Tag Archives: Image of God

Lemmings

11 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by in Transformation in Christ, von Hildebrand

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I have been told recently that lemmings don’t actually jump off cliffs to their certain doom. But the common misconception that they do fits with the point I want to make today. Even if lemmings do not throw themselves en masse off a cliff there is one species that does tend to do so: human beings. Let me explain what I mean by starting with a quote from von Hildebrand.

The behavior of unconscious persons is dictated by their nature. They tacitly identify themselves with whatever response their nature suggests to them. They have not yet discovered the possibility of emancipating themselves, by virute of their free personal center, from their nature; they make no use as yet of this primordial capacity inherent in the personal mode of being. Hence their responses to values, even when they happen to be adequate, will always have something accidental about them. Their attitudes lack that character of explicitness and full consciousness which is a prerequisite of meeting in a really apposite way the demand emdbodied in the values. For what the values claim of us is not assent pure and simple, an assent which might as well be a fortuitous efflux of our natural dispostions; it is a fully conscious, rational, and explicit assent, given by the free center of our personality. By such an answer alone does a personal being adequately honor the values and their call, which is addressed to each of us in sovereign majesty, irrespective of his individual dispositions.

Transformation in Christ, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Ignatius Press 2001, p. 62-3

The way he is using ‘unconscious person’ does not mean someone who is asleep or who has been knocked out. What he means is the same thing that I mean when I refer to human beings as lemmings. The actions of unconscious persons/lemmings are “dictated by their nature.” But here another clarification is needed, because when he says ‘nature’ I think we should understand him to mean our fallen nature. In other words, those who go through life as slaves to their various inclinations.

With this in mind we can understand what he means by saying, “Hence their responses to values, even when they happen to be adequate, will always have something accidental about them.” Values are those things which are good and, therefore, make a demand on us. The demand is of an action to be taken on our part in response to the good. For instance, if we see someone bleeding on the ground with a knife in his chest, then the good we are called to do is to try to save the person and call an ambulance. And it is not just a good deed we are called to do, but we should recognize the injured person as good. In fact, the good of the person is the main reason we should perform the good act of helping him.

But for the unconscious person/lemming, if his response happens to be adequate in a given situation, it is only accidental. Lemmings, like a school of fish, just follow along with the rest of the group: if the group makes a moral choice in a certain situation then so will they. But not because it is the right or moral thing to do, but because everyone else is doing it. And it is here that we can see how people behave like lemmings.

At one point in this country the prevailing current of thought would say that a particular belief or action is wrong; for instance, homosexual acts, pornography, abortion, contraception, and the list could go on and on. But now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction on these issues and they are viewed as good. (As if that which is truly good could be arbitrary.) Why did this happen? Quite simply because too many people in our society act like lemmings. They don’t question the behavior of the group and just go along with the crowd – right off the cliff.

In order to correct this problem we are told by von Hildebrand that our decisions and actions need to be made with a “fully conscious, rational, and explicit assent, given by the free center of our personality.” In other words we shouldn’t just go along with the crowd. It is ironic, therefore, that that is how much of society view Catholics: as people who have just bought into a bunch of rules and regulations against what is happening in secular society. But this couldn’t be further from the truth for the real Catholic. A true Catholic follows the teachings of the Church not because everyone else is doing it but because of what it is: it is the teaching of Jesus Christ. After all, if Christ is who He said He is – God – then what He revealed to us must be true and good. And if it is true and good then it deserves our freely given and fully conscious adherence.

But I need to return to the main point and it is this – we are not lemmings and therefore we should stop acting like them. Yes, like lemmings we are creatures made by God but we, unlike them, were made in the image and likeness of God. We have rational souls and therefore have the ability to know right from wrong. As a result we should choose and do the good but not just because it is what a Catholic is supposed to do. To act in that manner would just make us lemmings in religious clothing. Instead, we choose and do the good because we recognize within it that which is true. We are drawn to the good and desire it because in it we see God.

 

On Loving God and Our Neighbor

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by in Catholic Obligations, Eternal Life, Forgiveness, Loving our Neighbor, Salvation, Sermons, Theosis

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Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

October 26, 2014

 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” These words of our Savior, which we have just heard, are repeated at this parish everyday at every Anglican Use Mass. It is very good for us to hear these words at every Mass so that we are constantly reminded of our need to put God first by loving Him above all things; but, when something becomes so familiar to us we can develop a tendency to ignore its true meaning. What does it mean to love God with your entire being? This is a very serious question to which we must have the correct answer so that we can rightly order our lives toward God. But in addition, without the right understanding for the love of God we will not know how to keep the second of our Lord’s commands: to love our neighbor as ourselves. So, what does it mean to love God with all your heart, soul and mind? Before looking for the answer I want to address modern man’s take on this question.

 

In our secular and pluralistic society, modern man asks a similar but altogether different question. Instead of asking how to rightly love God, modern society demands an answer to the question “Why should we love God, if there is one? What has He ever done for us?” And even we as Catholics, and who claim to love God, don’t always prove it. Too often in our speech we say we love God, but in our actions towards Him we show a profound indifference. We let our lives get in the way of loving God by saying to ourselves – I just don’t have time go to Mass this Sunday, or to pray, or go to adoration, or to do some work of mercy. By so doing we functionally become agnostics because through our actions we ask the same question that our modern society constantly asks – why should we love God? Continue reading →

The Deafness of Indifference

22 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Catholic Obligations, Eternal Life, Sermons, Theosis

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Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

September 21, 2014

There is one theme of today’s Gospel reading that is readily apparent: those who work in the Lord’s vineyard will all receive the same pay – that being eternal life. But it seems to me that there is a second, less obvious theme, which is what I want to discuss today.

The first thing to notice is that the owner of the vineyard goes out at the first part of the day to hire workers for his vineyard. Next, notice that he goes back at the third hour and sees others “standing idle in the market place” who he hires and sends into the vineyard. Then at the sixth and ninth hours the owner returns yet again and finds more workers who he hires and sends into his vineyard. Finally, at the eleventh hour, the last hour before the end of the day, the owner returns once again to the market place and finds others just standing around. He demands of them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” And they respond, “Because no one has hired us.”

It is at this point in the story that you can feel the tension, which has been building throughout the parable, reach its culmination. Here it seems the owner could have said with a sense of exasperation, “What do you mean by saying that no one has hired you?! I have come to the market place four other times looking for workers but you were too lazy to take any notice.”

But, even though these words were not spoken by the owner, they do seem to be implied by what he does say next, “You go in the vineyard too.” In order to understand what he is really saying we must understand the grammar of this sentence. First notice that the owner does not say ‘please’. And there is a reason for this: in the Greek the word used for ‘you go’ is an imperative. In effect, he is telling all those who are still standing around at the eleventh hour to get out there and do something! I would say it is not unlike when a parent has told their children to clean their rooms multiple times and then finally has to command them to do it. But even then, as we all know, children can be disobedient.

And what is the meaning of this secondary theme of the parable? How are we to understand it? First of all, it is obvious that the owner of the vineyard is God. And the workers in the vineyard are those who have received God’s call and responded to it by doing the work they have been hired to do. As for those in the market place, they represent the rest of mankind that has not yet responded to the call of God: that being those who have never heard the Gospel, or those who have heard it and rejected it. And the day in which the work is to be done represents our lives. By breaking the day up into the various hours our Lord is showing us that God is continually calling us to go out and do the work that He has for us to do. He is constantly pleading with us to not be idle. It is this sense of urgency that is reinforced by our Lord’s use of the imperative “You go into the vineyard too.” But, we must ask this question: why is there such a sense of urgency?

To answer this question we must look to what happened “when evening came” in the parable. The evening represents the end of this life that will come to each and every one of us. In regards to the end of this life, the Catechism tells us that “death lends urgency to our lives” and that “remembering our mortality helps us realize that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfillment.” It is this ‘bringing of our lives to fulfillment’ which is the reason that God is continually and tirelessly calling us into His vineyard to work. And this ‘work’ that He has given us to do is nothing less than preparing ourselves, and others through evangelization, for life everlasting. This work is accomplished through receiving the Sacraments, obeying the precepts and teachings of the Church, performing the spiritual and corporeal works of mercy, avoiding evil and doing good; in short, the work God has put before us is that of allowing ourselves to be transformed into the image of His Son. And this can only be accomplished if we heed God’s call, go out into the vineyard, and fulfill the purpose that He has for our lives.

But there is an alternative outcome which this parable does not address, but is addressed by many other parables. We are not told in this parable what happens to those who never responded to God’s call. What about those who just stood around the market place all day doing nothing? The owner of the vineyard will tell them, “Get out of my sight – you are not worthy of my generosity. All day I have called to you and you have not responded. But now, the day is over and there is no more work that can be done in order to receive what I was ready to give you. You have made your choice and it cannot be unmade.” If this sounds harsh then remember the parable of the sheep and the goats, or the parable of the wheat and the tares, or many other of our Lord’s parables. There will come a day for us when it is too late to accept what God is offering to us.

One of the main duties of the clergy is to share with God in this calling of people to go out into the vineyard and work. Therefore, I implore you to hear me: God has a unique calling for you, something that no one else can do in quite the same way. And that is why He is continually calling to us, shouting to us, and trying to break through the deafness of our indifference. This life does not last forever, but God does give each of us a lifetime to choose to follow Him. We cannot wait until the last hour is over because then it will be too late. Again hear the words of our Lord today, “You go into the vineyard.”

Why Do ‘They’ Hate Us?

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Love, Loving our Neighbor

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Although the ‘They’ listed in the title could refer to anyone that hates us, can also be seen as connected to my last two posts. As we start with this consideration of why people hate one another let us first consider what hatred really is. It seems to me that hatred is the effect of giving into the selfishness of being offended by the action of another. It is the desiring of evil to happen to the one who harmed us. (Whether or not the harm done was real or only perceived does not really matter. What matters is that someone feels slighted in some way and therefore hates the one who hurt them.) On the other hand, love is desiring the good of the ‘other’, even if they have harmed us.

The desire to hate and the lack of love, therefore, can be seen to be the cause of most (all?) conflict amongst mankind. So if we want to resolve conflict it seems that we must ask how do we avoid (or rid ourselves of) hatred? To this question someone might say, “Why should I want to get rid of hatred? The person that did _______ (here fill in your own offense) is bad and deserves to be hated.”

The reason we should rid ourselves of hatred is because we are not God. Hatred, it seems to me, comes from our desire to be the ‘God’ of our own lives, e.g., I don’t have things go the way I want them to and therefore I punish with my hatred the one who harmed me. (Not that I would or should do this – it is only an example.) It was the sin of Adam and Eve that introduced this disorder into the life of mankind. But the order that we were created for is that of love; a love based on God the Creator creating us out of love and for love: both love of God and love of those made in His Image: our fellow man. And this love, the love we were created for, is only possible if we live our lives in knowledge of the fact that we, the individual, are not God. We are creatures, who if we would act in love towards others as we were created to do, would see the true evil that lies within hatred. And as a result, we would no longer want to hate anyone. At least it seems to me this is the way that a Christian should see things.

So in answer to the question of why do ‘they’ hate us: in regards to those Muslims who do hate us, perhaps it is something within Islam that causes them to see things in a completely different light than a Christian would. Of course that would not make it right for them to hate us but it at least would help us understand why they hate us. But I am not a Muslim scholar and do not know what it is that might make them see things differently than us. If anyone has the answer please feel free to say so.

The ‘Religion of Peace’

11 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by in Forgiveness, Salvation

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For a few weeks now I have been planning to do a piece on Islam. And today, the anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attacks on this country, seems to be a good day to reflect on the so-called ‘religion of peace’ and what was done to the people of this country 13 years ago. (And which continues to be done today in other parts of the world.)

Let us first get one thing straight: I am not saying that there are no peaceful Muslims. I am sure some of them are. But I believe it to be a lie to call Islam a religion of peace. Now I would imagine, in our politically correct society, that there are many people who would take offense at my calling the 9/11 attacks an ‘Islamic terriost attack’. They would say that it was only the ‘extremists’ that performed the attacks. But, let us be real, it was an Islamic attack. To deny this would be to say that the people who perpetrated the attacks were not Muslim, which would be untrue. To this someone might respond, “Yes, but many members of the Mafia are Roman Catholic, and they are responsible for many horrible crimes as well.” That is true, but it is not their Catholic faith that motivates their evil deeds. In fact, the Church denounces any such evil deeds done by one of its members or any evil done by anyone else for that matter. On the other hand, the same cannot be said of the 9/11 attacks or any of the things going on in the Middle East at this time. The actions 13 years ago and the atrocities being committed right now are very much an outgrowth of the religion of Islam, which is evidenced by the fact that the terrorists are directly motivated by the teachings of Muhammad.

But most people don’t want to think critically about such things. They just want to believe what the media tells them over and over and over again – Islam is a religion of peace. It is not hard to discover how big a lie this is. Here are some examples of what I am talking about. (There is much more that can be found at the website located here.)

Quran (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.”

Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

And that is not all. In total there are “at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.” (From the above mentioned website.) To this some might say, “Yes, but jihad is supposed to be understood as a spiritual struggle.” Good luck convincing the family of James Foley and countless others throughout Islam’s history of that particular bit of nonsense.

 

Now that is enough about the whole religion of peace nonsense. If you still believe in that then go and see what the teachings of Islam really say instead taking your opinion from the talking heads on TV.

My main purpose is not to show how bad Islam really is. Instead, my main purpose today is to call for forgiveness toward those Muslims who have done such evil things against others. This is a case of hate the sin but love the sinner. On days like today when we remember such senseless evil done to us we can very easily become upset and angry, even to the point of hatred for those who do such evil deeds. When this kind of evil is done against a person or group of people there are sometimes those who will say, “I can never forgive them for that.” But as Christians we cannot allow ourselves to fall into such a trap. Yes, what was done was very evil, but look at the evil that was done to Christ and what did He say from the Cross? “Father forgive them.”

We need to understand that by giving forgiveness we are not condoning the evil that is done agaist us. Instead, when we forgive others we are saying in effect, “What you did to me was wrong, but, I do not hold it against you.” And why should we do this? Well, for one, Jesus told us, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27b-28, RSV-CE) And in addition He said “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Those are very strong words which show us the importance of forgiving others. We must remember that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, but if we do not give forgiveness to others, even to our worst enemies, then God will not forgive us either.

And why is this? Why does God require us to forgive and why did Jesus forgive His tormentors from the Cross? In fact, why did Jesus, the Son of God, die for us in the first place? Because each and every one of us, whether we be Muslim, Jew, Christian, atheist, or whatever, are made in the image and likeness of God and He desires all those who He has created to be with Him in Heaven.

And all of this brings up a final point. We should be concerned with those who are trapped within the religion of Islam. In our egalitarian “any religion is good as any other” mentality we do not understand what it means to be a Muslim. The people within it, especially the women, cannot just leave and join themselves to another religion if they feel so called. Muslims who dare to convert to Christianity are quite literally risking their lives because other Muslims, even their own family members, will kill them rather than let them leave Islam. Yes, the religion of Islam is a hateful, despotic, and even evil religion that has led to much suffering for centuries throughout the world. But those who are within it are still people in need of salvation and to carry around hatred in our hearts for them is equivalent to wishing them to hell. What we must do instead is forgive, pray for, and if possible, evangelize Muslims for the sake of their souls and our own.

The (God-)Man in the Mirror

11 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Free Will, God's Will, Saints, Theosis

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(Jesus Christ) is the brightness of eternal glory, the splendour of eternal light, the mirror without spot.

Look into that mirror daily, O queen and spouse of Jesus Christ, and ever study therein your countenance, that within and without you may adorn yourself with all manner of virtues, and clothe yourself with the flowers and garments that become the daughter and chaste spouse of the most high King. In that mirror are reflected poverty, holy humility and ineffable charity, as, with the grace of God, you may perceive.

From a letter of St. Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague

In the above quote from St. Clare of Assisi we have an interesting analogy presented to us. Here she likens Christ to a mirror. I have seen analogies similar to this one, but only in reverse: that Christians are to be a mirror that reflects Christ back to the world. So, when I first read this from St. Clare I was a little puzzled at what she could mean. Then it occurred to me: what do we usually see in a mirror? The answer is ourselves. And yet to truly be a follower of Christ we cannot be turned in on ourselves in such a manner. And that is why she tells Blessed Agnes, as well as us, to “look into that mirror (that is Christ) daily.” It is through the daily acquiring of virtues that we must seek to become more conformed to the image of Christ.

But, we tend to fight against this idea of conforming to any image other than our own. In fact, too often we want the image of Christ to conform to our own idea of what He is supposed to look like. Sure, we want to become better people and be more Christ-like but we don't want it to be too hard and so we force Christ into the mold we have made for Him. We do this because we are scared that we will lose ourselves if we give ourselves over completely to Christ. And yet, that is what He has demanded of us. (“For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matt 16:25)

It is our own pride and willfulness that keeps us from conforming ourselves to Christ. But we must remember that God created our souls to be perfectly aligned with His own Divine Will and, therefore, if we hand our wills over to Him then it is impossible to lose ourselves. In fact, to hand ourselves over to God is the only way to become perfectly who we are and who God has always intended for us to be. It is only then that we will be able to look in the mirror and see ourselves transformed into the likeness of Christ.

 

Body, Soul, and Spirit

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Philosophy, Stratford Caldecott

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Most people understand that mankind consists of both a body and a soul. And very often the words spirit and soul are used interchangeably in this understanding of the makeup of mankind. But today I want to make you aware of a distinction between the meaning of the words soul and spirit, which can help us to understand better how we are made in the image of God.

There is within the Tradition of the Church an understanding that man is not just body, and soul; but body, soul, and spirit. This understanding stretches back at least to St. Paul as we see in the verse below.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23, RSV-CE)

In the various writings of the saints there are some that have separated this into three separate 'parts'–body, soul, and spirit–(although to speak in such a way is misleading because man is a unified whole and not a compilation of parts) and some who separated man into body, and soul/spirit with the spirit being a deeper or more important part of the soul. Between these two options the Church seems to favor the latter. In §366 of the Catechism it refers to the soul as the “spiritual soul.” And in §367, when referring to St. Paul's passage above, it states that the “Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul.”

This third aspect of our makeup–that of the spirit–is important because it helps us to understand ourselves as made in God's image. First of all, when we include spirit with the usual body and soul understanding, then we can see man made with a tripartite nature, which is analogous to God as a Trinity of persons. And from this, according to St. Teresa of the Cross, we can see “the human soul, body, and spirit corresponding to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively. (The Radiance of Being, p.209) But more importantly for us, because we are all fallen and sinful, the inclusion of spirit with body and soul can help us to understand our sinful condition. This is explained below:

…the three parts of the human being explain the threefold concupiscence. They correspond to the three archetypal sins, since Eve took the fruit in Eden because it was (1) good for food, (2) a delight to the eye, and (3) desirable for wisdom–sins enveloping respectively body, soul, and spirit–that had to be overcome at their triple root by Christ in the wilderness and by divine grace operating in the Christian life through fasting, almsgiving, and prayer (and through chastity, poverty, and obedience in the religious state.)

The Radiance of Being, p.207, Stratford Caldecott

What We ‘Will Be’

05 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Saints, Salvation, Stratford Caldecott, Theosis

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Yesterday was St. Jean Marie Vianney’s feast day. I had intended on posting this on his feast day but, as so often happens, other things got in the way. Below is part of a short biography – the rest of which can be found here.

St. Jean Marie Vianney (1786-1859) was born in a time of intense persecution of priests in revolutionary France. As a child, his parents helped to hide faithful priests and took their children to secret Masses in old barns and private homes. The young Jean Marie showed an extraordinary piety and love for the blessed Mother…Finally, at the age of 19, his father allowed him to study with a holy priest, Fr. Balley, who had survived the time of persecution. Yet, Jean Marie was already much older than his classmates and had great difficulty learning Latin. Later, after a brief and unsuccessful time in the seminary, he was allowed to complete his studies with his priest-mentor. Having failed twice in his examinations, he was finally allowed to take the examination in the supportive presence of Fr. Balley, and this time succeeded.

From the little that I know about St. Jean it appears that he knew early in his life what he was called to do – he knew he was to be a priest. Even though various circumstances kept him from pursuing the priesthood as early as he would have liked, he never gave up on God’s call for his life. And even through all the struggles he had in his studies and failing his examinations twice he still did not give up. When it appeared that everyone had given up on him, he did not give up on God’s call for his life.

But, in contrast to St. Jean Vianney’s life, let us consider the lives of those who do not hold fast to what God is calling them to do. I will explain what I mean by an example from my own experience. In a similar fashion to St. Jean, early in my own life I too felt called to some form of ministry within the Church. Although, I had no idea what that meant for my life because, at the time, I was Baptist and definitely did not feel called to be a Baptist ‘preacher’ (which is term we used instead of pastor). But because of this general sense of a vocation that I had, I assumed from an early age that I would one day go to seminary. And in preparation for seminary, once I entered my second year of college I started to study philosophy.

Now, when you are in college it is typical for people to ask you what you are studying. And whenever I was asked that question and responded, “Philosophy” I would commonly get responses like these: “What on earth are you going to do with that degree?” or “Can you make any money with a such a degree?” And even after I explained I was planning on going to seminary many people would still have a disapproving look on their face because of my choice of studies. Such are the dangers of pursuing what you feel called by God to do I suppose.

But eventually that whole mindset got to me – the pragmatic mindset that questions the value of the search for truth and the acquiring of knowledge simply because it has nothing practical to offer. This was part of the reason that I eventually stopped studying philosophy in college. (Although there were also other factors that led to my leaving the study of philosophy.)

Looking back at my life I can say that the point at which I stopped studying philosophy coincides with the point at which I started to lose the sense of a call from God; in other words, I lost my sense of purpose. This is evidenced by the fact that, after that point, I started little by little to lose any sense of direction in my life – I did not have any idea of what I was supposed to do or even of what I wanted to do. During this time I was just the same as the man who had been given one talent by his master but, instead of doing anything with it, he went and hid it in the ground. (Matthew 25:18) But of course we mustn’t hide our talent in the ground because we know what will happen to us if we do: we will be “cast…into the outer darkness (where) men will weep and gnash their teeth.” There is a question that may be asked, though: why is the punishment so harsh for not using the ‘talent’ that God gives you?

The answer to that question can be found in the following quote:

God creates in his eternity, where he already sees the intellectual creature as it ‘will be’ when it has arrived at deifying union with himself. Each moment of the intellectual creature’s actual journey to God is thus at once a new event and a deeper realization of what has always already been true.

The Radiance of Being p.174-5, by Stratford Caldecott

Christians know that God created mankind in His own image. We also know that God loves us. But we need to truly understand and believe these things, and the implications that come from them, if we are to understand the Parable of the Talents and the reason why we should not waste time as I did earlier in my life. We need to understand that God knows us and loves us as we ‘will be’ at the end of time – without all the sin and attachment to sin that we now suffer from. Yes, of course he loves us as we are right now, but how we are right now is not good enough! Jesus revealed to us the need to be perfect and that is what God expects from us. And in order to arrive at the destination of what we ‘will be’ at the end of time we must start our journey right now. Who we are here on this earth is intimately tied to who we ‘will be’ at the end of time. And our perfection then will reflect back to God something that no other creature will be able to duplicate. Out of His infinite love God desires for each of us to reach that perfection that already exists in His mind and that is why He is never satisfied with how far we progress here on this earth.

And it is that point that brings up a crucial difference between the life of St. Jean and my own life. St. Jean never ceased pursuing God’s plan for his life, although it may have been delayed by things out of his control. But I did leave God’s plan for my life behind, at least for a while. And I would imagine that there are many other people that have done the same thing in their own lives. And if that is the case for you as it was for me then bring to mind the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. In that parable there were many throughout the day that the owner of the vineyard noticed just standing around and doing nothing. And throughout the day the owner came back to these directionless and lazy people over and over again imploring them to go work: in other words, to put their talent to use. Some of them were like St. Jean – they immediately went out at the first part of the day when they were called. Others, like myself, were lazy and waited until much later. And why do we do that? Perhaps because we despair of ever being able to complete the task we have been assigned.

But just because we cannot reach that perfection that is expected of us here on this earth does not mean that we should just give up and wait around, doing nothing. The lessons we learn from the parables of the talents and the workers in the vineyard gives us proof. If we just sit on the sidelines of this life and don’t use that which God Himself has given to us then we are telling Him with our actions (or lack thereof) that we do not love Him. God created us to know and to love Him but we will never know or love Him unless we strive with our entire being to seek Him out. And our very being includes that special talent that God has given to each and every one of us. And from the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard we know that if we will heed the call of our Lord to go and work – to put to use that talent He has given us – then even if we do so at the end of the day we will receive our reward from Him.

In imitation of St. Jean Vianney, it would have been much better for me to immediately go into the vineyard and start doing the work God has called me to do. Nevertheless, I thank God that even though I gave up on Him during part of my life, He never gave up on me. There is so much time that I wasted, which I truly lament. And as a result of that wasted time there are things that I should have learned years ago that I am only just now discovering. But I let that loss spur me on to do right now what I can to fulfill that which God has called me to do. To do so is to begin to become what I ‘will be’ and in fact what I already am in the mind of God.

Apples, Cats, and Demonic Thinking

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Josef Pieper, Philosophy, Pro-Life, St. Thomas Aquinas

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Caveat: in my writings about philosophy please understand that I do not consider myself an expert and could be mistaken about what I am writing. I am writing with the purpose of working these things out in my mind and using my blog as a means of recording my thoughts and tracking my progress in this very complicated subject. Of course, I always seek to adhere strictly to the teachings of the Catholic Church and so if any reader ever notices something that could be wrong then please let me know.

The intellect receives its measure from objects; that is, human knowledge is true not of itself, but it is true because and insofar as it conforms to reality.

St. Thomas Aquinas, ST I, II, 93, 1 ad 3

What on earth does this mean and why is it important you ask? This may sound convoluted but actually it is what I would call common sense. My understanding does not come from my own reading of St. Thomas but from those who are much more intelligent than I. In this case the quote, and my understanding of it, comes from Josef Pieper’s book Living the Truth, from Ignatius Press (1989) on page 124.

What St. Thomas is trying to tell us is that we know as being true only when our knowledge conforms to the reality that exists outside of our own minds. Here is an example of what I mean: if I see a red apple on my desk then I can truly know that it is a red apple through my senses. The apple really exists and I know this because I can touch it. And even it I did not touch it I could know that it is there through my sight. Also, my sight tells me it is red in color. Some might argue that the words red and apple are arbitrary and could be called by other names. This is true. For instance, it could be that in our language red is actually called blue and apples are actually called oranges but that doesn’t change the fact that in our language as it is red means something definite and apple means something definite. What I mean is that the things we call red apples are an objective reality that we have assigned the name red apple.

But this does not mean that it is our naming of the thing that makes it what it is. Instead, we all know what a red apple is because we have been taught what it is and we have experienced it through our senses or our intellect. If someone is speaks the English language and picks up a red apple and calls it anything other than a red apple then his knowledge of that object is wrong. But this is only true of those who have learned the Truth of the thing in question. If they have never seen a red apple (which is hard to imagine) then they would not know what to call it. But suppose someone had been taught the wrong word for it. Perhaps they were referring to an apple as a cat. Clearly this would be wrong but the person does not know any better. The solution would be to politiely correct the person and tell them that it is not a cat but an apple. You may even have to go so far as to prove it by showing them pictures of a cat and pictures of apples and then getting other people to corroborate what you are saying. In the end you would suppose that common sense would prevail – right?

But that is not the way our society acts any longer. Although most people would still be willig to accept what a cat is and what an apple is there are other parts of objective reality that they completely discard. For them human knowledge is true of itself, by which St. Thomas means (I think) that the truth is whatever we want it to be. A prime example of what I mean can readily be seen in people’s treatment of the unborn. What is the unborn baby, objectively speaking? It is nothing less than the offspring of two other human beings and, therefore, could be nothing other than a human being. Right? That seems to make sense to me. But in the minds of those who are pro-death it must be something else. How else could they acquiesce in terminating its life? There are only two possible answers to this last question. First, they might think that the unborn baby is something other than a human being: you know – the whole ‘it’s just a clump of cells’ mentality. But from what I’ve read most people, even those who are pro-death, do not believe that any more. (And even if they do believe the ‘clump of cells’ lie it doesn’t seem rational because if it is not a human at conception then at what point does it become one?)

So that leaves just the second possibility – the people in our country, at least those who are pro-death, are no longer rational. In other words, they have no common sense. If they don’t believe the ‘clump of cells’ lie but instead understand that it is a baby and they either approve or actually are involved with abortion then not only are they irrational in their thinking they are also antithetical to their own human nature. And there is another word we can use for that – it is called demonic.

The fact is that to be human means, in part, to be rational. As St. Thomas said, “human knowledge is true not of itself, but it is true because and insofar as it conforms to reality.” There is an objective reality outside ourselves which we did not create and which we do not get to redefine – it is what it is. And we can most certainly come to know that objective reality. Therefore, we cannot redefine the unborn as a non-person in order to dispose of it, and still think of ourselves as fully human. Instead, to be truly rational human beings we must accept the objective reality that that which proceeds from two humans must itself be human.

Order in the court?

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Pro-Life, What's Wrong with the World?

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Yesterday I had the displeasure of experiencing jury duty. This is only the second time I have ever had to do so in my life. But both of these experiences were for the same court in Texas. I won’t say whether it was state or federal court because I am not sure how much of that I can disclose. The first experience in that court was relatively painless compared to yesterday’s experience, which took a ridiculous amount of time. On the other hand, both experiences in that court have things that are causing me to write this post today.

First of all, when you arrive you find that there is no free parking. Granted, they do have a reduced rate for jurors ($2 instead of $10) but they are causing a MAJOR disruption in the lives of law-abiding citizens and, as such, they should provide a close, safe, and free place to park.

Next, when you get inside they immediately start to herd you like cattle that is waiting to get branded. Then they usher you into a large room with inadequate seating with about 1,000 other people. After everyone is seated some government employee addresses the crowd telling us basically to expect to be mistreated because there is going to be lots of waiting on our part. Then one of the judges comes in to address the crowd telling us how good it is that we showed up for jury duty. (Like we had a choice.) She also said that if we weren’t there then the judicial system would come to a halt. So basically we were not being viewed as individuals and law-abiding citizens but instead as tools that the governments uses to keep the judicial system moving.

Then they start calling the jurors to various courts and more cattle herding ensues. After this we were escorted in numerical order (like all other aspects of the government we were known by the number that was given to us and not by our names). My group of jurors – 65 in total – was dropped off at the door of the courtroom and told “Stay, that’s a good juror” like we were the family dog.

What happened next you ask? Nothing for the next two hours. They made 65 law-abiding citizens stand out in the hallway with only a few benches on which to sit for two whole hours without ever uttering a word to us. In that time no one ever came out to tell us how much longer it would be, what we were supposed to do or anything else.

The rest of the day was spent with the judge and lawyers talking to us and asking us questions. Oh yeah, and a lot more waiting out in the ‘hallway of no seating’.

Now let me explain why I have written this synopsis of my day’s events – it is to ask a question. Why is it that those who are summoned to jury duty are treated in such a manner? The ones on trial are treated better than those on the jury. Even convicted criminals are treated better; after all, there are laws in place to make sure convicts are at least treated like human beings. But in my experience there is no such concern for those law-abiding citizens that are summoned to jury duty. We (those 64 people along with myself out in that hallway) were treated really no better than animals. In fact, I have seen many family pets that are treated far better than we were yesterday. And why is that? I think it is because this country, especially its government, has forgotten that the people of this country, and in fact all people, are created in the image and likeness of God. And due to that fact, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and not as tools to get a job done. Yet that is how we were treated. But really it makes sense that the government views us in such a way. After all, it is the same government that doesn’t even recognize us as human at the moment of our conception.