revelation of the Trinitarian mystery, General Audience, 10 March 1999). The profound Father-Son relationship gives rise to the certainty that the Son will always be heard by the Father.
The most important characteristic of God's fatherhood is "the capacity for infinite love, for offering Himself without reserve and without measure" (Jesus' bond with the Father...). The expression of God's particularly deep, enduring and compassionate paternal love towards man was His salvific interventions in the history of His chosen people.
Karol Wojtyla, in a drama he wrote, points the way to overcoming the crisis of fatherhood: "After some long time I managed to understand that You do not want me to be a father without becoming a child. That is why your Son was born" (Radiation of Fatherhood, p. 263). In Christ we become children of our Father in Heaven, loneliness and uncertainty give way to a bond and a sense of stability. A man thus discovers an authentic image of the Father which he can realise with his life, even in the absence of the right role models from the family home.
Letter from the Polish Bishops' Conference, 9th of June 2018, fragments
#fatherhood
"Today [there is] a need for fathers who are able to fulfil their role, balancing tenderness with seriousness, forbearance with strictness, comradeship with authority" (Saint Joseph - Man of Work and Prayer, "L`Osservatore Romano" No. 3 (39) 1983)
Today, unfortunately, we are repeatedly witnessing a father identity crisis. It is often associated with a crisis of masculinity. It manifests itself above all in spiritual and emotional immaturity, in indolence and in a lack of self-confidence. An attitude of casual enjoyment of life and a fear of entering into lasting relationships and making lifelong decisions is also dangerous. Painful consequences for the wife and children arise when the father often identifies himself more with his profession or business than with his own family. One cannot fail to mention here the physical absence of the father from the family and "as experience teaches, the absence of the father causes mental and moral imbalance and considerable difficulties in family relationships" (Familiaris Consortio 25).
The father's participation in the child's faith development process is also fundamental. This is because they form an image of God through the example of their father's behaviour. The Holy Father referred to this in his work entitled The Gift and the Mystery: "Sometimes I woke up during the night and found my Father on his knees, just as I always saw him on his knees in the parish church." (Gift and Mystery, p. 23). Perhaps this is why, years later he asked: "And you fathers, do you know how to pray with your children, with the whole household community, at least from time to time? Your example - of right thinking and action - supported by common prayer is a lesson of life (...) Remember: in this way you build up the Church" (FC 60).
The fullness of the revelation of God as Father was brought by Jesus Christ. His unique relationship with the Father is based on the love which God solemnly confessed to his Son at his baptism in the Jordan (cf. Mk 1:9-11) and in the act of transfiguration on Mount Tabor (cf. Mk 9:2-8). Christ, in his dialogue with the Father, responds with the tender word Abba (cf. Mk 1:36), which we can render as Dear Father. With this expression, the Lord Jesus also reveals his deepest respect towards the Father, a relationship full of peace and mutual understanding, and a total and voluntary placing of himself at the Father's disposal in the work of salvation. "There is a reciprocity between the Father and the Son in terms of what they know of each other (cf. Jn 10:15), who they are (cf. Jn 14:10), what they do (cf. Jn 5:19; 10:38) and what they possess" (Jesus' bond with the Father - revelation of the Trinitarian mystery, General Audience, 10 March 1999). The profound Father-Son relationship gives rise to the certainty that the Son will always be heard by the Father.
The most important characteristic of God's fatherhood is "the capacity for infinite love, for offering Himself without reserve and without measure" (Jesus' bond with the Father...). The expression of God's particularly deep, enduring and compassionate paternal love towards man was His salvific interventions in the history of His chosen people.
Karol Wojtyla, in a drama he wrote, points the way to overcoming the crisis of fatherhood: "After some long time I managed to understand that You do not want me to be a father without becoming a child. That is why your Son was born" (Radiation of Fatherhood, p. 263). In Christ we become children of our Father in Heaven, loneliness and uncertainty give way to a bond and a sense of stability. A man thus discovers an authentic image of the Father which he can realise with his life, even in the absence of the right role models from the family home.
Letter from the Polish Bishops' Conference, 9th of June 2018, fragments
#fatherhood
AManualOfCatholicTheology.pdf
12.7 MB
Manual of Catholic Theology
Based on Schedben's 'Dogmatik"
By Joseph Wilhelm Ph.D
and Thomas Scannel D.D
with Preface by Cardinal Manning
The great value of Scheeben's work is in its scientific method, its terminology, definitions, procedure, and unity. It requires not only reading but study and study with patient care and conscientious desire to understand. Readers overrun truths which they have not mastered. Students leave nothing behind them until it is understood. This work needs such conscientious treatment from those who take it in hand.
"Theology and the spiritual life should not be opposed, but rather should strengthen each other. For this reason, it is misguided to dismiss the theology manuals of the early twentieth century as dry and dusty. YouTube, podcasts and lightweight, popular polemics are not substitute objects for those who are able to study theology"
Garrigou-Legrange
more:
Theology manuals:Why are they so important?
Learning theology- full reading list
Based on Schedben's 'Dogmatik"
By Joseph Wilhelm Ph.D
and Thomas Scannel D.D
with Preface by Cardinal Manning
The great value of Scheeben's work is in its scientific method, its terminology, definitions, procedure, and unity. It requires not only reading but study and study with patient care and conscientious desire to understand. Readers overrun truths which they have not mastered. Students leave nothing behind them until it is understood. This work needs such conscientious treatment from those who take it in hand.
"Theology and the spiritual life should not be opposed, but rather should strengthen each other. For this reason, it is misguided to dismiss the theology manuals of the early twentieth century as dry and dusty. YouTube, podcasts and lightweight, popular polemics are not substitute objects for those who are able to study theology"
Garrigou-Legrange
more:
Theology manuals:Why are they so important?
Learning theology- full reading list
Contemplation and chastity
"There is finally a fourth consideration, which this time concerns contemplation itself, I say Christian contemplation, and which furnishes in relation to the latter a certain nuance or attenuation to the statement (however valid it still remains) that the contemplative life in itself does not require chastity of the body.
Christian contemplation in reality is inseparably the contemplation of the uncreated Trinity and of Jesus, God and man; the humanity of Christ -- that humanity which belongs to the second divine Person, and all of whose properties are therefore also attributes of this divine Person Himself -- is always present in it in a manifest or hidden manner, and cannot be detached from it. That to which the Christian contemplative has his eyes constantly attached is, at the same time as the one and triune God, a man perfectly chaste, born of the most chaste of Virgins, and who Himself is God.
How would the Christian who aspires to contemplation not feel himself drawn also to a life of continence or of chastity -- not, once more, as to a necessary condition (except, for some, because of the religious state), but as to something which better accords with his desires?
Moreover, there is in Christian contemplation a certain innocence of approach, a sweetness and delicacy of the hands, if I may venture to speak thus, a certain candid demeanor and a certain matchless simplicity, and also a certain winged liberty which familiarity with the Holy Spirit gives, and that intimacy with the divine Persons and the heart of Jesus for which without a perfect purity the ardor of love does not suffice -- which, without requiring it however, are, so to speak, connatural with chastity of the body."
source -Jacques Maritain's Notebooks
#chastity #priesthood
"There is finally a fourth consideration, which this time concerns contemplation itself, I say Christian contemplation, and which furnishes in relation to the latter a certain nuance or attenuation to the statement (however valid it still remains) that the contemplative life in itself does not require chastity of the body.
Christian contemplation in reality is inseparably the contemplation of the uncreated Trinity and of Jesus, God and man; the humanity of Christ -- that humanity which belongs to the second divine Person, and all of whose properties are therefore also attributes of this divine Person Himself -- is always present in it in a manifest or hidden manner, and cannot be detached from it. That to which the Christian contemplative has his eyes constantly attached is, at the same time as the one and triune God, a man perfectly chaste, born of the most chaste of Virgins, and who Himself is God.
How would the Christian who aspires to contemplation not feel himself drawn also to a life of continence or of chastity -- not, once more, as to a necessary condition (except, for some, because of the religious state), but as to something which better accords with his desires?
Moreover, there is in Christian contemplation a certain innocence of approach, a sweetness and delicacy of the hands, if I may venture to speak thus, a certain candid demeanor and a certain matchless simplicity, and also a certain winged liberty which familiarity with the Holy Spirit gives, and that intimacy with the divine Persons and the heart of Jesus for which without a perfect purity the ardor of love does not suffice -- which, without requiring it however, are, so to speak, connatural with chastity of the body."
source -Jacques Maritain's Notebooks
#chastity #priesthood
Works of mercy
"We worship God by external sacrifices and gifts, not for His own profit, but for that of ourselves and our neighbor. For He needs not our sacrifices, but wishes them to be offered to Him, in order to arouse our devotion and to profit our neighbor. Hence mercy, whereby we supply others' defects is a sacrifice more acceptable to Him, as conducing more directly to our neighbor's well-being, according to Hebrews 13:16: "Do not forget to do good and to impart, for by such sacrifices God's favor is obtained."
"The sum total of the Christian religion consists in mercy, as regards external works: but the inward love of charity, whereby we are united to God preponderates over both love and mercy for our neighbor."
"Charity likens us to God by uniting us to Him in the bond of love: wherefore it surpasses mercy, which likens us to God as regards similarity of works."
Summa Theologiae, II,II, Q30, Art.4
#charity
"We worship God by external sacrifices and gifts, not for His own profit, but for that of ourselves and our neighbor. For He needs not our sacrifices, but wishes them to be offered to Him, in order to arouse our devotion and to profit our neighbor. Hence mercy, whereby we supply others' defects is a sacrifice more acceptable to Him, as conducing more directly to our neighbor's well-being, according to Hebrews 13:16: "Do not forget to do good and to impart, for by such sacrifices God's favor is obtained."
"The sum total of the Christian religion consists in mercy, as regards external works: but the inward love of charity, whereby we are united to God preponderates over both love and mercy for our neighbor."
"Charity likens us to God by uniting us to Him in the bond of love: wherefore it surpasses mercy, which likens us to God as regards similarity of works."
Summa Theologiae, II,II, Q30, Art.4
#charity
Ecce Verbum
On the Teaching of Truth Happy the man who is instructed by Truth itself, not by signs and passing words (Num 12:8), but as It is in itself. Our own conjectures and observations often mislead us, and we discover little. Of what value are lengthy controversies…
An analogy between eating well and learning well
"Then we should be careful to provide this wholesome food in proper amount. Mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of appetite: we know that bread is a good and wholesome food, but who would like to try the experiment of eating two or three loaves at a sitting?
I have heard a physician telling his patient—whose complaint was merely gluttony and want of exercise—that ‘the earliest symptom of hyper-nutrition is a deposition of adipose tissue,’ and no doubt the fine long words greatly consoled the poor man under his increasing load of fat.
I wonder if there is such a thing in nature as a fat mind? I really think I have met with one or two: minds which could not keep up with the slowest trot in conversation; could not jump over a logical fence, to save their lives; always got stuck fast in a narrow argument; and, in short, were fit for nothing but to waddle helplessly through the world."
source: an essay by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), "Feeding the Mind".
"Then we should be careful to provide this wholesome food in proper amount. Mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of appetite: we know that bread is a good and wholesome food, but who would like to try the experiment of eating two or three loaves at a sitting?
I have heard a physician telling his patient—whose complaint was merely gluttony and want of exercise—that ‘the earliest symptom of hyper-nutrition is a deposition of adipose tissue,’ and no doubt the fine long words greatly consoled the poor man under his increasing load of fat.
I wonder if there is such a thing in nature as a fat mind? I really think I have met with one or two: minds which could not keep up with the slowest trot in conversation; could not jump over a logical fence, to save their lives; always got stuck fast in a narrow argument; and, in short, were fit for nothing but to waddle helplessly through the world."
source: an essay by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), "Feeding the Mind".
Ecce Verbum
An analogy between eating well and learning well "Then we should be careful to provide this wholesome food in proper amount. Mental gluttony, or over-reading, is a dangerous propensity, tending to weakness of digestive power, and in some cases to loss of…
Rule for correspondence that has, unfortunately, become controversial
•Don’t repeat yourself
When once you have had your say fully and clearly on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, drop that subject. To repeat your arguments all over again, will simply lead to his doing the same, and so you will go on like a circulating decimal. Did you ever know a circulating decimal come to an end?’
• ‘If your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe; and if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards making up the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly.
‘If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than three-eighths of the way, and if in making friends, each was ready to go five-eighths of the way—why, there would be more reconciliations than quarrels! Which is like the Irishman’s remonstrance to his gad-about daughter: “Shure, you’re always goin’ out! You go out three times for wanst that you come in!”’
• ‘Don’t try to get the last word.... (N.B.—If you are a gentleman and your friend a lady, this rule is superfluous: You won’t get the last word!)’
Let the last word to-day be part of another rule, which gives a glimpse into that gentle heart:
• ‘When you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, put it aside till the next day. Then read it over again, and fancy it addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper and putting in honey instead, and thus making a much more palatable dish of it!’
source: William H. Draper, Prefatory note to "Feeding the Mind" by Lewis Carroll
#speech
•Don’t repeat yourself
When once you have had your say fully and clearly on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, drop that subject. To repeat your arguments all over again, will simply lead to his doing the same, and so you will go on like a circulating decimal. Did you ever know a circulating decimal come to an end?’
• ‘If your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe; and if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards making up the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly.
‘If, in picking a quarrel, each party declined to go more than three-eighths of the way, and if in making friends, each was ready to go five-eighths of the way—why, there would be more reconciliations than quarrels! Which is like the Irishman’s remonstrance to his gad-about daughter: “Shure, you’re always goin’ out! You go out three times for wanst that you come in!”’
• ‘Don’t try to get the last word.... (N.B.—If you are a gentleman and your friend a lady, this rule is superfluous: You won’t get the last word!)’
Let the last word to-day be part of another rule, which gives a glimpse into that gentle heart:
• ‘When you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, put it aside till the next day. Then read it over again, and fancy it addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper and putting in honey instead, and thus making a much more palatable dish of it!’
source: William H. Draper, Prefatory note to "Feeding the Mind" by Lewis Carroll
#speech
Ecce Verbum
The emptiness of non-Christian Philosophy The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, page 76 I was speaking on one occasion of the writings of Seneca and of Plutarch, praising them highly and saying that they had been my delight when young, our Blessed Father replied:…
Aquinas on studying philosophy
Of all human studies, the study of wisdom is the most complete, most sublime, most useful, and most joyful:
Most complete because, inasmuch as man gives himself to the study of wisdom, so much does he have already some part of true beatitude, so that the wise man says, "Blessed the man who continues in wisdom" (Sir 14:22).
And it is most sublime because through this, man preeminently approaches to the divine likeness, who "made everything through wisdom" (Ps 103:24), in that, because likeness is the cause of love, the study of wisdom preeminently unites with God through friendship. Thus Wis 7:14 says that wisdom "is an infinite treasury to men, of a sort that those who use are made participants in friendship with God."
And it is most useful because through this wisdom we come to the kingdom of immortality: "Craving for wisdom leads to the perpetual kingdom" (Wis 6:21).
And it is most joyful because "her company has no harshness, nor her banquet any sorrow, but gladness and delight" (Wis 7:16).
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles 1.2.1
*Studium could also be translated as 'pursuit', so one could substitute that for 'study' at any point here. The point of the 'most complete' is that, as the pursuit of wisdom already participates in beatitude, and beatitude or happiness lacking nothing is the ultimate end and goal of all human pursuits, there is nothing in any pursuit it does not in some way cover. Thus the honest seeker of wisdom, to the extent that he or she actually seeks wisdom, is fulfilled as a human being (blessed), a friend of God, is preparing for an inexhaustible reward, and is already in the process of achieving what he or she loves (which is how Aquinas understands joy).
*If one follows through the reasoning, the claim is that the pursuit of wisdom is more complete, sublime, useful, and joyful than all (other) human pursuits.
#philosophy
Of all human studies, the study of wisdom is the most complete, most sublime, most useful, and most joyful:
Most complete because, inasmuch as man gives himself to the study of wisdom, so much does he have already some part of true beatitude, so that the wise man says, "Blessed the man who continues in wisdom" (Sir 14:22).
And it is most sublime because through this, man preeminently approaches to the divine likeness, who "made everything through wisdom" (Ps 103:24), in that, because likeness is the cause of love, the study of wisdom preeminently unites with God through friendship. Thus Wis 7:14 says that wisdom "is an infinite treasury to men, of a sort that those who use are made participants in friendship with God."
And it is most useful because through this wisdom we come to the kingdom of immortality: "Craving for wisdom leads to the perpetual kingdom" (Wis 6:21).
And it is most joyful because "her company has no harshness, nor her banquet any sorrow, but gladness and delight" (Wis 7:16).
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles 1.2.1
*Studium could also be translated as 'pursuit', so one could substitute that for 'study' at any point here. The point of the 'most complete' is that, as the pursuit of wisdom already participates in beatitude, and beatitude or happiness lacking nothing is the ultimate end and goal of all human pursuits, there is nothing in any pursuit it does not in some way cover. Thus the honest seeker of wisdom, to the extent that he or she actually seeks wisdom, is fulfilled as a human being (blessed), a friend of God, is preparing for an inexhaustible reward, and is already in the process of achieving what he or she loves (which is how Aquinas understands joy).
*If one follows through the reasoning, the claim is that the pursuit of wisdom is more complete, sublime, useful, and joyful than all (other) human pursuits.
#philosophy