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11 11, 2015

Should We Sell Vatican Art for the Poor?

By Father David Nix|2015-11-21T00:06:51+00:00November 11th, 2015|Theology|

This actually isn't a debate coming out of Rome these days (thankfully) but I write about it because most of you have heard this question from some family member or a person on a plane at one point. Should we sell Vatican Art for the Poor? Of course, my answer is "No," but I want to give you some new answers for your friends. 1) The first great commandment comes before the second great commandment. Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: [...]

5 11, 2015

Colbert vs. Mother Teresa

By Father David Nix|2015-11-06T10:06:27+00:00November 5th, 2015|Theology|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5weP79J7bM In this short video, Stephen Colbert (comedian-turned-theologian) says “Faith ultimately can’t be argued; faith has to be felt." Let's cut through his poor philosophy and consider reality: 1) Feelings are often no different from biochemical pleasures. God uses feelings in all stages of prayer, but it is not central to the substance of the soul where the Blessed Trinity resides. If faith must be "felt" as Colbert said, then where does that leave Mother Teresa who couldn't feel anything for 60 years of prayer? But false-positives abound, too: If I drink an enormous Chemex hipster coffee and feel like a saint who could take on the world, did I just "feel" an increase in [...]

2 11, 2015

All Souls Day and Syria

By Father David Nix|2015-11-02T16:07:25+00:00November 2nd, 2015|Theology|

I have no intention of making this blog page a news source (much less a newsletter of personal prayer intentions) but I thought that today, All Souls, would be an important day to highlight the civil war in Syria. Today, I write a very short post to simply beg for your prayers on the behalf of 250,000 who have died. St. Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest work we can do on earth is to pray for the dead, as I blogged about here. It is good to visit the cemeteries and to pray for the repose of the souls of our loved ones, but our family is bigger than [...]

6 10, 2015

FOCUS Breakout Sessions

By Father David Nix|2015-10-06T22:04:58+00:00October 6th, 2015|Life|

If you want to see something new and serious from me, see here. But, on my Evernote, I recently looked at this satire that my teammate and I had made a decade ago for an upcoming conference while working for FOCUS (also in Virginia, where I am now—but back in 2004.) Forgive a few inside jokes, but here's our FOCUS conference breakout-session title suggestions, mostly still valid suggestions for the next one: Protestants: Friend or Foe? Rainforest Decline: Ecoterrorism and the Catholic. How I made it to Life on the Rock. Dare We Hope that All Be Saved? Why Lord of the Rings was, like, totally Catholic. Fashion Tips for the New Evangelization FACT: What it originally stood for. Christendom vs. [...]

15 05, 2015

Old People with Cell Phones in Adoration

By Father David Nix|2015-05-15T16:21:29+00:00May 15th, 2015|Life|

I got debilitated by some Indian food poisoning, so I let Ryan start the Camino without me. I got some good time in adoration in Pamplona. Let me be clear: I love seeing people of all backgrounds and ages in adoration. No one who claims to be pro-life should even begin to bothered by crying babies in adoration chapels. At the other end of the spectrum, let me say that I love seeing the more "mature" generation in adoration, too. However, someone needs to tell them how not to use a cell phone before the Blessed Sacrament. Who will do it? Ok. I will do it in a top ten countdown: 10) You don't have [...]