The Self-Effacement of Love, the Impotency of Despair, and Man's Destiny in Eternity

Rose-window of Notre Dame in Paris

This is an ambitious post in that I want to lay the groundwork for some very theoretical and abstract ideas of mine on the meaning of love, the role of despair, and how this reflects the mystery of God. I aim to investigate the image of God from how I have come to understand human love, and hopefully reach upwards to reflect on God’s love for mankind. You must forgive me first for the shallowness of my own soul and the inability with which I am able to comprehend these topics. This post is not so much a form of philosophical proof as an exposition and exploration of opinion, and perhaps in a certain sense persuasion.

God grant me faith. God grant me grace. God grant me hope. God, lay the foundation of my heart in love.

Judgment, Fraternal Correction, and Modern Lexicon

Icon of St. Paul preaching to the philosophers of Athens

I am coming back to write here at Cor-Inquietum (I know, the misspelling on the URL, it hurts, I know, I know - ) as part of a Lenten resolve to reflect more deeply on the Catholic faith, and life in the light of the Lord, or rather the light of the Lord on life. In this post I would like to briefly consider the modern lexical shift in the philosophy of judgment, from one human being on to another, and then from God’s relationship as Judge to the human soul. I will try and construct my brief meditations from the readings of the Mass for Sunday March 2^nd. These were Isaiah 49:14-15; Psalm 62: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Matthew 6: 24-34. It is with humility that we must approach the throne of the Lord, though we do so with the renewed confidence that we can boldly approach the Throne of Grace through the mediation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of all Creation. Humility because we cannot be presumptuous of God’s mercy as if it were all from our merit, and confidence because it is on account of Christ’s merit and God’s condescending love that we know we are loved unconditionally.

What ought we expect of men considering the priesthood?

La Santa Cena by Juan de Juanes

A friend recently asked me what sorts of qualities I would consider to be valuable in a priest, or what sort of things would lend a man towards becoming a priest, so I thought I might right a post on this topic. Lord, You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedech, grant us wisdom and an increase in vocations to the priesthood. At the outset I said to my friend he ought to be a man, a father, and a follower of Christ. I am inclined to add to my brief comments and of course state that he must be a pastor to the many sheep of the Church, acknowledging that he is also a sheep before God. There is much more to be said of the Catholic priesthood and I only have lightly tread into the deep theology of the Church’s wisdom on the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

It is a fearsome thing to become a priest or feel the desire to become a priest, but for all those who feel God’s call forward to serve them let them not say, “I do not know how to speak. I am too young!” (Jeremiah 1:6), but rather understand with the entire heart to Jesus’ words, “take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Thoughts on the maxim: Know Thyself

Christ the Light of the World
by William Holman Hunt

I've been on hiatus for quite some time and so I apologize for my long withdrawal from blogging. However, I've come up with a few categories that I’d like to talk about; namely, I have been struggling with a post that hopes to address something I call the poverty of love and more fully the Divine Poverty of Christ (or the Trinity, which is a far higher ideal). This sort of grandiose essay has escaped me for far too long and my love falls far too short to make any honest progress other than what amounts to straw and hot air. In this topic I’d like to just ease back into blogging with the question of whether a man (or woman) ought to strive to know himself very thoroughly or whether it is better to profess a certain form of ignorance surrounding one’s self. Or is there perhaps a dualism by which we ought to know ourselves well in one way but not in another.

Reflections on the Prodigal Son

The Return of the Prodigal Son
by Pompeo Batoni

Last Sunday’s Gospel reading in the latin Catholic Church regarded the parable of the prodigal son, a story at face value intended to show the folly of the way of the Pharisees in view of the righteousness of God whose mercy encompasses all of Creation. The reading which I will analyze will be that of Luke 15, verses 11 to 32. My hope is to express perhaps some of the mystery behind God’s righteousness, His mercy, and the divine image which He has placed in each one of us in the spark of human nature and human dignity. Please remember to read the Gospel before my own words!

Most Holy Redeemer guide us!

See here for much better analyses of this story:

A Philosophical Reading of the Prodigal Son (video) [Very thorough and intellectual]

 The Father’s Two Sons: What the Prodigal Son Tells us About Divine Sonship (article) [Brief, brilliant, insightful, and the inspiration behind this post]

A sketch of a theological view of the Ave Maria (Hail Mary) prayer

14th century Byzantine Annunciation
 ( Evangelismos) icon

This small exposition of mine was drawn up to help me to better reflect on how to teach the Hail Mary prayer, but it got a bit out of hand and there is certainly more content here than just a 4th grade level reflection, which I intended at the outset. All in all, much of my reflection echoes, I think, St. Thomas of Aquinas' reflection on the Hail Mary prayer which did not have the last part of the prayer we know today (Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death). You can find his reflection here.

The prayer Hail Mary is a centuries-old and traditional Catholic prayer that in some of its oldest forms is written without the clause, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. In light of this, we should understand that the prayer itself comes from both the Holy Scriptures and from the light of Catholic Tradition. The full length of the prayer reads:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I Am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven. A brief commentary on this Sunday's Readings

This Sunday’s readings in the Ordinary Form Catholic mass will be:

6th century icon of Christ
from St. Catherine Monastery
at Mount Sinai*

1 Kings 19:4-8

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Ephesians 4:30- 5:2

John 6:41-51

Below I only hope to offer a small reflection on such a great amount of Our Lord’s word’s to us. I am very new to reading Scripture, and so most of my focus will be on reading the New Testament works in the context of the Psalms and then perhaps the Old Testament works. A Christian who is deep in his faith would understand these texts far better than I do. I hope to look somewhat to the Patristic texts as well to get a view of the Church’s faith regarding the Sacred Mystery of Jesus the Living Bread from Heaven.

Contraception and the Divine Poverty

Sic Deus dilexit mundum.
For God so loved the world.

My apologies on not having written anything in due time, I have had a lot of time to spend at work this summer, and though that is not a full excuse I have spent some time reading up. I hope to blog a bit about what I read in Orthodox readings of  Augustine, that is a volume based on a 2007 conference regarding the Eastern Orthodox reception of St. Augustine the blessed Father of the West. However, this post regards a controversial topic for Christians in modern industrialized societies regarding the usage and acceptance of contraception as a means to postponing pregnancy. The focus of this essay will aim to discuss why the Catholic Church in her wisdom has provided that contraception is against the Divine mandate to be fruitful and multiply, as well as the notion of the man and woman becoming one flesh as Christ chose Himself to become one with His holy Church. Human sexuality is inevitably tied to Christ and His mission through His Incarnation and Holy Life. Marriage is the image and icon of Christ’s loving union and communion with the Church, which is without reserve and is of a totally self-giving, self-sacrificial love. The use of contraceptives shatters the total self-giving of love present in the marital life and so ruins and distorts that which marital life is aimed to imitate, the beauty of the unity between Christ and His Bride the Church. May Christian spouses love each other in Christ, be united to Him, and love each other in the image and likeness of Christ's sacrificial Incarnation, Life, and Passion, for the sake of His Beloved Bride, the Church.

Regarding Prayers to the Saints, Why do it?

This blog aims at fostering a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith and tradition, and of course a tradition of the Church as old as her foundation itself is prayer to the saints, angels, and holy martyrs. The Church has known well and deep in her heart that this form of petition is very different from the sort of petition that we raise to God Himself, but in this post I will try and lay down some arguments and reasoning for why God would deign it good and just that we pray to the saints in order to receive something from Him (either directly from Him or from Him passed to a saint and then to us).

The Absurdity of the Pro-Abortion Movement and the Dignity of the Human Person

St. Augustine much in his life spoke out against the vices and evils of his time, whether it be the terrible schism of the Donatists from the holy Church, the errors of the Manicheans, the corruption of the Roman state, or simply those that lie in his and many other peoples live, and if we aim to follow in his footsteps we must do much the same. The Catholic Church speaks out sharply against the sin of abortion, and threatens automatic excommunication for anyone who willingly participates or assists in an abortion. The Church knows deep in her heart by the reflection of what she has received from her Bridegroom, Christ, that abortion necessarily entails the murder of a person with an eternal soul, fastened and created by the Lord at conception. The reasons are simple then why abortion is wrong; the reasons against it are quite convoluted so as to distract us from the real evil of murdering our innocent children. Here I will begin to try and shed some light on some of the reasons why abortion is an unjust deed, the arguments will come from Christianity and right reason.

Great posts from Dr. Lilles on the life of Prayer

Those who've been reading my posts may see that I try to put a big emphasis on the need for prayer in the Christian life. It is most important for salvation, and no doubt for those who want to study theology, they must strive vigorously for their salvation in Christ. Who would want to be lead by a theologian who does not have Heaven and God's love as his aim?

Anyway I wanted to provide some links to great essays written by Dr. Lilles over at his blog:
Beginning to Pray