The great reason for this transfiguration was to remove the scandal of the cross from the hearts of his disciples, and to prevent the humiliation of his voluntary suffering from disturbing the faith of those who had witnessed the surpassing glory that lay concealed. (Pope Leo the Great, +461)
Month: February 2021
Almsgiving in the Twenty-first Century
“Grace builds on nature.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas) This statement from Saint Thomas’s Summa[1] expresses in succinct form the theological insight that creation and redemption are the work of the same God, and hence, at their best, will be in harmony with one another. Consider in this light Saint Paul’s altruistic concern for the needy Christians[…]
Amazon’s Censorship and Southwell’s Truth
Censorship on a scale even Orwell couldn’t imagine in 1984 is ramping up, only four decades or so off his predicted date, but here we are: Amazon has just erased Ryan Anderson’s factual, science-based book on transgenderism – vaporized from the shelves of the distribution giant. (And just wait until we see the constraining effects[…]
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities (François-Marie Arouet, or Voltaire, +1722)
When I Die, Do I Want to Be a…Tree?
This phrase recently appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in an article on the greening of death, a quote from Susan Koswan, a Waterloo writer and environmental activist. It is not my intention here to judge anyone’s particular religious beliefs, but to point out how far we have drifted from the Christian belief in the resurrection[…]
Let us look more closely at the hidden meaning of this parable. The sheep is more than a sheep, the shepherd more than a shepherd. They are examples enshrining holy truths. They teach us that we should not look on men as lost or beyond hope; we should not abandon them when they are in[…]
Saint Henry Morse, Priest of the Plague
I stumbled on this absorbing short film on the life of the English martyr, Saint Henry Morse (+1645), who spent significant part of his secret missionary apostolate ministering to plague victims, in what was still-anti-Catholic Britain under Charles I (who was married to the Catholic Henriette Maria). His life, like all the lives of the[…]
Clarification on ‘Peace’ and ‘Violence’
A local on-line magazine seems to have quoted me in a way that may be misconstrued: So for those of you in the local area, and even those further afield, here is what I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the events on Capitol Hill: Ah, yes, great is the power of steady misrepresentation,[…]
Fare Thee Well, Cardinal Sarah!
Say in ain’t so! But it is – Robert Cardinal Sarah’s resignation as Head of the Congregation for Divine Worship has been accepted by the Holy Father, after the renowned Guinean cardinal turned 75. In his own words: Today, the Pope accepted the resignation of my office as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship[…]
Leave me as I am. The one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails (Saint Polycarp, +155)