Theology

23 12, 2017

The Last Jedi and the Priesthood
The Last Jedi and the Priesthood

The Last Jedi and the Priesthood

By Father David Nix|2017-12-23T17:36:09+00:00December 23rd, 2017|Theology|

The Prequels Towards the end of our first year in seminary, we were required to take a 30-day silent-retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It was the summer of 2005, and we seminarians arrived in Omaha for a month off the grid. We were taken about 45 miles northeast of Omaha to a forest in Iowa, where we would pray along the Nishnabotna River for 30 days in silence. Every day would include four to five hours of meditation on the Gospels (Ignatian mental prayer) as well as daily Mass, Rosary, Divine Office and manual labor. The Spiritual Exercises are truly that: Exercises, not a [...]

18 12, 2017

Padre’s Platinum List
Padre’s Platinum List

Padre’s Platinum List

By Father David Nix|2017-12-18T14:09:50+00:00December 18th, 2017|Theology|

People have been asking me for my favorite books in one single blog post. Here's a short "best-of" list. NB: I hesitantly use Amazon Prime as it does not fulfill Catholic social teaching on subsidiarity. Thus, I'm not going to hyperlink these books. You will have to do your own research to find them. That way, you can use whatever market you want. How to Pray Conversation with Christ by Fr. Rohrbach Best book on Mary The World's First Love by Archbishop Fulton Sheen Best histories of the Catholic Church The History of Christendom by Warren Carroll (long at six volumes coming to about 5,000 pages) Triumph (short, coming to [...]

11 12, 2017

Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

By Father David Nix|2017-12-12T13:21:01+00:00December 11th, 2017|Theology|

There has recently been some debate on the last line of the Our Father: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.—Matthew 6:13 Should the Our Father read "lead us not into temptation" as it has always been translated or the modern "let us not fall into temptation"? Let's look at the Greek. The Greek of Matthew 6:13a is καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν. Word-by-word, it is καὶ (and) μὴ (not) εἰσενέγκῃς (to bring/lead) ἡμᾶς (us) εἰς (into) πειρασμόν (temptation.)—Matthew 6:13 Notice that the verb εἰσενέγκῃς (pronounced ace-in-egg-ace) is the active verb translated as bring or lead. On the other hand, the whole idea of "let us not fall [...]

5 12, 2017

Trent on the Holy Eucharist
Trent on the Holy Eucharist

Trent on the Holy Eucharist

By Father David Nix|2017-12-05T18:17:48+00:00December 5th, 2017|Theology|

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery."—St. Luke 16:18 "For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself."—1 Cor 11:29 "For no crime is there heavier punishment to be feared from God than for the unholy or irreligious use of the Eucharist."—Council of Trent, Chapter 6 on the Eucharist The Nine Ways of Being an Accessory to Another's Sin: By counsel By command By consent By provocation By praise or flattery By concealment By partaking By silence By defense of the ill done

17 11, 2017

Fulton Sheen’s Little Heroine
Fulton Sheen’s Little Heroine

Fulton Sheen’s Little Heroine

By guest|2017-11-18T00:12:55+00:00November 17th, 2017|Theology|

The only person to reach more people for Christ on television than Billy Graham was a Catholic bishop named Archbishop Fulton Sheen from Illinois, later bishop in New York. Every Tuesday night, starting in the 1950s, up to 10 million Americans from all faiths tuned in to his TV Show, Life Is Worth Living. Not only Catholics, but many older Jewish people fondly remember tuning in to his Tuesday evening show about God. Venerable Fulton Sheen also traveled the world and raised millions of dollars for foreign missions in poor countries. He is credited with converting the following to the Catholic Faith: Agnostic writer Heywood Broun, politician Clare Boothe Luce, [...]

25 10, 2017

Carta Abierta a Un Sacerdote
Carta Abierta a Un Sacerdote

Carta Abierta a Un Sacerdote

By guest|2020-09-07T12:39:10+00:00October 25th, 2017|Theology|

Una pareja católica escribió una carta anónima a su pastor y a cada sacerdote. Ellos asisten a la Missa de forma ordinaria en la zona oeste de los E.U. Son buenos amigos míos desde hace 10 años. Me pidieron que lo publique en mi blog. Padre, Estoy muy agradecido que haya dedicado su vida a ser nuestro padre espiritual. Estoy agradecido por los regalos que nos ha puesto a disposición en los sacramentos. Sabemos que usted trabaja incansablemente para mantener todo equilibrado y funcionando sin problemas. Por eso estamos agradecidos. Debemos ser sinceros y divulgar nuestras preocupaciones y frustraciones: hemos escuchado más acerca de la comunidad LGBTQ y la aceptación [...]

24 10, 2017

Open Letter to a Priest
Open Letter to a Priest

Open Letter to a Priest

By guest|2018-07-13T02:14:55+00:00October 24th, 2017|Theology|

A Catholic married couple with children wrote an anonymous letter to their parish priest, to every priest. They attend the ordinary Mass in English out West. They have been good friends of mine for almost a decade, and they asked me to publish it here. Open Letter to our spiritual Fathers Dear Fr. ___________, I am so very thankful that you have given your life to be our spiritual father. I am grateful for the gifts you make available to us in the sacraments. We know you work tirelessly to keep everything balanced and running smoothly. For that, we are thankful. But we have to be honest and share our [...]

7 10, 2017

Mary: God’s First Love
Mary: God’s First Love

Mary: God’s First Love

By Father David Nix|2020-04-04T03:16:26+00:00October 7th, 2017|Theology|

Although the pro-life movement’s arguments can be proved from science as much as religion, one of the reasons that I am so involved in the pro-life movement is based on this piece of theology: God imagined every person as an unrepeatable blueprint long before their conception. Since God is the exclusive Creator of the Universe, and since God is in eternity (two philosophical necessities to a world with only One God) this means that God imagined the blueprint to each person’s genome long before an individual zygote was ever conceived. Of course, “imagined” and “before” are words that fail us, especially since we are speaking of a God who exists [...]

2 10, 2017

Hugh Hefner Part II
Hugh Hefner Part II

Hugh Hefner Part II

By Father David Nix|2017-10-08T02:34:55+00:00October 2nd, 2017|Theology|

My last blog post called How Many Will Be Saved? had a lot of shares but also a lot of critique. This makes for good Catholic dialogue. I want to respond in a short blog post to a few objections. St. Augustine wrote: "There are two things that kill the soul: Despair and false hope.”—St. Augustine, Sermo 87.8. Another word for “false hope” is presumption. The reason I included in my blog post all the saints’ quotes on hell was not to judge Hugh Hefner but to show how many American Catholics live in presumption of last-minute imperfect contrition. So, if someone were to read those saints’ quotes about hell [...]

28 09, 2017

How Many Will Be Saved?
How Many Will Be Saved?

How Many Will Be Saved?

By Father David Nix|2017-10-10T14:52:01+00:00September 28th, 2017|Theology|

"And a certain man said to him: 'Lord, are they few that are saved?' But He said to them: 'Strive to enter by the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.'"—Luke 13:23-24. Hugh Hefner died today, and even bloggers like Fr. Dwight Longenecker at patheos are promoting a very different attitude towards Hefner than the tradition of the Catholic Church. I don't know where Hefner is any more than Fr. Longenecker, and I'm not saying Fr. Longenecker has a theology that is wrong, but his attitude towards heaven and hell is very, very different from that of Jesus Christ in the [...]