There were no sponge-cake saints

It is inevitable that you should feel the rub of other people's characters against your own. After all, you are not a gold coin that everyone likes.

Besides, without that friction produced by contact with others, how would you ever lose those corners, those edges and projections — the imperfections and defects — of your character, and acquire the smooth and regular finish, the firm flexibility of charity, of perfection?

If your character and the characters of those who live with you were soft and sweet like sponge-cake you would never become a saint.

-St. Josemaría Escrivá, from The Way, #20

Parish Education Center

Cardinal DiNardo came out to the parish last night to celebrate solemn vespers and also to dedicate our new parish education center. My wife sang in the choir for the vespers; they did a magnificent job, as usual!

The education center, which was designed by the well-known architect Duncan G. Stroik, houses our parish offices as well as our new parish school, St. Theresa Catholic School. Duncan also designed our recently renovated sanctuary as well as our daily mass chapel.

Compared with the type of new architecture I was used to seeing in California, I suppose one might say that our new education center has too many right angles! ;-) But then again, one might say it has precisely the number of right angles as are required, no more, no less.

This may be useful...

From amazon.com:

"A "stay-at-home" server: you know it's the right thing for your family. But how do you explain this wonderful choice to your children? Finally, there's a book that talks about the home server using small words and fun pictures, perfect for kids. Written by Tom O'Connor and lovingly illustrated by Jill Dublin, this is a book you and your family will want to read over and over again."

Solemnity of St. Dominic

We celebrated the Solemnity of St. Dominic with mass with the Dominicans down at Holy Rosary parish in Houston. Afterward, we met the new pastor, who recognized my name from my blog! It was good to meet you, Fr. Ian.

In Houston: VIANNEY

The one-man drama, VIANNEY, with actor Leonardo Defilippis as the holy priest of Ars in France, St. Jean-Marie Vianney, is currently in Houston. More information: www.vianneydrama.com.

Here is a list of locations.

It will be at my parish this Sunday evening at 7pm:

Sunday, August 9, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.
Youth and Family Life Center of St. Theresa Church
115 7th St., Sugar Land, TX 77498
Admission: FREE
All Priests, Religious & Seminarians Welcome as Our Special Guests!
Information, contact the Parish Office at 281-494-1156

I plan to be there. Come on down!

D&C 129: Ask him to shake hands with you

Interesting selection from the Doctrine and Covenants, a work believed by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a part of the scriptural canon. I wasn't aware that you could discern good from evil personages using a handshake:

Instructions given by Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, February 9, 1843, making known three grand keys by which the correct nature of ministering angels and spirits may be distinguished.

1 There are two kinds of beings in heaven, namely: Angels, who are resurrected personages, having bodies of flesh and bones

2 For instance, Jesus said: Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

3 Secondly: the spirits of just men made perfect, they who are not resurrected, but inherit the same glory.

4 When a messenger comes saying he has a message from God, offer him your hand and request him to shake hands with you.

5 If he be an angel he will do so, and you will feel his hand.

6 If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear

7 Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message.

8 If it be the devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything; you may therefore detect him.

9 These are three grand keys whereby you may know whether any administration is from God.

I know that Mormons will defend this by asserting their belief in ongoing public revelation, which historic Christianity rejects. Nevertheless, I post this as a contrast. This teaching's assertions are widely different from our belief in the incorporeal nature of angelic beings and the inability of human beings to become angels after reaching some level of spiritual and resurrected exaltation (the theology of the old favorite "It's a Wonderful Life" aside!). The notion appears to have a number of things confused.

JPII and Conscience

"Conscience itself does not create norms but discovers them in the objective order of morality."

So writes Richard Spinello in an HPR article about Pope John Paul II's thought on conscience. Conscience formation is a serious duty, overlooked, I have found, by many in the Church today. I think Spinello captures things well:

The Pope recognized the need for a proper understanding of conscience, and he was concerned with those who sought to undermine the orthodox doctrine of conscience with more subjectivist notions. Not only has this doctrine been distorted by some revisionist theologians, who diminish the moral law’s decisive role in human development, it has also been corrupted in modern culture. In recent centuries the notion of authenticity has displaced the traditional conception of conscience. The person is supposedly guided by an “inner voice” to make authentic moral choices that are consistent with his or her particular value system. Conscience is also equated with a Freudian superego, which makes us aware of superficial and conventional social standards. The pre-cursor of this idea was Nietzsche, who reduced conscience to the sublimation of instinct.

And he's correct, of course. Spinello goes into greater depth in this discussion, and so I would encourage you to read the whole article.

And what is conscience, really? The catechism defines it in a few ways (1778):

Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law.

It is also a place deep within our core in which God speaks. Quoting Newman, the catechism later states that conscience is the "aboriginal Vicar of Christ. (1778)". We are duty bound to obey our conscience.

Yet, what many overlook is that all of this presumes a conscience that has been (and is in the process of being) rightfully formed according to the teachings of the Gospel as handed on to us by Christ and his Church. In other words, conscience is not merely relative to subjective whim or preference or a mere value system we personally hold. Rather, conscience must be guided and formed against an objective standard or measure of truth that is given to us. And we are responsible for this formation -- indeed it is a lifelong task. A few paragraphs later, the Catechism goes into great length about this (1783-1785):

Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings.

The education of the conscience is a lifelong task... In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path; we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church.

Of course, being flawed people, none of this absolutely guarantees that all of our judgments of conscience are correct. But if we are truly serious about following Christ, and we are serious about educating ourselves, as the Catechism says, in studying the Word of God (in Jesus Christ), assimilating it in faith and prayer and putting it into practice with the assistance of grace, then presumably it will become easier to form correct judgments. I can say in my own development as a Catholic that when I entered the church, my conscience was much more loose and confused in its soundness than it is today. I got started rather late.

St. Thomas More

pray for us!

Robert Barron on Caritas in Veritate

Another analysis (albeit brief). Fr. Robert Barron reflects on Caritas in Veritate:


The pope's suggestion of a stronger, reformed united nations, or some entity of nations that has "teeth", should complement the pope's own insistence on the principle of subsidiarity. The pope himself notes this:

In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth... Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good, and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth. (67)

Aidan Nichols on Caritas in Veritate

Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P., reflects on the pope's latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate. Here is an excerpt:

For Benedict, charity needs illumining by both reason and faith (3; 9), two distinct yet convergent ways of knowing. Not surprisingly, then, there is more genuine theological doctrine in the new encyclical. Sometimes it is upfront, sometimes it is expressed in a coded way which is one of the reasons people may find this letter difficult to read - something which certainly could not be said about Paul VI's enviably clear and far more straightforward document. The upfront theology is easy to spot. Benedict's thought about social engagement is Christological and even (54) Trinitarian. Let me take some examples of his Christocentrism, itself a sine qua non of genuinely Christian thought. The "charity in truth" of his title is the human face of the divine person of the incarnate Word (1). It reflects the God who is simultaneously Logos and Agape (3). If "humanism" is what you are looking for, only Christ is the revelation of what humanity is (18), a passage indebted to Pope John Paul II's 1979 letter Redemptor Hominis (which itself initiated a more Christocentric reading of the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes). The Church's social doctrine points, therefore, to the "New Man", Christ "the principle of the charity that 'never ends' " (12).

Like Benedict's earlier letter Spe Salvi (2007), Caritas in Veritate is also eschatological, and this is another litmus test of thoroughly revelation-grounded thinking. If global society could achieve unity and peace it would, to that extent, prefigure the final City of God to which the Church directs her own longing (7). The cosmic nature in which human society is set and which it inevitably transforms will be re-capitulated in Christ at the end of time (48): a difficult concept but essential for any distinctively Christian attitude towards the environment.

What does the pope like?

He likes treating justice as inseparable from charity. He likes an objective account of the common good (not a subjective one based on opinion surveys). He likes human rights if they are fundamental ones that are genuinely linked to virtuous practices, and people recognise the corresponding duties. He likes markets so long as they operate in a humane fashion, and state intervention on condition it doesn't reduce people to passivity by welfarism. He likes helping farmers, whether by introducing new methods or improving traditional ones. He likes scientifically based industry if it is marked by generosity in making know-how available. He likes trade unions and, in general, institutions intermediate between the state and the individual - so long as their goals are genuinely civilising (or, in the case of trade unions, just). He likes ecology when it avoids neo-paganism and incorporates a "human ecology" which, among other things, shuns contraception and abortion, eugenics and euthanasia. He likes globalisation if it leads to a sense of a single worldwide interdependence of people, a kind of secular analogue to the catholicity of the Church.

What doesn't the pope like?

He doesn't like treating technology as the means to utopia, nor deploring it as an interference with our naturally paradisiac condition, à la Rousseau. He doesn't like single-minded entrepreneurs motivated exclusively by the profit motive, nor financiers who juggle with notional assets in pursuit of miracles of unnatural growth. He doesn't like the diversion of aid to improper ends, whether by donors or beneficiaries. He doesn't like treating different cultures as obviously equal in every respect, nor does he like homogenising cultures and making them all the same. He doesn't like the mass media when they don't care a hoot for their possible effects in undermining human dignity.

How are things connnected?

The overall shape they belong with owes something to the more than half-century long concern of the popes with the interplay of "subsidiarity" and "solidarity" in economic and social life: roughly speaking, when to leave people or groups to act alone and when - by appeal to the sovereign - to make the members of a whole society act together. But just as John Paul II liked to filter these ideas through his (philosophical and theological) personalism, so Benedict XVI, without abandoning that personalism, fine-tunes them by reference to his key concept (philosophically and theologically) of relation. This helps him to articulate his master idea in Caritas in Veritate, the idea of a "person-based and community-oriented cultural process of worldwide integration that is open to transcendence" (42).

Read the whole analysis.

No posts?

Yes, I know - I haven't had many posts at all recently. But patience is a virtue, at least I like to think so! I've been a lot more busy at work over the last month, and on top of that, we just returned from a two-week vacation to California. The vacation was nice, and we managed to do a lot within that short time, starting in one end of the state (San Diego) and ending in another (East Bay Area).

The ravaging of Louisiana's Isle Dernière

Meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters has posted a very interesting book review of Dr. Abby Sallenger's Island in a Storm, which recounts the story of the destruction of Louisiana's Isle Dernière island by the Cat 4 "Last Island" Hurricane of 1856. The island, a barrier island off the southern coast of Louisiana, was 24 miles long and 5-to-6 feet high. It was completely submerged by the storm surge, and many years of erosion over the last 150 years have reduced the land area of the island to less than 22% of what it once was, as shown in the image below:


The story is full of interesting details, as Masters writes:

I found it fascinating to read about the Yellow Fever epidemic that hit the region during 1856, which drove many of New Orleans' wealthy residents to seek sanctuary on the seemingly safe ocean front retreat of Isle Dernière for the summer...

We hear the story of how the hurricane's winds gradually tore apart all the homes and hotels on Isle Dernière, leaving the hundreds of people at the mercy of the storm surge. Many were swept away, but some survived harrowing voyages on pieces of debris during a dark and terrifying night. One group of survivors on the island managed to live by hanging on to a children's carousel, whose central post had been driven deep into the sand to anchor it. As the wind and water surged the around them, the desperate survivors hung onto the whirligig as it spun around. "The twirling and twisting, the dashing and splashing, the heeling and toeing, the flapping and floundering which ensued, would at any other time have produced a first-class comedy", one of the survivors relates.

And, of course, the story of the storm is not without its remarks of caution:

The survivors on the storm-ravaged island were not visited at first by relief ships, but by pirates eager to prey on the dead and the living. Relief eventually reached the 200 or so survivors on the island, and a romance leading to marriage is one happy outcome of the storm's wake.

Barrier islands are terrible places to build human settlements, and "the lesson of the flood was not forgotten," according to one of the survivors. The resorts on Isles Dernières were never rebuilt. Sallenger notes that "such lessons are forgotten or ignored. In the last century and a half, the Village of Isle Dernière was one of only a few seafront communities that were destroyed or severely damaged in a storm and never rebuilt. The common practice is not only to rebuild structures on devastated coasts but also to make them bigger and more elaborate...We continue in the United States to develop extremely hazardous coastal locations, like the low-lying areas on the Bolivar Peninsula east of Galveston, Texas, that were wiped out in 2008 by Hurricane Ike. The extreme vulnerability of such locations today will only increase as the world's seas rise."

Read the whole review...

Classic Josemaría Escrivá

1974 in Chile

St. Josemaría Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei

Today we observe the memorial of St. Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei. I may be a Dominican, but I will always have a closeness to the spirituality and teachings of St. Josemaría. I think he spoke to me at a particular time in my life characterized by mounting frustration with the Church's intersection with Daily Life, both in my life as well as in the lives of those around me. It was a good period of maturity. The call to holiness is universal, something our Church emphasizes, particularly in the person of our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. But more than that, you don't have to live a lofty life, be ordained clergy, or even be connected to a religious order to be holy. It is the unfolding and work of God's grace in the ordinary work of life, precisely where God has called you to live and serve.

From Passionately Loving the World:

On the contrary, you must understand now, more clearly, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.

From Christ Is Passing By:

Let's not deceive ourselves: in our life we will find vigor and victory and depression and defeat. This has always been true of the earthly pilgrimage of Christians, even of those we venerate on the altars. Don't you remember Peter, Augustine, and Francis? I have never liked biographies of saints which naively -- but also with a lack of sound doctrine -- present their deeds as if they had been confirmed in grace from birth. No. The true life stories of Christian heroes resemble our own experience: they fought and won; they fought and lost. And then, repentant, they returned to the fray.

From The Forge, #846:

Constantly call to mind that at every moment you are cooperating in the human and spiritual formation of those around you, and of all souls — for the blessed Communion of Saints reaches as far as that. At every moment: when you work and when you rest; when people see you happy or when they see you worried; when at your job, or out in the street, you pray as does a child of God and the peace of your soul shows through; when people see that you have suffered, that you have wept, and you smile.

Busy...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It has been a really busy few days. Are you over the hill when you turn 31? ;-)

Homer meets Dr. Strangelove

Just one of my favorite Simpson's clips. Not sure why...


Radiant cool, Crazy nightmares, Zen New Jersey nowhere, ...How now brown bureaucrat?

Prayer before Holy Mass

... from St. Thomas Aquinas

Almighty and ever-living God,

I approach the sacrament
of Your only-begotten Son
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
I come sick to the doctor of life,
unclean to the fountain of mercy,
blind to the radiance of eternal light,
and poor and needy to the Lord
of heaven and earth.

Lord, in your great generosity,
heal my sickness,
wash away my defilement,
enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty,
and clothe my nakedness.
May I receive the bread of angels,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
with humble reverence,
with the purity and faith,
the repentance and love,
and the determined purpose
that will help to bring me to salvation.
May I receive the sacrament
of the Lord's Body and Blood,
and its reality and power.

Kind God,
may I receive the Body
of Your only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
born from the womb of the Virgin Mary,
and so be received into His mystical body
and numbered among His members.

Loving Father,
as on my earthly pilgrimage
I now receive Your beloved Son
under the veil of a sacrament,
may I one day see him face to face in glory,
who lives and reigns with You for ever.

Amen.

Tiller and Life

The murder of late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller by an assassin with a history of mental heath problems was certainly a horror; what is also a horror is that Dr. Tiller is being labeled a "hero" and a "martyr" for some noble cause. It has also been suggested that the pro-life movement, and pro-life groups, should be hunted down as domestic terror organizations. Then there is all the just plain weird logic, like this:

LeRoy Carhart, a Nebraska abortionist and the plaintiff in Gonzales v. Carhart, the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, offered a description of late-term abortion, "It's very much a three day, four day, even five day procedure. And in our procedure, after the first day, the fetus is no longer alive. So it's really a miscarriage of a stillborn fetus."

Uh, sure. Carl Olson has the best response to this:

Yeah, right. And poisoning your boss's drink leads to a "preemptive involuntary heart failure", shoving your spouse over a cliff results in "inconvenient gravitationally-motivated brain function cessation," and firing an 8-gauge shotgun into the mailman's belly brings about an unfortunate case of "shell shock" (more accurately, "pellet shock" or "shot shock"). Empty, deadly words.

Yep.

Teaching Children to Pray

... from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, from Adventures of an Orthodox Mom. Well worth a read, even for Catholics!

I remembered that in the back of the book Wounded By Love by Elder Porphyrios, there was a fantastic section on the upbringing of children. I opened the book to that section and that is when I read this,

Pray and then speak. That’s what to do with your children. If you are constantly lecturing them, you’ll become tiresome and when they grow up they’ll feel a kind of oppression. Prefer prayer and speak to them through prayer. Speak to God and God will speak to their hearts. That is, you shouldn’t give guidance to your children with a voice that they hear with their ears. You may do this too, but above all you should speak to God about your children. Say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, give Your light to my children. I entrust them to You. You gave them to me, but I am weak and unable to guide them, so, please, illuminate them.’ And God will speak to them and they will say to themselves, ‘Oh dear, I shouldn’t have upset Mummy by doing that!’ And with the grace of God this will come from their heart.” He also said, “It is not sufficient for the parents to be devout. They mustn’t oppress the children to make them good by force. We may repel our children from Christ when we pursue the things of our religion with egotism.

You know the saying “the truth hurts”? Well, I’m sure in some cases it does but in this case it never felt so good.

Read the whole post. H/T Byzantine, Texas.

On Pentecost

I hope y'all had a blessed Feast of Pentecost! This is usually the final Sunday for the choir at our parish (of whom my wife is a member) before they take their abnormally long summer break. The liturgy also included a small orchestra working with the choir.

Our parish also welcomed into the Catholic family today an 87 year old woman through baptism, confirmation, and first eucharist. As was reiterated today, and is certainly true, Our Lord never ceases to call us home to the sacraments, even after a full length of life as that - and surely she will have plenty more! And I still pray for those who have left the church, as I have had the blessing to see some of them return.

Now, on to the reflection. From St. Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century) from Against Heresies (featured in today's Office of Readings):

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God. He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first fruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning. If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an Advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.

I love that!! Especially this part:

Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

Thanks be to God.

Around the house...

When it comes to worrying about all of the troubles in the world, nothing helps more than taking care of business around the house. I've been trying to tackle the lawn, which has started growing again now that the climate is warmer and more moist. The grass is not too easy to keep up with, and you gotta keep it under control before it takes over everything.

I also spent some time during the past week figuring out what to do with my old Pentium 133MHz machine. I've had this machine for many years, since through college. I decided to get a cheap wireless card for it and update the operating system, and this would allow me to stash it somewhere in the house, out of the way, as a headless box.

About 9 years ago, I installed an old distribution of Redhat Linux for it, but this time, I figured I would install something with an extremely low footprint so that I could play with it and add to it as I saw fit. I eventually decided on Damn Small Linux, based on Debian. The basic footprint of DSL is around 50MB even with xwindows and some useful apps. Installing it was a breeze, and the wireless card worked with very little effort. I've now got it stashed in a hidden location, accessible only via ssh. Linux can truly transform an otherwise useless machine. Now, I've got to figure out something useful for it to do!

Obama and Notre Dame

So I managed to catch Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame last Sunday. I opposed this speech and joined many friends and Notre Dame alumni in signing a petition opposing it. I would have opposed it had it even been a pro-abortion Republican like Giuliani or the Governator. Part of me still wanted to give Fr. Jenkins the benefit of the doubt and hear what was actually said, so I tuned in. I was pleased to see Fr. Jenkins lay out some distinctions by making it clear that Notre Dame did not support Obama's policies on abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. Yet, Jenkins still gave Obama a platform and a profound honor, and Obama used it.

The man gives a good speech. Personally, however, we found it patronizing and insulting. Instead of being about the graduating class, it focused primarily on his usual campaign rhetoric surrounding abortion -- no doubt due to all of the fervor that has been generated over the last few weeks and months. He spoke about subjects that have been of great interest to me in the past: The struggle to find common ground, and the movement led by Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, as well as reducing abortions. Yet, as I thought about it, I simply did not buy Obama's desire to reach common ground on abortion. When has he done this?

We also have to be very careful about what we mean by common ground. When it comes to injustice and threats to human life, common ground cannot and should not be reduced to an excuse to simply agree to disagree. While at times, you have to work incrementally with people with whom you disagree, no group can be expected to cede moral ground. The Civil Rights movement never ever ceded moral ground on the simple fact that racism was wrong. We cannot cede moral ground on the evil of genocide in the world. And here, we are seeking to protect the civil rights of the unborn, effectively what amounts to a genocide. Fundamentally, what Obama has done in his first 100 days in office has furthered the mission of this genocide. This is not a caricature. Is he really interested in common ground? Or is he paying the same lip service to us as he pays to Planned Parenthood?

He also invited everyone to join him on reducing abortions, including this in his mission of common ground. Yes, I'm for that. That's one of the reasons I support groups such as Feminists for Life and other groups. Catholic groups have been doing this for many years. Providing aide for women who seek to carry their children to term, adoptions, important health care, etc. Yet, we've been doing this for years against strong opposition from folks Obama openly supports, namely Planned Parenthood, NOW, and NARAL, which audaciously referred to Feminists for Life as anti-choice. Yet, the whole mission of Feminists for Life is to provide an array of real choices for women. And, abortion proponents have been publically telling us about their desire to reduce abortions for years. Their actions often demonstrate otherwise, as they oppose even the most simple, common-sense restrictions, including parental notification laws and ultrasound requirements. Obama's words don't go hand-in-hand with his actions, as he has sought to throw more government money at abortion, particularly abroad. How does one reduce abortions by making them more easily available at taxpayers' expense? Obama has surrounded himself with abortion proponents at even the highest levels of government. I'm waiting to see what happens with regard to conscience protection for doctors.

As I watched the speech, I felt the same as I felt while listening to his speeches on the campaign trail. You almost feel foolish for believing what he says for five minutes until you realize the reality of the situation. That said, I am quite happy to hear Obama go against his campaign promise to Planned Parenthood and say that passing the deadly Freedom of Choice Act was not his highest legislative priority. Yet, it appears that the Act is moving through in pieces.

Father Barron on "Angels and Demons"

A very good review. Just one quibble: I think it is disputed that Copernicus was himself a priest, although he had a very close relationship with the Catholic Church throughout his life. I have read some references that indicate that he might have been a Third Order Dominican.

Mary and the Order of Preachers

Friday was the Feast of the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the entire Order of Preachers, according to the Dominican Liturgical calendar.

From the Commentary on the Constitutions of the Order of Preachers by Bl. Humbert of Romans, who was the fifth master of the Order:

From the events surrounding the beginning of our Order many reasons can be adduced why the Blessed Virgin Mary herself may be considered the special patroness of our Order. From what I have heard with my own ears and from the many accounts in the 'Lives of the Brethren', it seems that she is our special Mother, bringing forth, advancing and defending the Order whose purpose is to praise, to bless and to preach her Son.

From the Miracles of St. Dominic as narrated by Sr. Cecilia:

Suddenly [Dominic] was caught up in spirit before God and saw the Lord and the Blessed Virgin sitting at his right. It seemed to Blessed Dominic that Our Lady was wearing a cloak the color of sapphire.

As Blessed Dominic looked around, he could see religious of all the orders but his own before the throne of God. He began to weep bitterly and stood apart, not daring to approach the Lord and his Mother. Then Our Lady motioned for him to come near. But he would not dare, until the Lord himself also called him.

Blessed Dominic cast himself down before them weeping bitterly. The Lord told him to rise, and when he did, asked him, "Why are you weeping so?" "I am weeping because I see all the other orders here but no sign of my own." The Lord said to him, "Do you want to see your Order?" and he answered, "Yes, Lord." Then the Blessed Virgin opened the cloak she was wearing and spread it out before Blessed Dominic, to whom it seemed cast enough to cover the entire heaven, and under it he saw a large multitude of the brethren.

Then prostrating himself, Blessed Dominic gave thanks to God and to Blessed Mary his Mother.

It has often been said that Dominic had the gift of tears. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.

Fact Checking: Angels & Demons

Steve Greydanus has some fact-checking on Dan Brown's book. Yes, like The DaVinci Code, "it's only fiction". Yet, I still run across folks who think it's more fact than fiction. Angels & Demons seems to be more silly, in my opinion. The old "Catholic Church vs. Science" lie. Yet we have priests like Clavius, Mendel, Grimaldi, LeMaitre, and other Catholics like Copernicus and, yes, even Galileo himself, who say: "No, not quite."

Fires in Santa Barbara

Another terrible fire in Santa Barbara right now. The "Jesusita Fire" is only 10% contained tonight. I know several people who have evacuated, one having to spend the night in a Red Cross shelter. Please pray for relief for this fire!

Meanwhile, a load of people plan to descend upon Isla Vista (near UC Santa Barbara) this weekend for "Floatopia 2", which folks worry will put a massive burden on the region's firefighting resources. "Floatopia" is an event where drunken kids, mostly from out of town, take over an Isla Vista beach and float out over the water in a drunken frenzy, leaving behind injuries and an ocean and beach full of half-empty beer cans. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisor passed an urgency ordinance banning alcohol consumption, but most people don't think it will have an effect. What will happen? The last "Floatopia" drew over 12,000 people.

Hopkins and Haecceity

We had a very interesting discussion in our Catholic reading group a few days ago. The subject of this session was the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins. I would like to thank Ben, in particular, for sharing Hopkins' As Kingfishers Catch Fire with the group:

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves - goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--
Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

The poem illustrates quite nicely the influence Bl. John Duns Scotus had on Hopkins' theology, particularly concerning the concept of haecceity -- that which pertains to the haecceitas, or thisness, of a person or object, that identifies it as being individual or distinct from other things. God made us as human beings, but he made each one of us, and all living creatures, unique. This would better explain some terms Hopkins identified: inscape and instress, which are described here in more detail:

By "inscape" he means the unified complex of characteristics that give each thing its uniqueness and that differentiate it from other things, and by "instress" he means either the force of being which holds the inscape together or the impulse from the inscape which carries it whole into the mind of the beholder...

The concept of inscape shares much with Wordsworth's "spots of time," Emerson's "moments," and Joyce's "epiphanies," showing it to be a characteristically Romantic and post-Romantic idea. But Hopkins' "inscape" is also fundamentally religious: a glimpse of the inscape of a thing shows us why God created it. "Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:/ . . myself it speaks and spells,/ Crying What I do is me: for that I came."

You see this generally reflected in Hopkins' poetry. He writes about this bird, this tree, this person, rather than about birds, or trees, or people in general. Exquisite.

Why Aquinas Matters Today

In three points, from Catholic News Service in an interview with Dominican Father Thomas Joseph White of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in DC:

The first, I would say, is Aquinas' insistence on the harmony of faith and reason...

The second point is that for Aquinas the creation reflects the mystery of the wisdom of God. If we look off into the creation, we see a beautiful, existent world that is good, that is orderly and that bespeaks the wisdom of God...

The third point, I would say, is that for Aquinas there is a very profound emphasis on the primacy of grace for all of our works that lead to union with God. God is not only the source from whom we all come, but he is the ultimate term or endpoint toward whom we are all returning. How do we return to God? For Aquinas, by grace...

Read the whole thing.

Swine Flu

Cardinal DiNardo has requested that churches suspend distribution of Holy Communion from the chalice until more is known about the Swine Flu (H1N1) problem. That seems prudent, considering we don't truly know the scope, scale, or intensity of the problem just yet, in spite of the media's intent to sensationalize the issue. The media seems to have forgotten that the common influenza virus kills thousands of people every year in the United States, yet it seems more intent on exploiting the unknown with regard to this virus. As far as I can see right now, prevention seems to revolve around common sense habits: wash your hands before you eat! cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze! etc.

This isn't the first time we've faced a "swine flu" alarm in this country. Check out these ads from 1976 urging people to get swine flu vaccinations:

Get the message?

Aquinas on Implicit Baptism of Desire

Taylor Marshall discusses Aquinas' articulation of an implicit baptism of desire:

Last Monday I was fascinated to learn that Saint Thomas Aquinas had articulated a doctrine of implicit baptism of desire.

As stated above (1, ad 2; 68, 2) man receives the forgiveness of sins before Baptism in so far as he has Baptism of desire, explicitly or implicitly [there are the key words]; and yet when he actually receives Baptism, he receives a fuller remission, as to the remission of the entire punishment. So also before Baptism Cornelius and others like him receive grace and virtues through their faith in Christ and their desire for Baptism, implicit or explicit: but afterwards when baptized, they receive a yet greater fullness of grace and virtues. Hence in Psalm 22:2, "He hath brought me up on the water of refreshment," a gloss says: "He has brought us up by an increase of virtue and good deeds in Baptism. Yet catechumens who die without baptism can be saved but only as through fire. That is, they are absolved of eternal punishment, not temporal punishment."

STh III, q. 69, a. 4.

The perplexing thing is that Saint Thomas Aquinas believes that baptism by desire only remits eternal punishment and not the temporal punishment due to sins.

Read the whole thing (and the comments).

Moniales and the Master of the Order

Today, the Dominican Nuns of Summit, New Jersey were visited by the Master of the Order, Fr. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, O.P., who for us is the current successor of St. Dominic. They describe the visit with photos.

The octave day of new birth

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, which is also the Sunday of the Octave of Easter. This morning's Office of Readings presents to us words from St. Augustine's Eighth Sermon in octava Paschae given to the newly baptized:

I speak to you who have just been reborn in baptism, my little children in Christ... [Baptism] is a sacrament of new life which begins here and now with the forgiveness of all past sins, and will be brought to completion in the resurrection of the dead. You have been buried with Christ by baptism into death in order that, as Christ has risen from the dead, you also may walk in newness of life...

This is the octave day of your new birth. Today is fulfilled in you the sign of faith that was prefigured in the Old Testament by the circumcision of the flesh on the eight day after birth. When the Lord rose from the dead, he put off the mortality of the flesh; his risen body was still the same body, but it was no longer subject to death. By his resurrection he consecrated Sunday, or the Lord's day. Though the third after his passion, this day is the eighth after the Sabbath, and thus also the first day of the week.

And so your own hope of resurrection, though not yet realized, is sure and certain, because you have received the sacrament or sign of this reality, and have been given the pledge of the Spirit.

This is an octave. Augustine here demonstrates the great significance of the number eight as a sign of redemption and new life as well as resurrection, as our own resurrection is secured by Christ's, in whose body we are incorporated by way of our baptism by water and the Spirit. Baptism into Christ is thus intrinsically linked to resurrection.

It is not uncommon to find baptismal fonts that are octagonal in shape for this very reason, as we find in the ancient baptistery in Milan where St. Augustine himself was likely baptized:


As Augustine also references, the number eight also applies to why the Church observes the Lord's Day, Sunday, as the eighth day, a day of new creation and birth in Christ, which, as Augustine writes, will be brought to completion in the resurrection of the dead. The work of Redemption is of greater significance and splendor than that of the first Creation, as the Catechism points out (CCC 349):

But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ's Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendour of which surpasses that of the first creation.

And a blessed Pascha to my Eastern Orthodox readers!

Patriarch Kirill washes feet

Couldn't think of a good title, but the post is interesting. Byzantine, Texas links to an article describing Patriarch Kirill of Moscow performing the rite of the washing of the feet at the conclusion of the (Orthodox) Holy Thursday Divine Liturgy at the Annunciation Cathedral in Moscow.

“In our tumultuous and troubled times, when man is susceptible to various afflictions and temptations,” the Patriarch continued, “we must especially come running to Christ’s Chalice and reverently eat of the Body and Blood of the Savior for our salvation.” Today’s celebration, in the words of the Patriarch, is an invitation for us to live an active liturgical life, not as observers, but as participants...

The Patriarch then related that, in performing the rite of the washing of the feet, he had “performed an action prescribed for us by our Holy Fathers.”

“In imitation of the Savior, the Patriarch today washed the feet of priests who symbolized the twelve Apostles,” said His All-Holiness, emphasizing that this rite helps us to understand the depths of the humility of Christ, Who became man in order to save us.

Read the whole thing.

Christ is risen!

He is risen, indeed!


We just returned from visiting family in Montgomery, Alabama. For this trip, we flew in and out of Birmingham, which is about 1.5 hrs north. Perhaps next time we'll be able to make a pilgrimage to EWTN and the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Up until this year, our Easter experience had always involved the magnificent Easter Vigil on Saturday night. This year, however, we went in the morning -- my wife and I going to the Catholic church near my family's home, and my family, of course, going to their Baptist church down the street. But we reunited afterward for the requisite Easter feast! The local Catholic church was quite diverse, and we felt quite comfortable there. The liturgy was done very well, and of course, the Mass was awesome as it always is.

We explored the countryside a bit and a lot more of the city.

Palm Sunday

The Gospel of John 12:1-18 (RSV)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Laz'arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.

Jesus said, "Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came, not only on account of Jesus but also to see Laz'arus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Laz'arus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass's colt!"

His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Laz'arus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.