Reflections and Reviews, Spiritual and Social
Just as a building which begins to part company with its foundations is inclined to collapse, so a mystical exposition which deviates from the literal sense must be considered unseemly and inappropriate, or at any rate less seemly and less appropriate, than other interpretations. So those who wish to make headway in the study of Holy Scripture must begin by understanding the literal sense.
–Nicholas of Lyra (called Doctor planus et utilis), Postilla on the Song of Songs
Resolved, that the United States Constitution be amended as follows: “The seventeenth article of amendment to the United States Constitution is hereby repealed. And no State shall appoint any Elector who has promised, sworn, or formally declared his vote for any candidate or party, or who has caused to be published his preference among candidates for President or Vice President; nor shall any ballot associate the Electors to be chosen with any candidate or party.”
Catholics have just reasons for taking part in the conduct of public affairs. For in so doing they assume not nor should they assume the responsibility of approving what is blameworthy in the actual methods of government, but seek to turn these very methods, so far as is possible, to the genuine and true public good, and to use their best endeavours at the same time to infuse, as it were, into all the veins of the State the healthy sap and blood of Christian wisdom and virtue. The morals and ambitions of the heathens differed widely from those of the Gospel, yet Christians were to be seen living undefiled everywhere in the midst of pagan superstition, and, while always true to themselves, coming to the front boldly wherever an opening was presented. Models of loyalty to their rulers, submissive, so far as was permitted, to the sovereign power, they shed around them on every side a halo of sanctity; they strove to be helpful to their brethren, and to attract others to the wisdom of Jesus Christ, yet were bravely ready to withdraw from public life, nay, even to lay down their life, if they could not without loss of virtue retain honours, dignities, and offices.
–Leo XIII, Immortale Dei 45
Resolved, that the United States Constitution be amended as follows: “All bills for raising Revenue shall state particularly for what purpose such Revenue shall be appropriated; and no Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of an Appropriation, made by Law, of taxes laid and collected for that particular purpose.”
But when the student of the Holy Scriptures, prepared in the way I have indicated, shall enter upon his investigations, let him constantly meditate upon that saying of the apostle’s, ‘Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.’ For so he will feel that, whatever may be the riches he brings with him out of Egypt, yet unless he has kept the Passover, he cannot be safe. Now Christ is our Passover sacrificed for us, and there is nothing the sacrifice of Christ more clearly teaches us than the call which He himself addresses to those whom He sees toiling in Egypt under Pharaoh: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ To whom is it light but to the meek and lowly in heart, whom knowledge does not puff up, but charity edifieth?
–St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
And whereas the Apostle saith, that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church hath held and expressed; to wit, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification; without which it is impossible to please God, and to come unto the fellowship of His sons: but we are therefore said to be justified freely, because that none of those things which precede justification–whether faith or works–merit the grace itself of justification. For, if it be a grace, it is not now by works, otherwise, as the same Apostle says, grace is no more grace.
–Council of Trent, Session 6, Chapter VIII
Everything was done by clerics, who were incessantly talking about ‘democracy in the Church’, affirming that this was reclaimed by a ‘People of God’, whom no one, however, had bothered to consult. The people, you know, are sovereign; they must be respected, indeed, venerated, but only if they accept the views that are dictated by the political, social, or even religious ruling class. If they do not agree with those who have the power to determine the line to be taken, they must be reeducated according to the vision of the triumphant ideology of the moment. For me, who had just knocked at the door of the Church, gladly welcoming stabilitas—which is so attractive and consoling to those who have known only the world’s precariousness— that destruction of a patrimony of millennia took me by surprise and seemed to me more anachronistic than modern.
–Vittorio Messori, preface to Benedict XVI’s Reform: The Liturgy Between Innovation and Tradition (by Nicolas Bux)
When, however, a meaning is evolved of such a kind that what is doubtful in it cannot be cleared up by indubitable evidence from Scripture, it remains for us to make it clear by the evidence of reason. But this is a dangerous practice. For it is far safer to walk by the light of Holy Scripture; so that when we wish to examine the passages that are obscured by metaphorical expressions, we may either obtain a meaning about which there is no controversy, or if a controversy arises, may settle it by the application of testimonies sought out in every portion of the same Scripture.
–St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
The World was all before them, where to choose
Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide:
They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,
Through Eden took thir solitarie way.
–Milton, PL 12
The heart has become a battlefield between love and lust. The more lust dominates the heart, the less the heart experiences the nuptial meaning of the body. It becomes less sensitive to the gift of the person, which expresses that meaning in the mutual relations of man and woman. Certainly, that lust which Christ speaks of in Matthew 5:27-28 appears in many forms in the human heart. It is not always plain and obvious. Sometimes it is concealed, so that it passes itself off as love, although it changes its true profile and dims the limpidity of the gift in the mutual relationship of persons. Does this mean that it is our duty to distrust the human heart? No! It only means that we must keep it under control.
Pope John Paul II, Theology of the Body (General Audience, July 23, 1980)
I stopped at a convenience store because I needed to poke in a bit of window trim that had come loose on my in-laws’ aging van, which they have graciously let my wife and I use indefinitely–and which I was driving because our recently purchased car was in the shop. So I was arguably preoccupied.
Still, I had the ice from a large iced tea I had purchased half a mile up the hot highway; and I had other snacks I bought to make it worth a card swipe, having no cash. All understandable. And, because I hate to use someone’s space and not at least genuflect in the direction of their commercial interests, I walked inside, telling myself I would pick up a bottled tea to pour in the ice.
So why did I walk out with two bags of snacks, too? Bags I didn’t want, really? Bags which neither spared me needing dinner, later, nor helped to contribute to any goal, nor satisfied any strange-place curiosity, nor were a rarely-found favorite, nor provided me any reasonable good?
Because I saw them and I craved.
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit
was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake
he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated
at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
And one, holy, catholic
and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection
of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
It is necessary to have our hearts subdued by piety, and not to run in the face of Holy Scripture, whether when understood it strikes at some of our sins, or, when not understood, we feel as if we could be wiser and give better commands ourselves. We must rather think and believe that whatever is there written, even though it be hidden, is better and truer than anything we could devise by our own wisdom.
–St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
We need more vigilantly than ever to guard against that least fortunate impulse of the logic of the Reformation by which, in the search for a personal (individual) experience of authenticity or ’empowerment,’ we find ourselves at last in a ‘church of one.’
–Dr. David Lyle Jeffrey (Ottawa College, 1996)
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator of Heaven and Earth
And in Jesus Christ
His only Son, Our Lord
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit
Born of the Virgin Mary
Suffered under Pontius Pilate
Was crucified, died and was buried.
On the third day, he rose again
He ascended into Heaven
and is seated at the right hand
of God, the Father Almighty.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the Communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.