I’m on page 148 of Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be. He has painstakingly described three types of anxiety that are part of being human (ontologically speaking). There is the anxiety of fate and death, of which the western ancients were most troubled. There is the anxiety of guilt and condemnation, of which the Medieval […]
My past, O Lord, to your mercy; my future, to your providence; my present, to your love! — St. Padre Pio
In The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich writes (after page 148): The act of accepting meaninglessness is in itself a meaningful act. It is an act of faith. We have seen that he who has the courage to affirm his being in spite of fate and guilt has not removed them. He remains threatened and […]
In The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich describes bad and painfully wrong theology. The God of [bad] theological theism is a being beside others and as such a part of the whole of reality. He certainly is considered its most important part, but as a part and therefore as subjected to the structure of the […]
In my heart and my soul Lord I give You control Consume me from the inside out Lord let justice and praise Become my embrace To love You from the inside out Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame And the cry of my heart […]
My God, why does it have to be so hard to love You? My God, why do I always try so hard to be where You are? See You’re the God of every person You’re the one who reigns in me You are all that I could ask for You’re my world, my everything And […]
It has been well over a year, maybe two, since I started wearing a wearing a small crucifix on a chain around my next. I wanted it close to my heart, so I wore it underneath my shirt. Sometime after Christmas, I added a St. Benedict’s medal to the chain. (Technically, it is referred to […]
What did God whisper to the bird to make him sing? What was said to the rose to make her unfold? And to the tree to stand tall and spread its canopy? What did the cricket hear to make him chirp all night? And what word stirs the wind to blow, Sometimes gentle, sometimes with […]
From the movie, Red Planet: Chantilas: [Suppose] we just finished poisoning the earth and everyone was dead in a hundred years. Then what was the point of anything? Art, beauty—all gone—the Greeks, the Constitution, people dying for freedom, ideas. None of it meant anything? What about religion? Do we give up on God too? Gallagher: […]
Love can wait to give; lust can’t wait to get. Christopher West was on Life on the Rock last night to answer questions related to Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Someone asked if he had any prayers to resist sexual temptation. I liked his response because it opens the door to a […]
When I was younger, late high school and especially in college, I identified with Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” It was the motto for the Age of Rationalism. It is still often used in today’s postmodernism. After finding faith, or rather faith found me, I believe that Descartes had it backwards—I am, therefore I […]
Freedom is about choice, and there are two kinds of freedom. There is a freedom to choose to do whatever you want, and another kind of freedom to choose to live for others. One freedom leads in, the other out. One freedom is living with responsibility, the other with disregard except for self. One freedom […]
We cannot know whether or not we love God, although there are strong indications for recognizing that we do love Him; but we can know whether we love our neighbor. And be certain that the more advanced you see you are in love for your neighbor, the more advanced you will be in the love […]
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux asked Jesus what was His greatest unrecorded suffering. The Lord answered, “I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound, which was more painful than the others, and which is not recorded by men.” Saint Bernard composed this prayer: O Loving Jesus, […]
The Beatitudes are linked together. They do not stand separately. The poor in spirit, those detached from the desire for worldly goods, must necessarily also be the pure in heart, since their heart is not split and set on many things of this world, but purely on the “one thing necessary”. They love God and […]
In Back to Virtue, Peter Kreeft links the virtues of the Beatitudes with the vices of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Beatitudes are the antidote to the Seven Deadly Sins, leading to life, not to death. Pride vs. Poverty of Spirit (Humility) “Pride is self-assertion, selfishness; poverty of spirit is humility, selflessness.” Avarice vs. Mercy […]
What a feeling in my soul Love burns brighter than sunshine It’s brighter than sunshine Let the rain fall, I don’t care I’m yours and suddenly you’re mine Suddenly you’re mine And it’s brighter than sunshine — Aqualung