Into The Deep

Into the Deep #64: Study of the Gospel of John - Part 4

2009-10-04T10:35:00.005-06:00

Mmmmm... Greek... Getting meaning out of the text vs. reading meaning into the text. The test for a good commentary. Being aware that homilies, commentaries, Bible studies and religion education programs are not free from error. A list of some quality commentaries and other resources. The existence of that which is above nature.

Note: Episodes 61 - 66 were recorded in a single extended recording session and fit together as a unit. We're going to post these six shows at a pace of one a week so as to not make pests out of ourselves. But all six episodes are already uploaded and available in the feed if you prefer to listen to them sooner.

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Into the Deep #63: Study of the Gospel of John – Part 3

2009-09-20T13:34:00.005-06:00

Having discovered the “end.” Meditating on the fact that God creates to love. The beauty of the unfolding of revelation. How to address a king. Two types of questions.

God willing us into existence. The limits of our understanding. Listening before responding. Whenever you read a text, you are interpreting, so we should learn how to do it correctly. The guidelines the Church gives for interpreting the text. Understanding way the Lord speaks to us, and what we bring to the text.

Note: Episodes 61 – 66 were recorded in a single extended recording session and fit together as a unit. We’re going to post these six shows at a pace of one a week so as to not make pests out of ourselves. But all six episodes are already uploaded and available in the feed if you prefer to listen to them sooner.

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Into the Deep #62: Study of the Gospel of John - Part 2

2009-09-13T19:37:00.008-06:00

Revelation as words and actions. God allowing us to participate in discovery. What is the end of Scripture? CCC#51-52. That we should become sharers in the Divine Nature. Christianity is not another religion. It is a revelation. God sharing His very life with us as children!

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Into the Deep #61: Study of the Gospel of John - Part 1

2009-09-05T19:25:00.009-06:00

Beginning of our study of the Gospel of John. Thematic study vs. a commentary. How we go about dividing the text. Looking for logical markers. Thesis statements - the purpose or end of the text.

Voluntary human acts are always have an end in mind. Stating your presuppositions up front. Authentic interpretation of Scripture. Actively and intentionally reading a text to break open the meaning. Praying before, during and after study.

Note: Episodes 61 - 66 were recorded in a single extended recording session and fit together as a unit. We’re going to post these six shows at a pace of one a week so as to not make pests out of ourselves. But all six episodes are already uploaded and available in the feed if you prefer to listen to them sooner.

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60: Gospel of John - Introduction

2009-08-08T14:15:00.008-06:00

Episode #60. Beginning of Season 3 of Into The Deep. Introduction to a thematic study of the Gospel of John.

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59: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 61-66

2008-07-26T14:38:00.000-06:00

Episode #59.THE LAST SHOW ON SPIRITUAL COMBAT. Final Perseverance. Microwave culture. Repetition isn't always bad; sometimes it's good. Can't things be, if not good, at least not bad for too long? Living with reality. What is our first motion when we encounter difficulty - turning to God or becoming discouraged? Chronically trusting God. Muster up. The Sin of Presumption, I presume. Well, but I'm a good person, aren't I? Glory without merit. You know, there's not a lot of evidence that this guy made it. Does our "trying" flow into action? Forgiveness without conversion - not likely. Be prepared. Constitutive. First Commandment Christians and Second Commandment Christians. Contemplation precedes action. Always. D-Day is not the time for training. No one talks about the devil anymore. A glockenspiel for the end of the plague. Your deathbed is the wrong time for apologetic debates. The responsibility of a parent is to prepare their children for death - really, to make sure they get to heaven. A wreath of greenery, or unfading glory from God? Which will we choose? And in conclusion, my friends...

P.S.
Bonus Coverage

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Duration: 54:13
File size: 49.64 MB

Scripture:
Romans 8:28
Song of Songs

CCC:
2092

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat
Trent, Session 6, Chapter 12
Denzinger 805
John of the Cross: Living Flame of Love
Glockenspiel

58: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 55-58

2008-06-30T12:32:00.004-06:00

Episode #58. Shiny little globe. The Feast of Corpus Christi (for you guys, at least). Coveting liturgy. Mmmmmmm... iconostasis. God is the perfect good. Spiritual Communion. Recalling God's love for us. God can only create that which he wants. Untainted Love. God is not a vending machine. Our love, properly understood, is not for US, but for who we love, especially when we love God. Under the accidents of bread and wine, The Lord gives himself completely to us. The essence of sin is separation from God. Nothin' causes Him to do nothin' - so there. The "Grampafication" of God. I promise Just get me out of this trap, and I promise... I'll never try to get the cheese again! The PRIMARY prayer we prays should be: THY WILL BE DONE. A harsh lesson in "don't do that." Jesus didn't heal everyone - but that doesn't mean He doesn't love everyone. Spiritual Communion. I'll pray... sometime, I'm sure I will. Really. So it's a cliche, but the attitude of gratitude is still the correct. You can't have a divided heart. The offering of Christ to His Church and from the Church to Christ in the Eucharist. Transforming union. The end is near. Almost.

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Duration: 1:08:32
File size: 62.7 MB

Scripture:
Psalm95
Psalm106

Catechism:
1322

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat
Fr. Yuri Kolasa on CA Live
Iconostasis
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
Gaudium et Spes
The Theology of the Body

Not Into the Deep: Mike Lee Un-Skyped!

2008-06-05T21:34:00.008-06:00

Bonus Coverage!! As you may have heard, Mike Lee is headed back the US for a couple of weeks of work, play, cheeseburgers, teaching, sushi, and fellowship! You can check out his schedule at the Friends of the Mike Lee Family

There will be talking, bowling, teaching, eating, and of course... more eating, talking, teaching and eating!

Right on.

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Duration: 13:47
File size: 12.6 MB

Pro-Family Policies...

2008-06-05T16:32:00.003-06:00

While this might not be the exactly perfect solution, but it is the right kind of solution, and should be encouraged.

Across the advanced world, countries with larger public old-age pension systems tend to have lower fertility, even after accounting for a very wide range of other social and economic variables, such as income levels, female labor-force participation and schooling.

Before entitlement programs were developed, most people relied on their children to take care of them in old age. Entitlements socialized this arrangement: Now each generation relies on its children collectively.

The modern system minimizes the suffering of older people who were childless or unlucky. But it creates a free-rider problem. Some people make the financial sacrifices required to raise children, but everyone gets the benefits.

I guess I never really thought about this part, but it does makes sense:

By raising kids and paying payroll taxes, on the other hand, parents make two layers of contributions to the fiscal health of entitlements. This unfairness has consequences.

In the absence of Social Security and Medicare, many Americans, particularly those with high incomes, would simply save more for their own retirements. But many would also raise more kids.

Our old-age programs, as currently designed, harm both the economy and family formation. Supply-siders should seek to mitigate both distortions.

57: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 53-58 & 60

2008-06-02T11:40:00.005-06:00

Episode #57. Into the Deep: Another big chunk. The Most Terrible of all Weapons. Or... the Swedish Jesus. A Veggie Tales viking. Power in death, power over death. Barabbas means "son of the father" Vs. the True Son of the True Father. Going for the sword and power rather than God's power; power made perfect in weakness. Propagate the mystery of the Mystery. A better deal than the Apostles got. The Eucharist and spirituality. Ritualism which cancels the grace. Bad Thing. We get to choose because our favorite choice is to choose. Hasty generalizations. Rugged individualism: okay for running an economy, not so good as a way to get to heaven! Protecting the common good: Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas... you know, those guys. Being the body of Christ, being built into the body of Christ, by the body of Christ! "We" (not "I") Receive the body of Christ to become the body of Christ. It's PUNISHMENT! Or... maybe it's healing? A book and a pair of scissors. Do we hide under a parachute, in a mysterious metaphysical way? Sacrilege. A tragedy. Jesus with skin on. Priests want to forget your confession - really! Driving to Jerome. Shutting up while one is ahead. Accidents, substances, and the close physical communion of the time immediately after receiving the Eucharist. Stunned into silence... we are, after all, Into the Deep. That's Right, and THE END.

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Duration: 59:53
File size: 54.83 MB

Scripture:
John 20

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat
Interior Castles
Henri de Lubac
Confessions
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
Congregation for Divine Worship: The Year of the Eucharist, Suggestions and Proposals
Lumen Gentium
The Monks in Jerome

Frank is Back...

2008-05-27T23:47:00.003-06:00

Glad to see that Francis Beckwith has rejoined Feddie at Southern Appeal.

If you didn't know, Mr. Beckwith was an Evangelical Christian theologian who became a Catholic in 2007. Here's an interview he gave on the subject.

What do I have that is truly "mine"...

2008-05-27T14:21:00.004-06:00

Well, according to this typically fantastic commentary by Fr. Cantalamessa, all we have that truly belongs to us is sin and misery...

Communion means exchange, sharing. Now, this is the fundamental rule of sharing: that which is mine is yours and what is yours is mine. Let’s try to apply this rule to Eucharistic communion. In doing so we will see its greatness.

What do I have that is truly “mine”? Misery, sin: This alone belongs to me exclusively. What does Jesus have that is “his” if not holiness, the perfection of all the virtues? So, communion consists in the fact that I give Jesus my sin and my poverty, and he gives me holiness. In this the “admirabile commercium,” or “wonderful exchange,” as the liturgy defines it, is realized.

The entire piece is about unity, but I couldn't help being struck by the line about what is truly ours, as I often forget that I should be thankful for my every breath as they are each a gift, and that all that is truly my own is my sin.

Family policy IS fiscal policy...

2008-05-27T13:08:00.004-06:00

Jennifer Roback Morse has an interesting article up about the economic costs of the fractured nuclear family.

This is not, I think, any sort of attempt to reduce everything to economics, as a way to entice the fiscally-oriented to support family issues. Instead I think it's an effort to show those folks who are focused on social/cultural issues, and tend to ignore economic issues, that their "family" positions ARE economic positions. And to let them know that to ignore economics is to ignore the family.

56: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 45-52 & 59

2008-05-15T19:58:00.014-06:00

Episode #56. Into the Deep: Ever-effervescent. No chance for that hoped-for brevity. Suggestions not requirements. [cobbled]. Fundaments. 1. Yes. 2. No. 3. Not at this time. Those are the three answers to prayer. Garth Brooks? Weird Al? Petitionary prayer is good, but we ALSO need meditation; and we have to know what we're meditating on. The Passion of the Christ. Resurrection people, yes; but you can't get there without going through Good Friday. The Prodigal Son? How about his big brother? Yeah. Sensible devotion and dryness. A segue, nailed. The artifices of the devil. That's cuz you're so SMART. Suh-Mart. Smart. It was almost like, well... like a supernatural event. Heh. Set aside any notion of consolation. A divided heart. Loving ourselves through God... the Tony Robbins Prayer Plan - NOT. Hilarity ensued.

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Duration: 49:48
File size: 45.6 MB

Scripture:
Romans 5
Psalm 63

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat
Interior Castles
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Compare and Contrast...

2008-05-11T01:55:00.005-06:00

Well... first, there's this guy, who uses the "New Deadly Sins" (mis)report to say that Catholics are anti-science hypocrites who should have no say over how policy is crafted. Bad.

On the other hand, this is interesting. Catholic legal and social thought (as opposed to leftist thought expressed by Catholics) has gotten pretty good exposure in this administration. This article is reasonably fair, too. Other than the bit at the end about Catholics wanting judges to "eventually outlaw [abortion]." Hardly anyone wants judges to outlaw abortion - we want judges to stop preventing the people from outlawing it. Letting the states decide would be a great step towards subsidiarity. Good. (LvNRO)

Mmmmm...Latin!

2008-05-11T01:34:00.003-06:00

Heh. Documenta Latina

Amazing Experiences...

2008-05-10T02:23:00.010-06:00

Two finals down, three to go. I needed a study break and just had to share this...

We have lived in Europe for nearly two years now. Although, much of it is very secularized there are still pockets of deep, Catholic beauty and culture to be found. This beauty breaks forth every now and again in the most amazing ways. These experiences are tremendous gifts of the Lord often easily overlooked but so rich and wonderful if seen for what they really are. I had one of those experiences today.

There is perpetual Adoration at the Kartause Maria Thron; the church where the International Theological Institute and the Franciscan University Austrian Program worship. The time is split between the students of both institutions. My family has an hour-and-a-half of Adoration on Saturday morning. I was there with the Lord when I heard quite a commotion behind me. This is not unusual in that there are many tours that come through the church - often through the Adoration chapel. I was trying to ignore them but caught a atypical sight in my peripheral vision, so I had to look. I was surprised to see about 20 Cistercian monks genuflecting and passing through to another chapel that is above the Adoration chapel. One of our instructors, Dr. Michael Waldstein, has a son who is a Cistercian at the Stift Heiligenkreuz. (Here are a few photos I took when we visited.) This monastery has been in continuous service to the Church since the 12th Century. It is amazing to think that they have been chanting the Divine Office in the same place continuously for about 900 years! They just got a record deal to sing plainchant for Universal (see article here). I hear that they have already recorded the album and now are in the midst of mixing it.

Anyway, as they filed past I realized what might be happening...YES!!! They went up to the chapel to sing the Office!! So imagine, I am alone with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament while listening to the Cistercian monks chant the Office in Latin! The acoustics of the chapel and the stairway where the chant proceeded down was magnificent. I sat there filled with the Presence of the Lord listening to the ancient praises being sung. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and wonder. Such a simple gift but so profound. It is amazing how the Lord is forever giving us little tokens of his love. It seems that we never have the time to pray. We must make it. When we do, God is never outdone in generosity. I will never forget those few minutes of chant and the gift of love that they were...

As a side-note, the cross with which the bishop blesses at the end of the video is the largest relic of the true Cross north of the Alps.

LOOK OUT BOISE, I AM COMING HOME!!

2008-05-03T10:32:00.011-06:00

I am so excited! I just bought my ticket to come home for a couple weeks this summer. With that said, I'd like to announce:

“That They May Have Life, and Have It Abundantly: Spirituality and Theology in the Gospel of John for Today.”

What: A three-day mission.

Who: Me! :-)

Where: Nazareth Retreat Center; 4450 N. Five Mile Road, Boise

When: June 17, 18, 19

Time: Morning Session 10:00am-12:00pm
Evening Session 7:00pm-9:00pm

Cost: No cost - freewill donation.

Please bring a Bible, pen, and paper.

Description: We will dig deeply into the key themes and terms in the Gospel of John in order to deepen our relationship with the Blessed Trinity. Key themes and terms include: gift, glory, obedience, love, belief, "signs", kingship, and light to name a few. We will discover that the depth of the Gospel will draw us to know, live for, and love our Lord in a new and more profound manner. I hope to see you there!!

Clarification: The retreat/mission consists of 3-sessions. The same presentations will be made in the morning session and the evening session. You can mix and match at will! :-)

UPDATED: Mike has added additional sessions for “That They May Have Life, and Have It Abundantly: Spirituality and Theology in the Gospel of John for Today.”

WHEN: June 10, 11, 12; 7PM - 9PM

WHERE: Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Caldwell, Idaho.

055: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 44

2008-05-01T21:51:00.005-06:00

Episode #55. Prayer, of which we've discussed before. Occasionally. Listen to our previous podcasts on prayer. Confidence in God, and distrust of self. The Vital Necessity of prayer. Presumption... that's not good. Instead, try "fear of the Lord" - you know? Don't mistake the "holiness" of your surroundings for your own personal holiness. Yank out your bookmarks and throw them away! The problem is not giving it your best effort and making a mistake - but in not putting forth an effort. Don't be all legalistic about prayer. Concretize. The Catechism and prayer. Read it. The virtue lies primarily in the will. His will be done. Mmmm.. latin... No smooth roads in prayer. Be plucky. Raising kids right. Stick. Belly. Eeek. Thanks be to God for prayers answered. Diggin' holes. Three parables. We'd rather do it poorly than not do it at all.

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Duration: 47:48
File size: 43.7 MB

Scripture:
John 3:30
Philippians 2:7
Luke 11:5
Luke 18:1
Psalm 62:5

Catechism:
2744
2092
2558
2607
2613

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat
The Fulfillment of All Desire
Interior Castles
Introduction to the Devout Life

Working Man

2008-04-26T23:49:00.005-06:00

Just returned from a Newsboys concert...

Mmmmm... Loud.

There was an opening band I'd never heard of before.. NewWorldSon.

They're quite good.

Happy Feast of St. Mark!!

2008-04-25T02:29:00.004-06:00

Today is a day of great joy as we celebrate the Apostle Mark. Bishop Papais around 130 referred to St. Mark as the writer of the Gospel that bears his name. St. Ireneus writes in Adversus Haereses (~178-188): "after their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter."

One of my favorite verses in the Gospel is:

And in the morning, a great while before day, he [Jesus] rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.

What a beautiful insight into the prayer life of the Lord. He was exhausted after a day of so many pressing about him for healing, and yet, he rises before dawn so as to spend time with his Father.
Jesus' priorities should inform our own. Will we rise with him to watch for one hour??

Holy Spirit, please give us the gift of prayer and properly ordered priorities!

Get yer Papal Addresses Right here...

2008-04-24T22:51:00.005-06:00

Here's a nice single page reference of all of Benedict's addresses while he was in the US, via InsideCatholic Check it out.

054: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 33-43

2008-04-17T22:00:00.001-06:00

Episode #54. Methods for Increasing Virtue. For real this time. Really. Wishing to mortify one's passions. Are we avoiding opportunities for virtue? Hey, that's pretty mild for a 16th century guy! Is my hair-shirt showing? Loving our enemies implies humility. Blab it and grab it - uh... no. Seamless editing - did you hear it? Whole, ungrained wheat... mmmmm? Shun disordered pleasures so that we can really enjoy "The Good." Practicing the opposite virtue... of the vices with which we struggle. We don't get virtuous without acting virtuously. Next, on Fr. Scupoli Live: Seeking Crosses or Accepting What is Given... Caller? We suffer out of obedience, not just for the sake of suffering. Exactly don't do that - there are plenty of crosses out there, inherent to conforming ourselves to God's will. Isn't there some other vice I could work on? You don't have to come to Calcutta, you have people to love right around you, right now. Where the Rubber of virtue meets the road. The holy life is NOT an "easy" life. Two steps forward is not progress, unless it is followed by two more, and two more.... Ergonomic crosses? Remember, though: when you know you are headed for a fall, in other words, if you are at the point of "dude, if I stay here any longer, I'm toast" then run away. The examples of the Saints are examples of the Saints; we may emulate and imitate what they did, but we don't always copy their exact actions. We have to be careful not to get ourselves ahead of ourselves, and then in trouble - you know? Vicious men are most inclined to think others like themselves. Three great axioms: Location, location, location; Marsha, Marsha, Marsha; and humility, humility, humility. Light that couch on fire!

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Duration: 54:37
File size: 50.0 MB

Catechism:
1803

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat

The Imitation of Christ

Interior Castles

Introduction to the Devout Life

053: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 33

2008-04-05T21:12:00.001-06:00

Episode #53. Paths to Virtue. Smooth segues - or not. Subduing our passions (discussed at length!). Are we habitually and firmly disposed towards the good? Infusion of the theological virtues: Faith, Hope, & Love. Have you asked for an increase in virtue? The strength and inclination to be "good" is gift - we cooperate. The hermeneutic key to this text? Why, it's Confidence in God and Distrust of Self. We are being called to virtue. "The Spiritual Combat" is one path to virtue. Don't be discouraged by the difficulty of any one path. Many parts, one body (THE way or A way). Don't join a spirituality clique!! East meets West!! Do we REALLY believe that God communicates with us directly? Mmmmmm.... interlocutions... mmmmmmmm. Actually, He speaks to us all the time. Are we listening? Tiny acts of heroic virtue. Doctor recommended - or at least tried and true. Good ol' Abraham, good thing he kept on listening, huh? Grace supposes, and builds upon, our nature.

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Duration: 52:07
File size: 47.7 MB

Catechism:
1803

Related Resources:
The Spiritual Combat

The Imitation of Christ

Interior Castles

Introduction to the Devout Life

LENT...

2008-02-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

052: The Spiritual Combat - Chapter 28-32

2008-01-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Episode #52.

Tactics of the Devil. Darkness of running from sin to sin. Life without God is not any fun. Opportunities to sin. Living out the consequences of where we've been. Livin' la viva chapter 29. Presumption. Bad thing. Agreeing to the value proposition of virtue rather than striving to increase it. It isn't supposed to be easy. There will be sacrifice. Be prepared and take action. Being sufficiently recollected to respond rather than react to temptation. A fruit of prayer. The opportunities in suffering. Seeking out God's will. Wanting to say 'yes.' Lord, give me whatever you got! Ridding of self love. Always render thanks. Never give up.

Click the play button to listen online

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Duration: 54:54
File size: 50.2 MB
Scripture: 2 Cor 6, Rom 13:11
Catechism: 2090
Related Resources: I Give This Day Entirely To You Prayer, The Spiritual Combat

The Website for Biblia Clerus Resource...

2008-01-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

I had a reader point out that the url to the Biblia Clerus leads to a page that is unavailable (find the blog here). I checked the link. The link is the right one, but the page does seem to be down at the moment. Please keep trying. Hopefully, they will have it up soon.

The Four Senses - the Literal Sense

2008-01-07T15:39:00.001-07:00

In a previous blog (found here), I gave a brief overview of the four senses of Scripture. My intent is to encourage people to read and study the Scriptures by utilizing the four senses so that they may hear God speaking to them and, of course, to deepen their knowledge of Revelation.

Today, I want to examine the literal sense in more detail. The Catechism defines the literal sense thusly:

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."

St. Thomas defines the literal sense as

[the] first signification whereby words signifies things belongs to the first sense, the historical or literal. (STh I q1. a10 )

Let me explain. St. Thomas makes the division between the literal and spiritual senses by what exactly is signifying something else. The literal sense is that where the words signify things. This is common usage. When we speak or write, we use words to signify some thing. The spiritual sense, however, is that where things signify other things. St. Thomas states that God, since he is the author of Holy Scripture, can signify what he means not only with words (as we do) but also with the things themselves; indicating the literal and spiritual senses, respectively.

The Catechism makes this clear when it says that the "literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture". This is where exegesis and commentaries come in. It is clear that the sacred writers didn't write in English or with a 21^st mind-set. In addition, this is God's word expressed in human words by authentic human authors. Therefore, we must discover the true intention of the sacred author in order to discover the intention of the Holy Spirit.

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another. (Dei Verbum #12)

The best explanation I've heard is that of a "knock, knock joke". If you were sitting with a friend and they turned to you and said, "Knock, knock". You would naturally reply, "Who's there?" If on the other hand your friend says "Knock" waits for two minutes and says "Knock" again, you wouldn't know what they are trying to do. The reason is that you know the convention of starting a 'knock, knock-joke'. When someone uses those particular words in a particular manner you already know the "form" of the joke and can respond accordingly with the expectation that you will be hearing a joke once you have said "Who's there?" We must learn through historical research what these conventions were that the sacred writers used so we can understand what they are trying to communicate whether that be history, a parable, a proverb, etc. Pope Benedict XVI in the Foreword to his book Jesus of Nazareth states that the Historical-Critical method is "an indispensable dimensions of exegetical work. For it is the very essence of biblical faith to be about real historical events." However, this does not mean that only those with degrees in Scripture scholarship should read the Bible, or that biblical exegesis is exhausted by the Historical-Critical Method (as is plainly stated by Pope Benedict XVI in the same Foreword to Jesus of Nazareth). We must, however, rely on experts to help us. There is a lot of good work out there and a bunch of bad. One criteria I use is to "ask" the commentary I am using its opinion of miracles. If the author(s) rejects miracles or tries to explain them away, then I know to take it with a grain of salt. Another even better criteria is to ascertain the position of the author(s) towards the Magisterium. If the Church's authority is rejected, then the commentary must be used very carefully. Protestant or Jewish commentaries can be valuable if one realizes their limitations.

Now, we must become students of the Scripture not simply relying on others to tell us what the sacred text means. We must study so as to come to the meaning of the Scriptures ourselves. Now I am not suggesting that we do this unaided. We need the work of experts to supplement our own study, but their work should not substitute for our own! This book, The New Joy of Discovery in Bible Study will be a huge help. It is not a commentary. It is a book that teaches one how to analyze a text and discover what the author is intending. We typically read things so fast that we over-read much of the details and keys that help us understand the Biblical text. This book gives the tools to do such an analysis. Next, one must immerse themselves in the Scriptures reading them and praying them everyday. A key to understanding the Scriptures is to have a intimate relationship with the Triune God (conversely, reading and praying the Scriptures helps bring about this intimacy). The then Cardinal Ratzinger gives us great insight into that fact in his book Behold the Pierced One:

Only by entering into Jesus' solitude, only by participating in what is most personal in him, his communication with the Father, can one see what this most personal reality is; only thus can one penetrate to his identity. This is the only way to understand him and to grasp what "following Jesus" means. The Christian confession is not a neutral proposition; it is prayer, only yielding its meaning within prayer. (pg. 19)

Jesus prayed in the words of Scripture an that Scripture became flesh in him, became the actual Passion of this Righteous One; and that he thus inserted his death into the word of God, in which he lived and which lived in him declaring itself in him. (p. 24)

Since the center of the person of Jesus is prayer, it is essential to participate in his prayer if we are to know and understand him. (p. 25)

To know him we must be in a certain way like him. To know the Scriptures requires knowing him since Christ the Word is the principle, subject, and author of Scripture.

OK, back to the literal sense. St. Thomas identifies four divisions of the literal sense: historical, etiological, the analogy of faith, and metaphorical (or parabolic). (STh I q1.a10.ad2) It is called historical when anything is simply related. This would be the case in much of the Gospels as they are simply relating what happened. That does not mean, however, that the Gospels are a simple reporting of a historical timeline. The Catechism tells us that the Gospel writers

126§3 ...in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus.

The key here being that "they have told us the honest truth about Jesus". It is etiological when the cause is assigned, "as when Our Lord gave the reason why Moses allowed the putting away of wives - namely, because of the hardness of men's hearts (cf. Mt 19:8)" (STh I q1.a10.ad2). It is the analogy of faith when the truth of one text is shown not to contradict the truth of another (cf. CCC #114). Finally, the metaphorical (or parabolical sense)

is contained in the literal, for by the words things are signified properly and figuratively. Nor is the figure itself, but that which is figured, the literal sense. When Scripture speaks of God's arm, the literal sense is not that God has such a member, but only what is signified by this power, namely, operative power. Hence is is plain that nothing false can ever underlie the literal sense of Holy Scripture. (St. Thomas STh I q1.a10.ad3)

Analyzing and determining the literal sense of a Scripture is arduous work. It takes time to wrestle with the text, read the commentaries, look at word meanings, and pray. It is the work of love, and it does bear abundant fruit. I would suggest beginning in the New Testament in one of the Gospels. Oh, one last resource. I have found the Synopsis of the Four Gospels edited by Kurt Aland a tremendous help. He lines up the four Gospels according to subject side by side so one can compare the Gospels easily to one another.

A commenter pointed out that Mark Shea wrote a book concerning the four senses (follow the link. You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it). It is called Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did. I have not read it, but I am sure it is excellent.

Next time, we'll take a look at the Spiritual senses of Scripture.

051: The Spiritual Combat - Chapter 27

2008-01-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Episode #51.

Dr. Lee semester recap. Three classes on the Trinity! That's the kind 'o humor you've come to expect from Into The Deep... Relentless, varied attacks of the devil. Diviso Textus... Mmmm... Latin... Disbelief in the devil. Obsession with the devil. The devil trembles at the name of God. The best way to get at someone is to get to their kids. Why does God allow temptation? God cannot will moral evil. Free will allows the choice of evil. Pity. Greater good is brought out of all evil. Does not make the evil good. Three main things: Have confidence in God. Distrust yourself. Keep on goin'. Don't ignore the best example we have. The devil is a Bible scholar. Needing reassurance. Temptation to the spectacular.

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Duration: 49:40
File size: 45.5 MB
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8, James 1:13, Deut 13:3, Romans 8:28, Revelation 3:10, Hebrews 4:15
Catechism: 391, 312
Related Resources: The Spiritual Combat, Catechism of Trent, Jesus of Nazareth, There is a God

The Four Senses of Scripture

2008-01-02T09:51:00.001-07:00

There have been several different situations that have converged to make me think a blog on this may be helpful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church #133 states:

The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

We all want the Lord to speak to us, to encourage us, to tell us that he loves us. He does. He speaks to us through the Scriptures:

Let them remember that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that God and man may talk together; for "we speak to Him when we pray; we hear Him when we read the divine saying." (The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum #25 - quoting St. Ambrose.)

The same theme is repeated earlier in Dei Verbum:

For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life. (#21, emphasis mine)

Thus, the place that we must turn when seeking the Lord's voice is the Sacred Scriptures approaching them in an attitude of prayer, docility, and careful listening. We must keep in mind what the Scriptures tells us about listening to the Lord's voice:

And he [God] said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave... 1 Kings 19:11-13a

This "still small voice" can only be heard through perseverance, silence, and listening. We don't hear God with our ears; we hear him with our heart. Listening to God requires faith and a sensitivity to the Spirit that must be cultivated through prayer. It also demands docility to what God wants to say not necessarily what we want to hear. I know in my own life that there were many times I claimed that the Lord wasn't speaking to me. The fact was he was telling me what I needed to hear rather than what I wanted to hear. I just didn't want to hear. There have been, however, a multitude of times where he has deeply consoled me with the exact words I needed to hear through the Scriptures, other spiritual books, homilies, or loved ones. The Lord has even spoken directly to my heart but never to my ears. We learn to discern to hear the lord's voice in other places through hearing his voice in the Scriptures.

It is clear, then, that we must steep ourselves in the Holy Writ, but how to start? There are many resources available to study the Scriptures. However, it can be difficult to find a good Catholic commentaries (the Ignatius Study Bibles and the Navarre Bible are excellent, although no commentary is complete). In these next blogs, I would like to discuss the Four Senses of Scripture as one means of penetrating the Biblical text. The Sacred Scriptures are not just for a few elite linguists to understand. The Lord intended it for all. St. Thomas indicates it thusly:

It is thus that the sacred text not only adapts itself to man's various intelligence, so that each one marvels to finds his thoughts expressed in the words of Holy Writ...(St. Thomas Aquinas On the Power of God question 4 article 1)

It is also befitting Holy Scripture which is proposed to all without distinction of persons - to the wise and to the unwise I am a debtor (Rom 1:14) - that spiritual truths be expounded by means of figures taken from corporeal things, in order that thereby even the simple who are unable by themselves to grasp intellectual things may be able to understand it. (St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae I question 1 article 9.

All of us can understand the Scriptures. We first need to pray for the assistance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit and then roll up our sleeves and dig in! The four senses help us in this regard.

The four senses can be divided into the literal and spiritual sense. The literal sense can be defined as 'what the words themselves signify', whereas the spiritual sense is the 'things themselves signifying other things'. (cf. St. Thomas Summa I q1. a10) The spiritual sense can then be divided into three: allegorical (or typical), moral (or tropological), and anagogical. For a simple definition of each nothing is better than the Catechism.

The senses of Scripture
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction".
3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.
118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.
119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."

But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.

Next time, we'll define the literal sense in more detail, examine the four different literal senses, and see examples for them. One of the important things here is not to be afraid or intimidated. Seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit and dive in!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

EXCELLENT RESOURCE!!

2007-12-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

I am surfacing from studying for finals to take a quick minute to tell you about this new amazing resource from the Congregation for the Clergy. It is absolutely amazing. You can download the entire site as a tool for Bible study. It has a bunch of features: multiple versions of the English translation, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. They cross-reference individual verses to writings of the Church Fathers, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catechism, and others. The downloaded materials include the entire Canon Law, Catechism of the Catholic Church, etc. If you can read Latin, there is the entire Summa, Commentary on the Sentences (St. Thomas), Denzinger, and others. It can be used by people of all levels. I am sure they will be adding other resources as time goes on. If you study Scripture, this is a must. The price can't be beat, either....free! Click on the image to go to the website.

050: The Spiritual Combat - Chapters 24-26

2007-12-04T02:16:00.000-07:00

Episode #50. Shhhhhhh! "I have often repented for having spoken, but never for remaining silent." Do we love the sounds of our own voices? Give careful governance to our habits of speech. Be Counter-Cultural: be Quiet. So... when we say we want "peace"... do we want OUR peace, or His peace. Or do we want Him? We should aspire to the lofty heights of sainthood. Are we the prodigal son... or his older brother?

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Duration: 55:00
File size: 50.4 MB
Scripture: Jas 3:3-12, Matthew 5: 21-22, Luke 6: 43-45, Ephesians 5: 18-20, 1 Corinthians 10:13, James 1:12-15, John 16:33, Psalm 62:3-8
Related Resources: The Spiritual Combat

Baen Free Library

2007-12-02T18:17:00.001-07:00

A few days ago, I took an awkward stance of defending Amazon's decision to have DRM in their books, while at the same time stating that I did not believe DRM to be a good idea.

Today I ran across a nice article on why DRM is a bad deal for authors, posted by an author who as made some of his works available for free download; and has encouraged other authors to do the same. He makes some interesting points.

Waiting

2007-12-02T01:40:00.001-07:00

I'm a big fan of showing up early to Reconciliation.

It really gets you a good place in line. :)

Beyond that, however, there is great humility in waiting.

I think that is why is annoys us so. Waiting in traffic. Waiting in the doctor's office. Waiting in line at the DMV. There are not many things that cause us as much teeth gritting angst as waiting on others. When we wait, we must surrender control. We acknowledge that they have something that we need, and we have little choice but to wait to receive it. This cuts right to the bone of pride and our illusions of self sufficiency.

In showing up early to Reconciliation, I wait in the Court for an audience with my King.

I always enjoyed the scene in A Man For All Seasons when St. Thomas comes out of the meeting with Cardinal Wolsey and there was a hall of people lined up to speak with him. Knowing full well that they most likely would not get the opportunity, they had prepared notes of requests and pleas to slip to him as he passed by. They were satisfied to wait hours for a brief encounter with the great man to have the opportunity to plead their case for justice or for mercy.

I think of this as I wait for Reconciliation. I am waiting in the grand Court of Heaven. A poor man bringing my plea before the King. I am pleased to have just a moment of his time to beg for mercy and for aid. And I marvel at his generosity, taking the time to look down with mercy on such an unfaithful servant.

In this season of waiting, there will be many opportunities to wait. Use them to give glory to God. For in waiting for others we learn humility and self sacrifice... and those are gifts that can be brought to the feet of the King.

P.S.: Thanks to the Curt Jester for the cool Advent wreath!

Amazon Kindle - What They Got Right

2007-11-30T19:52:00.001-07:00

Concluding the Apology for a Kindle series:

There is several things that would have been made the Kindle less attractive to me, or even been deal breakers. Happily, Kindle knocked these things out of the park.

Replaceable Battery
I never actually bought an iPod. One was gifted to me. One of the main reason I never bit into the Apple was the lack of a battery that can be replaced by the user. Apple has been kicked around quite a lot for that design decision but, to date, has not changed it. When the Sony reader came out without a replaceable battery, I feared that the Kindle might as well.

That would have been a serious deal breaker. All batteries eventually lose their ability to hold a charge. Forcing customers to mail in their device and charging $80+ dollars to replace a battery is just plain unacceptable.

A new Kindle battery sells for $19.99 and is easily replaced by the customer.

E-Ink Screen
I look at computer screen professionally. I also spend quite a bit of time looking at them for recreation. The last thing I need is to spend another hour or two a night looking at another backlit flat screen. While I haven't used a Kindle, I have used the Sony (which has the same type of display) and it is a wonder of easy to read clarity.

Expandable Memory
I am disinclined to buy media devices without expandable memory, unless they have a large amount of built in internal storage (like a 60gb iPod). I made an exception for the Flip Video, because it was a great product in every other way... But the limit of 1gb of memory is a constant hassle. The Kindle allows up to 4gb to be added, in addition to its internal memory. That stores a lot of text. :)

Cellular Networking
I would have actually been satisfied with WiFi... but the use of EVDO is outstanding! More than I thought to ask for. I can recall many occasions where I was stuck out in the middle of a parking lot, or doctor office, or as a passenger in a car, with unexpected time to kill. I try to look at those times as a gifted opportunity for some formal prayer. However there have been many occasions where there was still time left over. The ability to access my online library from (nearly) any location is going to be great! Amazon is letting the jinni out of the bottle on this one. People will begin to expect this ability in other types of devices as well. It's time to buy stock in cellular bandwidth companies.

No Monthly Fees
Monthly fees or any kind of "membership" to cover bandwidth costs would have been a deal breaker. Although I would be open to some kind of Audible like membership plan for content. Something along the lines of $20/month for five book downloads. Or some kind of point system like Audible uses. It would provide a more regular income stream for Amazon and publishers, and would give customers a lower price per book.

Free Book Samples
My Kindle isn't scheduled to ship for weeks... but I've already have a dozen sample chapters set to download once the thing is built and turned on. Being able to take a peek at books is one of the great features of a brink & mortar store... and also of many print books available at Amazon. Being able to do this on the Kindle will save money in books that I erroneously thought I might like, and also introduce me to books that I would not have purchased without being able to read a sample. Great feature!

In case you couldn't tell... I'm a bit excited about this product. :)

It'll be safely wrapped up under the tree until Christmas, at which point I will come back and post some updates on how it all turns out.

Amazon Kindle - Criticisms With Which I Agree

2007-11-28T22:02:00.001-07:00

Having laid out my case for disagreeing with many of the criticisms of the Amazon Kindle... I do have a few complaints of my own.

Poor button design
Perhaps it's not fair for me to come to this conclusion without ever holding a Kindle in my own hands... But I can see a lot of merit in the many complaints that the paging buttons are too large and too easy to press by accident. There are also complaints that the buttons are unintentionally pressed when the leather cover is closed. Finally, just looking at the pictures, it's difficult to see many options for different ways to hold the thing without accidentally hitting buttons. The edges are all buttons and the front real estate is either screen or more buttons.

It has been reported that the Kindle is meant to be used with the leather cover in place, and that this gives you more options on where to place your hands. However I don't think that users should be forced to operate the device in the cover. The vast majority of marketing images and videos show the Kindle being operated without the cover. Indeed, it is also reported that the cover does not hold the Kindle very securely in the first place Velcro is suggested by one reviewer as a solution.

Velcro? That's crazy talk.

I will withhold final judgement until I actually use the Kindle. But at this point it seems to me that Sony has a better usability design.

Plastic Case
The white plastic looks cheap to me. Sony's metal case looks much more sturdy, and I doubt that it makes a big difference in weight.

Misleading pricing
When browsing the Kindle Store, it is common to see books listed as being at a 60%+ discount off of the list price. Take for example An Inconvenient Book which as a print list price of $26.00 and a Kindle price of $9.99, a 62% savings. However if you look at Amazon's actual price for a print copy of the book, they actually sell it for $15.60. So the actual savings on the electronic version is actually much smaller.

Now, I admit that the discount off of the list price is completely technically accurate. They are not lying. But come on, that's lame. It's not like I'm asking them to do a MySimon search and tell me all of the prices for the book that exist at various others stores. I would just like to know what the real savings is based upon the price on their very own store!

Bad show Amazon. Treat your customers with more respect. Especially your early adopters.

Bundled Pricing
I really expected to see bundled pricing between print books and Kindle books. I even harbored dreams that the bundled pricing might be retroactive. If I have paid for a print copy of the book, I shouldn't have to pay full price for the Kindle version. The publishers made the decision to have confidence in their DRM, lets see some payoff for the customer and give us deep discounts on books that they know we already purchased.

Yes, there is potential for abuse. But there is also potential for providing a lot more value to customers, increasing sales and building goodwill with readers.

Ambiguous PDF Support
PDFs can be converted for use of the Kindle, either by having Amazon convert them with an "experimental" service or by converting them yourself with Mobi Creator.

Not good. PDFs are a very commonly used publishing standard. A electronic book reader needs to support them fully right out of the gate. Yes, there are challenges in rendering the exacting layout of a PDF file on an e-ink screen. But that is why we are paying the big bucks. It should have been in there.

The really odd thing is that Amazon bought MobiPocket years ago. It is MobiPocket's software that can convert PDFs into a Kindle friendly format. It seems odd that this already existing technology did not make it into the Kindle in a production ready form.

No text to speech
I really think this was a missed opportunity. The Kindle has the text and it has the ability to play audio. Built in text to speech would have been a fantastic feature and it sure seems to have been within their grasp. Perhaps it will be added in a patch at some point in the future.

Next up... There are many things that the Kindle knocked out of the park. I want to give some credit where it is due.

Ordinary Work, Chapter 3, Part 2

2007-11-28T20:50:00.001-07:00

Upon reflection, I would have to admit that I have many unexamined presuppositions regarding work.

As a child I was (like most children) not a fan of work. I believe it is difficult for a child to enjoy work, unless the work is carefully structured by a well formed adult. The child does not have a sufficient foundation of skills to enable them to engage in many of the more interesting and challenging forms of work. They are also frequently grouped with large numbers of children in classrooms, which can create an atmosphere of self consciousness that discourages bold experimentation in new forms of work.

Looking at my own childhood, most of my experience of work more closely resembled toil than divine imitation. And to a certain extent, that is the experience of my own children as well. Much of their work involves picking up their room or their toys, knowing full well that the smaller children will come along and mess it up again soon. Other work involves taking out garbage, setting the table, sweeping the floors, etc. While tedium, children do need to learn to do work that is not fun. And even these mundane forms of work can be a part to holiness.

However I also reflect that my children do have, in many ways, a better variety of work than I had. Because they are homeschooled, they experience an rigorous academic regimen that encourages them to learn much more aggressively than I ever experienced. With this work, comes the reward of new skills which accelerates the expansion of their world of new experiences. They also benefit from a custom curriculum of arts such as dancing, musical instruments, sports and painting. However their biggest advantage is a mother who can make even the most tedious chore into a fun game.

I think that by simply striving to live the Gospel as a family we have unknowing been moved in the direction of providing a more authentic view of work to our children. With the insights I've gleaned so far from Ordinary Work, I see some potential for enhancing this movement and providing my children an even healthier experience of work than the one with which I was raised.

However for myself, I would have to admit that many of my attitudes regarding work are still deeply engrained from childhood. Upon reflection, I would have to say that my first tendency when encountering work is often to regard it with resentment and a certain level of fear. The resentment, I think, comes from a sense of loss of control. That I am being forced to do something. The fear comes from a insecurity of not being "good enough" to do a quality job and having that failure known publicly.

Oddly enough, I think that both of these factors often drive me toward the end of doing a really great job. I tend to get work done quickly, so that I can reclaim "my time." And the fear leads me towards always trying to prove myself up to the task.

But how much healthier it would be to view work as a gift from God! Part of the original creation and something that makes me more like my Father. How much better it would be to encounter work with a humble spirit of self surrender and gratitude. How delightful would it be to leave the fear and anxiety behind and instead do a really good job because the work is on my alter and I am the priest offering it up to my God. How much more peaceful and joyful my life, and the life of my family, would be.

This interior redemption of work is a captivating goal! I will pray for the grace in earnest, and I look forward to more instruction from Dr. Hahn.

Ordinary Work, Chapter 3, Part 1

2007-11-28T19:53:00.001-07:00

"Work is man’s original vocation. It is a blessing from God, and those who consider it a punishment are sadly mistaken. The Lord, who is the best of fathers, placed the first man in Paradise ut operaretur, so that he would work."
-Fur row, 482

In the introduction of chapter three, Dr. Hahn begins to address the nature of work itself. He begins by acknowledging that we have a fallen predisposition to wish to avoid work. A life of complete leisure is seen by some as an ideal. He also dispels a false notion that work is designed to be carried out in drudgery, and that it is something that we simply must endure.

For many, this idea of work as tiresome toil can often be the result of believing work to be a punishment for sin.

"To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return."
-Genesis 3:17-19

However Dr. Hahn summarizes the teaching of St. Josemaria by stating that this notion is misreading of Genesis. The Scripture says that toil is the punishment of sin, not the work itself. As Dr. Hahn puts it:

"The passage does seem to give a bleak forecast for the long term conditions of human work. And it does portray tiresome toil as the punishment for sin. The punishment, however is not the work itself but the harsh conditions of work that makes it tedious, frustrating and arduous."

To strengthen his point, Dr. Hahn notes that work was a part of creation before The Fall. God made Adam because "there was no one to till the ground" and "to cultivate and care for it." (Gn 2:5, 2:15). Work truly was part of God's plan from the beginning.

Dr. Hahn goes on to explain that in work we imitate God.

"Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken."
-Genesis 2:2

Needless to say, this is a concept of work that would be foreign to many people. Having grown up in culture that tends to view any ease as a good, and delayed gratification as an absurdity... I would have to admit that I accept this idea for more intellectually than I do interiorly.

There is much to reflect on....

Amazon Kindle - Criticisms With Which I Disagree, Part 3

2007-11-27T23:04:00.001-07:00

Continuing the apology for a Kindle

The books are crippled with Digital Rights Management (DRM)
DRM is annoying. I think that it ultimately does more harm than good for everyone involved. I'm not a fan and more and more people are coming to the same conclusion. So the fact that the Kindle uses DRM (file type .AZM) does not make me feel all warm inside. Given Amazon's history of providing DRM-Free content, I think that it is possible that DRM may not have been their first choice either.

However content owners, such as publishers, are still holding to the notion that DRM is somehow going to prevent (or at least slow) the theft of their intellectual property. As long as they cling to this belief, they will continue to push for DRM on their content. Honestly, I don't think there is a lot that Amazon could do to change the situation at this point.

Even with all of the millions of iPod sales, Apple only recently had the clout to move the content owners to offer some of their music in a DRM-Free format. If Apple had taken a hard stand again DRM at the launch of the first iPod, it is doubtful that they would have had nearly the number of songs available for sale. The iPod would not be the success that it is today and (ironically) we would likely not have had Apple's leadership in pressing the content owners to offer DRM-Free music.

It's important to know when to fight your battles, and this is not the time for Amazon to take a hard line on DRM with the publishers. If the Kindle were to become a runaway success like the iPod, I would encourage Amazon to use that power to move away from DRM. But that time has not yet come, and it may be a long time in the coming.

In the meantime, it is not correct to say that the Kindle only supports DRM content. It also supports many types of DRM-Free files.

It doesn't surf the web in color, play videos, etc.
That's not what the Kindle is designed to do. People desiring those features should check out tablet PCs.

Honestly, I kind of wish there were a way for them not to have included web browsing at all. The web provides a very rich interface to many types of media. The primary job of the Kindle is to mimic a book, which is far more limited. By introducing web access, they have given an inch and many people will be clamoring for a mile. I am concerned that Amazon may feel the pressure to offer a better web experience, to the detriment of the Kindle's primary purpose.

However I understand why they did it. Their competitors offer web access, so the Kindle would have seemed crippled in comparison if it did not offer the same. That jinni was already out of the bottle. I suspect that I will ultimately grow to appreciate the web features of the Kindle. I just hope that it does not become a detriment to it's primary purpose of simulating a paper book.

Amazon is charging for blogs that are available for free
I almost agreed with this one. But then I softened when I learned that Amazon is sharing subscription revenue with the blog's authors. Assuming that Amazon is operating this revenue sharing in a manner similar to the Amazon Affiliate program, this could be non-negligible alternate revenue stream for popular blogs. Which is a good thing.

However it's all still a bit fuzzy because it seems that you could visit those same blogs for free using the Kindle's web browser. So I'm not quite sure what is up with that.

It doesn't have WiFi
Heh. That's like being served a steak and asking for a hot dog on the side. Its got EVDO! I'm not going to miss having to search for WiFi hotspots. Yes, WiFi would be handy for the times that you actually do have to hook it up to a PC for some reason (like adding personal files for free). But even if WiFi were available, I'd have it switched off the vast majority of the time as it would only be a drain on the battery.

My iPod doesn't have WiFi, and I've never derided it for its absence. The Kindle's communication abilities are a massive upgrade in comparison. WiFi would be superfluous.

It's ugly, only comes in white, etc.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. It looks fine to me... but I am under no illusions as to my sophistication in matters of style. If they want to change the next version to have rounded corners, or whatever, that's fine I guess. As long as they don't make it so flashy that it distracts from the content. In the end, I want the Kindle to disappear, so that I can disappear into the content. Too much bling would only be a distraction.

Alright! Enough of the Amazon fanboi! Next time I'll post about the criticisms that I do have for the Kindle.

Ordinary Work, Chapter 2

2007-11-27T21:51:00.001-07:00

Draw strength from your divine filiation. God is a Father - your Father! - full of warmth and infinite love. Call him Father frequently and tell him, when you are alone, that you love him, that you love him very much, and that you feel proud and strong because you are his son.
-The Forge, 331

Chapter two of Ordinary Work is devoted to an explication of the theological term "divine filiation" which is the assertion that we are the children of God.

Dr. Hahn does an admirable job of expressing the radicalness of this teaching and how it should fill the Christian heart with excitement and joy. We have endeavored many times on the podcast to express the wonder and joy of our divine filiation!

This stunning teaching that God has adopted us as his own children. That by Christ's participation in our human nature that we are gifted with participation in his divine nature! That through Christ we become like God! It is revolutionary and unique assertion. One that we have become far, far too blase about. In a certain sense, Christianity has been a victim of its own success. Our culture was founded on Christian teachings, and remnants of those teachings continue to linger amidst our devastated culture. As such, it is all to easy for us to take for granted that we may refer to God as our "Father." But while we may take it for granted, others do not. Referring to God as "Father" is enough to get you killed in many parts of the world. We may be jaded and complacent, but many people still understand the radical nature of such a statement.

Christians also uniquely understand that God is Father not only in his actions, but in his very nature. Jews may say that God "acts like a Father" because of the love and care he shows for us. But only a Christian can say that God "is a Father" because he is eternally Fathering the Son in the Blessed Trinity. Dr. Hahn sums this up succinctly by stating that God's fatherhood "is not metaphorical; it is metaphysical."

St. Josemaria taught that this divine filiation is the spiritual foundation of Opus Dei. If people are looking for the "secret of Opus Dei" they have no further to look than this.

Divine filiation is certainly an excellent foundation for a "way." It will be interesting to see how Dr. Hahn builds upon this foundation in his exploration of holiness in the ordinary.

Amazon Kindle - Criticisms With Which I Disagree, Part 2

2007-11-27T17:14:00.001-07:00

Continuing the apology for a Kindle

You have to pay Amazon to convert your personal files
Not so. If you have Amazon email a file directly to your Kindle, there is a $0.10 charge per file. However, you can instead choose to have Amazon email the converted file back to your normal email address, at no charge, and you can add it to the Kindle yourself through the USB cable. Plain text files can also be added this way without conversion. If you have many documents to convert, you can zip them up and send the zip file to Amazon. The service will convert all the files, zip them back up and email it back to you. A pain? Yes, a bit. But free and not too terrible.

Why have the $0.10 fee at all? I suspect that it is a concern over cellular bandwidth costs. If it were free, what would stop people from uploading their favorite Project Gutenberg DVD up to Amazon and making them do a 4GB download over the cellular network? This small monetary incentive is a negligible hurdle for most users, but it is sufficient to stop abuse of the system.

They charge a fee for books in the public domain
True. A copy of Orthodoxy runs $0.99 at the Kindle store. Most public domain books run around $1.00-$3.00. However, even though the works are public domain, I disagree that they should automatically be free. Amazon is providing a service by hosting them on their servers, providing bandwidth for downloads, and providing all of the services (reviews, forums, etc) that they provide for works still under copyright. They are entitled to recoup those costs (and make profit) from customers who find their services useful.

It is only because of the marvel that is Project Gutenberg that we view these electronic books as "free." But Project Gutenberg incurs costs as well. Those who make use of it should donate for the service provided. However I do not think that we can fault Amazon for following their normal payment model to generate revenue from these services, rather than changing to a donation model for public domain works. I'd rather have them spending their time on other projects, like improving the Kindle. :)

In the end, if a person wants to download public domain works from Project Gutenberg (or similar site) and upload them to their Kindle, they can do so free of charge through the process outlined above.

Amazon Kindle - Criticisms With Which I Disagree, Part 1

2007-11-27T16:56:00.001-07:00

For the next parts of my apology for a Kindle, I'd like to address some criticisms with which I disagree.

It's too expensive
This statement is relative. For some folks, the $400 price tag is completely out of reach. For others, it is pocket change. For myself, the price definitely causes a pause for discernment, and requires saving up for the purchase. However, given that Amazon sold out of Kindles in less than six hours, one could argue from a classical economics standpoint that the price was actually too low. Of course there are other possibilities as to why Amazon ran out of stock. It could be that they did not expect it to be as successful as it was, or it could be that they are trying to generate hype by artificially creating scarcity.

Another factor in the price is that the Kindle communicates on Sprint's 3G cellular network. This is very cool, as it means that you can access online books and other material from anywhere you can get a cell phone signal. As the New York Times points out in their review, this is a service that costs $60 per month for laptop users. While I suspect that Amazon is paying less, it is understandable that they would want to bake some of those costs into the price of the device, since they will be footing the wireless bill for every Kindle sold for its entire lifetime.

In the end, I do agree that there is a early adopter premium in the current price. However, that premium does not speak to the merits of the Kindle as much as it speaks to the merits of being an early adopter... which is a whole different point.

Don't buy it now, the price will drop in a few months
Whether or not to be an early adopter is a personal decision. Generally, I am an early adopter of new software and not an early adopter of new hardware. I was not one of the folks who stood in line all night to pay $600 for an iPhone, and I have no plans to buy one even though the price has been cut by a third. My two year old, $20 after rebate, pre-paid phone with the crack in the case is still working just fine, thank you very much.

But that has more to do with my attitude toward telephones than it has to do with the iPhone itself. I'm not a fan of phones (understatement). However I am a fan of books.

I'm not in anyway saying that you must be an early adopter of the Kindle in order to be a "true book lover". But you would have to be a true book lover to be an early adopter of the Kindle.

I have three major reasons for wanting to be an early adopter of the Kindle.

First, I want it to be a successful product. The paper book is not going away anytime soon (nor would I want it to) but it is certainty no longer the most efficient method of delivering information. Electronic publishing promises:

Lower costs
Faster (near instant) delivery
Reduced environmental impact
An end to books being out of print
Much greater opportunities for unknown authors to market their works.

These are good things, and I want to support the effort to move us in that direction. I believe Amazon is in a privileged (perhaps unique) position with publishers to move this particular ball down the field, and I want to throw my shoulder behind their efforts.

Second, the early adopter is in a position to impact the changes made to the next generation of the product. As we will see in future posts, I have a long list of improvements I would like to see in Kindle 2.0, and I want a place at the table to express my opinions, and have my voice raise at least slightly above the clamor. I also want to do my part to ensure that there is a Kindle 2.0 at some point in the future.

Third, between Christmas and when the price drops, I plan to read a whole bunch of books. :)

An Apology for a Kindle

2007-11-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

So... It's been a week since the launch of the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader. I've spent some time ogling this little device and seeking the opinions of others. There has been quite a bit written and said about the Kindle. At St. Blog's, there have been only a few posts and these have ranged from brief mention, to cautiously optimistic, to very critical.

After a week of research, I'm going to come down on the side of cautiously optimistic and essentially pro-Kindle.

This does not mean that I think the device is perfect. But it does mean that I plan to take the plunge and subvert the budget to procure one of these gizmos. Fortunately, subverting budgets is something with which I have considerable experience, so I hope to hold a Kindle in my hands come Christmas morning.

In the meantime, I'm going to put up a few posts on how I ended up on the pro-Kindle side. Rest assured that I will use the volume of words required of a man who needs to justify to himself why he is spending $400 to replace a bunch of $6 paperbacks. :)

Ordinary Work, Chapter 1, Part 4

2007-11-27T00:25:00.001-07:00

"St. Josemaria urged Christians to have a 'truly priestly soul and a fully lay mentality.' This is not a contradiction. For, as both priests and kings, we have a vocation that is both sacred and secular. We share in Christ's kingship; we share in His priesthood. So we sanctify the temporal order and offer it to God, restore it 'in Christ' because we live in Christ. We restore it, a little bit at a time, beginning with the inch or the yard or the mile over which we have been given dominion. ... Our alter is our desktop, our workstation, the row we hoe, the ditch we dig, the diaper we change, the pot we stir, the bed we share with our spouse."
-Ordinary Work, Chapter 1

I have recently changed jobs. This has been the cause of several effects.

First off, it has totally obliterated by contributions to the blog and the podcast. I wish to add my Mea to the Nostra Culpa.

Second, it has ceased the bouncing of my paychecks. I'm a patient sort of fellow... but when paychecks start to regularly bounce... it really is time to seek employment elsewhere.

Third, it has given me a broadened perspective on our subject of ordinary work. It has served to confirm my suspicion that job-to-job experiences are all pretty much the same in the ways that count.

In my new job, just as in my old job, I deal with people that can be difficult. I am placed in situations where it is challenging and frightening to witness Christ. There are periods of action and periods of tedium. Opportunities to increase virtue and opportunities to decrease vice. Times to compromise and times to stand firm. And a lot of just plain hard work. I am becoming more convinced that these essentials are common to most (if not all) work.

It has the potential to be very depressing.

If a person were seeking fulfillment in their work and their occupational accomplishments, this could easily lead to despair. Imagine you have a career goal and you lock on it like a laser beam. You work in a difficult, taxing, competitive environment. You sacrifice a lot. You compromise your principles more than you should. Finally, you reach that goal! You get the promotion, or the new job or whatever. And... you discover that it really isn't much different than you were at before. Maybe you have more money and the things it can buy... but that is very likely to lead to an "increased" lifestyle which doesn't leave much more money left over than before. And money comes with more than it's share of new difficulties.

So you lock onto the next rung of the ladder. And once there, it is still the same. And on you go.

At some point this person is going to realize that it is all the same and all empty. What a tragedy it would be to spend your life running that race, only to find that there is no happiness to be had at the end of the maze! What a calamity to realize that you gave up large portions of your life, missed your kids' childhood, chasing something that wasn't there. No wonder people become nihilists!

But St. Josemaria is drawing forth a different vision out of the endless wellspring of the Gospel. He asserts that this work, with all its stresses, pains, tediousness and challenges, is actually our alter! It is our work, in Christ, which sanctifies our little portion of creation and sanctifies ourselves.

If this is true, then it certainly changes the whole dynamic of our work! It means that the grace of Christ, which can never be earned or deserved, is given to us and others through our work. It means that we participate in the priestly ministry of offering up that which was been placed in our care. It means that we have a responsibility to see to those things, and those people, which have been designated to us.

The nature of the work itself begins to become (it seems to me) more irrelevant. We are all in fundamentally the same boat.

I look forward to the development of these ideas, and examples of how this life is to be lived out.

049: The Spiritual Combat - Chapters 21-23

2007-11-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Episode #49. Sensitive 90's appetites. Pleasure itself isn't bad; only when it's for its own sake... then: Complete Corruption. Mmmmmm.... Aristotle. The True, the Good, and the Pleasurable. God is THE. ULTIMATE. CAUSE. We can't reflect on those things about which we have no knowledge - so we need to get a clue. Mmmmm... monophysitism.... what's your favorite heresy? KNOW HIM.

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Duration: 54:18
File size: 49.7 MB
Scripture: Eph. 2:1-7, Joshua 1: 8
Catechism: 133
Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Summa on Sensuality, Dionysius: On the Divine Names..., Aristotle: De Anima, Compendium!, Hahn: A Father Who Keeps his Promises

Proofs of God...

2007-11-04T03:43:00.000-07:00

I realized that the post below was likely very confusing. It is hard to describe the Proofs of God in a few short sentences, but I didn't want a five page blog either (as I am sure you didn't). There is an excellent treatment of these arguments at Dr. Peter Kreeft's website. He is a professor of Philosophy at Boston College and brilliant scholar/teacher. You can find them here. Go thou and check it out!

One Less Atheist in the World...

2007-11-03T07:59:00.001-06:00

Found this interview with Antony Flew, via The Insight Scoop Blog. Mr. Flew was a life long atheist thinker who now has come to belief in God. Not the Christian God, mind you. He considers himself a Deist. In his view of God, God created the world and let it go to its own devices. Like a the classic watchmaker analogy. God made the world, wound it up, and then let it go.

Mr. Flew cites two decisive points for his "conversion". Interesting that both points fold into the classic argument for God from design:

There were two factors in particular that were decisive. One was my growing empathy with the insight of Einstein and other noted scientists that there had to be an Intelligence behind the integrated complexity of the physical Universe. The second was my own insight that the integrated complexity of life itself – which is far more complex than the physical Universe – can only be explained in terms of an Intelligent Source. I believe that the origin of life and reproduction simply cannot be explained from a biological standpoint despite numerous efforts to do so. With every passing year, the more that was discovered about the richness and inherent intelligence of life, the less it seemed likely that a chemical soup could magically generate the genetic code. The difference between life and non-life, it became apparent to me, was ontological and not chemical. (emphasis mine)

Thus, Mr. Flew finally recognizes the validity of one of the arguments for the existence of God that St. Thomas used in the Summa:

"The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God." St. Thomas Aquinas (STh I.2.3)

The last line of the quote from Mr. Flew I found interesting. He is saying, I believe, that he recognized that the difference between living things and non-living things wasn't simply a different chemical composition or arrangement of atoms, but the difference lies in that the living thing has something about its being that causes it to be alive. In other words, a soul. In Aristotelian terms, Mr. Flew recognized that a being (especially one that is alive - it is easiest to see there) has a unity about the thing and something else that makes it a certain thing as different from just a pile of parts. This principle of unity of a thing that individuates it is called the form of the thing. Thus, humans aren't merely an arrangement of molecules but a being standing in itself distinct from other things. Our soul is our form. It is the principle that individuates matter into an individual thing of a certain sort. To accept that beings are composites of matter and form is a giant leap to accepting God because then there are logical consequences that make God necessary. Aristotle covered these arguments in the Physics and Metaphysics.

The interview continues with the interviewer asking him about the scientific data that supports the existence of God (which Mr. Flew claims convinced him). He then comments to the question of atheists being behind the curve on scientific evidence supporting God's existence:

Yes indeed. I would add that Dawkins is selective to the point of dishonesty when he cites the views of scientists on the philosophical implications of the scientific data.
Two noted philosophers, one an agnostic (Anthony Kenny) and the other an atheist (Nagel), recently pointed out that Dawkins has failed to address three major issues that ground the rational case for God. As it happens, these are the very same issues that had driven me to accept the existence of a God: the laws of nature, life with its teleological organization and the existence of the Universe. (emphasis mine)

Once again, Mr. Flew cites issues, that drove him to accept the existence of God, that are the basis for the arguments asserting God's existence from the time of Aristotle on. St. Thomas takes them up in the question from the Summa that is linked to above. The "laws of nature" and "life with its teleological (ordered to the end) organization" are answered in the argument from the Summa cited above (the so-called 5th way). The "existence of the Universe" is answered in the 2nd way where St. Thomas proves the existence of the First Efficient Cause. The First Efficient Cause argument basically states that there must be a cause of all existence that is in itself uncaused. It is because a thing cannot cause itself. Thus, it must be caused by another. This cannot go onto infinity in ordered causes, however, or there would never be the effect because there would not be a first cause. God is this First Efficient Cause of all being Who is not caused.

He wraps up by stating :

I accept the God of Aristotle who shares all the attributes you cite. Like Lewis I believe that God is a person but not the sort of person with whom you can have a talk. It is the ultimate being, the Creator of the Universe.

As Jesus said to the lawyer, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (Mk 12:34); he would say the same to Mr. Flew. The God of Aristotle is the God of St. Thomas. Once Mr. Flew discovers how St. Thomas corrects and expands (via Divine Revelation) Aristotle's understanding he will be ready. Furthermore, if he carefully reflects on what it means to be person, he will realize that a essential aspect of a person to transcend himself to another. That in the very what it means to be person is to be self communicating, the highest form of that communication being love. When he realizes this, Mr. Flew will know that God as Person will be essentially self communicating, and since God's essence is his existence, God's very being will be to self communicate. We see this in the complete self communication between the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Thus, we can have that talk with God, Mr. Flew. He came in human form so he might speak to us face-to-face in the Person of Jesus Christ.

All Souls Day...

2007-11-02T08:19:00.001-06:00

As most know, today we pray for all the souls that have departed this world for the next, especially those that are not Canonized Saints because we don't know their eternal disposition.

The Liturgy of the Hours celebrates the Office of the Dead today. As I prayed for those souls that have gone before, I began to think of my own death. Death is an evil. We were never meant to die. Death is a consequence of Original Sin. We are eternal creatures and deep down we know it. That is why death seems like such an evil. We are supposed to live eternally, and we face this experience that seems as though it will annihilate us. We sense that at the point of death we cease to exist - to be.

Some of the early Greek philosophers suggested that the human (rational) soul was eternal in a certain respect. Aristotle in De Anima thought that it was only the intellect that was eternal. Since the intellect only knows something through the passive intellect that is not eternal, our eternal soul then must not know anything.

We know through Christian Revelation that we are eternal beings. We die because of the Fall. However, the Father in his infinite love sent his Son to destroy death (the eternal death of being separated from God) by dying and rising again for the forgiveness of our sins. Now we know definitively through faith that we can live forever in the Beatific Vision. This eternal live is lived seeing God for who he is and being completely united to him in charity.

As I said, death is frightening and disturbing. I found great consolation in the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch and wanted to share. He was the third Bishop of Antioch and lived on the late first and early second century (~50~110). He survived the Domitian persecutions but was called to martyrdom under Trajan. Trajan condemned him in Antioch. During the very long and arduous journey to Rome to die (he called the soldiers guarding him "ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only grow worse when they are kindly treated." (Letter to Romans)), he wrote to seven different Churches to exhort and teach them. The Letters were to the Magnesisans, Trallians, Ephesians, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, Romans, and to the Bishop of Smyrna St. Polycarp (who was martyred later). I would recommend reading every one of them. They are short and contain a lot of great teaching. St. Ignatius was the first to use the term "catholic " in reference to the Church and the name 'Christian' in a positive manner.
Anyway, in his letter to the Romans he is asking them not to save him from martyrdom. He wanted to be with his Lord:

I am writing all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God's wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ's pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in the place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire. The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathize with me because you will know what urges me on.

The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God's side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbor envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: "Come to the Father." I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God's bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favor, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from the mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think you wish me harm. (Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours: St. Ignatius' Memorial; October 17th)

They wished him well. As soon as St. Ignatius arrived in Rome, he was fed to the lions in the Flavian Ampitheater...

What an amazing perspective! I so often cling to this life like it is the only one that is possible. I completely forget the admonition of Jesus: "For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." (Mark 8:35) This life is but a shadow of the one that God has in store for us. Our true life, the one that was always intended for us, is found in the Beatific Vision. Let us allow, then, St. Ignatius' words and attitude to penetrate us deeply so that we live this life, not in fear of its end, but in hope for the true beginning of our life; to see God, to be united to him, that is our life. Let us on this day, where we pray for the dead, let go of the fear of death. Then we can begin to live our eternal life now and say with St. Paul: "'O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Corinthians 15:55-57)

Nostra Culpa, Nostra Culpa, Nostra Maxima Culpa

2007-10-31T02:17:00.000-06:00

Wow, what a ride! We wish to apologize to our listeners and readers about our lack of output over the last couple of months. Sometimes life just gets in the way. Mike E. is now in graduate school, Brent started a new job, and I am still buried under my class load. In addition, we have had some of the freakiest computer problems. I think Brent has gone through two motherboards and now the whole computer is in the shop (of course, it is the main computer we use to produce the show...). We are, at the moment, struggling back to our feet. We are committed to producing Into the Deep at least twice a month. We are excited about continuing and finishing The Spiritual Combat. We are discerning our next project. It looks to be more theological in character.

Thank you so much for stopping by, reading, and listening. Thank you for the kind emails and comments. We are just three simple guys trying to follow the Lord's will and grow closer to him. It is a gift to us that you are sharing in that journey. Please don't give up on us. We will appear on the other side of these difficulties at some point and be more active concerning the podcast and the blog. Obviously, the demands of our state in life (God, family, work/school) have first priority. Nevertheless, we feel that this it is God's will for us to continue with Into the Deep as and when we can.

May God bless you and all the Saints intercede for you on this the vigil of All Saints Day.

Moms: The Anti-Sloth

2007-10-02T22:48:00.000-06:00

048: The Spiritual Combat - Chapter 20

2007-10-01T11:54:00.000-06:00

Episode #48. Sloth. It's not all about the TV. Making war against sloth is of the greatest importance. Going to the big guns... St. Thomas! Sloth is a sluggishness of the mind and sorrow over doing something for God's sake. Refusal to do the good that God wants us to do. What we are to do is dependent upon our state of life. It is not about being busy all the time. In fact, you can be slothful in your busyness. Sloth is difficult to shake. A vice that rejects that which eliminates vice. Capital sin. Sin which causes other sins. Putting God on hold. Fear of God as a cause of sloth. Trying to "check the box." An artful, refined sloth. Never at rest. Never at peace. Sloth begins from ingratitude. God gradually withdraws his graces from those who neglect them. Combating sloth involves fighting your enemies one at a time and taking small battles. Expect challenges and setbacks. The Cross is central to Christianity. When God calls, don't put him off until later because... there may not be a "later." How to know if your day has been profitable. Forgiveness does not mean the removal of consequences. Robe envy.

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Duration: 42:52
File size: 40.1 MB
Scripture: Matt 25:20, Is 55:6
Catechism: 2733, 1866
Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Summa on sloth

047: The Spiritual Combat - Chapter 19

2007-09-20T18:05:00.000-06:00

Episode #47. Lost luggage. Fighting impurity. Special tactics. Greater resolution. Sin against our own selves. Disunity with God through unity with something else. Sin of a different quality. Dangers of over familiarity. The phases of temptation: before, during and after. Avoid near occasions of sin. Don't presume on your own strength. Examination of conscience. Attacking the vice you struggle with the most. Danger is greatest where the appearance of evil is the least. Listen to your conscience as you read this text. Once passions are inflamed, not even the fear of the flames of hell will will be able to master the fury of the passions in your heart. Don't go there. Weak and pampered body. Weak and pampered soul. Let this sin go. Do not continue to reflect upon them. Reflect upon your savior, and do not exert yourself on driving the sin away. Mourning the distance we place between ourselves and God.

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Duration: 1:05:44
File size: 60.1 MB
Scripture: 1 Cor 6:13, 1 Cor 9:24
Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, The Banality of Evil

Podcast on Contemplation....

2007-08-28T15:26:00.000-06:00

Fr. Thomas Dubay, who wrote The Fire Within and Prayer Primer: Igniting the Fire Within,among others, has presented a podcast on contemplation on EWTN. They only leave these special podcasts up for a month and you don't want to miss this one!!!

Father Dubay has written and spoken extensively on contemplation. He has studied and taught, especially, about the great Carmelite Doctors: St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

Here is a quote from Pope John Paul II that I hope will motivate you...

Is it not one of the "signs of the times" that in today's world, despite widespread secularization, there is a widespread demand for spirituality, a demand which expresses itself in large part as a renewed need for prayer? Other religions, which are now widely present in ancient Christian lands, offer their own responses to this need, and sometimes they do so in appealing ways. But we who have received the grace of believing in Christ, the revealer of the Father and the Saviour of the world, have a duty to show to what depths the relationship with Christ can lead.

The great mystical tradition of the Church of both East and West has much to say in this regard. It shows how prayer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, vibrating at the Spirit's touch, resting filially within the Father's heart. This is the lived experience of Christ's promise: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (Jn 14:21). It is a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the "dark night"). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as "nuptial union". How can we forget here, among the many shining examples, the teachings of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila?

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, our Christian communities must become genuine "schools" of prayer, where the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly "falls in love". Intense prayer, yes, but it does not distract us from our commitment to history: by opening our heart to the love of God it also opens it to the love of our brothers and sisters, and makes us capable of shaping history according to God's plan. Novo Millennio Ineunte #33

UPDATE: EWTN has taken the podcast off of their website. You can find links to download it from our site in the comment box of this post. Thanks to Brent for putting them up!

Senator Craig

2007-08-28T10:49:00.000-06:00

I've always thought that the saying of "there's no such thing as bad publicity" was really idiotic. Case in point: Senator Craig.

Honestly, despite agreeing with the majority of his positions (but certainly not all), I have never really cared much for Senator Craig. I haven't been able to bring myself to vote for him in at least the past two elections. I might have voted for him the very first time he ran for the Senate... I honestly can't recall.

That being said, while Senator Craig himself is a Methodist, at least some of his family are Catholic and are very nice people. As I would imagine that they are suffering right now, I would ask our readers to pray for them. Regardless of what Senator Craig did or didn't do, his family is certainly innocent and will need the grace to suffer well.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta... A bit more...

2007-08-25T08:41:00.000-06:00

I am reading a paper by a German theologian named Father Nobert Hoffmann. The title of the paper is: Atonement and the Ontological Coherence Between the Trinity and the Cross. Therein, he makes this statement that really strikes to heart of the issue of the 'dark night of the soul':

"The absence of the beloved, if it becomes privation and suffering, can be experienced as the painful mode of the beloved's most intense presence."

Don't be too quick in rushing past this quote. It takes time, silence, and prayer to break it open. We typically don't think of another's presence in this way, and, certainly, this type of God's presence requires a deep faith because of the tendency for doubt and despair.

It seems that God asks all of those who love him to bear this type of 'presence' at differing intensities and durations. In fact, this seems to be the primary mode of experiencing God's presence within the Church Militant. It is important that we are able to recognize this type of presence as such so that we can bear it with faith and joy. There are other times when God withdraws his tangible presence for different purposes such as the consequence of serious sin.

May we think differently so that we, like Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, can learn to love the darkness...the holy darkness of faith...

046: The Spiritual Combat - Chapters 14-18, Part 2...

2007-08-24T23:59:00.000-06:00

Episode #46. Fight or Die! Heaven Can Wait. Like Jimmy Buffet says, "... it could be my fault." No really, we mention Star Trek this time! News Flash: History repeats itself, and we are fallen souls. Have we made our own Anti-Christs? Get spiritually vaccinated, it's ALWAYS sin-fluenza season. Avoid unnecessary risk: Run Away! Run Away! (Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin...) Back to basics means trusting in God, distrusting in self. Mmmmmmm......Bacon. Eeeeewwwww.... Hegel.

Click the play button to listen online

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Duration: 51:32
File size: 47.10 MB
Scripture: Matthew 16, Hebrews 12, Joshua 1, Revelation 3

Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Jesus of Nazareth, I Believe In Love, The Banality of Evil

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta...

2007-08-23T13:56:00.000-06:00

Please immediately go and read this article from Time on Mother Teresa. You'll have to bear up with the writer of the article and the psychologist they interviewed that simply don't get it.

The gist of the article is that a book is being published that contains personal correspondence between Mother Teresa and her spiritual directors over the years. These letters bring to light the fact that Mother Teresa suffered tremendous spiritual darkness throughout her entire life except for a couple of brief episodes. She felt completely abandoned by Christ for the majority of her life and deeply suffered, to the point of agony, because of that fact. What she models for us is what true love is: it isn't about feelings or what we get out of it. No, true love is a choice to prefer the good of the other to our own good to the point of complete sacrifice. She lived that out exteriorly and interiorly.

I think that as these letters are studied and discerned she will be one day known as one of the greatest saints in history - nearly to the place of a St. Francis of Assisi. She shows us how to love and to suffer in love and to suffer for love.

I have to admit that I fear that kind of holy darkness; goes to show how mature my relationship is with Christ (NOT MUCH). I pray that the Lord would strengthen me so I could love just a bit like she did. Furthermore, I pray that he would release from the fear and give me the courage to enter into the darkness of faith in love, confidence, and perseverance.

Don't listen to the voices that will try to shout that that proves there is no God since one who was supposedly so close to him felt abandoned by him. Her longing, her hunger, her thirst (Psalm 63), her love, her sacrifice, and her perseverance show that he was oh so close pouring his grace upon her - or she NEVER could have done it. She showed us the suffering Christ exteriorly, but also the suffering Christ in an interior fashion due to the fact that Christ experienced and suffered the separation of God from the entirety of mankind's sin he took upon himself.

She is my hero....

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - ora pro nobis...

Contagious Laughter

2007-08-23T10:32:00.001-06:00

The fact that laughter is contagious is well known and documented throughout the ages.

Experience it here: :-D

Thinking Beyond Stage One...

2007-08-21T11:23:00.000-06:00

I have posted a few times about economics and "social justice" issues - here, and here, for example. Those were about specific issues, and this time, I wanted to make a more general point that I think is often overlooked in the way we are taught as Catholics to "feed the hungry, house the homeless, and clothe the naked." It is a point made well by Thomas Sowell in his book, Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One.

To "think beyond stage one" when deciding how to approach our duty to aid "the least of these" means to think beyond the immediate, desirable, and intended consequences of our actions, and consider what will happen... next.

For example, this story tells why raising the miles per gallon requirement for automobiles doesn't result in Americans using less gasoline, but more:

Perhaps the greatest misconception in today's energy debate is the idea that increasing efficiency will cut down our consumption. On the contrary, we should expect that if our cars and trucks become more efficient, we actually will consume more gasoline, not less. Increasing a vehicle's mileage doesn't just mean getting more miles per gallon, it means lowering the overall cost of driving. And if you lower the cost of something, people will consume more of it. In this case, the good that would be consumed is miles on the road.

That has been our experience over the last half century with cars, airplanes, lightbulbs, dishwashers, power plants, and everything else that uses energy. Nearly every sector of the American economy has seen wonderful advances in efficiency. For each unit of energy, we produce more than twice as much GDP today than we did in 1950. Yet during that period of time our total national energy consumption tripled. Paradoxically, the more we save, the more we consume.

So the action taken, (mandating that vehicles use less gas to go more miles) leads to an overall increase in gasoline consumption - the opposite of the intended effect! Here is another example of the results of well-intentioned actions:

Outside the United States, the unintended consequences of ill-considered policies promoting ethanol and other biofuel crops are already in full view. The poor, of course, are hit hardest.

In Mexico, where corn is a staple, rapidly rising prices for tortillas have sparked open revolt. Tortilla prices skyrocketed more than threefold last year. Protesters took to the streets in Mexico City, compelling the normally free market-minded President Felipe Calderón to cap prices at 78 cents per kilogram.

More to the point I originally described, we can take a look at this story, in which the intended recipients of much our our aid efforts say this (my emphasis):

...the second, more interesting theme--echoed by every speaker--is that traditional aid and charity, whether distributed by nation-states or nongovernmental bodies, have failed. Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan journalist and social worker, now a fellow at Stanford, made the case most strongly. He argued convincingly that 30 years of Western aid to Africa has achieved nothing at all. More, he said that the persistence of African poverty could be explained, in part, by aid. He explained that aid had convinced the brightest Africans to work for corrupt governments rather than as entrepreneurs, and it had "distorted the incentive structure."

Did you catch that? Our aid to the poor in Africa (in the form of cash and goods, at least) has contributed to keeping Africa poor.

There are organizations which try to integrate what we know about economics, politics, the Catholic view of human dignity, and Social Teaching. The Acton Institute is one, and they even have a program aimed at education, it's called the Impact Campaign. There, you will find one page ads that point out the unintended, sometimes deadly, consequences of western "aid" and policy.

This is not to say that the only way to help people is to provide the means for them to help themselves. Sometimes, direct aid is probably the best, but how we ought to think about this issue is not intuitively obvious in all cases, and we should take care to avoid being stuck in "Stage One."

You'll Smile...

2007-08-21T10:34:00.002-06:00

Admit it. You smiled... :-)

See How Much God Loves Me?!

2007-08-17T23:43:00.001-06:00

"Complaint always comes back in an echo from the ends of the world; but silence strengthens us."
-- The Father Brown Omnibus

I almost missed a fantastic opportunity to love God! It was close, but I came to my senses in time.

You see, it seems that I have an enemy. More than one actually. I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky kind of guy, so it took me a while to notice, but there is no doubt. These folks have taken quite a disliking to myself, my wife and several other people that I care about. Sadly this dislike has manifested itself some very pathetic and childish ways. I must also sadly report that these people are not just secular acquaintances, but are actively involved in Catholic ministry.

Why have they taken this dislike to me and mine? I've spent the better part of a week pondering that. I think that our past has caught up with us. It seems that we have been branded as a EWTN watching, Scott Hahn reading, Steubenville loving, birth control abhorring, pro-life zealots. And I'm happy to confirm that all of these labels are accurate. I suspect that they also consider me some sort of "Pre-Vatican II Catholic" which is laughably inaccurate. But I'm sure it's a convenient stereo type for them. It seems that these folks have their own form of christianity in mind, and there just isn't any room for our sort in their grand vision.

Now, how I almost blew it is that I got mad. I'm not really used to having enemies. It's a strange concept to me. And that probably means that I've been doing something wrong. At least, I know that it did not take Jesus so long to build up an enemy list as it has taken me. Confirming, once again, that I ain't God.

So the whole thing pretty much took me off guard. I wrote a few nasty letters in my head. I contemplated some very inventive forms of revenge... some of them exquisitely and (I must admit) amusingly passive aggressive.

But the Holy Spirit finally got through my thick skull. I have been given a great gift! I have enemies! How in the world can I be given the grace to love my enemies, if I never had any? How could I learn to forgive if no one ever did anything that required my forgiveness? God gives me this great gift, and I get all grouchy and wrathful. Once again, I ain't God.

So I am having a great time praying for my enemies... and it's not just because of the coals Romans 12:20... well maybe a little... (ain't God). But because I finally see the grace that God is trying to give me. And I am very, very grateful.

Tonight from 2:00a -3:00a I will be in front of the Blessed Sacrament, praying for my enemies and wishing them wellness and healing. And I will be searching back through the events of my life, and looking for other opportunities that I may have missed.

It's a practice that I highly recommend.

Freedom from that Enslaving Liberation...

2007-08-17T13:15:00.000-06:00

Midnight. Shelly is getting herself drunk so that she can bring herself to go home with the strange man seated next to her at the bar. One o’clock. Steven is busy downloading pornographic images of children from Internet bulletin boards. Two o’clock. Marjorie, who used to spend every Friday night in bed with a different man, has been binging and purging since eleven. Three o’clock. Pablo stares through the darkness at the ceiling, wondering how to convince his girlfriend to have an abortion. Four o’clock. After partying all night, Jesse takes another man home, not mentioning that he tests positive for an incurable STD. Five o’clock. Lisa is in the bathroom, cutting herself delicately with a razor. This isn’t what my generation expected when it invented the sexual revolution. The game isn’t fun anymore. Even some of the diehard proponents of that enslaving liberation have begun to show signs of fatigue and confusion.

That is how J. Budziszewski starts his essay called Designed for Sex:
What We Lose When We Forget What Sex Is For The essay is a straightforward account of the way we were meant to enjoy sex, the ways we distort its purpose, and what happens when we do that. Particularly useful is his ABCD quadrant model for how we try to 'redesign' our sexual powers. Dr. Budziszewski summarizes his own article this way:

I’ve developed just four themes in this article; allow me to review them. The first is that we ought to respect the principles of our sexual design. Just as those ways of living that flout the bodily aspects of our design sicken and kill us, so those ways of living that flout the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of our design ruin us and empty life of meaning.

The second theme is that the human sexual powers have a purpose. As the purpose of the visual powers is to see and the purpose of the ingestive powers is to take in nourishment, so the purpose of the sexual powers is to procreate. This purpose is not in the eye of the beholder; apart from this purpose, we would have no way to explain why we have them. Moreover, if we try to make use of the sexual powers in ways that thwart and violate this purpose, we thwart and violate ourselves.

The third theme is that the human design for procreation requires marital and family life. For guppies, it doesn’t; they manage to procreate without them. For us, however, it does. To put this another way, we are made with a view to marriage and family, and fitness for them is one of our design criteria. No one invented them, no one is indifferent to them, and there was never a time in human history when they did not exist. ...

The final theme is that the spousal bond has its own structure, which both nourishes and is nourished by these institutions. Because it has its own structure, it has its own principles. Among these principles are the following: Happiness cannot be heightened by sexually using the Other; conjugal joy requires a mutual and total gift of Self. Feelings of union are no substitute for union; their purpose is to encourage the reality of which they are merely a foretaste. The procreative and unitive meanings of sexuality are joined by nature; they cannot be severed without distorting or diminishing them both.

For those who have ears, this will be either an "a-ha" moment of understanding, or a clear and pleasant reminder of what we can't not know. For those without ears, it will sound like typical, repressive, anti-pleasure, religious talk. Which is what the world wants you to hear.

Have ears.

The Mountain of Temptation (con't)

2007-08-15T10:47:00.001-06:00

As a quick reminder, all references, unless otherwise stated, are from Jesus of Nazareth...

In the previous installment, we studied Jesus' baptism in order to understand the Mountain of Temptation better. (The previous blogs are here and here.)

Following the baptism, the Gospel of Mark tells us that "the Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness" (Mk 1:12) to be tempted. All of Jesus' temptations strike at the heart of his mission and what is truly important in human life. Ratzinger:

At the heart of all temptations...is the act of pushing God aside because we perceive him as secondary, if not actually superfluous and annoying, in comparison with all the apparently far more urgent matters that fill our lives. p. 28

He continues:

Moral posturing is part and parcel of temptation. It does not directly invite us to do evil...it pretends to show us a better way, where we finally abandon our illusions and throw ourselves into the work of actually making the world a better place...It claims, moreover to speak for true realism: What's real is what is right there in front of us - power and bread...God is the issue: Is he real, reality itself or isn't he? Is he good, or do we have to invent the good ourselves?...What must the Savior of the world do or not do? p. 28-29

All the temptations of Jesus come down to this: the bread, the pinnacle of the temple, and the high mountain are are temptations to use wealth and power to bring about a "kingdom" that makes sense to us but denies the primacy of God.

The devil approaches Jesus on this mountain to cause him to compromise his mission (and his very self) as the Messiah and the Suffering Servant by choosing the way of a political messiah by ruling through power and wealth. Ratzinger relates that this choice, between a worldly messiah (who rules through power and bread) and the true, "other-worldly" Messiah (who rules through the self-emptying and suffering of the Cross), was offered to the crowd in front of Pilate. Jesus, the Son of the Father, on one side with Barabbas, which means the "son of the father", on the other (cf. p.41). The one Messiah that rules through taking upon himself the sins of the world in humble surrender and sacrifice and the other a pseudo-messianic insurrectionist that rules through the sword and hatred.

Who will we choose? What kind of Savior did we expect? Couldn't have Jesus fed the world? Isn't that the most important thing? Isn't "justice" the one and only thing that Jesus came to bring? We all know who we chose. We crucified the Holy One of Israel and celebrated the one who brings us power and bread.

The tempter is not so crude as to suggest to us directly that we should worship the devil. He merely suggests that we opt for the reasonable decision, that we choose to give priority to a planned and thoroughly organized world, where God may have his place as a private concern but must not interfere in our essential purposes. (emphasis mine) p. 41

Thus, the Mountain of Temptation is where we too must decide whom we will choose. How often do we pick the stable, sensible way! How often do we choose to "rule" by power rather than by love! How often do we push aside God for what is easy and expedient! We speak of "justice" all the while rejecting the One who is Just. Case in point: the concern of the first world Church for feeding the poor, healing the sick, and solidarity. These are fine things in themselves, but when is the last time that Evangelization was seriously spoken of in the context of justice? Jesus, Himself, did not heal everyone in any particular town but moved on to preach the coming kingdom! The sick of Capernaum were searching for him. Jesus responded to Peter's plea:

"Every one is searching for you." And he [Jesus] said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." Mk 1:37-38

Our position must be one of docility and obedience just as was Jesus'. We must do what he asks of us, which may go against everything we hold by worldly "common sense".

The Mountain of Temptation asks each of us the question, "Do you trust God?" Do we trust God to provide our daily bread and the bread of the world. Do we trust God to protect us? Do we require from God a proof of his Divinity? Who will we choose: God or ourselves? Our ways or his ways?

The way off this mountain is to trust God completely; that what he says is true because he says it. It is the path of loving, self-sacrifice. It is the path that seeks to give oneself to God first and foremost before undertaking the work that God calls us to. It is the narrow path leading to life through self-emptying, forgiveness of those that hurt us, and love for our enemies. It is the path of union with God and communion with our neighbor.

045: The Spiritual Combat - Chapters 14-18, Part 1

2007-08-14T00:20:00.000-06:00

Episode #45. Jet lag, Where's the beef, and tranquilized dogs. Fight, fight, fight! Are you just laying there on the couch, waiting for it to come to you? It's just like Star Trek: The Next Generation, really! Do we have ears to hear?

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Duration: 4237:37
File size: 34.44 MB
Scripture: Matthew 16, Hebrews 12, Joshua 1
Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Jesus of Nazareth, I Believe In Love, Salvifici Doloris,

The Mountain of Temptation

2007-08-08T09:46:00.001-06:00

Whooops. I made a terrible blogger's error. I assumed that people would have read the post prior (and related) to this one explaining this series I am doing. Bad Blogger!! I apologize. The references below are all from Ratzinger's book Jesus of Nazareth. See this blog to understand what I am attempting here. Again, sorry for any confusion.

Before we begin the ascent of the Mountain of Temptation it is important to remember where Jesus is immediately coming from, viz., his baptism. It was a moment of tremendous importance for Jesus' life. He had just spent the prior 30 or so years in quiet, humble obedience to Mary and Joseph as he "increased in wisdom and in stature , and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). Now he has been called to his public ministry: at once the Anointed One (Messiah) and ultimately the Suffering Servant. His entrance into public life is an entrance into the life of the world. We have to keep in mind that nothing in Jesus' life was accidental; it was a completely intentional life. Jesus willed his life in complete submission to his Father's will. So often life happens to us and we react to life rather than respond. We are scattered and dull; thus, so much escapes us. Not Jesus, however. He was drawn by the Father's will to the Jordan where John the Baptist was baptizing there for the forgiveness of sins. John was the "voice crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight" (Matthew 3:3). John was baptizing at the Jordan one day when the unthinkable happened; He - the One who would baptize with water and Spirit came to be baptized!!

John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:14-17

Ratzinger tells us that the word "righteousness" here is to mean: "an unrestricted Yes to God's will and an obedient acceptance of his yoke" (p. 17). He continues on to make a very important point. This act was Jesus, already, identifying himself with sinners by taking their sins upon himself and then into the waters of the Jordan thereby anticipating the Cross as the Suffering servant:

Jesus loaded the burden of all mankind's guilt upon his shoulders; he bore it down into the depths of the Jordan. He inaugurated his public activity by stepping into the place of sinners. His inaugural gesture is an anticipation of the Cross (p.18)

The Old Testament Scriptures tell us this about the Suffering Servant (there are four Suffering Servant songs. Isaiah 42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12):

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all...Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:5-6, 10-12

Thus, we see in Jesus first public action an embracing of the Father's will in its fullness: the Messiah, the Anointed One, the King will rule through the depths of self-emptying love which takes on Itself the entirety of human sin and misery. An understanding of Jesus' baptism, where he is the Anointed Messiah and takes upon himself our sin, is crucial in understanding the Mountain of Temptation. Ratzinger states:

The conclusion of the baptismal scene tells us that Jesus has received this true "anointing", that he is the Anointed One - that at that moment kingly and priestly dignity were formally bestowed on him for all time in the presence of Israel." p. 26

What can we see in this that relates to our own life? First, that when we are baptized we are baptized into the death of the Lord, and, as we come up from the waters, we come up into his Resurrected Life. We, too, anticipate our Crosses in life as we are plunged into the baptismal waters that at once bring death and give life (Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1227). Thus, we must accept and even embrace the Cross; for Christianity ceases to exist without the Cross. Second, we are anointed as "little Christ's". The term "Christian" primarily means "anointed". Hence, we share in the Christ's Messianic mission to go and preach the Good News (Gospel) to the world. We are anointed by the Holy Spirit to go forth in power and charity into the world. Third, if we share in the anointing we must also share in the other aspect of the Messiah - the suffering servant. The suffering and sacrifice that is constitutive to charity we must not shrink from but embrace it as he did. We do this only through the power of God imparted to us through the grace received by our anointing. It is love and obedience to the end, the royal road that Jesus showed us, that will please the Father and bring about the Reign of God. Last, we must lay down our pride and allow God to call us to where he might. It didn't make sense that Jesus, the Perfect One, should be baptized - even to John. Jesus obeyed and so must we. All too often we ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit because it does not fit into our perceptions of what God should or shouldn't call us to. We must be open and willing to follow Christ wherever, whenever, and however he calls...

Next time, we will ascend the Mountain of Temptation and see that Jesus' temptations are ordered to his mission as Messiah, and if it is the case for him, then it is the case for us.

Upside-down World...

2007-08-03T04:04:00.000-06:00

While I was in Meridian, I gave a talk titled Prepare the Way of the Lord; Make Straight His Paths (See here). You can download or listen to the talk in its entirety at www.friendsofmikelee.org. The slides I used are available there for download in .pdf format, also.

The thesis of this talk was that Jesus came to turn values, ethics, and human existence upside-down. In other words, he did not come to preach a loftier ethic than the Old Law or to liberate us from "religion". He came to call us to a new life (John 10:10) that is so radical that is requires us not only to think differently (the Greek μετανοειτε - metanoeo that is typically rendered "repent" is better rendered "to think differently" from Mark 1:15 - "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.") but to have a different being - one that is indwelt by the Holy Spirit through the Sacramental character of Baptism and Confirmation (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) # 1121). In other words, what Jesus calls us to, as the model of our holiness (cf. CCC # 459), demands a completely new existence whereby we receive internal and external helps

from God himself. One only has to read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 to see what this new existence entails. It reaches its pinnacle in the Cross. There, Jesus shows us what it means to be the most human. We, because of our love of God and through obedience, give our life through suffering (which is primarily the emptying of self of self: desires, opinions, and the desire to be independent of God) for the sake of the other - even so far as to give it for our enemy as Jesus did (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36; John 15:13; Romans 5:6-11). This giving of self must always be in accord with the Father's will. Jesus had an appointed hour. We must always carefully discern what God is calling us to. The giving of self in sacrifice to God is more than we can ever do unaided. We need the Holy Spirit to do the work in us.

With that preface, I want to return to the notion of thinking differently. Prior to the Fall, man was as he should be: his passions were under the control of his will, his will under the control of his intellect, and his intellect perfectly submitted to God. This is the way God intended man to be when he created him in his image and likeness. After the Fall, man was turned "upside-down" in his nature. Thus, the passions ruled man as they overpowered his weakened will and darkened intellect. Furthermore, man withdrew his submission to God in a vain attempt to be independent of him. Man's passions drove him to seek pleasure, comfort, revenge, and advantage. These sinful inclinations became a normal part of everyday human desires and considered "good". The Decalogue was given to contradict these worldly notions with the truth about our human nature, and how we are to relate to one another because of the dignity of that nature. Jesus came, not to destroy, but to fulfill the Old Law. Romano Guardini relates the disparity between our inclinations and the New Covenant well:

“Healthy common sense says that wealth is blessing; blessing the fullness of possessions; blessing, happiness and pleasure and fame. Our natural reaction to the Sermon on the Mount is one of distaste, and it is better to face the distaste and openly try to overcome it, than to unthinkingly accept Jesus’ words as pious platitudes. That is the last thing they are. They come from heaven, but they shake, palpably, the foundations of earth.” – Romano Guardini The Lord

The Revelation on the Sermon on the Mount does indeed shake the foundations of the earth. We must be very careful with our "healthy common sense". It can quickly lead us to oppose God in a way that puts us in eternal danger. Case in point: the High Priest Caiphas. He was charged with leading Israel's spiritual life. Along comes this enigma in the person of Jesus Christ, but rather that being open to the work of God, Caiphas could only see his own interests and "what-made-sense-to-him". His hardness of heart formulated in "what-we've-always-done"-type attitude brought him to this terrible place:

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out."
The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death. John 11:43-53

Caiphas has the miracles of the Messiah that the Old Testament reveals put right in front of his face. So much so that they were concerned that "everyone would believe in him" if they didn't so something. Why can't they see? Why can't they perceive that since the miracles of the Messiah are performed by Jesus that he is the Messiah?? Yet, rather than rejoice at the presence of God's Messiah, they plot to kill him. They can't think differently!! They cannot bring themselves to see because it might cost them their position, their comfort, and their pride, and it would certainly cause them to reconsider who the Messiah is (not the political figure that was expected). This isn't just simple ignorance. This is a willed ignorance that refuses to see because of the demands of seeing. Their pride and selfishness blinded them.

My question is this: How often are we exactly like Caiphas? How often do we willfully turn away from Jesus because his message demands too much from us? We want pleasure! We want wealth! We want power! We want ease and comfort! We certainly don't want what God demands of us - that "losing oneself is the way to life" (Ratzinger). That just doesn't make sense to us. So we reject the only Way (Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life - John 14:6) to that which we seek. We, like Caiphas, are willing to commit grave evil to the point of killing the Son of God - the Messenger/Revealer of the Father to protect our interests!! All of this hides under the masquerade of "common sense". We live with one foot in the world and one in the Kingdom. We want the benefits of God like peace, prosperity, eternal life, joy, and wholeness, but we want to retain our own independence: living for pleasure and wealth and ease. How can we expect to live like that when the Son of God, who came for our salvation, consummated his life on the Cross?? He showed us the Royal Road. It leads to Golgotha; to the Cross; to victory in defeat; to life through death.

We must make a choice. Will we choose the Son of God and live? (of course, that involves ALL of the demands of love, but also the promise of eternal beatitude if we follow him), or will we choose our self and our selfish ways desperately trying to be independent of God knowing that that our true independence is impossible?

We must imitate the Blessed Mother who "kept all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:51b). She didn't reject any of the amazing and demanding things that God sent her way. They were confusing, and great, and scary, and exciting, and went against common sense. However, she had already given her allegiance and obedience to the Father in perfect trust. Thus, this trust and faith carried her through her lack of understanding to God's perfect will for her. We must approach God with the faith and trust that allows us to think differently so that we might embrace God's will for us that always brings abundant life (John 10:10). Risk the fact that what God has said is true; that we will actually be "blessed" if we love, serve, and sacrifice.

It is here in this upside-down world of God's love that we discover who we are. We discover that we are children of the Father who desires that we spend eternity inserted, united, and partaking of his divine life. We come to taste and share in that life now to the extent that we live upside-down today...

Mmmmmm.... Bonus Material....

2007-08-02T12:49:00.000-06:00

You know how when you watch a movie on DVD, sometimes the best part is the "extra" material? Well here at "Into the Deep" we have something like that, too.

Last month, when Michael Lee was in Idaho for a few days, he was able to give a talk at our parish. It was titled "Prepare the Way of the Lord, Make Straight His Paths" and was based on several texts Michael has been reading: Sacred Scripture, Josef (Pope Benedict XVI) Ratzinger's Jesus of Nazareth, Msgr. Romano Guardini's The Lord, and I Believe in Love by Fr. Jean d'Elbée.

The whole talk can be downloaded at the Friends of Mike Lee website You'll also find the slides he used during the talk (in .pdf format) for your downloading enjoyment.

UPDATE: Please don't be intimidated by a long talk based on multiple texts. I know that sometimes we think we are not 'ready' to take in that much information. But Mike does a great job of presenting this material in a way that is easily absorbed - and of course, the objective is not to relieve you of the need to read the books, but to inspire you to want to read them! Also, Mike doesn't take himself all that seriously... this is what he looks like when preparing for these talks:

New Catholic Website...

2007-08-02T12:03:00.000-06:00

There is a new website out there for Catholics - not a blog or catechetical resource, but a news site. They're called Pewsitter.com, and their objective, in their own words, is to be:

The Online Catholic Newspaper of the Third Millennium, featuring news content provided by YOU! Tell us what's going on within your local parish or diocese by submitting a news item and we'll share it with the world. Support the Pope and the Church by combining your voice with thousands of other faithful Catholics.

They intend to provide Catholic news from various sources, and additionally to "... enlist an army of 'pewsitters' to be the eyes and ears for Pewsitter - hence the name. By submitting newsworthy items to Pewsitter, the laity can help shape and influence the Church and be a powerful force for positive change."

So check them out at www.pewsitter.com and let them know what you think.

Also you can find their link on our sidebar, along with other places we like to visit.

The Mountain of the Lord...

2007-07-28T13:50:00.001-06:00

I have spent the summer studying Josef Ratzinger's (Pope Benedict XVI) book Jesus of Nazareth (New York: Doubleday, 2007) . I am quite sure that there are many, many excellent blogs out there commenting on this text. I, with a lot of coercion from certain individuals, will add my voice to the chorus. I hope not to just tell you what the text says - you can read that for yourself. What I hope to do is to take selections of the text that strike me and reflect upon them. These reflections might concern theological or spiritual topics depending on what facet I extract. All this is done on hopes of getting folks to read the book themselves so as to reflect and meditate on Jesus, through the discussions in the book, in their own lives.

Thus, I will be skipping all over the place within the book according to my fancy. The first set of reflections comes from close to the end of the book. Chapter 9 is titled Two Milestones on Jesus' Way: Peter's Confession and the Transfiguration. Within the section on the Transfiguration, Ratzinger discusses an idea that he has spoken of earlier in the book, viz., the importance of the symbol of the mountain throughout the Gospels. He lists seven different "mountains" that Jesus experienced throughout his earthly life.

The Mountain of Temptation
The Mountain of His Great Preaching
The Mountain of His Prayer
The Mountain of the Transfiguration
The Mountain of His Agony
The Mountain of the Cross
The Mountain of the Risen Lord

Jesus Himself told us that we must pick up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow him daily (Luke 9:23). Thus, we must journey to each of these mountains in order to live the life of Jesus - "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me." (Galatians 2:20) Over the next few weeks, I will take each of the "mountains" and reflect on its importance in Jesus' life and what it means for ours.

In general, the mountain serves throughout the Scriptures, but especially in the Gospels, as a place of the exceptional closeness of God. Ratzinger states:

The mountain is the place of ascent - not only outward, but also inward ascent; it is a liberation from the burden of everyday life, a breathing in of the pure air of creation; it offers a view of the broad expanse of creation and its beauty; it gives one an inner peak to stand on and an intuitive sense of the Creator.

The mountaintop is a place of vision. We can see for long distances across many obstacles that block our view from the valley floor. We need a vision. It gives us a vector to travel on; a direction to our life. A vector designates magnitude and direction. The vision that God gives us from the mountaintop typically has these attributes; we get a real sense of where he is calling us along with a sense of the price that must be paid. Of course, these don't come in fine detail. God paints these scenes with a broad brush but with enough detail we can begin the journey with enthusiasm and anticipation. It is essential to inscribe these times of vision on our hearts for there will come a time in the valley where we will walk by the darkness of faith and the remembrance of the mountaintop will be the manna that feeds us in the wilderness.

We cannot choose the time for the mountaintop nor bring it about. We can only wait in vigil as the disciples, along with the Blessed Mother, waited in the Cenacle (upper room) for the coming of the promised Paraclete (Cf. Acts 1:14). Rest assured, God has a vision for you. He is anxious to share what that is. As he says in Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (29:11)

However, we must be available to the Lord and willing in order to share in it. We must be taking the time for prayer so that we are available to the Lord when he desires to take us there. Moreover, we must have a deep conviction and attitude of surrender. The Lord likes nothing more than to have permission from us to do to us as he pleases. It demonstrates a deep faith and trust within the disciple. It is in this disposition of trust and faith that God can lead us to where he is calling us. One thing we must always keep in mind (we will discuss this more when we discuss the "Mountain of the Transfiguration") is that the mountain always leads to the valley where the Cross awaits. All trails off the mountain lead to the self-sacrificing love as expressed through redemptive suffering. If Jesus could only bring salvation tot he world through the suffering of the Cross, then we can't expect to serve him in any capacity that doesn't lead directly through where he has been. As we journey from mountain to mountain, the one feature that we will always find is the Passion. Let us not be discouraged by the ubiquitous presence of the Cross but take comfort and consolation in the fact that we are being treated as the Son was, and, if we share in the death of the Son, we will share, also, in his eternal life.

Thus, let us strap on our hiking boots and clothe ourselves in a deep confidence and trust in God. Let us allow him to lead us through these mountains as we allow him to conform us to the image of his Son. Then we can say with St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Freedom and Responsibility, part 2...

2007-07-25T12:51:00.000-06:00

Last time, we (or rather, Cardinal Dulles) talked about what freedom is and is not. This time, what is freedom for (my emphasis):

The theology of freedom would be incomplete without reference to Christ and to the Holy Spirit. Christ, who is Truth itself (John 14:6), liberates our freedom (Gal. 5:1) and reveals the truth that makes us truly free (John 8:32). Dignitatis Humanae itself ends with the prayer of Paul that through the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit all may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21; Dignitatis Humanae, no. 15).

Vatican II's concept of freedom exhibits sharp contrasts with that of modern liberalism. Freedom, as understood by the Council, is not an end in itself; rather, it is given as a means for fulfilling the purposes for which we were created. True freedom, far from precluding firm and lasting commitments, is the very condition that makes such commitments possible. Freedom would be pointless unless it could enable us to reach significant decisions. Freedom is compatible with law because authentic law expresses the order of reason, which is the proximate norm for right decisions. Nor, finally, may respect for freedom be used as a "pretext for refusing to submit to authority or for making light of the duty of obedience" (Dignitatis Humanae, no. 8). A properly educated freedom will incline us to cooperate with others and to obey lawful authority, whether familial, civil, or religious.

Freedom is a means, not an end - I think that is one of the insights from Michael's posts which originally had me thinking about freedom. When talking to a "rationalist" we have to remember that to him, reason and autonomy are the ends. So by treating what he sees as the summum bonum of life as just a means to something else, we talk past him, and have no hope of reaching him. First, he has to be attracted to that something else - really, to that someone else.

You can read the rest of Cardinal Dulles' lecture here, and Mr. Blosser has many other resources at his Dulles page - where I got the photo.

Oops. Sorry about your life, ma'am...

2007-07-23T01:22:00.000-06:00

This is a remarkable and gut-wrenching story. Read it.

...I can't walk, talk, feed or care for myself. My motor skills are those of a 3-month-old. When I was 3, a doctor assessed me as severely retarded (that is, as having an IQ of less than 35) and I was admitted to a state institution called St Nicholas Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. As the hospital didn't provide me with a wheelchair, I lay in bed or on the floor for most of the next 14 years.

Remember it.

Childhood waning...

2007-07-21T23:06:00.001-06:00

This post is dedicated to Mike Lee and his sushi inspired powers of persuasion...

I don't think I will handle my children becoming adults very well. I'm too selfish. There's a self love inside of me that would keep them little forever because I receive so much pleasure from their littleness. But God is good. About the time that I start feeling that way, one of the little darlings will flush my cell phone down the toilet... there's nothing like fishing for your own cell phone (with it's $100 worth of pre-paid, non-transferable minutes) to make you look forward to your children's maturity....

But then there's other times. We recently took our six year old son to an arena football game. It was quite a treat for all of us, as it was a family activity provided by my company. They bought a high class suite for the game, so we were able to watch the game in considerably more luxury than we are accustom. My son was very impressed by the fancy tables and elegant foods. He knew this was a treat, and that he was being included in something normally reserved for adults. He was on his best behavior. And for that I was proud.

There was another little boy there. He was four, and the surroundings did not have the same effect upon him. Where my son was acting like a small adult, this little boy was acting very much like a four year old. Not in any way bad, but just acting like the child he was. And he really wanted my son to participate in his little games.

My boy wanted nothing to do with it. He seemed quite embarrassed by the four year old. My son liked sitting with the adults. They were eating fancy hors d'oeuvres and drinking fancy wine out of fancy glasses. He wanted to remain in that group and not be reminded that he was also a child.

And my pride turned toward a bit of sadness. The frolicking of the four year old is something that my son enjoys. In any other setting, he would have jumped at the opportunity to play with a new friend. But he was learning to suppress those simple pleasures... and he was doing it because of what some total strangers at an expensive party might think of him.

And how easy it is to fall into that trap. How many of us have sacrificed the simple joys of our childhood because they are not "appropriate." How many business men would not dance the chicken dance with their son because of how it might look. Would they have hesitated to dance when they were four? How many construction workers would not offer to teaching their daughter to bake a cake? Even if they loved to bake when they were young?

Of course there are times and places for these sorts of things. We are not to remain children forever. But we are commanded to be childlike. We must not let our "dignity" as adults be an excuse to harbor pride and fear of what others might think of us.

What have you given up out of that pride or fear? What did you love to do when you were a child that you are not doing now? Why did you stop?

For my part... and for my son... I did the only thing that I could do. I wacked him across the head with my inflatable bam-bam stick. And then for good measure, I got a good bam-bam whap in on my wife as well. Of course, my family being what it is, it did not take long for a total bam-bam battle to commence. Right there in the fancy suite.

Over the course of the evening, whenever our team scored a goal, made a good play, or did anything else which generated applause, my family would erupt in a bam-bam war. It was fun! What did everyone else there think?

Don't know. Don't care.

Freedom and Responsibility, part 1...

2007-07-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

Michael's posts below about reason and rationalism (here and here) got me to thinking about how we take concepts and gifts that God has given us, like reason, and try to get them to be more than they are. As Michael pointed out, reason can only go so far in helping explain who God is, and why we should worship him.

The same thing applies to freedom. Avery Cardinal Dulles said this about contemporary views of what freedom is:

At least in the United States, there a tendency to read the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae (1965), as though the Roman Catholic Church had rather belatedly gotten around to ratifying the liberalist concept of religious freedom, a concept practically taken for granted in contemporary secular discourse. According to this concept, people are free at any time to adopt or relinquish any religious affiliation, as best suits them at the time. Religion, being a matter of feeling and taste, can make no legitimate claim to truth in the public arena. And since the state has a purely secular function, it should conduct its affairs without any reference to religion.

Behind this mentality is a philosophy that equates freedom with indetermination. Every firm commitment is seen as a limitation on freedom. Freedom is also seen as a purely individual matter. We are free to the extent that we make up our own minds without submitting to the society or to any authority, religious or secular. To the extent that we conform to the will of others or obey them, we diminish our freedom.

In contrast to that vision, Cardinal Dulles reminds us what the Second Vatican Council document on religious freedom has to say, ...

Dignitatis Humanae recognizes two levels or aspects of freedom. On the juridical level, freedom may be defined negatively as immunity from coercion by any civil authority. On the moral level, freedom consists positively in the power to speak and act according to one's responsible decision. Of the two aspects, the latter is primary, for the purpose of juridical freedom is to enhance moral freedom.

... The Council cannot, therefore, be rightly suspected of abetting religious indifferentism. Religious freedom, in the Council's view, is not a liberation from religious commitment but an appropriate means for arriving at a full personal commitment to the true religion.

We often think freedom provides us a path away from God; what it really does is allow us to respond to His call toward Him.

Next... The Purposes for which we were Created...

Ordinary Work, Chapter 1, Part 3

2007-07-15T11:07:00.001-06:00

Dr. Hahn provides a list of seven characteristics which he has found common in members of Opus Dei.

First and foremost was its members’ apparent devotion to the Bible.
Second was its warm ecumenism. Opus Dei was the first Catholic institution to welcome non-Catholics to cooperate in its apostolic labors.
Third was how upright the lives of members were.
Fourth was how ordinary their lives were.They were not theologians—they were dentists, engineers, journalists— but they were talking and living a theology I found attractive.
Fifth, they espoused a holy ambition—a devout work ethic.
Sixth, they practiced hospitality and gave their attention generously to my many questions.
And seventh, they prayed. They made time for intimate prayer every day—true conversation with God. This gave them a serenity I had rarely encountered.

As I have never been involved in Opus Dei, I can't confirm that these attributes are common in its members. However I have no reason to doubt that this is Dr. Hahn's experience. I can say that I would like these attributes to increase in my own life. I would would very much profit from increasing my contact with people who possessed these characteristics.

But for my purposes here, these characteristics will serve as a guide post. I mentioned in an earlier post that this journey would certainly entail striving for an increase in virtue and a decrease in vice. I appreciate that Dr. Hahn has gotten to some specifics so early on. These seven characteristics would certainly be specific examples of this general goal. And specific examples are a key element of what I am looking for from this book.

I am willing to stipulate that I would judge this book to be helpful if it places me on a path of increasing these characteristics in my spiritual life. Numbers 1 - 3 and 5 - 7 would be evidence of an increase in sanctification which would lead to an increase in evangelization. It would make me a person of whom it could be said that I read the life of Jesus Christ. And number 4 makes it clear that this would be accomplished in the midst of the ordinary.

I would be very pleased to obtain these goals. So I will judge the means that Dr. Hahn will doubtlessly present, by whether or not I believe they will move me closer to these established ends.

Children? How About some Help with the Laundry...

2007-07-12T12:06:00.000-06:00

This bit from Pew Research on American attitudes about marriage is not really surprising, but it is disturbing...

Americans of all ages, this survey finds, acknowledge that there has been a distinct weakening of the link between marriage and parenthood. In perhaps the single most striking finding from the survey, just 41% of Americans now say that children are "very important" to a successful marriage, down sharply from the 65% who said this in a 1990 survey.

Indeed, children have fallen to eighth out of nine on a list of items that people associate with successful marriages – well behind "sharing household chores," "good housing," "adequate income," "happy sexual relationship," and "faithfulness." Back in 1990, when the American public was given this same list on a World Values Survey, children ranked third in importance.

The new Pew survey also finds that, by a margin of nearly three-to-one, Americans say that the main purpose of marriage is the "mutual happiness and fulfillment" of adults rather than the "bearing and raising of children."

So, even though "bearing and raising" children is not the main purpose of marriage, the bearing part, if not the raising, will continue - and since the priorities mentioned tend to lead to more divorces, the children will suffer, regardless of the large percentage of us who think traditional "mom and dad" families are best.

043: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 13

2007-07-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

Episode #43. Repugnant? The parameters of the spiritual combat. Tactics! Checking the first impulse. Tastes like chicken. Checking it again. War is not the time to train for war. Cultivating a desire through contempt for the appetite. An example. Coming to like the trials. Engaging the opposing virtue.

Download as MP3

Duration: 36:43
File size: 33.62 MB

Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Into the Deep on Detachment: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Ordinary Work, Chapter 1, Part 2

2007-07-10T00:00:00.001-06:00

How I wish your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ.
-The Way, No. 2

Then I started to meet other Catholics—one a political philosopher, another a dentist—who showed the same qualities. The thing that most impressed me was that they both carried small Bibles in their pockets. At odd moments during the day, I might catch these men sitting in church reading the Scriptures. If I asked them to help me understand a point of doctrine, they would pull out the little book for backup. I thought to myself: These are men who read the life of Jesus Christ—and read it for all it’s worth.
-Ordinary Work, Chapter 1 (emphasis original)

A promising beginning. This quotation from The Way encapsulates so much of my quest. It encompasses two major themes... Sanctification and evangelization.

In saying "This man reads the life of Jesus Christ." St. Escriva reminds that Christ must be the source of our words and actions. For our words and actions to give life, they must be rooted in the source of all life. When we give anything apart from that source, we give death.

It should be noted that we are already deeply steeped in the ordinary. St. Escriva did not write "when you are speaking in church, that people would say..." nor did he teach "when you are moving to the monestary, that people would say..." It is in all our actions. One could presume that this applies to when we are answering the phone, or changing a diaper or debugging a subroutine.

I am interested in the interplay between these ordinary activities and the sanctification which St. Escriva wishes for us. Are we sanctified by the ordinary? Or do we sanctify the ordinary? My guess is that it is both.

This quote also speaks of evangelization. I am certain that St. Escriva did not introduce the subject of what other people would say to suggest that it is the opinion of other people that ultimately matters; but to reinforce that people are attracted to a vibrant, spirit filled and living vocation. This is a matter of evangelization, which is a serious matter indeed. The Lord gives us the incalculable honor of participating in the salvation of others. It is not only our words about doctrine and Scripture that matter. It is how we live and how we love in the ordinary. We are free to spread the Gospel at all times and in all places! Our homes, our workplaces, our schools, on the road and in the supermarket. But it is not something that can be faked. It must be truly rooted in the Lord, who is the source of all good things.

A promising beginning indeed. I look forward to more specifics and details.

Just Wages....?

2007-07-09T17:45:00.000-06:00

The May issue of Crisis features an essay by Fr. Rob Johansen which is the best introduction to minimum wage laws and Catholic Social Teaching that I've read in a long time.

There is a tension, then, between the necessity of providing just wages and the need to allow the fullest access to employment possible. Minimum wage laws can be seen as promoting the first objective but hindering the second. The prudent legislator must try to find a course that will not create evils worse than those he seeks to eliminate, and most would agree that being unemployed with no income is worse than being employed for a sub-optimal income.

Fr. Johansen references Aquinas, Hazlitt, and a couple of Popes to refute both the libertarian/laissez-faire and the socialist/leftist extremes. The writing is clear and avoids most economist-speak, and is respectful of a wide range of acceptable Catholic positions. If you're looking for a place to start thinking about this, or even you have a firm conviction about it, this is a valuable read. No matter where one falls in the debate about minimum and just wages, it is good to remember that there is more than one acceptable position for Catholics.

Ordinary Work, Chapter 1, Part 1

2007-07-09T00:00:00.001-06:00

I admit to having mixed feelings about this book.

One the one hand, I am elated. Dr. Scott Hahn has been immensely helpful to me on my journey. He has answered my questions, often even before I knew I had them. He had provided me with arguments to bolster my faith and shown me what it means to speak passionately about the Lord. Scott Hahn was so crucial to my formative years as a Catholic, that it would be foolish of me to not recognize that I have a deep "Hahnian" view of the faith. As such, it would seem that he would be an ideal person to lead me on this journey.

But there is another side. This is a search that is different from my past journeys. I am not seeking an increase in my understanding of doctrine or history. I am seeking a witness of the ordinary. As a convert from an atheistic family, I never had the example of what it means to be a Christian husband or father. I have great doubts if this is something that can be learned from a book, even a book written by a brilliant theologian like Scott Hahn.

And even if a book can be instructive, I am not seeking a brilliant theologian. I am looking for a living vocation in the midst of the ordinary. How is a famous theologian and speaker, who lives at Franciscan University, suppose to guide me in this search? How can he instruct me in the ordinary when he leads such an extraordinary life?

Almost annoyingly, Dr. Hahn answers this question in chapter one.

... In the writings of the early fathers, that I ran smack up against a church I could only recognize as Catholic, It was liturgical, hierarchical, sacramental. It was Catholic, and yet it held all that I loved about the Reformation tradition too: a deep devotion to Jesus, a spontaneous life of prayer, a zeal to transform the culture, and, of course, a burning love for Scripture. Still, that Church was real to me only in the dusty books I read. Where, I wanted to know, were the ordinary Catholic believers who lived this way?

...

I arrived at Marquette University for graduate studies in theology with high hopes but low expectations. But soon I encountered grace upon grace. I met a kind and brilliant pastor who was willing to talk theology with me until the wee hours. He told me of his upbringing in a Polish-American home where family members customarily greeted one another with phrases from the Scriptures. But, I told myself, he was hardly an ordinary Catholic. He held a doctorate from a Roman university; he had served time as a Vatican official; and everyone whispered (rightly, it turns out) that he was on track to become a bishop.

It seems that Dr. Hahn has been where I am.

Not that I was ever an anti-Catholic, Calvinist minister. But I was a non-believer in the Church, just as he was. And I too come to love the faith in the pages of dusty books... books that were dusty because so many Catholics no longer read them. I also have concerns about seeking advice from someone who appears to lead an extraordinary life.

I too was jarred by the disconnect between the Church in the books and the Church down the street. Dr. Hahn describes his experience, at that time, with self identified Catholics as "less than edifying" and I would have to agree. There are some wonderful examples of wheat, but we have more than our share of chaff. This is no longer the challenge to my faith that is once was, as this is as Jesus said it would be. And it would be a strange thing to lose faith in someone because they told you the truth.

Amazingly, Dr. Hahn titled the section quoted above as "Common Ground." I believe he was referring to a common ground between the Catholics he was to meet and himself as a Protestant. However, to me it means common ground between his search and my own.

All of this leads me to believe that I am on a journey that he has been on as well, and that is comforting. Upon reflection, it should not be surprising. Whatever else Scott Hahn is, he is a Catholic husband, father and employee. I need to be less in awe of the rest and resist the urge to view it as essentially different from my own circumstance. I have been a member of many professional and church groups in my life. My experience has been that they are all remarkably similar, as they are all populated by fallen human beings.

Dr. Hahn's experience in his office is most likely very similar to my experience in my office. It is disfigured by petty prides and politics of human beings who have not yet reached their perfection. From the ditch of the unskilled worker to the office of the President of the United States... it's all pretty much the same. It is simply raw material for our growth, if we seek to grow.

So I will be attentive to Dr. Hahn, and seek to benefit from his experience. And I will simply have to learn to accept the fact that he is also a brilliant theologian...

Wary of Rationalism...(Redux)

2007-07-07T11:56:00.000-06:00

I began with the intention that this would be posted in the comments of this post, but it grew to a full-length blog, so I decided to put it here.

Thanks Theocoid for the comment so I can clarify what I meant.

Theocoid wrote:

While I think you're spot on about the dangers of rationalism, I think it's important not to disregard the use of reason in preparing the ground. Think back on the parable of the sower. While there are four types of terrain, nothing is said about how the terrain got that way. Yet we know by experience that rocky terrain and terrain covered in thorn bushes a can be reclaimed. Reason can be a way to reclaim the ground and make it fertile so that the seeds of faith can be planted. Of course, none of that happens without God willing and without the willingness of others to engage reason correctly.

Mike E. answered:

I don't think Mike is advocating abandoning reason... dude is a philosophy student. The point, I think, is that to engage in dialog with a 'rationalist' person with reason, even at the beginning of the conversation, is to concede the point.

By accepting that it (the Faith) must be proved rationally, we weaken whatever future efforts we make at "mystery", "revelation", and, "faith" itself.

I would never suggest that we disregard the use of reason in any fashion. It is the highest faculty we possess and is what sets us apart from the rest of nature (as Aristotle categorizes us as "rational animals"). In fact, it is required to know God through his revelation “Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".” (CCC #36). The Catechism in #35 states what you commented (which I agree with fully, of course): “The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.” (CCC #35).

The point I was trying to make, as Mike stated, is that we are quick to engage rationalists with arguments from reason in an attempt to ‘prove God’. By doing that, one has immediately lost because the faith goes far beyond reason, as I know that you know. There is hardly ever an argument about the form of the syllogism. It is always with the premises. If the other is not congenial with the arguments, there will be a simple denial of the premises without any actual engagement of them. To think that we can argue theology with a rationalist seems at the very least to be a stretch (it can have the opposite effect of what we intended), and we end up drastically reducing the faith, since we can know so little through reason alone (I mean about God that is). I think we must engage the rationalist, not necessarily because of him, but because of the others that are congenial to our arguments or are confused (the type of thing you pointed out). However even in that case, we must keep referring and calling the discussion forth beyond reason to Mystery. If not, IMHO, we end up constricting the Christian message to the point it becomes an ‘ethic’, rather than a relationship.

One last point that I didn’t articulate well in my post is the fact that we live in this rationalistic milieu (along with many other philosophies contrary to the Gospel, as you know). As a fish doesn’t know it lives in water, we can fall into a mild form of rationalism in our own thinking. We search for proofs of God rather than proclaiming “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. We, in our desire to evangelize but also in our own approach, come from a ‘rationalistic perspective’. It is this perspective that I am primarily concerned about. Where are we Christians reducing, constricting the Gospel to arguments and proofs in an attempt to engage those who a priori reject anything beyond human reason? How does that affect those listening in? What does that do to our own faith? It seems to me that the rationalistic tendencies can permeate our faith to where we begin that reduction of the fullness of our own faith. We see that especially with the atheistic Biblical exegesis that takes place today. St. Thomas plumbed God with reason as deeply as possible. However, he was utterly and completely aware of the limits of reason before the ineffable and unknowable Mystery. I am convinced that it is the proclamation of this Mystery; moving people to contact, not what they can accept through a reasonable argument, but what they can only perceive in the darkness of prevenient faith that will till the ground of their heart. It is the love of God for us expressed through the Blood of the Cross, the forgiveness of sin, and the possibility of union with that Love that will resonate with the congenial heart warmed by the power of the Holy Spirit through the sacrificial love and suffering of a saint (us). IMHO, most arguments serve a purpose much like what Brent is describing in his series called Ordinary Work. The proofs of God and the reasonableness (or intelligibility) of the faith at least rises to the level that I can still hang on to the rest by faith. As faith matures, we don’t need the proofs ourselves. We transcend them to come to know God through the darkness of faith.

In conclusion, (as I have thought about this more as I have written this post) I am concerned that we not ignore, lose touch with, or avoid proclaiming the Mystery of God; for to do so is to proclaim and believe in another God who is no bigger than we are. We must always be rooting out our uncritically accepted philosophical and theological presuppositions so that we purify not only our positions but the milieu of our thinking from which they arise. This milieu, as JPII said, must be the soul of a mystic. We don’t need to be as brilliant as we need to be holy. We don’t need to be trained as much as we need to be inundated, penetrated, and overflowing with the Holy Spirit. We don’t need to be thinkers as much as we need to be lovers…

Ordinary Work, Prelude, Part 3

2007-07-07T01:00:00.001-06:00

"It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easy when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing to this conviction, the more bewildered he is if asked suddenly to sum them up."
-G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Chapter 6

Only recently have begun to learn to believe in the storm and the waves without needing others to believe in them as well. I have also learned that there are forces at work that desire me in the boat far more desperately than I desire it myself. The white knuckles I earned while desperately gripping the boat were quite unnecessary, as the boat had a far more powerful grip on me than I had on it.

I realize now that I am my own most dangerous enemy. For I am, myself, the only being in creation with the power to eject me from that boat. And even then, I would have to battle all of the forces of heaven to do so.

And I am not alone in this position. God desires the salvation of every human being far more than I do. I know that I am to play a part in his work, and I want to stand ready to do so. When the master calls, I desire to be ready. But no longer will I be a volunteer. My job is to prepare my tools for when the Master calls. Not to create calls for myself.

So now we arrive at the question. What does it mean to prepare my tools? Certainly it means a combat to increase virtue and decrease vice. But what is the plan of battle for a married layman? What does it mean that I am also a father? What does it mean that I am an employee? Must I quit my job and move to a monastery? Does it mean that I should imitate as closely as possible the life of a religious order and making whatever concessions are necessary for my state in life?

I somehow doubt that Christ suffered and died to give me a concession filled, second class spirituality. He would give me a spirituality that is meant for me. One that I could, with his grace, live out to the fullest!

Great works such as Lumen Gentium and Apostolicam Actuositatem lay a mighty foundation for this search.

In addition, I am also looking for examples. I am seeking mentors of a lay vocation well lived. I am blessed enough to have some examples whom I know personally. However, I will limit the explication of those examples as they are, in fact, personal. In addition to such anecdotal evidence, I want to search for the heart of matter. What has worked for many people, in many places, or a long period of time?

It seems to me that the logical place to start would be with the teachings of St. Josemaria Escriva and Opus Dei. St. Escriva spent his life developing and teaching the spirituality of the laity. It would seem wise to accept his works as a gift and respond to this work.

I have decided to start this search with the book Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace by Dr. Scott Hahn. Dr. Hahn was important in my initial conversion, and I hope that his work will help bring the lay spirituality of Opus Dei into focus.

Next time, Chapter one.

Madness

2007-07-06T18:44:00.001-06:00

Michael's post about the interplay between faith and reason reminded me of the following from Orthodoxy. This passage has been immensely helpful to me on that subject.

I have been in discussions with atheists who steadfastly refuse to admit that there is any order in the universe. And they have very complex and reasoned arguments to support their claims. It can go around and around in a circle forever... but ultimately, one really just needs to look out a window. Such arguments are closer to madness than fallacy.

****

The madman’s explanation of a thing is always complete, and often in a purely rational sense satisfactory. Or, to speak more strictly, the insane explanation, if not conclusive, is at least unanswerable; this may be observed specially in the two or three commonest kinds of madness. If a man says (for instance) that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it except by saying that all the men deny that they are conspirators; which is exactly what conspirators would do. His explanation covers the facts as much as yours. Or if a man says that he is the rightful King of England, it is no complete answer to say that the existing authorities call him mad; for if he were King of England that might be the wisest thing for the existing authorities to do. Or if a man says that he is Jesus Christ, it is no answer to tell him that the world denies his divinity; for the world denied Christ’s.

Nevertheless he is wrong. But if we attempt to trace his error in exact terms, we shall not find it quite so easy as we had supposed. Perhaps the nearest we can get to expressing it is to say this: that his mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle. A small circle is quite as infinite as a large circle; but, though it is quite as infinite, it is not so large. In the same way the insane explanation is quite as complete as the sane one, but it is not so large. A bullet is quite as round as the world, but it is not the world. There is such a thing as a narrow universality; there is such a thing as a small and cramped eternity; you may see it in many modern religions. Now, speaking quite externally and empirically, we may say that the strongest and most unmistakable mark of madness is this combination between a logical completeness and a spiritual contraction. The lunatic’s theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way. I mean that if you or I were dealing with a mind that was growing morbid, we should be chiefly concerned not so much to give it arguments as to give it air, to convince it that there was something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument. Suppose, for instance, it were the first case that I took as typical; suppose it were the case of a man who accused everybody of conspiring against him. If we could express our deepest feelings of protest and appeal against this obsession, I suppose we should say something like this: “Oh, I admit that you have your case and have it by heart, and that many things do fit into other things as you say. I admit that your explanation explains a great deal; but what a great deal it leaves out! Are there no other stories in the world except yours; and are all men busy with your business? Suppose we grant the details; perhaps when the man in the street did not seem to see you it was only his cunning; perhaps when the policeman asked you your name it was only because he knew it already. But how much happier you would be if you only knew that these people cared nothing about you! How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it; if you could really look at other men with common curiosity and pleasure; if you could see them walking as they are in their sunny selfishness and their virile indifference! You would begin to be interested in them, because they were not interested in you. You would break out of this tiny and tawdry theatre in which your own little plot is always being played, and you would find yourself under a freer sky, in a street full of splendid strangers.” Or suppose it were the second case of madness, that of a man who claims the crown, your impulse would be to answer, “All right! Perhaps you know that you are the King of England; but why do you care? Make one magnificent effort and you will be a human being and look down on all the kings of the earth.” Or it might be the third case, of the madman who called himself Christ. If we said what we felt, we should say, “So you are the Creator and Redeemer of the world: but what a small world it must be! What a little heaven you must inhabit, with angels no bigger than butterflies! How sad it must be to be God; and an inadequate God! Is there really no life fuller and no love more marvellous than yours; and is it really in your small and painful pity that all flesh must put its faith? How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos, scattering the stars like spangles, and leave you in the open, free like other men to look up as well as down!”

Because People Aren't Widgets...

2007-07-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

Jonah Goldberg wrote a column expressing disagreement with the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill (RIP) and in a subsequent blog writes that he got some criticism about a supposed double standard regarding the free movement of "goods" and how conservatives are inconsistent:

Aren't we supposed to be free traders? They ask.

There are any number of interesting and complicated economic questions involved. But it seems to me the basic answer is really pretty simple. People aren't widgets. There's a fairly large body of writing on this point — starting with the Bible, I suppose — that makes it pretty clear we shouldn't look at human beings as if they are inanimate objects or commodities. I seem to recall we even had a war involving that second point. ...

... I am a free trader and believer in open borders for widgets, but not necessarily for widget makers. Why? Because I think the benefits of free trade for products is well-established. The benefits of "free trade" in humans are far more controversial, for the simple reason human beings aren't widgets.

Exactly right: people aren't widgets. We need to remember that not only in the cases where people are getting shortchanged materially by that view, but also when they are being exploited - even if there is some minimal or relative material benefit to the individuals being exploited.

I think this Acton.org essay is an excellent place to start if you're looking for a way to look at immigration from a Catholic perspective. The thesis is that the family pre-dates the State, and so the needs of families are prior to the wants of the State. The qualification is that, "...[t]he right to migrate is not inviolable in Catholic social teaching. It is analogous to the right to property but not to the right to life." Meaning that the "universal good" must be considered. Which might mean the interests of the State prevail - but because of the overall situation, not because it is the State. It's a good read, I recommend it.

More broadly, regarding economics in general, this piece is a good place to start thinking about "Economic Personalism" (mmmmm.... personalism).

And in case there's doubt, John Paul's address in which he makes the statement, "...illegal immigration should be prevented..." is available here.

Wary of Rationalism...

2007-07-06T02:15:00.001-06:00

One can't read very far on the Internet or the papers before one comes across some kind of discussion of the "God Wars". There seems to be a new wave of anti-God literature and sentiment as the "free-thinkers" try a new evangelization themselves. I do not intend to discuss their arguments here.

I write out of a concern that has been bubbling around in the back of my head for some time. It is the way that we, as Christians, engage these people and with our arguments. Of course, there is a place of science and reason within the faith. Truth is truth. However, the Catechism reminds us:

CCC 156 What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived".So "that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit." Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability "are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all"; they are "motives of credibility" (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is "by no means a blind impulse of the mind".

I am concerned that we fall into a rationalistic mindset when we are discussing these topics. Rationalism is the heresy that claims that human reason is the highest form of knowledge and the benchmark of truth. In other words, if it isn't reasonable and conceivable by the human mind, it can't be true. Here is a definition from The Columbia Encyclopedia: "In religion, rationalism is the view that recognizes as true only that content of faith that can be made to appeal to reason."

It is so easy to fall into arguing and trying to "prove" God's existence through reason. However, the minute we restrict ourselves to reason, we have removed from the discussion the real content of our faith - Revelation. Yep. I said F-A-I-T-H, and faith is a higher form of knowledge than reason because we could never know it unless it was revealed to us by God (cf. CCC #159). Certainly, philosophical arguments are critical for someone to see the 'reasonableness' of God. However in my opinion, we must always refer those arguments to the mystery and ineffability of God. Otherwise, we make God subject to reason when he clearly said:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

He is not subject to what we think is right or reasonable. He is the Lord!!

Even St. Paul got into the act:

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1-2

We are reluctant to appeal to faith precisely because of the rationalistic milieu in which the discussion takes place. We cringe to think that as intelligent, well-educated people we need to appeal to faith (which feels like a blind belief). We want to argue from proof and reason. We want to sound intelligent! There is where we get in trouble. Our pride can drive us to reduce the faith to rational arguments. This isn't the content of faith. Jesus thanked his Father for revealing these mysteries to "babes" and for "hiding" them from the "wise and understanding" (cf. Luke 10:21). The mysteries were hidden because of the pride of the wise. There is no more reasonable argument in the world than the fact that since God is omniscient, omnipotent, and who cannot deceive or be deceived we completely trust in what he has told us. In my opinion, we have to stand strong in basing our understanding of God in faith for if we do not what can we really say about him?

Let us not be afraid to stand in truth in faith. Will we be laughed at? Sure. Jesus was. Will we be sneered at? Sure. Jesus was.

We must remember that it is the state of the hearer's heart that is key not the strength of our arguments.

We must never forget this so that we can lead people to the fullness of Truth through faith in Christ Jesus. Reason alone will never get us there...

Ordinary Work, Prelude, Part 2

2007-07-06T00:00:00.001-06:00

Upon reaching the conclusion that the weight of evidence lay upon the side of Christianity, as well as other considerations, I embarked upon the time of life that is as exhilarating as it is dangerous. The time of the new convert.

The new convert enjoys a very particular kind of exhilaration and danger.

A man climbing the face of a mountain experiences exhilaration precisely because of the attending danger. However the new convert experiences the exhilaration while being quite oblivious to the danger. Which makes him all the more dangerous...

A new convert knows far less than he believes. And his belief in his knowledge carries with it all of the ferociousness of a man clinging to a lifeboat in a stormy sea. The convert may truly believe that he is only trying to pull his fellow travelers into the boat and thus save them from the waves which only too recently covered him. And he may be very correct that they are in need of saving. However it is more often the case that he seeks the reassurance of others confirming that it is, in fact, desirable to be in the boat.

And this is the explanation for so much of my behavior as a new convert. So many raging battles on matters both essential and trivial.

It is also the explanation so much (but not all) of what occurs on Catholic forums and comboxes. In these online battles I was far too often a participant or a cheerleader. Yet another desperate man gripping documents in tight fists and waging sad war against total strangers. Total strangers upon whom I was transferring my own fears, insecurities and doubts.

And there lies the danger. It was dangerous to me, because my motives were not nearly as pure as I imagined them to be. And it is dangerous to others, for in these exchanges I was seeking for myself rather than giving to another. I was a needy man wrestling another needy man. Instead mirroring the overflowing fullness of the Blessed Trinity, we were empty and trying to consume that which the other did not have.

I was locked in an empty and fruitless stalemate. An inverse mockery of the usual maxim of the humility that can come with maturity. As a youth, I knew nothing and knew that I knew nothing. As an adult, I knew nothing and was far more oblivious to by ignorance.

Of course, God would not let this situation go on forever... but that is a story for the next post...

042: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 12

2007-07-04T13:30:00.001-06:00

Episode #42. Turning points and exhortations. Mmmmm, tastes like chicken. Suspended in tension, we are "violently attacked" by Divine Grace. The three-layered man. We were made for union with each other and God. Are you letting birds build nests in your hair? Persevering in perseverance. Remote controls and garage-door openers as occasions for sin or virtue. Is Diet Mountain Dew necessary to enjoy the Beatific Vision? Is YOUR right hand baptized? God Himself is our reward.

Download as MP3

Duration: 55:25
File size: 51.96 MB
Catechism: 1767

Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Commentary on St. John of the Cross and the "delicate thread.", Matthew 5 - 7: The Sermon on the Mount, Galatians 5:13-17, flesh and spirit in opposition Into the Deep on Detachment: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

God bless the U.S.A.!

2007-07-04T10:02:00.001-06:00

Ordinary Work, Prelude, Part 1

2007-07-04T01:02:00.002-06:00

There is a maxim which states that young people believe that they know everything... and only with age does one come to appreciate their own ignorance.

I must complain that I have been cheated.

As a youth I was paralyzed at the immensity of what I did not know. To my young eyes, the universe was vast and God was elusive. I knew that there had to be a truth, but the world seemed to be cast aside by whatever intelligence had created it. We were alone... lost in a stormy sea of conflicting and equally arbitrary ideologies.

Each of those ideologies promised to be a safe harbor in the storm. They promised the truth and certainty that I craved. However I had decided that happiness was inferior to truth. A happiness built on illusion could only be an illusory happiness. And that just would not do.

And so I stood paralyzed as a man at an eternal crossroads. I stood there with my blind eyes and my fallen nature... the devil whispering words like caution, moderation, fanatic and loss. These were not arguments. They were just words and images. Argument falls within God's realm and He enjoys home field advantage there. Murky and nebulous fears are where the devil plays. And he is happy to let us stew and ponder for quite some time... as long as we never actually do anything... And I did nothing. For years.

Of course, God would not let this situation go on forever... but that is a story for the next post...

The Documentary Theory or the Graf-Welhausen Theory (Part 4)...

2007-06-23T01:12:00.001-06:00

In this, the final installment, I treat of the arguments against the GWDT and conclude with some reflections of my own. Here are the previous installments: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

The GWDT has been the dominant paradigm of Pentateuchal studies since Wellhausen published Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher A.T.s. in 1889.[1] There have been many opponents to the GWDT due to its highly subjective and artificial structure and from the conclusions that follow. Wellhausen proposed that the religion of Israel in its early forms was animistic and polytheistic[2]. It was not until much later with the final redactions of the Pentateuch and the preaching of the prophets that an ethical monotheism developed. As one can see, this reduces the history of early Judaism to nothing more than a “projection into the unknown and distant past of conditions prevailing in late ages”[3]. There are serious technical and philosophical problems with the GWDT that bring its correspondence with truth into question. In what follows, evidence undermining the GWDT will be presented.

A difficulty with the GWDT and its modern counterparts is the completely artificial character of its authorship spread over many centuries. Segal writes;

“Hebrew Literature, or any other literature all the world over, cannot show another example of the production of a literary work by such a succession of recurring amalgamations and such a succession of compilers and redactors centuries apart, all working by the same method, as attributed by the Theory to the formation of the Pentateuch[4].

Furthermore, reducing the entire Pentateuch into source fragments and traditions spread over a great deal of time reduces it to mere nonsense. There is an obvious unity that goes beyond simply a cut and paste-type of literature model. This is Revelation. Therefore, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts in a particularly unique way. There is an added component of the inspiration by the Holy Spirit that must be taken into account.

As stated above, the GWDT stands or falls on whether the first division of sources according to the naming of God. The problem arises when a particular divine name is found within a section that is purported to belong to a different source. Segal points out that in many instances in the Pentateuch the name used does not correspond with the appropriate source rendering the division by the names unreliable at best[5]. Furthermore, he demonstrates that in the Historical books (e.g., Judges, Samuel, Kings) of the Old Testament there are many examples of both YHWH and Elohim being used in such a manner that they can’t possibly be from different sources. Thus, other ancient Hebrew writers used the terms seemingly interchangeably in cases that cannot be ascribed to separate sources. Again, if the terms are used elsewhere interchangeably, how can they be used a criterion of division? Segal attributes the difference in usage to the purpose of variety in expression. Parallels exist in Ex 18 and 2 Sam 16 between “Jethro” and “the father-in-law” and “David” and “the king”, respectively[6].

Segal extends the use of literary variation to explain the main examples the adherents of the GWDT forward as examples of style and vocabulary differences which indicate separate sources[7]. First, the words and styles listed in Table 1 (here) are of the same dialect across the different sources. This is important because the GWDT uses particular words to assign a passage to a particular source. However, there is absolutely no proof that these lists are anything else but false, imposed criteria. How can one confidently state that a given word is always used by one source and not the other if any word could be used by any source? Isn’t it much more likely that the author is varying usage? He continues by analyzing pairs of synonyms that are used to differentiate sources. Thus, the pairs of words such as the use of Sinai and Horeb, for example, Segal explains that Horeb is used to indicate a wider area in which Sinai is a part. Sinai is used for the mountain itself. Concerning stylistic changes, Segal states;

The fact is that as soon as there is a change in subject matter in the Pentateuch, there is immediately also a change of vocabulary and style. The difference of style cannot therefore be attributed to a change of document[8].

This makes perfect sense. When anyone writes the “voice” or style of writing changes with the subject of what is being written. Certainly, I would use a different tone when laying down the law to my children, when comforting them, or teaching them about God. If one took the entire corpus of an individual and applied the GWDT, there would be many sources indicated due to stylistic differences between the subject matter that that one person wrote about.

Lastly, Segal calls the gradation set up by the criterion of ideology “nothing more than a hasty generalization in the hackneyed evolutionary method, unsupported by facts”[9]. There are anthropomorphic and anthropopathic elements in Scripture and other ancient texts that is known to be of much later writing, e.g., Daniel and the late Aggadah of the Talmud, respectively.

Evidence that questions the conclusion of the GWDT concerning Mosaic authorship comes from the Scriptures themselves. There are several allusions to Mosaic authorship in the Old Testament; moreover, there is even more convincing evidence supplied in the New Testament[10]. The Jews, apostles, and even the Lord himself attributed the authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses. Christ even states that Moses wrote of him in Jn 5:45-47[11]. This is not to suggest that Moses wrote every single word of the entire Pentateuch. It does suggest, however, that Moses wrote at least some portion of it.

In sum, any theory to be valid must forward reasonable hypotheses that are based on fact that can withstand strident analysis of its conclusions. It should be obvious from this brief survey of the development and conclusions of the GWDT that it is fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned. Under the scrutiny of modern archeology, philology, and reason, the GWDT collapses. I am not an Old Testament scholar such that I can propose an alternate theory. However, I can say that I am not against the use of modern biblical criticism in Scripture study. I do not hold to a rigid Mosaic authorship that doesn’t allow for any other additions or redactor's involvement in the development of the text. My main concern with this essay is to reveal the weaknesses in the GWDT so that the near Magisterial status that it currently enjoys will be shattered by studies, such as Segal’s, that have been around for decades. There needs to be a fresh start free from the uncritically accepted philosophical presuppositions that undergird the GWDT, and the vestiges of the long term acceptance of it.

The GWDT did not come into being in a vacuum. There was a particular scientific, philosophical, and theological milieu that facilitated its development. It is important to understand the intellectual environment of the time just as in an analogous manner we must understand the cultural milieu surrounding the composition of the Scriptures in order to understand them properly. There is always a danger to bring uncritically accepted philosophical presuppositions to a text which colors our ability to see things clearly. They are most dangerous when one does not admit to the bias and thinks that they are the truly objective ones. This type of intellectual pride and blindness poses a grave danger to honest intellectual investigation. Thus, one must maintain humility before the text and the truth such that one is ever ready to modify or even abandon one’s position when clear data is presented to the contrary. Biblical criticism in all its forms is not undesirable. However, it violates its own objective of better understanding of the Scriptures when it loses the search for truth for the maintenance of a certain theory. That, in my opinion, is exactly is what has happened with the GWDT. It flowed from a rationalistic, agnostic mindset that was imbued the fashionable philosophical formulation of the day, namely, Hegelian Idealism. Wellhausen “frankly admitted that his interpretation of this history was deeply influenced by the Hegelian concepts of Vatke”[12]. The Hegelian notion of everything progressing from thesis over to antithesis finally to a new synthesis deeply underlies the GWDT. There is always progress – evolution from the more primitive to the more advanced. Thus, the Jewish religion must have been more primitive early on and developed into something more advanced over time. In this notion of the ‘evolution’ of history and man, it follows that the sophisticated theology and ‘spiritual’ writing of the P editor came much later than the crude anthropomorphisms of the J editor, although the premises are not true as shown in this essay. This means that the Pentateuch does not describe the beginning, the foundation of the faith of the Jews but the final result of a particular development of religion. In my opinion, that conclusion is to be rejected. Thus, the GWDT has a certain error within its foundation, viz., the inexorable progress to the ideal.

There seems to be a strong undercurrent of post-Enlightenment rationalism that infects Scriptural exegesis. In fact, I was reading a statement by a current exegete (I cannot remember who, I just remember the comment) who stated that to be an effective exegete one must be a “functional atheist”. This is in direct contradistinction to the teaching of the Church. Certainly, the Church affirms that the human authors were true authors[13]. Thus, we must use all the proper techniques possible to ascertain their intention since their assertion is the assertion of the Holy Spirit[14]. I understand the concern of encouraging a certain fundamentalism that leans towards a literal interpretation that the sacred authors took dictation from God. However, we must pay special attention to the following concept:

But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written[15] (emphasis mine).

There is a place for and deep need for reason informed by faith. In my opinion, the fact that these texts have the Holy Spirit as their author should be foremost in one’s mind as they are approached. An attitude of deep prayer, intimacy with Christ Jesus, and docility to the Holy Spirit must be the mark of the Scriptural exegete prior to any intellectual acumen. This will be the interior ‘environment’ from which deep insight will flow.

[1]Segal, 1.

[2] Robert and Feuillet, 85.

[3]Segal, 2.

[4]Segal, 4.

[5]Segal, 10.

[6] Ibid, 14

[7] Ibid 14-19

[8] Segal 19

[9] Ibid

[10] Robert and Feuillet, 94.

[11] “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” Jn 5:45-47.

[12] Robert and Feuillet, 85

[13]Dei Verbum, 11.

[14] Ibid.

[15]Catechism of the Catholic Church. United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1997, #111.

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus...

2007-06-15T14:31:00.000-06:00

“In biblical language, "heart" indicates the centre of the person where his sentiments and intentions dwell. In the Heart of the Redeemer we adore God's love for humanity, his will for universal salvation, his infinite mercy. Practising devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ therefore means adoring that Heart which, after having loved us to the end, was pierced by a spear and from high on the Cross poured out blood and water, an inexhaustible source of new life” (Benedict XVI, Angelus 5 June 2005).

You Can't Expect Him to get Circumcised...

2007-06-14T07:02:00.000-06:00

Pretty well done article on the new book by Pope Benedict (or for the purposes of this book, J. Ratzinger), and particularly a chapter where the Ratzinger engages with the arguments of a "contentious" rabbi (well done for TIME/CNN, anyway, they did call Ratzinger "preoccupied" with the divinity of Jesus). But the article is very interesting, and the book sounds great.

Rabbi Jacob Neusner says, "If religion matters, and it does, then it's not honest to be indifferent to the convictions of others." He's describing his attitude in writing his own book, "A Rabbi talks to Jesus" in which he finds Jesus "faulty" in his interpretation of Jewish law, and Christianity itself, "flawed." The Holy Father himself took a similar attitude on being honest about differences in the CDF document, Dominus Iesus, highlighting both the areas of agreement and disagreement between Catholic and non-Catholic Christians.

In any event, Ratzinger discusses Neusner's book in Jesus of Nazareth, and according to Time,

... Neusner was "amazed" when he heard that Ratzinger, now Pope, has revisited [his book] in detail--and in print. When a papal confidant told the Catholic News Service that it was "one of the reasons" Benedict had undertaken his entire two-volume Jesus of Nazareth project, the somewhat puzzled but delighted professor called it "an academic love letter!"

I particularly like Neusner's reaction to Ratzingers' treatment of his arguments and conclusions,

"You can't expect him to get circumcised," he says. "He's still a Christian, and I'm still a practitioner of Judaism. But the two positions can consider the same text and identify where they converge and where they part company. I think it's terrific."

... Asked what he would like to write next, Neusner says, "I'd like to do a book with the Pope about Paul," whose letter, Romans, contains verses that have long bedeviled Jewish-Christian relations. He is half-joking. But what if the Pope said yes? What new wonder might emerge when two smart men agree to disagree but then keep talking?

Mmmmm..... that would be an interesting read.

041: The Spiritual Combat - Ch. 11, Part 2

2007-06-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Episode #41. The depth of God's love in the Incarnation and the Passion. Why in the heck am I doing this? Reflecting on Christ's sufferings. Soft, middle class, suburban Christianity. Christ did not come to bring heaven on earth. He came to proclaim the Kingdom. Participating in the suffering of Christ. Choosing between Jesus and Barabbas. The radical call to love of enemies. The tremendous gift of the Eucharist. Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Active meditation on the love of God. The battle with yourself.

Download as MP3

Duration: 42.35
File size: 39.0 MB
Scripture: Mark 1
Related resources: The Spiritual Combat, Jesus of Nazareth, I Believe In Love, Salvifici Doloris, Called to Communion

Who's Violating Ancient Customs?

2007-06-12T16:09:00.000-06:00

National Review's Mark Krikorian calls what the leader of the Episcopal Church in the US is doing, "Chutzpah" - I call it "hard to take"...

[Mark Krikorian]
The head of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, is complaining about Nigerian Anglican bishops coming to Virginia this weekend to formally install the head of the conservative breakaway denomination in this country. Here's what she said: "Such action would violate the ancient customs of the church."

I kid you not. The female head of a church with a practicing homosexual bishop planning to "marry" his lover, a church that could accept into seminary the adulterous homosexual governor of New Jersey, a church that embraces splitting open babies' skulls and vacuuming their brains out, is complaining about violating ancient customs? Wow.

In addition, if you read the bit about the former governor, you find out that he made a baby with his wife before bailing on her and the mother for his "true identity" and now in the course of the obligatory custody battle, this:

While in office, McGreevey's pro-choice political stance put him at odds with the Catholic church. And soon after his resignation, McGreevey began attending Episcopal services. A central point of contention between the McGreeveys in their divorce is whether their 5-year-old daughter, being raised Catholic by Matos McGreevey, should be allowed to accept communion while at services with her father.

As if it were the parents who decide if it should be allowed! But don't worry, he won't become an Episcopal priest without a lot of discernment:

Of the Episcopal discernment protocols, Bean said: "There's a whole process that takes place within his parish here at St. Bart's, of discernment. That is followed by a process of further discernment at the diocesan level, involving the bishop and all. The decision to go to seminary is part of a more thorough process of discernment to ordination. It's not just going to seminary that gets you ordained ... It's a pretty extensive.

"Discernment on top of extensive discernment on top of protocols on top of further discernment. Not that McGreevey's judgement is questionable or anything, but maybe a little "common sense" and a little less "discernment" are required here?