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.

Question 26 of 83 of St. Augustine's 83 Diverse Questions; Penance

The following post regards a series of 83 questions that St. Augustine had been asked and had published between 388 AD and 395 AD. St. Augustine was ordained a priest between 391 AD and 395/396 AD when he was ordained a bishop. He was a pastor in Hippo and also the spiritual father (Abba) of a monastery. Below is an English translation of the 26th question (I'll give more later) that St. Augustine answered as a priest and abbot of Hippo.

Beyond the Absolute Part 2 of 3:The Paths of the Absolute

Last post at the start of June I commented on a Carthusian essay titled, Beyond the Absolute (from the book The Wound of Love), which regards the contemplative and the seemingly mundane lifestyle which imitates Christ's own self-poverty. Here is the link to the first part of this commentary.The life of Christians are often taken to be mundane, even those who are holy, but this is much the same mistake that others made with remark to our Good Lord. For it is in this radical self-emptying and humility that transforms our most mundane tasks into offerings of tremendous amounts of love to God our Beloved. And so the Savior's words ring strongly: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is greater: and he that is unjust in that which is little is unjust also in that which is greater." (Luke 16:10) Make no mistake that this self-offering of resplendent love was present in every beat of Christ's Sacred Heart, and just as well the path of humility and self-offering was present in our Lady through God's assistance and favor. So too then the Carthusian who wrote this essay will describe the call of his own life in view of the captivating, seducing call of God Who loves us as if we were the only ones, His special chosen Beloved. Below I will commentate on parts of the essay.

Beyond the Absolute Part 1 of 3: The Seduction of the Absolute

There often come times in each person’s life where life can become muddlesome, sorrowful, and painful. There are other moments of joy, pleasure, luxury, love, and comfort, and of course moments for other things in this life as well. But it seems in all of man, and in all of life there is the subtle whisper of the desire for the Absolute. He Who Is, Is the Absolute, and this we know as Christians, but for many others there is the Absolute, the Transcendent One, whom one may experience the desire for flirtingly in the beautiful view of nature in its tranquility and elegance. But for many, there is no understanding of this desire, and many times a misattribution of it, and we all feel somehow intuitively that that Transcendence though we may have seen it by a strong wind, the overthrowing of mountains, an blazing fire, or another natural event is yet not contained by the wind, nor by the fire, nor by the mountain, nor by any natural event of any kind.

Sometimes when sin clouds our life we lose touch of finding God, but to every soul that has been touched by God, and every soul has in a small way, there is still ever yet that yearning and desire for the Absolute One, but we cannot find Him in the things that come to pass, but only in the embrace of prayer and through the ministry of His holy Church.

I write this post as the lowest of novices in prayer, and as one who struggles to even incline or be inclined to prayer, but I simply wanted to post some thoughts on the reflections of a Carthusian monk, found in the book “The Wound of Love.” My comments are in plain text, and quotes will be italicized.

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).

St. Augustine’s early synthesis on Grace, Law, and Predestination: An Overview Summary of the teachings in the Miscellany

I should have made this post a long while back before releasing my two outlines on the Miscellany of Questions in Response to St. Simplicianus, but here will be a main summary of St. Augustine’s view of justification, grace, law, and predestination as presented in the Miscellany. Much of what is presented in St. Augustine’s Miscellany shows up in the very late Augustinian corpus, such as St. Augustine’s usage of the Three Stages in life (lawlessness, imprisonment under the law, and finally the freedom of grace to fulfill the law), his development of original sin (in the second half of his miscellany is it fully developed), the primacy of grace, and many other things.

An Outline of “Miscellany of Questions in Response to St. Simplicianus”: The early Augustinian doctrine on Grace and Law (Question 2 of 2)

This post regards the second main question in the Miscellany of Questions in Response to St. Simplicianus, that is the proper way of understanding God’s election of the blessed, His reprobation of the damned, predestination in general, and how to reconcile this with the free will. It is a preliminary look by St. Augustine on what grace, the law, justification, and eternal predestination mean for the Catholic Church. Much of St. Augustine’s terminology and early thoughts will continue to be used further on by the saint in his doctrines of grace, though as with all things he sharpens them, though as far as I have read much of his early thought is only deepened, developed, looked to with greater care, and not much changes in the saint’s thoughts (recall he became a bishop during what we would call the middle of life [though in those times it was not very common for every person to reach St. Augustine’s age]). All of this account then precedes the Pelagian controversy, and it is remarkable to read the orthodoxy of St. Augustine’s theology of grace so early on, in fact it is beauty to the eyes to behold it. With all of this in mind then, let us proceed to strive to understand our holy father, St. Augustine, though I must warn that it gets quite bleak towards the middle of this document, do not be disheartened for the Church has not yet decided completely how to comprehend authoritatively God’s most ineffable mystery and revelation for man, the call to election and glory with Him in eternity. Read carefully and let me know if anything herein disturbs you. St. Augustine’s doctrine as it appears to me seems orthodox and true to the Gospel, but to the untrained eye and those young in the faith, may not understand entirely what the Doctor of Grace is explaining to us.

To go to the summary of this enormous post and the post that goes along with this post, go here:

Summary