29 10, 2016

Martin Luther, Catholics and Jews

By |2017-10-23T12:41:45+00:00October 29th, 2016|Theology|

Luther's rebellion against the Apostolic Faith turns 500 years old, and yet some Catholics actually consider his "reforms" to be a cause of admiration and celebration.  Instead of theological alarms, lets just do some myth-busting of bad European history.  Let's consider the truths of German history, both medieval and 20th century. The First Myth to be busted is that Martin Luther was a gentle, reforming monk.  The truth is that by any modern standards, he was a sociopath.  Like Hitler, Luther chose to incite violence by declaring that "Jews and Papists are ungodly wretches.  They are two stockings made of one piece of cloth."  He once wrote a book called The [...]

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19 10, 2016

Same Sex Attraction: Bearing the Beams of Love

By |2018-07-13T02:28:29+00:00October 19th, 2016|Theology|

I asked a close friend to write about his experience with same-sex attraction.   His life reflects a poem by William Blake: And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love, And these black bodies and this sun-burnt face. —The Little Black Boy Each of us has different set of beams of love to bear, so I'm sure that you'll find his life an inspiration.—Padre Peregrino By CJ: I am a child of a God. I am a traditional Roman Catholic. I am a traditional Roman Catholic, a child of God who has same-sex attraction. I have known that I was different since I was young. Ironically, [...]

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14 10, 2016

St. Paul and the Blessed Virgin

By |2017-01-10T06:38:35+00:00October 14th, 2016|Theology|

Everyone knows that Catholics love the Blessed Virgin Mary and everyone knows that Protestants love the Apostle Paul. But did you know that a 17th century woman saint was shown in a vision the  life of Mary? Venerable Mary of Agreda (ok, almost a saint) was a Spanish Franciscan nun. She was given the private revelation of the entire life of Mary (from her Immaculate Conception to past her Assumption and Coronation) all of which she recorded in a book called The Mystical City of God (not to be confused with a similar title of St. Augustine, written 1200 years earlier.) This Franciscan nun's private revelation of the life of Mary is [...]

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4 10, 2016

On the Separation of Church and State

By |2016-10-04T21:29:54+00:00October 4th, 2016|Theology|

When Thomas Jefferson used the term "separation of Church and State" it was to assure a group of Baptists that the State would not trample the rights of their community. He wrote: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of [...]

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22 09, 2016

7 Priest-Myths Unveiled

By |2016-09-29T15:02:25+00:00September 22nd, 2016|Theology|

Myth #1: A priest can give you permission to skip Sunday Mass if you had a very busy weekend (for example, a Saturday wedding.) Truth: Sunday Mass is part of the Third Commandment. A priest can not dispense you from God’s commandments. No sooner could a priest give a frisky married man a dispensation on the 6th commandment for his travels than he could give a person a dispensation for fulfilling a matter of Divine Law. I blogged recently on the different levels of authority here. If you are sick or having a baby or travelling (i.e Mass would be impossible) then there is no sin in missing Sunday Mass. [...]

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16 09, 2016

Sacred Heart in the Eucharist

By |2016-09-20T04:08:46+00:00September 16th, 2016|Theology|

One of the reasons I love the Traditional Latin Mass is because the Collect (the beginning prayer to God after the Introit and the Kyrie) usually links heaven and earth. For example, the collect of the votive Mass of St. Joseph reads: Oh God, who in Thine unspeakable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose blessed Joseph for Thy most holy Mother’s spouse, grant we beseech Thee, that we who revere him as our protector upon earth, may become worthy to have him for our intercessor in heaven. I have wondered for a few years why the old Mass always ties heaven to earth in the opening prayer. It has to be [...]

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7 09, 2016

Catholics and iPhones

By |2018-07-13T02:29:23+00:00September 7th, 2016|Theology|

Leisure: The Basis of Culture is a book written by Josef Pieper, a 20th century expert on St. Thomas Aquinas. In this book, Pieper demonstrates that a Christian civilization can not be sustained by technology and production as seen in Protestantized countries like Germany. On the southern and more Catholic side of Europe, we see how Italy and Spain close down business for afternoon siestas. Although Italy and Spain are less and less Catholic every year, they retain some aspects of what was once a Christian culture, namely, leisure. For Pieper, leisure is not laziness but an ability to enjoy the good things of life via contemplation and community.  This includes God and family. [...]

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20 08, 2016

A World That Runs on Sacrifice

By |2016-08-21T20:28:39+00:00August 20th, 2016|Theology|

We Christians tend to see the crucifixion as a horrible event, and the resurrection as that which rectified everything. This is actually true. It is totally true, in fact. But there’s a mysterious line in Revelation that seems to say that something of the crucifixion precedes even creation itself. Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus Christ as "the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world." There are many translations but I think this is the best translation considering the Greek ἀρνίου τοῦ ἐσφαγμένου ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, translated by St. Jerome as agni qui occisus est ab origine mundi. What does it mean that the Lamb was [...]

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7 08, 2016

Women’s Swimsuits

By |2016-08-09T15:55:06+00:00August 7th, 2016|Theology|

Just in time for the Olympics, I have some good things to say about the clothing of female athletes below, but you'll have to wait for that. Many of you know the historical roots of the bikini:  French engineer Louis Réard worked in his mother's lingerie shop in the 1940s.  There, he designed and got the word "bikini" from the name of the first post-bellum atomic-bomb site, Bikini Atoll, for obvious reasons.  He tried to find a French model to first debut his invention in 1946, but he could not find one.  He ultimately had to hire a stripper.  It took a while for the bikini to catch on in the United States.  As [...]

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5 08, 2016

Transfiguration and the Song of Songs

By |2016-10-19T05:10:16+00:00August 5th, 2016|Theology|

—Written by one of my spiritual directees who entered women's religious life. The Song of Songs illustrates the journey of the Bride, a journey toward love. A journey involves a process, a traveling toward something which one desires but has not yet attained. Highly susceptible to losing his way on a long journey, a pilgrim often encounters numerous and varied obstacles. The Bride in the Song of Songs is no exception. One’s first outlook on the Song of Songs may circulate around the book as brimming over with vibrant images and profound expressions between two lovers. Although this description definitely defines the Song of Songs, it does not include every [...]

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