The Life of Virtue

As a person who was schooled in the methodology and ideology of the (un)Enlightenment, the following sentences might have caused me to pull out my hair. "It is not the elemental spirits of the universe, the laws of matter, which ultimately govern the world and mankind, but a personal God goversn the stars, that is, the universe; it is not the laws of matter and of evolution that have the final say, but reason, will, love--a Person. And if we know this Person and he knows us, then truly the inexorable power of material elements no longer has the last word; we are not slaves of the universe and of its laws, we are free." Such comments were the antithesis of what I learned and believed, i.e., that faith and reason were two mutually-exclusive phenomena. My faith and reason could never be brought together, I thought. Nor would my "superior" intellect allow me to believe that my reasoning capacities were granted by the One in whom I might (or might not) have faith. Ala...

As I drove to work this morning, the subject matter on several morning radio shows was enough to make a person despair (and vomit!). I realized how very blessed I am to have hope; to know that something better and purer awaits on the other side of this life. I began to arrive at this realization as I prayed through a portion of Pope Benedict XVI's most recent encyclical on that very topic. And, I pray that God will continue to bless me and allow me to deepen my understanding of this most precious gift. After all, Advent surely is a most hopeful season. Please pray for our culture in general, and particularly those people who have resorted to twisted philosophies and actions because they have lost hope. God Bless.

Fr. Tom Euteneuer, the President of Human Life International, has put forth a challenge to faithful Christians in his latest Spirit & Life column . I am taking up his challenge, and I pray that all of you will, too!

In the early part of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church was blessed with a man who wrote with a clear intellect and sharp pen. That man's name was Romano Guardini . His words and ministry marked a renewal in Christian consciousness as well as in believers' understanding of Church's Liturgy. This author was eminently blessed earlier today with an opportunity to read and pray over a few of Guardini's remarks about the nature of the universal Church. Those same remarks have been reproduced below for other readers' edification. "The very fact of the Church has become a living power. We are beginning to understand that the Church is everything. We begin to feel what the Saints felt, when they spoke so passionately in her defense. Did not their words sometimes seem to us but empty phrases? But now it is different. The philosopher will come to see in the Church the final and conclusive answer to his earnest search for the roots of all reality. The art...

St. John Damscene (or St. John of Damascus, whose feast day is today) was one of the most brilliant catechists in our Church's history. He is most famous for his role in the Iconoclasm controversy that racked the eastern portion of the Church in the eighth and ninth centuries. His catechetical abilities were put to use while he defended the Church against a deeply heretical belief: that God frowns on the use of statues and sacred art in worship. St. John reminded the faithful all creation is from God and, thus, is inherently good. He affirmed the centuries-old belief and practice of using those objects and images to lead a person deeper into the mysteries of the one, true God. However, his teachings were not limited to this aspect of Church doctrine alone. In fact, he wrote one of his most poignant passages on his own journey toward ministry, on submitting to the will of the Lord. That passage, written in The Statement of Faith , was meant to remind readers that God will pro...