The Life of Virtue

Today marks the beginning 40 Days for Life , a prayer vigil to end abortion in our nation.  It is a concerted effort of prayer and fasting that has the potential to release our country from the grip of the culture of death in a matter of weeks!  For every moment from now until November 2, people in cities all over America will make extra sacrifices and prayers in hopes that the destruction of innocent human life will cease in America. The simplest way for others to participate is to pray each of the daily devotionals during the campaign.  Fasting (from anything that puts a barrier between you and God) is another great way to participate.  Braver souls can also make a commitment to keep vigil for an hour at a time outside of local abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood facilities.  This author has already made a commitment to prayer and fasting until the Solemnity of All Souls , and keeping vigil at a local Planned Parenthood facility is not out of the questio...

A vast majority of the posts on this website take time to advance philosophical and theoretical knowledge about building the City of God here on earth.  Other posts take time to acknowledge practical applications of those philosophies and theories, especially as they are applied by other people (both living and dead).  Rarely do I spend my words bragging about my own efforts. This post will be different, however.  I feel that it is appropriate to share with my readers some of the ways that I have been working recently for the glory of God.  Many times, readers can gain inspiration from personal stories about conversion, joy, and good work.  I share not to gain recognition, but to pass on the abundance of graces that I have received because of such work. The building that must be done is abundant!  But, I cannot (nobody can) begin such a large project without directions and tools.  In His infinite wisdom, God has clearly revealed to me the areas of Hi...

Today, the Church in America celebrates the memorial of St. Peter Claver, who is lesser-known than some of the gigantic figures throughout Church history.  Despite his lack of conspicuity, he happens to be one of the greatest examples of charity that the Church in the New World has ever known.  His life of service epitomizes Christ's call to build the Kingdom through benevolent actions. One quote from the saint serves as a window into his entire philosophy of life: "Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine.  We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick." That he stated this about the African slaves to whom he ministered makes a reader think "wow!"  There are few examples that this historian can recollect of such treatment of African slaves by people of European descent.  (Appropri...

On this feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great, it is necessary to honor the memory of this great reformer of the Catholic Church.  Since his greatest contribution (among many) was in the area of liturgical life, it is well that this post should have that focus, too. In our modern church, we are overrun with liturgical reform.  Some reforms are excellent; others are the result of poor understanding of liturgical theology; in the worst cases, some reforms have added an element of "performance" where there should be none.  The problem, then, is that few people have the catechetical knowledge that is necessary to understand which reforms are good, and which are bad. At last, there is change on the horizon!  A return to proper liturgical principles is being wrought by the Holy Spirit in our Church!  Such a transformation will come not only through a revised English translation of the Roman Missal (due to be implemented sometime in 2009), but also through wo...