Our friend Maureen McHugh is posting a series on the nature of Authority in the Church. Since this is an issue with which I am grappling right now, I commend it to you. She's up to part 7, so scroll down a while to start at the beginning.
Monday, September 30, 2002
Apparently, I have to tone down the rhetoric. Someone arrived here after searching google for "ultraskeptics."
(Everyone should own a copy of this book, by the way. Please not that many of these arguments will not point to a “personal God” who gives a fig for us. That will have to come later, so don’t bother jumping on that complaint-wagon just yet, since I’m not trying to prove it—so far.)
The Argument from Change, from Kreeft and Tacelli, as interpreted by the Kairos Guy
Something that has not yet come to be, does not exist. My $150 million winning PowerBall ticket hasn’t happened yet, so I would be wise not to start spending the money or endowing a charity with it just yet. And because it doesn’t exist, it cannot cause anything. If I start spending the money, that will not bring the ticket into existence. So the purported “cause” of my spending (the ticket) is false, and it is only my delusion that has brought my spending about.
Everything in the universe exists and constantly changes. The state of being of myself as I write this is different as each letter goes down on the electronic page. The state of satisfaction that I expect to achieve when I am done cannot cause me to start (only the desire for that state). As I mentally progress backwards through my own life, and further in time, I cannot find a state of being that could have brought itself about. Someone or something ultimately must have set the thing in motion, for the physical laws of the universe are clear: there cannot be an uncaused cause within the universe.
So, therefore, the existence of a universe of constant change, rather than a flat, static system, is evidence that someone outside the system set the system in motion. Therefore, there must be a God.
The Argument from Change, from Kreeft and Tacelli, as interpreted by the Kairos Guy
Something that has not yet come to be, does not exist. My $150 million winning PowerBall ticket hasn’t happened yet, so I would be wise not to start spending the money or endowing a charity with it just yet. And because it doesn’t exist, it cannot cause anything. If I start spending the money, that will not bring the ticket into existence. So the purported “cause” of my spending (the ticket) is false, and it is only my delusion that has brought my spending about.
Everything in the universe exists and constantly changes. The state of being of myself as I write this is different as each letter goes down on the electronic page. The state of satisfaction that I expect to achieve when I am done cannot cause me to start (only the desire for that state). As I mentally progress backwards through my own life, and further in time, I cannot find a state of being that could have brought itself about. Someone or something ultimately must have set the thing in motion, for the physical laws of the universe are clear: there cannot be an uncaused cause within the universe.
So, therefore, the existence of a universe of constant change, rather than a flat, static system, is evidence that someone outside the system set the system in motion. Therefore, there must be a God.
Monday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Dylan's Mom. For priests who have sinned, and priests who have not. For Gerard. For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption, and for those who did not. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Dylan's Mom. For priests who have sinned, and priests who have not. For Gerard. For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption, and for those who did not. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
This hymn is very, very long, so I have included only the first few verses. It is by Admiral Nelson's nephew, of all people...
From All Thy Saints in Warfare
From all Thy saints in warfare, for all Thy saints at rest,
To Thee, O blessèd Jesus, all praises be addressed;
Thou, Lord, didst win the battle, that they might conquerors be;
Their crowns of living glory are lit with rays from Thee.
Praise, Lord, for Thine apostle, the first to welcome Thee,
The first to lead his brother the very Christ to see.
With hearts for Thee made ready, watch we throughout the year,
Forward to lead our brethren to own Thine Advent near.
All praise for Thine apostle, whose short lived doubtings prove
Thy perfect twofold nature, the fullness of Thy love.
On all who wait Thy coming shed forth Thy peace, O Lord,
And grant us faith to know Thee, true Man, true God, adored.
Praise for the first of martyrs, who saw Thee ready stand
To aid in midst of torments, to plead at God’s right hand.
Share we with him, if summoned by death our Lord to own,
On earth the faithful witness, in heaven the martyr’s crown.
Praise for the loved disciple, exiled on Patmos’ shore;
Praise for the faithful record he to Thy Godhead bore,
Praise for the mystic vision through him to us revealed.
May we, in patience waiting, with Thine elect be sealed.
From All Thy Saints in Warfare
From all Thy saints in warfare, for all Thy saints at rest,
To Thee, O blessèd Jesus, all praises be addressed;
Thou, Lord, didst win the battle, that they might conquerors be;
Their crowns of living glory are lit with rays from Thee.
Praise, Lord, for Thine apostle, the first to welcome Thee,
The first to lead his brother the very Christ to see.
With hearts for Thee made ready, watch we throughout the year,
Forward to lead our brethren to own Thine Advent near.
All praise for Thine apostle, whose short lived doubtings prove
Thy perfect twofold nature, the fullness of Thy love.
On all who wait Thy coming shed forth Thy peace, O Lord,
And grant us faith to know Thee, true Man, true God, adored.
Praise for the first of martyrs, who saw Thee ready stand
To aid in midst of torments, to plead at God’s right hand.
Share we with him, if summoned by death our Lord to own,
On earth the faithful witness, in heaven the martyr’s crown.
Praise for the loved disciple, exiled on Patmos’ shore;
Praise for the faithful record he to Thy Godhead bore,
Praise for the mystic vision through him to us revealed.
May we, in patience waiting, with Thine elect be sealed.
Thursday, September 26, 2002
I will be away for the next few days, giving away the bride at my cousin's wedding. Please keep her and her finacee in your prayers. Check back Monday for my apologetics roundup (shamelessly taken from Peter Kreeft and Ron Tacelli's "Handbook for Christian Apologetics," by the way...).
Goodness, there are a lot of Amy Welborn readers visiting today. Welcome, make yourselves at home, and don't forget to leave a little cartoon of yourself on the guest map. Kairos never closes, so come on back any time.
By the way, Steven Riddle has written a really, really long gloss on the GRE list I mentioned yesterday. It's good, though. Except for the part where he disagrees with me about Thomas Hardy. He's obviously never heard Monty Python's "Novel Writing" sketch. :-)
Just for fun
I got (okay--"dove deliberately") into a dispute over a rational belief in the existence of God at the "No Watermelons Allowed" blog. I think the guy I was arguing with really basically has an antipathy to the idea of God, for a lot of reasons, and really does not in fact want to hear rational arguments. (You can find the dispute in the comments section here.) One of the things I did however was grab my copy of Peter Kreeft (ordered from "clones-r-us!" Thanks, Em!) and list the 20 arguments for the existence of God.
In the interest of fun and--hopefully--getting out of controversial issues like kneeling versus bowing, and thermometers versus barriers and such, I'm going to spend a few days considering these arguments. I list now the first few, and will try to gloss them later on.
1. The argument from change. Things are not yet in the state they will be, and cannot cause that change of their own accord. A tree cannot will itself to be larger.
2. The argument from efficient causality. Music comes from a man playing a piano. If he stops, so does the music. If there is no uncaused being, there can be no thing.
3. The argument from time and contingency. This one can't be summarized in under 250 words.
4. The argument from degrees of perfection. An inch is not a ruler. We measure good and bad, perfection and imperfection, against a standard that cannot be part of the system.
5.The design argument. This argument attempts to vindicate the idea of a design to the universe, to which people appear to respond.
6. The Kalam argument:
a. Whatever begins to exist must have a cause.
b. the universe began to exist.
c. therefore, the universe has a cause for coming into being. (The big bang is a mechanism, not a cause, just as the solenoid is the mechanism for starting the car, not the cause of its starting.)
7. The argument from contingency. What it takes for the universe to exist must itself exist. What it takes for the universe to exist cannot exist within the universe or be bounded by space and time. Therefore, what it takes for the universe to exist must transcend space and time.
8. The argument from the world as interacting whole. The physical laws you refered to suppose the existence of one another, and depend on one another for their intelligibility and ability to act. Therefore, no component can be self-sufficent or self-explanatory. The system as a whole cannot explain its own existence, since it is made up of component parts that are not self-sufficient.
I got (okay--"dove deliberately") into a dispute over a rational belief in the existence of God at the "No Watermelons Allowed" blog. I think the guy I was arguing with really basically has an antipathy to the idea of God, for a lot of reasons, and really does not in fact want to hear rational arguments. (You can find the dispute in the comments section here.) One of the things I did however was grab my copy of Peter Kreeft (ordered from "clones-r-us!" Thanks, Em!) and list the 20 arguments for the existence of God.
In the interest of fun and--hopefully--getting out of controversial issues like kneeling versus bowing, and thermometers versus barriers and such, I'm going to spend a few days considering these arguments. I list now the first few, and will try to gloss them later on.
1. The argument from change. Things are not yet in the state they will be, and cannot cause that change of their own accord. A tree cannot will itself to be larger.
2. The argument from efficient causality. Music comes from a man playing a piano. If he stops, so does the music. If there is no uncaused being, there can be no thing.
3. The argument from time and contingency. This one can't be summarized in under 250 words.
4. The argument from degrees of perfection. An inch is not a ruler. We measure good and bad, perfection and imperfection, against a standard that cannot be part of the system.
5.The design argument. This argument attempts to vindicate the idea of a design to the universe, to which people appear to respond.
6. The Kalam argument:
a. Whatever begins to exist must have a cause.
b. the universe began to exist.
c. therefore, the universe has a cause for coming into being. (The big bang is a mechanism, not a cause, just as the solenoid is the mechanism for starting the car, not the cause of its starting.)
7. The argument from contingency. What it takes for the universe to exist must itself exist. What it takes for the universe to exist cannot exist within the universe or be bounded by space and time. Therefore, what it takes for the universe to exist must transcend space and time.
8. The argument from the world as interacting whole. The physical laws you refered to suppose the existence of one another, and depend on one another for their intelligibility and ability to act. Therefore, no component can be self-sufficent or self-explanatory. The system as a whole cannot explain its own existence, since it is made up of component parts that are not self-sufficient.
Thursday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
The God of Love My Shepherd Is
The God of love my Shepherd is,
And He that doth me feed;
While He is mine and I am His,
What can I want or need?
He leads me to the tender grass,
Where I both feed and rest;
Then to the streams that gently pass:
In both I have the best.
Or if I stray, He doth convert,
And bring my mind in frame,
And all this not for my desert,
But for His holy Name.
Yea, in death’s shady black abode
Well may I walk, not fear;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
To guard, Thy staff to bear.
Surely Thy sweet and wondrous love
Shall measure all my days;
And as it never shall remove
So neither shall my praise.
The God of love my Shepherd is,
And He that doth me feed;
While He is mine and I am His,
What can I want or need?
He leads me to the tender grass,
Where I both feed and rest;
Then to the streams that gently pass:
In both I have the best.
Or if I stray, He doth convert,
And bring my mind in frame,
And all this not for my desert,
But for His holy Name.
Yea, in death’s shady black abode
Well may I walk, not fear;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
To guard, Thy staff to bear.
Surely Thy sweet and wondrous love
Shall measure all my days;
And as it never shall remove
So neither shall my praise.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
What Would Jesus Do?
I don't usually ask myself "what would Jesus do?" because it usually turns out Jesus would do pretty much whatever was most convenient and least trouble. Or the opposite. Amazingly, Jesus is usually completely in sync with my present needs and desires.
You see the problem, right? "What would Jesus do?" accepts as an external standard only what we have allowed ourselves to accept about Jesus, and it's usually (for me anyway) a pretty "attaboy," "feel good" standard. The actual Jesus usually did the on thing no one would have expected, and how you translate that into your own life, as a fully (and solely) human critter is a big fat mystery.
So I look not to some befuddled notion of Jesus, but to a standard that I hope Jesus would approve of, that is less easy for me to muddle with. "How would that have been on Sept. 30, 2001?" It was fairly easy in the days immediately after 9/11 to discern what was good, what was essential, and what was not. A lot of TV ads that had been airing on 9/10 vanished for a while. Some never came back, but others were just held in reserve until we'd "gotten over it." Most should have been scrapped.
Nearly the entire country was pleased to see the President attend football and baseball games. It helped us remember that pleasure in athletic prowess is not, by itself, harmful.
Okay, sure, we were told "buy a car or the terrorists will have won" but that was so understated compared to the "buy a gratuitously unnecessary diamond for 1/3 your salary or the terrorists will have won" standard that it seems even in retrospect to mark the boundary of acceptable taste, rather than to have crossed it.
Family meals and church attendance were a common theme that have sadly receded. Attacking the President or other politicians as individuals was out of bounds: dissenting from their ideas was not, unless you were Susan Sontag or Barbara Kingsolver, in which case you proclaimed yourself unable to discern the difference.
Loving your country simply because it was yours was permissible. Thanking men and women who risk their lives for others was mandatory. Speaking openly, however hesitantly, of your religious faith was not an abomination. Looking into your community to figure out if you could make it better was a good thing too. "Right" and "wrong" had clear, obvious meanings that nearly everyone could agree on.
You can see the trend. If you can conceive that last September you would have done one thing or considered something else out of bounds, that moment of extreme stress and clarity might offer you a better tool for discerning in more turbid waters what is right and what is wrong than asking yourself "what would Jesus do?"--at least if for you "Jesus" is an amalgm of "Davey and Goliath" and that Doonesbury priest's Wellness Seminar attitude.
I don't usually ask myself "what would Jesus do?" because it usually turns out Jesus would do pretty much whatever was most convenient and least trouble. Or the opposite. Amazingly, Jesus is usually completely in sync with my present needs and desires.
You see the problem, right? "What would Jesus do?" accepts as an external standard only what we have allowed ourselves to accept about Jesus, and it's usually (for me anyway) a pretty "attaboy," "feel good" standard. The actual Jesus usually did the on thing no one would have expected, and how you translate that into your own life, as a fully (and solely) human critter is a big fat mystery.
So I look not to some befuddled notion of Jesus, but to a standard that I hope Jesus would approve of, that is less easy for me to muddle with. "How would that have been on Sept. 30, 2001?" It was fairly easy in the days immediately after 9/11 to discern what was good, what was essential, and what was not. A lot of TV ads that had been airing on 9/10 vanished for a while. Some never came back, but others were just held in reserve until we'd "gotten over it." Most should have been scrapped.
Nearly the entire country was pleased to see the President attend football and baseball games. It helped us remember that pleasure in athletic prowess is not, by itself, harmful.
Okay, sure, we were told "buy a car or the terrorists will have won" but that was so understated compared to the "buy a gratuitously unnecessary diamond for 1/3 your salary or the terrorists will have won" standard that it seems even in retrospect to mark the boundary of acceptable taste, rather than to have crossed it.
Family meals and church attendance were a common theme that have sadly receded. Attacking the President or other politicians as individuals was out of bounds: dissenting from their ideas was not, unless you were Susan Sontag or Barbara Kingsolver, in which case you proclaimed yourself unable to discern the difference.
Loving your country simply because it was yours was permissible. Thanking men and women who risk their lives for others was mandatory. Speaking openly, however hesitantly, of your religious faith was not an abomination. Looking into your community to figure out if you could make it better was a good thing too. "Right" and "wrong" had clear, obvious meanings that nearly everyone could agree on.
You can see the trend. If you can conceive that last September you would have done one thing or considered something else out of bounds, that moment of extreme stress and clarity might offer you a better tool for discerning in more turbid waters what is right and what is wrong than asking yourself "what would Jesus do?"--at least if for you "Jesus" is an amalgm of "Davey and Goliath" and that Doonesbury priest's Wellness Seminar attitude.
Query, inspired by the GRE Reading List.
Is it better to assign books in high school that will inspire a love of reading or that form a part of the canon? In looking over the list, I realize I have read less than 1/3 of it. Some of it was not read but assigned, some read and assigned, and some not assigned but read anyway. About another 1/3 I tried to read and just wasn't inspired to finish. ("Heart of Darkness" was assigned, and attempted in high school, then attempted a couple of times since. "Apocalypse Now" is much more accessible, and the Secret Sharer is better written.)
I read constantly, voraciously, and find that I was not capable, at 14 or 15, of understanding many of these books in any meaningful way. I'm 32 and still too inexperienced for some of them. And, frankly, some of them just aren't all that great, either as writing or as ideas. Thomas Hardy is just overwritten.
(Thank you, Eve, for pointing out the list.)
Is it better to assign books in high school that will inspire a love of reading or that form a part of the canon? In looking over the list, I realize I have read less than 1/3 of it. Some of it was not read but assigned, some read and assigned, and some not assigned but read anyway. About another 1/3 I tried to read and just wasn't inspired to finish. ("Heart of Darkness" was assigned, and attempted in high school, then attempted a couple of times since. "Apocalypse Now" is much more accessible, and the Secret Sharer is better written.)
I read constantly, voraciously, and find that I was not capable, at 14 or 15, of understanding many of these books in any meaningful way. I'm 32 and still too inexperienced for some of them. And, frankly, some of them just aren't all that great, either as writing or as ideas. Thomas Hardy is just overwritten.
(Thank you, Eve, for pointing out the list.)
The question then, is this: when two teachings of the Magisterium exist in apparent contradiction of each other, what is a would-be faithful Catholic to do?
On the one hand, Humanae Vitae upheld a long tradition of opposition to contraception. On the other, NFP appears on its face to be contraceptive, and only some fairly clever (and I do not intend that word approvingly) reasoning can get one to the conclusion that it is not. And yet NFP appears to be an ordinary and universal teaching of the Magisterium. The tradition of the church is that Catholics are bound to follow such teachings, but to follow them to their logical end would itself lead one to a marriage of total abstention from sex, or sexual activity with such frequency as to interfere with ordinary life. Either an invalid marriage or an unchaste one.
This is the difficulty, and I know not what to make of it.
On the one hand, Humanae Vitae upheld a long tradition of opposition to contraception. On the other, NFP appears on its face to be contraceptive, and only some fairly clever (and I do not intend that word approvingly) reasoning can get one to the conclusion that it is not. And yet NFP appears to be an ordinary and universal teaching of the Magisterium. The tradition of the church is that Catholics are bound to follow such teachings, but to follow them to their logical end would itself lead one to a marriage of total abstention from sex, or sexual activity with such frequency as to interfere with ordinary life. Either an invalid marriage or an unchaste one.
This is the difficulty, and I know not what to make of it.
A Little more on NFP
I had hoped not to go here, but now am finding that this is helping clarify my thinking. I posted this comment in the thread over at Amy's discussion this morning. It was in response to a participant who argued that NFP is not equivalent to artifical contraception. As I re-read his comment, it appears I may have lumped him in with some who were denying that NFP was contraceptive at all, but my thinking here still stands in reply to that idea, if not to the (very civil and kind) gentleman to whom it was addressed.
All acts of abstention are clearly not contraceptive. And I'm not condemning anyone for what I say now but: the reality is, if a couple were contemplating intercourse this evening, and then after consulting the tables/charts/software, came to the conclusion that to do so might lead to conception, and therefore abstained from sex solely for the purpose of not conceiving, that action (abstaining in the face of unitive desire) would be contraceptive in nature.
I'm not saying that NFP isn't a better method than artificial means (barriers are messy and unromantic and intrusive, and hormones are often unpleasant) I'm merely challenging the legalism whereby one arrives at a notion that choosing to act in a certain way for the sole and deliberate purpose of altering the procreative nature of a marriage is not contraception.
That it is "natural" is a good thing, but not the best thing. Without honestly answering the question "is it or is it not really contraception," its natural qualities play into things only so far as they are aesthetically pleasing. "Coitus Interruptus" is "natural" too, in the sense that it involves no chemical or artificial barriers, but few people would argue in favor its use--partially on grounds of effectiveness, but also on aesthetic ones.
I am honestly in muddied ground on this issue. But when a teaching falls back on narrow, inscrutable legalisms, it makes me highly skeptical of its truth. Teachings that must primarily appeal to reason, rather than faith, have to meet a high standard of reasonableness (I use that last term very narrowly, not in the mushy sense of "that seems reasonable" but "able to be reasoned.") Teachings about the Trinity appeal as much or more to Faith than Reason, because they substantively involve things that exist outside our normal frame of reference, that can only be inferred and analogized. Marriage and child-bearing are essentially human activities, with spiritual overtones, and almost any man and woman can experience them directly, for themselves. So any teaching about them must rest on universal principles and truths. I do not assert that teachings on contraception fail that test, but I also cannot yet assert that they pass it.
I had hoped not to go here, but now am finding that this is helping clarify my thinking. I posted this comment in the thread over at Amy's discussion this morning. It was in response to a participant who argued that NFP is not equivalent to artifical contraception. As I re-read his comment, it appears I may have lumped him in with some who were denying that NFP was contraceptive at all, but my thinking here still stands in reply to that idea, if not to the (very civil and kind) gentleman to whom it was addressed.
All acts of abstention are clearly not contraceptive. And I'm not condemning anyone for what I say now but: the reality is, if a couple were contemplating intercourse this evening, and then after consulting the tables/charts/software, came to the conclusion that to do so might lead to conception, and therefore abstained from sex solely for the purpose of not conceiving, that action (abstaining in the face of unitive desire) would be contraceptive in nature.
I'm not saying that NFP isn't a better method than artificial means (barriers are messy and unromantic and intrusive, and hormones are often unpleasant) I'm merely challenging the legalism whereby one arrives at a notion that choosing to act in a certain way for the sole and deliberate purpose of altering the procreative nature of a marriage is not contraception.
That it is "natural" is a good thing, but not the best thing. Without honestly answering the question "is it or is it not really contraception," its natural qualities play into things only so far as they are aesthetically pleasing. "Coitus Interruptus" is "natural" too, in the sense that it involves no chemical or artificial barriers, but few people would argue in favor its use--partially on grounds of effectiveness, but also on aesthetic ones.
I am honestly in muddied ground on this issue. But when a teaching falls back on narrow, inscrutable legalisms, it makes me highly skeptical of its truth. Teachings that must primarily appeal to reason, rather than faith, have to meet a high standard of reasonableness (I use that last term very narrowly, not in the mushy sense of "that seems reasonable" but "able to be reasoned.") Teachings about the Trinity appeal as much or more to Faith than Reason, because they substantively involve things that exist outside our normal frame of reference, that can only be inferred and analogized. Marriage and child-bearing are essentially human activities, with spiritual overtones, and almost any man and woman can experience them directly, for themselves. So any teaching about them must rest on universal principles and truths. I do not assert that teachings on contraception fail that test, but I also cannot yet assert that they pass it.
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Natural Family Planning
There’s a very lively and surprisingly civil conversation (all things considered) about NFP going on over at Amy Welborn. Having only a few weeks ago concluded my conversation with “Bob” where I was vociferously defending the Magisterium, I am loath to enter the argument now, as I might wind up on Bob’s side of the argument.
HOWEVER, I do think there are a few salient points, that ought to be mostly points of agreement for all sides, so I am going to go at least that far.
First and foremost, I can’t see as anyone has criticized the method of NFP on its own merits for otherwise healthy women. So, let’s not confuse the theology of NFP with NFP as such.
Second, no one has argued that husbands and wives abstaining from sex on occasion is inherently bad. Indeed, there appears to be an implicit consensus that abstention undertaken for the right reasons (which vary from person to person) is considered a good thing, as appetites are both controlled and allowed to grow by periodically placing restraint on them.
Third, people on both sides appear, on the whole, to agree that “the pill” is at best a mixed blessing. The effects on the user’s body are not to be scoffed at, and suspicion lingers that there is an as-yet unproven causal relationship between the pill and certain diseases. The specific mechanism of the pill is also potentially troublesome.
The biggest points of disagreement center on the nature of the moral differences between NFP and other methods: if one, why not the other? Additionally, though the terms have not appeared, the power of the Magisterium to “bind and loose” is very much in play. Some are arguing that since the Church says it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s logical or consistent, while others say that since it isn’t (to their thinking) logical or consistent, the Church’s power to bind and loose doesn’t apply (or it really doesn’t have that power anyway).
Barrier methods of contraception are inconvenient at best and positively disruptive at worst. They intrude to a greater or lesser degree upon the intimacy that is the greatest gift of the act. When St. Paul talks of “one flesh” he seems not have been including one of Monty Python’s “little rubber thingies.” What CS Lewis calls the “transposition” from the spiritual to the physical cannot be aided and may be harmed by the emplacement of a literal physical barrier.
Many women for whom NFP would be problematical have health problems of some sort. Those might bring the moral principle of “double effect” into play, meaning an alternative form of contraception, whose purpose is not to prevent a pregnancy as such, but either to treat those problems directly, or avoid aggravating them by a pregnancy, would at least arguably be permitted.
Thus, we would appear on balance all to agree that:
1) NFP is an excellent choice for those in good health;
2) other methods of contraception may have defects that in fact render them less desirable for a married couple than NFP; and
3) those unable for health reasons to practice NFP may have other options licitly opened up to them.
Therefore:
1) It should be desirable to all married Catholics to make use of NFP as a means of deferring child-bearing in appropriate circumstances;
2) Not all married Catholics can practice NFP;
3) Catholic clergy and laity ought to emphasize the practical aspects of NFP vs. other methods, as it is mostly on pragmatic grounds that hormonal and barrier methods are allegedly chosen; and
4) The underpinning issues ought to be resolved, but the actual behavior need not depend on who is right.
There’s a very lively and surprisingly civil conversation (all things considered) about NFP going on over at Amy Welborn. Having only a few weeks ago concluded my conversation with “Bob” where I was vociferously defending the Magisterium, I am loath to enter the argument now, as I might wind up on Bob’s side of the argument.
HOWEVER, I do think there are a few salient points, that ought to be mostly points of agreement for all sides, so I am going to go at least that far.
First and foremost, I can’t see as anyone has criticized the method of NFP on its own merits for otherwise healthy women. So, let’s not confuse the theology of NFP with NFP as such.
Second, no one has argued that husbands and wives abstaining from sex on occasion is inherently bad. Indeed, there appears to be an implicit consensus that abstention undertaken for the right reasons (which vary from person to person) is considered a good thing, as appetites are both controlled and allowed to grow by periodically placing restraint on them.
Third, people on both sides appear, on the whole, to agree that “the pill” is at best a mixed blessing. The effects on the user’s body are not to be scoffed at, and suspicion lingers that there is an as-yet unproven causal relationship between the pill and certain diseases. The specific mechanism of the pill is also potentially troublesome.
The biggest points of disagreement center on the nature of the moral differences between NFP and other methods: if one, why not the other? Additionally, though the terms have not appeared, the power of the Magisterium to “bind and loose” is very much in play. Some are arguing that since the Church says it, it doesn’t matter whether it’s logical or consistent, while others say that since it isn’t (to their thinking) logical or consistent, the Church’s power to bind and loose doesn’t apply (or it really doesn’t have that power anyway).
Barrier methods of contraception are inconvenient at best and positively disruptive at worst. They intrude to a greater or lesser degree upon the intimacy that is the greatest gift of the act. When St. Paul talks of “one flesh” he seems not have been including one of Monty Python’s “little rubber thingies.” What CS Lewis calls the “transposition” from the spiritual to the physical cannot be aided and may be harmed by the emplacement of a literal physical barrier.
Many women for whom NFP would be problematical have health problems of some sort. Those might bring the moral principle of “double effect” into play, meaning an alternative form of contraception, whose purpose is not to prevent a pregnancy as such, but either to treat those problems directly, or avoid aggravating them by a pregnancy, would at least arguably be permitted.
Thus, we would appear on balance all to agree that:
1) NFP is an excellent choice for those in good health;
2) other methods of contraception may have defects that in fact render them less desirable for a married couple than NFP; and
3) those unable for health reasons to practice NFP may have other options licitly opened up to them.
Therefore:
1) It should be desirable to all married Catholics to make use of NFP as a means of deferring child-bearing in appropriate circumstances;
2) Not all married Catholics can practice NFP;
3) Catholic clergy and laity ought to emphasize the practical aspects of NFP vs. other methods, as it is mostly on pragmatic grounds that hormonal and barrier methods are allegedly chosen; and
4) The underpinning issues ought to be resolved, but the actual behavior need not depend on who is right.
How Firm
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Tuesday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For Dean and his wife. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Monday, September 23, 2002
Occam’s Razor
The Franciscan William of Ockham made possible a great deal of evil with his so-called razor. Though he died in the 14th century, the echoes of his blasted tool continue down to today. But only today, for I intend to shatter it.
Occam’s razor requires that a person not multiply the assumptions beyond the minimum number necessary to solve a problem. The classic example is a system with two points: the fewest number of assumptions about that system would cause you to connect the points with a straight line between them. Though an infinite number and complexity of possible curves can also connect them, the Razor shaves everything down to a single, short, straight line.
This is of course useful, but being useful does not necessarily make it true. Until Newton multiplied his assumptions, one might have held a belief that one could connect those points with a piece of string that would be, properly tightened, perfectly straight and—with the limited sensitivity of the scientific instrumentation of the day—one would have appeared to be perfectly correct. But gravity will exert a miniscule force on that string, warping it however slightly. And until Einstein multiplied his assumptions, Newtonian mechanics were the be-all and end-all.
In metaphysics, the danger is even worse. Greg Popcak has recently felt my wrath over the notion that we can consider anything about human behavior “mathematically proven.” (He is unrepentant, of course, but he also called his wife a “muddle-headed woman” on the HMS Blog, so I think we need not take him too seriously in the cognitive-skills department…) An honest person will tread gently on the razor blade, and acknowledge that human behavior does not follow strict mathematical laws, but the Razor often gets used as though the simplest explanation is true.
My son, being five, sometimes tells lies reflexively, without having considered the merit of truth or fiction. One day, he told me an obvious lie, one that needed no checking at all to be seen. Ruthlessly applying Occam’s Razor, I might have come to the conclusion that my son had in fact done what he stood accused of, for why else would he have lied about it? But the truth was, he didn’t do the bad thing (which has now escaped my memory) but he did not expect to be believed in his denial, and feared the consequences of: a) the original act (of which he was innocent); and b) the lie he expected us to believe he had told (but did not). The result was, Little Guy was entirely innocent of the original crime, but effectively concealed that innocence with a lie.
The simplest explanation was very, very far from the true one.
I agree, when plotting a curve between two and only two points in an abstract system, that the most probably true curve is the short, straight line. And, however obtuse you thought I was being a moment ago, I also understand that it is the slow accretion of knowledge that builds up reasons to question whether you have trimmed away rather too many assumptions—thus allowing an Einstein or a Newton to build a new thesis.
What I am complaining about is a narrow, rigidly enforced system of applying Occam’s Razor in a way that does not allow for it. Paradoxically, the area where the Razor is most narrowly, rigidly enforced (metaphysics) is the one where it is least likely to be true. It has been used to bring the world nominalism, materialism, reductionism, logical positivism, and just about any other philosophical –ism that denies something essential about human nature.
But still, I wonder what would happen if Occam’s Razor were left alone in a room with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Maybe EWTN can run that as a pay-per-view steel cage grudge match sometime.
The Franciscan William of Ockham made possible a great deal of evil with his so-called razor. Though he died in the 14th century, the echoes of his blasted tool continue down to today. But only today, for I intend to shatter it.
Occam’s razor requires that a person not multiply the assumptions beyond the minimum number necessary to solve a problem. The classic example is a system with two points: the fewest number of assumptions about that system would cause you to connect the points with a straight line between them. Though an infinite number and complexity of possible curves can also connect them, the Razor shaves everything down to a single, short, straight line.
This is of course useful, but being useful does not necessarily make it true. Until Newton multiplied his assumptions, one might have held a belief that one could connect those points with a piece of string that would be, properly tightened, perfectly straight and—with the limited sensitivity of the scientific instrumentation of the day—one would have appeared to be perfectly correct. But gravity will exert a miniscule force on that string, warping it however slightly. And until Einstein multiplied his assumptions, Newtonian mechanics were the be-all and end-all.
In metaphysics, the danger is even worse. Greg Popcak has recently felt my wrath over the notion that we can consider anything about human behavior “mathematically proven.” (He is unrepentant, of course, but he also called his wife a “muddle-headed woman” on the HMS Blog, so I think we need not take him too seriously in the cognitive-skills department…) An honest person will tread gently on the razor blade, and acknowledge that human behavior does not follow strict mathematical laws, but the Razor often gets used as though the simplest explanation is true.
My son, being five, sometimes tells lies reflexively, without having considered the merit of truth or fiction. One day, he told me an obvious lie, one that needed no checking at all to be seen. Ruthlessly applying Occam’s Razor, I might have come to the conclusion that my son had in fact done what he stood accused of, for why else would he have lied about it? But the truth was, he didn’t do the bad thing (which has now escaped my memory) but he did not expect to be believed in his denial, and feared the consequences of: a) the original act (of which he was innocent); and b) the lie he expected us to believe he had told (but did not). The result was, Little Guy was entirely innocent of the original crime, but effectively concealed that innocence with a lie.
The simplest explanation was very, very far from the true one.
I agree, when plotting a curve between two and only two points in an abstract system, that the most probably true curve is the short, straight line. And, however obtuse you thought I was being a moment ago, I also understand that it is the slow accretion of knowledge that builds up reasons to question whether you have trimmed away rather too many assumptions—thus allowing an Einstein or a Newton to build a new thesis.
What I am complaining about is a narrow, rigidly enforced system of applying Occam’s Razor in a way that does not allow for it. Paradoxically, the area where the Razor is most narrowly, rigidly enforced (metaphysics) is the one where it is least likely to be true. It has been used to bring the world nominalism, materialism, reductionism, logical positivism, and just about any other philosophical –ism that denies something essential about human nature.
But still, I wonder what would happen if Occam’s Razor were left alone in a room with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Maybe EWTN can run that as a pay-per-view steel cage grudge match sometime.
This is extraordinarily cool, if you like this sort of thing.
Monday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Steven, his wife, and their friend's daugher JB. For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Unto Thy Temple, Lord, We Come
Unto Thy temple, Lord, we come
With thankful hearts to worship Thee;
And pray that this may be our home
Until we touch eternity.
The common home of rich and poor,
Of bond and free, and great and small;
Large as Thy love forevermore,
And warm and bright and good to all.
And dwell Thou with us in this place,
Thou and Thy Christ, to guide and bless!
Here make the wellspring of Thy grace
Like fountains in the wilderness.
May Thy whole truth be spoken here;
Thy Gospel light forever shine;
Thy perfect love cast out all fear,
And human life become divine.
Unto Thy temple, Lord, we come
With thankful hearts to worship Thee;
And pray that this may be our home
Until we touch eternity.
The common home of rich and poor,
Of bond and free, and great and small;
Large as Thy love forevermore,
And warm and bright and good to all.
And dwell Thou with us in this place,
Thou and Thy Christ, to guide and bless!
Here make the wellspring of Thy grace
Like fountains in the wilderness.
May Thy whole truth be spoken here;
Thy Gospel light forever shine;
Thy perfect love cast out all fear,
And human life become divine.
A reader arrived yesterday after searching google for the espession "luther fart." As embarassing as it is that the search led him here, I have to ask just what inspired him to search for that phrase in the first place???
Friday, September 20, 2002
Friday Intentions
Please pray for yourself today.
The mistake a lot of people make is to think that they should only pray for others, that it would be "selfish" or "impious" to pray for themselves. Wrong. It is nothing less than the sin of pride to pray only for others and never for yourself. These other people need your help, O Lord, but I can make it on my own, thank you!" In the Gospel, the spirit of piety lived not in the people who believed that they didn't need God's help, but in the Roman soldier who saw his own deficiencies and needs, and who approached Christ with the words we repeat every Sunday: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed."
How you pray for yourself does of course matter. You can ask for the strength to bear whatever crosses are before you. You can ask for the gift of a virtue in which you feel deficient. You can offer thanks for the gifts you got yesterday. You can even, mirabile dictu, ask for something you want--so long as you promise not to resent it if that request isn't granted. But whatever you do, remember that by your own lights you aren't going to accomplish very much, and that therefore you need the help that is always at your side. Pray about it.
Please pray for yourself today.
The mistake a lot of people make is to think that they should only pray for others, that it would be "selfish" or "impious" to pray for themselves. Wrong. It is nothing less than the sin of pride to pray only for others and never for yourself. These other people need your help, O Lord, but I can make it on my own, thank you!" In the Gospel, the spirit of piety lived not in the people who believed that they didn't need God's help, but in the Roman soldier who saw his own deficiencies and needs, and who approached Christ with the words we repeat every Sunday: "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed."
How you pray for yourself does of course matter. You can ask for the strength to bear whatever crosses are before you. You can ask for the gift of a virtue in which you feel deficient. You can offer thanks for the gifts you got yesterday. You can even, mirabile dictu, ask for something you want--so long as you promise not to resent it if that request isn't granted. But whatever you do, remember that by your own lights you aren't going to accomplish very much, and that therefore you need the help that is always at your side. Pray about it.
While Men Grow Bold in Wicked Ways
While men grow bold in wicked ways,
And yet a God they own,
My heart within me often says,
“Their thoughts believe there’s none.”
Their thoughts and ways at once declare,
Whate’er their lips profess,
God hath no wrath for them to fear,
Nor will they seek His grace.
What strange self-flatt’ry blinds their eyes!
But there’s a hast’ning hour,
When they shall see with sore surprise
The terrors of Thy power.
Thy justice shall maintain its throne,
Though mountains melt away;
Thy judgments are a world unknown,
A deep, unfathom’d sea.
Above the heav’ns’ created rounds,
Thy mercies, Lord, extend;
Thy truth outlives the narrow bounds
Where time and nature end.
Safety to man Thy goodness brings,
Nor overlooks the beast;
Beneath the shadow of Thy wings
Thy children choose to rest.
From Thee, when creature-streams run low.
And mortal comforts die,
Perpetual springs of life shall flow,
And raise our pleasures high.
Though all created light decay,
And death close up our eyes,
Thy presence makes eternal day,
Where clouds can never rise.
While men grow bold in wicked ways,
And yet a God they own,
My heart within me often says,
“Their thoughts believe there’s none.”
Their thoughts and ways at once declare,
Whate’er their lips profess,
God hath no wrath for them to fear,
Nor will they seek His grace.
What strange self-flatt’ry blinds their eyes!
But there’s a hast’ning hour,
When they shall see with sore surprise
The terrors of Thy power.
Thy justice shall maintain its throne,
Though mountains melt away;
Thy judgments are a world unknown,
A deep, unfathom’d sea.
Above the heav’ns’ created rounds,
Thy mercies, Lord, extend;
Thy truth outlives the narrow bounds
Where time and nature end.
Safety to man Thy goodness brings,
Nor overlooks the beast;
Beneath the shadow of Thy wings
Thy children choose to rest.
From Thee, when creature-streams run low.
And mortal comforts die,
Perpetual springs of life shall flow,
And raise our pleasures high.
Though all created light decay,
And death close up our eyes,
Thy presence makes eternal day,
Where clouds can never rise.
Thursday, September 19, 2002
AltaVista Translations are not very good I'm afraid. I was reading this story, blogged by Fr. Jim, and getting a headache. But I found if I read it aloud in a bad Hollywood-style Italian accent, it makes much more sense than any of the conversations I ever had with Enzo at his barbershop in Medford.
This is just a question, not an answer
I have worked, as a temp and as a full time employee, in dozens of organizations. (Temping is a great summer job for a college student. The pay is good, and if you don't feel like working today, just don't answer the phone...)
It occurred to me today that, at my present employer, I have gotten to know very few people outside my own department, and that a majority of those people are Catholic. Moreover, the realization dawned that this has been true of most organizations I have worked in.
In the nature of things, I have not worked in places that attract a lot of evangelicals, so the fact that they aren't reaching out is mainly a sign that they aren't especially present.
Is this typical of your experience, and if so, is it because water finds its own level, or because Catholics are putting more effort into the interpersonal aspects of the job, or for some other reason or reasons?
I have worked, as a temp and as a full time employee, in dozens of organizations. (Temping is a great summer job for a college student. The pay is good, and if you don't feel like working today, just don't answer the phone...)
It occurred to me today that, at my present employer, I have gotten to know very few people outside my own department, and that a majority of those people are Catholic. Moreover, the realization dawned that this has been true of most organizations I have worked in.
In the nature of things, I have not worked in places that attract a lot of evangelicals, so the fact that they aren't reaching out is mainly a sign that they aren't especially present.
Is this typical of your experience, and if so, is it because water finds its own level, or because Catholics are putting more effort into the interpersonal aspects of the job, or for some other reason or reasons?
In my busyness of the last few days I have not had time to visit all my usual blogstops and read with care. Hence, I missed a rquest for prayers from my friend Steven at Flos Carmeli and his wife. Please keep them and a female friend of theirs (coincidentally named JB) in your prayers.
This is what I'm talking about.
"A tiny part of the brain behind the right ear can cause out-of-body experiences and could explain the many stories of near-death patients who say they have looked down at their own bodies, a team of Swiss scientists announced yesterday...[cut away nearly the entire article, until...]
"The new research 'holds up some hope that the ultraskeptics will see that there is something interesting happening and the ultra-spiritualists will see that it is something happening in the brain,' Blackmore said. 'Maybe this will close that awful gap.'"
So, we'll close the gap by showing the skeptics that the nutjobs weren't really nuts, just deluded, and we'll show the nutjobs that the skeptics were right on the merits, but wrong on the substance.
The problem with this kind of thinking is so annoying. As a Catholic, I believe that the body and the spirit interact. So, when you tell me there's a part of the brain where this kind of stuff happens, my response is going to be, as Plato once said, "Well, duh!" This is the classic mistake that I frequently rail against of mistaking "how" for "why."
What these scientists don't realize, and what would probably make them shudder, is that such research gives the most ammunition to people who support some form of "Intelligent Design," since, as a place where body and spirit interact, it can be considered the sort of incredibly, mind-bogglingly useful thing that could not have evolved by chance. (Douglas Adams fans of the world, unite!)
"A tiny part of the brain behind the right ear can cause out-of-body experiences and could explain the many stories of near-death patients who say they have looked down at their own bodies, a team of Swiss scientists announced yesterday...[cut away nearly the entire article, until...]
"The new research 'holds up some hope that the ultraskeptics will see that there is something interesting happening and the ultra-spiritualists will see that it is something happening in the brain,' Blackmore said. 'Maybe this will close that awful gap.'"
So, we'll close the gap by showing the skeptics that the nutjobs weren't really nuts, just deluded, and we'll show the nutjobs that the skeptics were right on the merits, but wrong on the substance.
The problem with this kind of thinking is so annoying. As a Catholic, I believe that the body and the spirit interact. So, when you tell me there's a part of the brain where this kind of stuff happens, my response is going to be, as Plato once said, "Well, duh!" This is the classic mistake that I frequently rail against of mistaking "how" for "why."
What these scientists don't realize, and what would probably make them shudder, is that such research gives the most ammunition to people who support some form of "Intelligent Design," since, as a place where body and spirit interact, it can be considered the sort of incredibly, mind-bogglingly useful thing that could not have evolved by chance. (Douglas Adams fans of the world, unite!)
Psalm 40
Faith Persevering in Trial
(1)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth--
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart."
9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me!
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, "Aha, aha!"
16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
"The LORD be magnified!"
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the LORD thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
Faith Persevering in Trial
(1)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth--
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7 Then I said, "Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart."
9 I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You Yourself know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me!
14 Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15 Let them be confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, "Aha, aha!"
16 Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
"The LORD be magnified!"
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the LORD thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
Thursday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Here's the problem.
On the left, we have "Christianity Lite" which wants to water down the sacraments and the requirements of Christianity to some sort of New Agey validation ceremony. This is plainly stupid, on the face and in substance. Christ himself laid down some pretty clear requirements, challenging ones, to every person in the Gospels who approached him seeking salvation.
On the right, we have the Law and Order folks, the armchair canon lawyers, and the modern pharisees--what Mark Shea calls the "Lidless Eye" folks. They want to reduce Christianity to rules, almost a self-executing computer program that requires little to no user interface. It just happens. This is also plainly stupid. Christ made short work of pharisees on many occasions.
There are those who would welcome almost any wanderer without ever bothering to challenge that person, and those who would lay obstacle after obstacle in front of sincere but misguided people, showing them the door more easily than the Way. We have a Magisterium that defines rules and requirements and pastors who ignore them. A laity that wants accountability but will not be held accountable.
Christ did not tell Mary Magdalene to keep on hooking, or the rich man to stay rich. He also did not tell the pharisees to keep on writing ever tinier distinctions into the law, nor did he tell the lawbreakers they were off the hook. If he had a bias towards any group, it was to those hapless souls who tried muddling through as best they knew how. The tax collectors and prostitutes, the lepers and beggars. Roman soldiers and Samaritans. The people who had neither the advantage of the phariseic education nor the self-indulgence of the leisured classes. The foreigners and sinners who approached him mindful of their own failings and flaws.
These are not the people history would record as Virtuous, but that is who they were. They might not have been the wisest people of their day, but they used the wisdom they had. There may have been more fearless people, but such courage as they did possess was given to living courageously. Humility they seem to have had, and charity. Faith, plainly.
The rules really do, truly matter. Accepting people as they are, really does matter. But what matters most is navigating the course between these two poles. Accepting people as they are must also mean helping them become what they can be. Following the rules must also mean following the ones that have no algebraic solution. The examples Christ chose for us in his lifetime are those who embodied some virtue or virtues. In the present age, we are given to insisting on binary choices, one or the other. But virtue defies binary logic, requiring a synthesis of virtue even to consider virtue itself. How can one distinguish between Prudence and Cowardice without Wisdom?
Stop it. Stop it now. While we turn Christ's pilgrim church on earth into a scantron test, the physically and spiritually hungry are starving on our doorstep. We are to be fishers of men, but while we argue over which fish to throw back, the rest rot in the nets.
On the left, we have "Christianity Lite" which wants to water down the sacraments and the requirements of Christianity to some sort of New Agey validation ceremony. This is plainly stupid, on the face and in substance. Christ himself laid down some pretty clear requirements, challenging ones, to every person in the Gospels who approached him seeking salvation.
On the right, we have the Law and Order folks, the armchair canon lawyers, and the modern pharisees--what Mark Shea calls the "Lidless Eye" folks. They want to reduce Christianity to rules, almost a self-executing computer program that requires little to no user interface. It just happens. This is also plainly stupid. Christ made short work of pharisees on many occasions.
There are those who would welcome almost any wanderer without ever bothering to challenge that person, and those who would lay obstacle after obstacle in front of sincere but misguided people, showing them the door more easily than the Way. We have a Magisterium that defines rules and requirements and pastors who ignore them. A laity that wants accountability but will not be held accountable.
Christ did not tell Mary Magdalene to keep on hooking, or the rich man to stay rich. He also did not tell the pharisees to keep on writing ever tinier distinctions into the law, nor did he tell the lawbreakers they were off the hook. If he had a bias towards any group, it was to those hapless souls who tried muddling through as best they knew how. The tax collectors and prostitutes, the lepers and beggars. Roman soldiers and Samaritans. The people who had neither the advantage of the phariseic education nor the self-indulgence of the leisured classes. The foreigners and sinners who approached him mindful of their own failings and flaws.
These are not the people history would record as Virtuous, but that is who they were. They might not have been the wisest people of their day, but they used the wisdom they had. There may have been more fearless people, but such courage as they did possess was given to living courageously. Humility they seem to have had, and charity. Faith, plainly.
The rules really do, truly matter. Accepting people as they are, really does matter. But what matters most is navigating the course between these two poles. Accepting people as they are must also mean helping them become what they can be. Following the rules must also mean following the ones that have no algebraic solution. The examples Christ chose for us in his lifetime are those who embodied some virtue or virtues. In the present age, we are given to insisting on binary choices, one or the other. But virtue defies binary logic, requiring a synthesis of virtue even to consider virtue itself. How can one distinguish between Prudence and Cowardice without Wisdom?
Stop it. Stop it now. While we turn Christ's pilgrim church on earth into a scantron test, the physically and spiritually hungry are starving on our doorstep. We are to be fishers of men, but while we argue over which fish to throw back, the rest rot in the nets.
Tuesday, September 17, 2002
By the way, there appears to have been a counter-counterrevolution over at Radio Free HMS. Rest assured that the interloper Pawlak will be undone.
Little Crosses
In the fall of 1996, I had a revelation.
I was working at a school in Maryland that was planning on hosting its first-ever Fall Festival, and the weather was iffy. All week the forecast for Saturday morning vacillated between pretty good and pouring rain. So, on Friday afternoon, we decided to set it up for the outdoor venue, but I was in charge of getting the weather very early Saturday and making a decision on whether to move everything inside or not..
Of course, Saturday broke wet and cold, with a steady rain and the probability of a break only after our Festival was open. So at O-dark-thirty, I started making calls to get the crew there to move things and headed off to school myself. As it turned out, I was the first person there, and had no keys to unlock the gym, so I just started moving chairs and small tables over by the entrance.
After about 10 minutes of this, and just before anyone else arrived, the revelation hit: I was going to be working outdoors in a downpour for the next hour or two, in less-than-adequate rain gear. I was going to get soaked.
Up until that point, I had been hunching my shoulders against the weather, and muttering to myself about the foolishness of this: would it not have been better to set things up *inside* and move them *outside* if the weather looked good? Was the wishful thinking of my colleagues about the weather really *my* problem?
But with the realization that no amount of complaining or trying to stay dry was in fact going to keep me from getting soaked, I took off my sodden jacket and my foul mood, and decided to enjoy the rain. By the time coffee and donuts had arrived, I was having a ball. In all honesty, that particular October Day may have been the best day of all in that job.
Please don't think me glib. I know that many crosses are very much harder to bear than getting soaked. But sometimes the recognition of inevitability changes the way we perceive what is happening, and makes the bearing less of a burden. Of course, sometimes it doesn't. But so many of the things that hinder our spiritual lives are at the rainy-Saturday-rearranging-furniture end of the spectrum, and just because they aren't the most seriours or the worst things that happen to us, doesn't mean we shouldn't look for ways to deal with them. At that time I did not know that I had adopted an attitude of patience and charity, temperance and fortitude. It just seemed like the thing to do.
In the fall of 1996, I had a revelation.
I was working at a school in Maryland that was planning on hosting its first-ever Fall Festival, and the weather was iffy. All week the forecast for Saturday morning vacillated between pretty good and pouring rain. So, on Friday afternoon, we decided to set it up for the outdoor venue, but I was in charge of getting the weather very early Saturday and making a decision on whether to move everything inside or not..
Of course, Saturday broke wet and cold, with a steady rain and the probability of a break only after our Festival was open. So at O-dark-thirty, I started making calls to get the crew there to move things and headed off to school myself. As it turned out, I was the first person there, and had no keys to unlock the gym, so I just started moving chairs and small tables over by the entrance.
After about 10 minutes of this, and just before anyone else arrived, the revelation hit: I was going to be working outdoors in a downpour for the next hour or two, in less-than-adequate rain gear. I was going to get soaked.
Up until that point, I had been hunching my shoulders against the weather, and muttering to myself about the foolishness of this: would it not have been better to set things up *inside* and move them *outside* if the weather looked good? Was the wishful thinking of my colleagues about the weather really *my* problem?
But with the realization that no amount of complaining or trying to stay dry was in fact going to keep me from getting soaked, I took off my sodden jacket and my foul mood, and decided to enjoy the rain. By the time coffee and donuts had arrived, I was having a ball. In all honesty, that particular October Day may have been the best day of all in that job.
Please don't think me glib. I know that many crosses are very much harder to bear than getting soaked. But sometimes the recognition of inevitability changes the way we perceive what is happening, and makes the bearing less of a burden. Of course, sometimes it doesn't. But so many of the things that hinder our spiritual lives are at the rainy-Saturday-rearranging-furniture end of the spectrum, and just because they aren't the most seriours or the worst things that happen to us, doesn't mean we shouldn't look for ways to deal with them. At that time I did not know that I had adopted an attitude of patience and charity, temperance and fortitude. It just seemed like the thing to do.
Mixed Metaphor Alert!
Here's a good rule of thumb: if the thought of praying for someone makes you cringe, turn away in disgust, or generally react with fits, that's the person you most need to pray for. Anyone who brings on an allergic reaction like that is causing you to tie up your spirit on matters best left to the Spirit, and only prayer can unclog the drain.
Here's a good rule of thumb: if the thought of praying for someone makes you cringe, turn away in disgust, or generally react with fits, that's the person you most need to pray for. Anyone who brings on an allergic reaction like that is causing you to tie up your spirit on matters best left to the Spirit, and only prayer can unclog the drain.
Have you signed the really cool Guestmap over there, on the right? Have you "told-a-friend" about Kairos?
Lift High the Cross
Refrain
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.
Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.
Refrain
Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died.
Refrain
O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee.
Refrain
So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory.
Refrain
Refrain
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.
Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.
Refrain
Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died.
Refrain
O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee.
Refrain
So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory.
Refrain
Tuesday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For the medical students in Florida. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Mrs. Kairos Guy's student and the rest of the student's family. For the Palestinian students whose school was bombed today. For the medical students in Florida. For Dean. For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Have you signed the really cool Guestmap over there, on the right? Have you "told-a-friend" about Kairos?
Monday, September 16, 2002
And now a word from our Sponsor
Actually, just a brief thank you. Sometime on Saturday, Kairos received its 10,000th visitor. Now, I know 10,000 hits represents a good week for Mark Shea or Kathy Shaidle, and it took Kairos 4 months to get there (partially thanks to the number of times Kathy and Mark have linked to me!), but I am still very pleased with the results. Many of you come every day (and one poor, deluded fellow blogger from Florida visits my page way more often than is justified either by the quality or the quantity of my posts!) and others come once every few days or weeks. If there is a small way in which the writing here helps you get through life, then praise be to God. This page is as much for my own edification as anything else: I often don't know what I mean until I get to the end of an essay, and then I have to go back and fix the beginning. Thank you for putting up with my randomness, emailing me petitions, commenting with good questions and great critiques, and generally helping me muddle through life a little less blindly than before I started this. And thank you most of all for the continuing prayers for Mrs. Kairos Guy.
Now, go use the "tell-a-friend" on the right!
Peace,
Brian
Actually, just a brief thank you. Sometime on Saturday, Kairos received its 10,000th visitor. Now, I know 10,000 hits represents a good week for Mark Shea or Kathy Shaidle, and it took Kairos 4 months to get there (partially thanks to the number of times Kathy and Mark have linked to me!), but I am still very pleased with the results. Many of you come every day (and one poor, deluded fellow blogger from Florida visits my page way more often than is justified either by the quality or the quantity of my posts!) and others come once every few days or weeks. If there is a small way in which the writing here helps you get through life, then praise be to God. This page is as much for my own edification as anything else: I often don't know what I mean until I get to the end of an essay, and then I have to go back and fix the beginning. Thank you for putting up with my randomness, emailing me petitions, commenting with good questions and great critiques, and generally helping me muddle through life a little less blindly than before I started this. And thank you most of all for the continuing prayers for Mrs. Kairos Guy.
Now, go use the "tell-a-friend" on the right!
Peace,
Brian
A lot of people keep suggesting...
...what a "national treasure" Amy Welborn is. Well, I won't dispute it. But I will ask why no one ever suggests that Eve Tushnet is one, too. So, consider it suggested. If you are looking for a snarky, young, but deeply-grounded-in-serious-philosophy take on just about any national or political issue with moral import, she's your girl.
...what a "national treasure" Amy Welborn is. Well, I won't dispute it. But I will ask why no one ever suggests that Eve Tushnet is one, too. So, consider it suggested. If you are looking for a snarky, young, but deeply-grounded-in-serious-philosophy take on just about any national or political issue with moral import, she's your girl.
A busy day for additional prayers...
Please keep Dean and Mrs. Dean from Heal Your Church Website in your prayers: they have suffered a miscarriage.
Please keep Dean and Mrs. Dean from Heal Your Church Website in your prayers: they have suffered a miscarriage.
Attention North Shore Residents
If you might have the ability to assist a family of four that needs shelter in the Greater Lawrence area, please contact me via email. One of Mrs. K's students has hit a very rough patch, and we are trying to find them some help. Suggestions for places to look or community resources would be appreciated, as would prayers for the kids and their mom.
If you might have the ability to assist a family of four that needs shelter in the Greater Lawrence area, please contact me via email. One of Mrs. K's students has hit a very rough patch, and we are trying to find them some help. Suggestions for places to look or community resources would be appreciated, as would prayers for the kids and their mom.
Please keep in your prayers those medical students whose arrest freaked everyone out. Whether they did the horribly stupid thing they are accused of or not, they are likely to be suffering miserably for some time to come. The worst thing they appear to have done is dumb in the extreme, but it is entirely possible that they and their accuser are telling the truth, as anyone who's ever tried to eavesdrop in a crowded restaurant must candidly acknowledge. One thinks one hears something, but really, one's hearing center has merely assembled random fragments into what one expected to hear. And bless the men for understanding that the police have a job to do, and were responding in the only manner permitted them under the circumstances.
A Blessed Yom Kippur
A blessed and peaceful Day of Atonement to you. It never yet has harmed a Christian's soul to recognize and celebrate a Jewish Holiday, done in the right Spirit. And today is an excellent day for offering up your own sins again to God, and performing an act of atonement. Become again "at one" with the Spirit of God by prayer and some penitential act--a fast, a gift of charity, a volunteer effort. There is something especially sacred in doing so on a day set aside for that purpose for thousands of years. Don't miss out.
A blessed and peaceful Day of Atonement to you. It never yet has harmed a Christian's soul to recognize and celebrate a Jewish Holiday, done in the right Spirit. And today is an excellent day for offering up your own sins again to God, and performing an act of atonement. Become again "at one" with the Spirit of God by prayer and some penitential act--a fast, a gift of charity, a volunteer effort. There is something especially sacred in doing so on a day set aside for that purpose for thousands of years. Don't miss out.
Psalm 16
1 Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.
2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to Thee,
3 but to the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight."
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names upon my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless the LORD who hath given me counsel; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope.
10 For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
1 Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust.
2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to Thee,
3 but to the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight."
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied, that hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names upon my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless the LORD who hath given me counsel; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my spirit rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope.
10 For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Monday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Adam E, who was hurt in a serious fall. For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Friday, September 13, 2002
Do not underestimate this statement in the President's speech yesterday:
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown.
This is a reference to the case of Michael Scott Speicher, first US casualty in the Air War in 1991. This is of enormous significance, both for Speicher's family, and in establishing a casus belli.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown.
This is a reference to the case of Michael Scott Speicher, first US casualty in the Air War in 1991. This is of enormous significance, both for Speicher's family, and in establishing a casus belli.
Peter Nixon has some comments about the Pope's prayer of forgiveness for the terrorists. Go read them, and then come back and read this response.
One problem for many people is they forget that "and forget" is appended to "forgive" because there is nothing fundamental to forgiveness that requires forgetting. They are two separate acts. And forgiveness does not preclude punishment: hence the penance at the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I can freely offer forgiveness of Osama and still desire his punishment-by-daisy-cutter--especially since he has not repented of his sins. I can forgive a murderer and still hope his death sentence is carried out (if I believe in capital punishment) because that is what justice commands--true, retributive justice, that is, which is really the essential kind. (CS Lewis has a tremendous essay on this subject in "God in the Dock" that I've been emaning to blog for a few weeks. Perhaps this weekend.)
There is nothing strange in this; it has been the belief of Christians for many centuries. What is an aberration is the modern disconnect between forgiveness and penance. If I steal $1 million and go to a priest to confess, he will forgive me, instruct me to return the money, and to turn myself over to the authorities. I will still have to be punished by civil authority, even after the sin has been wiped clean from my soul. In fact, as a truly repentant Christian, I ought to *desire* to be punished by civil authority.
Additionally, as you touched on, if the America author means that I have no ability to forgive a person who has not harmed me, then he is correct. Only Christ can forgive the sins of a second party against a third. But that literal truth does not excuse me from adopting a forgiving attitude towards those who have sinned and repented, for I *can* otherwise surely still hold the second's sins to the third against the second. (Sorry, that's confusing, but I think you will understand if you read it slowly.)
There really is no alternative to forgiving the terrorists. But they still must be punished, and perhaps killed, to meet the demands of justice, and it is not Christian at all to suggest otherwise.
One problem for many people is they forget that "and forget" is appended to "forgive" because there is nothing fundamental to forgiveness that requires forgetting. They are two separate acts. And forgiveness does not preclude punishment: hence the penance at the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I can freely offer forgiveness of Osama and still desire his punishment-by-daisy-cutter--especially since he has not repented of his sins. I can forgive a murderer and still hope his death sentence is carried out (if I believe in capital punishment) because that is what justice commands--true, retributive justice, that is, which is really the essential kind. (CS Lewis has a tremendous essay on this subject in "God in the Dock" that I've been emaning to blog for a few weeks. Perhaps this weekend.)
There is nothing strange in this; it has been the belief of Christians for many centuries. What is an aberration is the modern disconnect between forgiveness and penance. If I steal $1 million and go to a priest to confess, he will forgive me, instruct me to return the money, and to turn myself over to the authorities. I will still have to be punished by civil authority, even after the sin has been wiped clean from my soul. In fact, as a truly repentant Christian, I ought to *desire* to be punished by civil authority.
Additionally, as you touched on, if the America author means that I have no ability to forgive a person who has not harmed me, then he is correct. Only Christ can forgive the sins of a second party against a third. But that literal truth does not excuse me from adopting a forgiving attitude towards those who have sinned and repented, for I *can* otherwise surely still hold the second's sins to the third against the second. (Sorry, that's confusing, but I think you will understand if you read it slowly.)
There really is no alternative to forgiving the terrorists. But they still must be punished, and perhaps killed, to meet the demands of justice, and it is not Christian at all to suggest otherwise.
Language matters
Would it be possible to ask that, collectively, we stop referring to the baby boomers as “an idealistic generation” as if that were a good thing?
So much of what has gone wrong with America’s ability to lead in the world stems from the substitution of “ideals” for “virtue,” as in the replacement of “Justice” with “peace.” Ideals in and of themselves have little or no moral value. “Peace” cannot be understood as either good or bad without modification: “just” or “unjust;” whereas justice either is, or is not.
The inability of America’s political elite to articulate a case against Iraq clearly originates here. A war with Iraq might or might not be the best way to ensure the existence of justice, both at the level of nation-states, and on the ground in Iraq among that wretched country’s citizens. The president has done an acceptable job articulating a case for war, but that case has been almost entirely about uncertain threats and unclear probabilities. The counterargument has been almost exclusively about the slippery ideal of “peace.” The raging back and forth in the blogosphere has used a lot of ill-understood and poorly articulated language about “just wars,” but few people have actually spoken about Justice itself.
The real, mortal peril of replacing Virtue with Ideal is the separation of means from ends, with all that implies. A person for whom the state of being known as “Peace” becomes not only a virtue, but the dominant virtue, will find himself supporting increasingly immoral policies and actions in the name of “peace.” This is, in fact, how “pro-life” activists become assassins. The protection of unborn children becomes an end unto itself, divorced from the virtues that make it essential, with the consequence that any means useful to the fulfillment of the mission becomes legitimate. “It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
The same problems prevail in nearly every Ideal foisted on society by the boomers. “Tolerance” and “diversity” and “equality.” These are not statements of moral worth but states of being. There is in fact no more fascist state of being than that of equality, for it is the easiest state to impose: the equality of worthlessness, the nullity of individuals against the State. It is the entropic condition to which all purely Idealistic movements must decay.
Peace has no moral value. The preservation of human life has no moral value. Equality has no moral value. None of these states of being possess the tiniest bit of moral weight without the adjectives we unconsciously and silently supply when we conceive them. But, thanks to those who have destroyed as hypocrisy the language of virtue, and divorced it from the reality of states of being, we have lost the ability to cry “Stop!” when the logic of the Ideal runs afoul of the morality that bore it. “Why” and “how” are matters of virtue.
[By the way, lest the reader think the Boomers are being blamed for this: they are not. The Boomers merely perfected and came to personify a movement that began in the so-called “Enlightenment,” took visible shape in 19th Century nihilism, and found respectable academic homes in such early 20th century ideologies as logical positivism and materialism. But the Boomers are the first generation in modern times to convert the vocabulary of the disgruntled fringe into national policy.]
Would it be possible to ask that, collectively, we stop referring to the baby boomers as “an idealistic generation” as if that were a good thing?
So much of what has gone wrong with America’s ability to lead in the world stems from the substitution of “ideals” for “virtue,” as in the replacement of “Justice” with “peace.” Ideals in and of themselves have little or no moral value. “Peace” cannot be understood as either good or bad without modification: “just” or “unjust;” whereas justice either is, or is not.
The inability of America’s political elite to articulate a case against Iraq clearly originates here. A war with Iraq might or might not be the best way to ensure the existence of justice, both at the level of nation-states, and on the ground in Iraq among that wretched country’s citizens. The president has done an acceptable job articulating a case for war, but that case has been almost entirely about uncertain threats and unclear probabilities. The counterargument has been almost exclusively about the slippery ideal of “peace.” The raging back and forth in the blogosphere has used a lot of ill-understood and poorly articulated language about “just wars,” but few people have actually spoken about Justice itself.
The real, mortal peril of replacing Virtue with Ideal is the separation of means from ends, with all that implies. A person for whom the state of being known as “Peace” becomes not only a virtue, but the dominant virtue, will find himself supporting increasingly immoral policies and actions in the name of “peace.” This is, in fact, how “pro-life” activists become assassins. The protection of unborn children becomes an end unto itself, divorced from the virtues that make it essential, with the consequence that any means useful to the fulfillment of the mission becomes legitimate. “It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
The same problems prevail in nearly every Ideal foisted on society by the boomers. “Tolerance” and “diversity” and “equality.” These are not statements of moral worth but states of being. There is in fact no more fascist state of being than that of equality, for it is the easiest state to impose: the equality of worthlessness, the nullity of individuals against the State. It is the entropic condition to which all purely Idealistic movements must decay.
Peace has no moral value. The preservation of human life has no moral value. Equality has no moral value. None of these states of being possess the tiniest bit of moral weight without the adjectives we unconsciously and silently supply when we conceive them. But, thanks to those who have destroyed as hypocrisy the language of virtue, and divorced it from the reality of states of being, we have lost the ability to cry “Stop!” when the logic of the Ideal runs afoul of the morality that bore it. “Why” and “how” are matters of virtue.
[By the way, lest the reader think the Boomers are being blamed for this: they are not. The Boomers merely perfected and came to personify a movement that began in the so-called “Enlightenment,” took visible shape in 19th Century nihilism, and found respectable academic homes in such early 20th century ideologies as logical positivism and materialism. But the Boomers are the first generation in modern times to convert the vocabulary of the disgruntled fringe into national policy.]
Psalm 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever!
2 Let Israel now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
4 Let them that fear the LORD now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me, and set me in an ample place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?
7 The LORD taketh my part among them that help me; therefore shall I see what I desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
...
13 Thou hast thrust sorely at me that I might fall, but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LO
1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever!
2 Let Israel now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
4 Let them that fear the LORD now say that His mercy endureth for ever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress; the LORD answered me, and set me in an ample place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?
7 The LORD taketh my part among them that help me; therefore shall I see what I desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
...
13 Thou hast thrust sorely at me that I might fall, but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LO
Friday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the repose of the soul of Evelyn C. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the repose of the soul of Evelyn C. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Thursday, September 12, 2002
Query
Does the suppression of religion equal the oppression of religion?
That is, does the fact that fear of offending people's areligious sentiments prevented my school's Head from mentioning prayer as a possibility for people visiting the chapel mean that religion is oppressed there? I am undecided. Arguments on the subject are invited.
Does the suppression of religion equal the oppression of religion?
That is, does the fact that fear of offending people's areligious sentiments prevented my school's Head from mentioning prayer as a possibility for people visiting the chapel mean that religion is oppressed there? I am undecided. Arguments on the subject are invited.
Blegging
If any of my readers are really, really wealthy and want to help me avoid a near-constant sin, they should purchase me the unabridged OED. I covet it shamelessly.
If any of my readers are really, really wealthy and want to help me avoid a near-constant sin, they should purchase me the unabridged OED. I covet it shamelessly.
It looks like Bob Kerrey has been reading Kairos. Still think you're keeping "better company" than me, Pop Daddy?
On the Nature of Good and Evil
It was common in the days and months following September 11 last year, to speak of some good that had “come out of” the terror attacks. Now, if speakers who said that meant it in a literal sense—“emerged from” or “escaped unharmed”—then they are of course correct. “The gates of Hell shall not prevail” against good.
But if they meant it in the usual sense, a Pollyanna-ish belief that even evil can create a good, then they are quite mistaken. There is only one Creator, and he reserves the power of creation to Himself. This is not a petty semantic distinction. It is a fundamental statement about the nature of the universe, and understanding or failing to understand it can make the difference between yielding to evil or conquering it.
It is basic to a Christian understanding of the universe that Creation is inherently good, but it is also fallen. The fall does not make Creation bad, for nothing could change the essential nature of Creation, but the fall does allow Creation to be used in corrupt ways. (Misunderstanding this fact has led many people to suppose that outward appearances are indicative of a person’s internal nature. But in truth the corruption of people happens at the level of the soul, and need not leave any physical mark on the body.)
The Devil, being a fallen creature, and not the Creator, cannot create. He cannot make so much as a single atom. (Thus, all his promises cannot but be empty. He has quite literally nothing to offer.) But he can use that which already exists for his own ends, and by virtue of the physical and metaphysical laws of the universe, even offer the illusion of creation to a mind unaware of the distinction. But all his works must use as their tools the essentially good things produced by the Creator.
Thus, the marvel of safe air transport becomes a crude weapon. The virtuous desire of an airline captain to save the life of a crew member becomes the bar that pries him from his cockpit. The selflessness of a fireman leads him too high in a building to escape its collapse. The list is as long as the list of the dead, and of those who sought to help them.
What evil on a grand scale sometimes does, however, is reveal its true nature, because to be grandly evil it often requires grand good as its tool, or as its counterpoint. “I never understood how evil evil can be,” said one of the firemen in the CBS 9/11 special.
The great evil that has befallen our Church shows the same thing, even though the grand evil of the present scandal is not the product of grand goods, but venal ones. The laudable desire of bishops to protect Christ’s pilgrim church on earth was used as a tool to allow the defilement of the innocent. But who can doubt that heroic virtue, a virtue that might otherwise have gone unnoted, will ultimately be the Creator’s tool for setting things right?
And in the meanwhile, many goods that had been obscured are once again cast into stark relief by the terrible light of the Light-bearer. It is ever so much easier to be humble about being Catholic today than it was a year ago, just as it is very much harder to look down on cops and firemen and EMTs.
It was common in the days and months following September 11 last year, to speak of some good that had “come out of” the terror attacks. Now, if speakers who said that meant it in a literal sense—“emerged from” or “escaped unharmed”—then they are of course correct. “The gates of Hell shall not prevail” against good.
But if they meant it in the usual sense, a Pollyanna-ish belief that even evil can create a good, then they are quite mistaken. There is only one Creator, and he reserves the power of creation to Himself. This is not a petty semantic distinction. It is a fundamental statement about the nature of the universe, and understanding or failing to understand it can make the difference between yielding to evil or conquering it.
It is basic to a Christian understanding of the universe that Creation is inherently good, but it is also fallen. The fall does not make Creation bad, for nothing could change the essential nature of Creation, but the fall does allow Creation to be used in corrupt ways. (Misunderstanding this fact has led many people to suppose that outward appearances are indicative of a person’s internal nature. But in truth the corruption of people happens at the level of the soul, and need not leave any physical mark on the body.)
The Devil, being a fallen creature, and not the Creator, cannot create. He cannot make so much as a single atom. (Thus, all his promises cannot but be empty. He has quite literally nothing to offer.) But he can use that which already exists for his own ends, and by virtue of the physical and metaphysical laws of the universe, even offer the illusion of creation to a mind unaware of the distinction. But all his works must use as their tools the essentially good things produced by the Creator.
Thus, the marvel of safe air transport becomes a crude weapon. The virtuous desire of an airline captain to save the life of a crew member becomes the bar that pries him from his cockpit. The selflessness of a fireman leads him too high in a building to escape its collapse. The list is as long as the list of the dead, and of those who sought to help them.
What evil on a grand scale sometimes does, however, is reveal its true nature, because to be grandly evil it often requires grand good as its tool, or as its counterpoint. “I never understood how evil evil can be,” said one of the firemen in the CBS 9/11 special.
The great evil that has befallen our Church shows the same thing, even though the grand evil of the present scandal is not the product of grand goods, but venal ones. The laudable desire of bishops to protect Christ’s pilgrim church on earth was used as a tool to allow the defilement of the innocent. But who can doubt that heroic virtue, a virtue that might otherwise have gone unnoted, will ultimately be the Creator’s tool for setting things right?
And in the meanwhile, many goods that had been obscured are once again cast into stark relief by the terrible light of the Light-bearer. It is ever so much easier to be humble about being Catholic today than it was a year ago, just as it is very much harder to look down on cops and firemen and EMTs.
Thursday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the repose of the soul of Evelyn C. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's friend out west. For the repose of the soul of Evelyn C. For the President, the Pope, and all national and religious leaders. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
America, the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain;
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain;
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law.
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
A few random thoughts
I work at a private school. During second period (at 9:15 instead of a more appropriate time) we had an all school assembly. Our Head of School gave a speech that, as usual, could not resist the temptation of the first person singular pronoun, and referred to CS Lewis as "the philosopher and author of the Chronicles of Narnia." We were informed that the chapel would be open all day for "quiet reflection" and then we processed silently to the two trees the students planted last fall. There, another member of the staff sang, in a beautiful voice with rich tones, a song I have never heard before, that was utterly vapid, at least so far as the occasion went. Teachers here are always talking about "teachable moments" but somehow, it seems that we missed a tremendous one today.
This is not a school with a religious affiliation, and we have a substantial number of foreign students. But none of that would seem to prevent "prayer" being mentioned as a possibility for the faithful, or a hymn or tasteful patriotic song such as "America, the Beautiful" being presented, while non-religious and non-American students stand by in respectful silence.
* * *
The Washington Post has a headline: "How Should We Feel Today?" I don't know about you, but the WaPo is not the place from which I take my emotional or spiritual cues.
* * *
Is there a connection between the death of good rhetoric and the emphasizing of emotion in the public sphere? Where is the inspiring oratory? The memorable phrase? "Let's roll" is powerful not for what it says, but the context in which it was spoken. Last night the President's really good line about failed ideologies and lies was replayed, and I thought, "what a good explanation that was," but this morning I still can't recite the line, even approximately.
Perhaps the dearth of Ciceros and Platos, Shuberts and Beethovens is a function of a complacent society, rather than emoting-as-national-pastime, but it is frustrating.
* * *
Please don't wallow today. Go serve meals at a soup kitchen, or make a donation to a charity that provides treatment for the mentally ill. Clean out your closet and give the leftovers to St. Vincent de Paul. Victory over the darkness will not come on the battlefield (however necessary the battle) but in our hearts. "If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your heart" says the Psalmist. Today, please don't wait to hear the voice of the Lord;go be it.
I work at a private school. During second period (at 9:15 instead of a more appropriate time) we had an all school assembly. Our Head of School gave a speech that, as usual, could not resist the temptation of the first person singular pronoun, and referred to CS Lewis as "the philosopher and author of the Chronicles of Narnia." We were informed that the chapel would be open all day for "quiet reflection" and then we processed silently to the two trees the students planted last fall. There, another member of the staff sang, in a beautiful voice with rich tones, a song I have never heard before, that was utterly vapid, at least so far as the occasion went. Teachers here are always talking about "teachable moments" but somehow, it seems that we missed a tremendous one today.
This is not a school with a religious affiliation, and we have a substantial number of foreign students. But none of that would seem to prevent "prayer" being mentioned as a possibility for the faithful, or a hymn or tasteful patriotic song such as "America, the Beautiful" being presented, while non-religious and non-American students stand by in respectful silence.
* * *
The Washington Post has a headline: "How Should We Feel Today?" I don't know about you, but the WaPo is not the place from which I take my emotional or spiritual cues.
* * *
Is there a connection between the death of good rhetoric and the emphasizing of emotion in the public sphere? Where is the inspiring oratory? The memorable phrase? "Let's roll" is powerful not for what it says, but the context in which it was spoken. Last night the President's really good line about failed ideologies and lies was replayed, and I thought, "what a good explanation that was," but this morning I still can't recite the line, even approximately.
Perhaps the dearth of Ciceros and Platos, Shuberts and Beethovens is a function of a complacent society, rather than emoting-as-national-pastime, but it is frustrating.
* * *
Please don't wallow today. Go serve meals at a soup kitchen, or make a donation to a charity that provides treatment for the mentally ill. Clean out your closet and give the leftovers to St. Vincent de Paul. Victory over the darkness will not come on the battlefield (however necessary the battle) but in our hearts. "If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your heart" says the Psalmist. Today, please don't wait to hear the voice of the Lord;go be it.
I suspect this song was sung at many memorial services last fall. It is not a hymn, but it is a fitting way to remember those who gave their lives.
The Parting Glass
Of all the money that e'er I spent
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I did
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all
The Parting Glass
Of all the money that e'er I spent
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I did
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Oh, all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
You are entirely welcome to disagree with me about the justice or rightness of the coming war. But please don't cite Vatican Foreign Ministry staff as moral authority for your cause. See, French Cardinals who work there have a really good record on picking the right guys to back in the Middle East. Take a look at this photo, for instance.... The fellow in the robes on the left is that Vatican envoy to Israel. Now, maybe Arafat is a good guy and all, but is this really the right behavior for an envoy from a third party, while terrorists are holding hostages at the Church of the Holy Spulchre?? So, please don't tell me that now another French Cardinal--apparently unaware taht the UN decided in 1998 that force was justified--has any bearing on the rightness or wrongness of American foreign policy.
Giving up
No, no, I'm not giving up blogging. In fact, I may be going poor--er, pro--down the road, but more on that another time.
The "giving up" here referred to is more literal: what do we give in an upward direction to God?
There are two kinds of giving up in this sense. The first is giving of our suffering: handing over our crosses and asking Christ to carry the weight with us. "I can't do this alone, Lord, so I'm going to put success into your hands."
The second kind is what we sacrifice of our selves. There's the old joke about Augustine, that he would pray "Make me chaste, Lord, but not yet." But the joke is actually a misquotation. What Augustine actually wrote was that he would pray for the virtue of chastity, but later realized that there had been a voice quietly amending "but not yet" to those prayers. This is the kind of "giving up" I am concerned with here.
It is very easy to look at myself and say "I don't like my temper and I sin when I yield to it." It is very easy to want to be cleansed of the petty dishonesties that seem to plague me. Who, after all, wants to hang around with a person who finds an excuse for everything?
But my possessions. Hmm, you mean I really have to sunder an attachment to them? Or my sexuality? Or my lust for power? Or my need for...whatever.
The point is simply this: being serious about being a Christian does not just mean giving up the things you don't like about yourself. I have a suspicion, after all, that my temper is not going to be something I need to answer too strenuously for. I hate it, and I try to reject it, however often I fail.
Being serious about being a Christian, if it means anything, has to mean giving up the stuff you *do* like. The "camel through the eye of the needle" is not just a story of unloading wealth, but of shedding whatever baggage we would rather not set by the side of the road.
No, no, I'm not giving up blogging. In fact, I may be going poor--er, pro--down the road, but more on that another time.
The "giving up" here referred to is more literal: what do we give in an upward direction to God?
There are two kinds of giving up in this sense. The first is giving of our suffering: handing over our crosses and asking Christ to carry the weight with us. "I can't do this alone, Lord, so I'm going to put success into your hands."
The second kind is what we sacrifice of our selves. There's the old joke about Augustine, that he would pray "Make me chaste, Lord, but not yet." But the joke is actually a misquotation. What Augustine actually wrote was that he would pray for the virtue of chastity, but later realized that there had been a voice quietly amending "but not yet" to those prayers. This is the kind of "giving up" I am concerned with here.
It is very easy to look at myself and say "I don't like my temper and I sin when I yield to it." It is very easy to want to be cleansed of the petty dishonesties that seem to plague me. Who, after all, wants to hang around with a person who finds an excuse for everything?
But my possessions. Hmm, you mean I really have to sunder an attachment to them? Or my sexuality? Or my lust for power? Or my need for...whatever.
The point is simply this: being serious about being a Christian does not just mean giving up the things you don't like about yourself. I have a suspicion, after all, that my temper is not going to be something I need to answer too strenuously for. I hate it, and I try to reject it, however often I fail.
Being serious about being a Christian, if it means anything, has to mean giving up the stuff you *do* like. The "camel through the eye of the needle" is not just a story of unloading wealth, but of shedding whatever baggage we would rather not set by the side of the road.
Tuesday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For Karl K, and for me, (as I am in a very similar circumstance to Karl). For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
Monday, September 09, 2002
Now I KNOW they make these things up!
The Onion | Horoscopes Gemini: (May 21—June 21)
You will be the first person in almost three millennia whom the gods see fit to punish for an astounding lack of hubris.
That may be the one thinking I *won't* be punished for. Just count the number of first person pronouns on this blog!!
The Onion | Horoscopes Gemini: (May 21—June 21)
You will be the first person in almost three millennia whom the gods see fit to punish for an astounding lack of hubris.
That may be the one thinking I *won't* be punished for. Just count the number of first person pronouns on this blog!!
I have read two interesting books recently, neither of which has anything to do with religion. But both give a curious reflection of the culture. “Alone across the Sea” by Peter Nichols, tells of the author’s sailing single-handed across the Atlantic, from England to Maine, to sell his sailboat after a divorce. “Catch Me If You Can” is the story of Frank Abagnale, an enormously successful con man.
Both Nichols and Abagnale seem to be fairly reflective sorts, who evaluate their motives and failings pretty regularly. But peculiarly, neither one seems to be especially concerned by what they find. Nichols describes an incident from his twenties where he planned to smuggle several tons of hashish into the US, but only seems to regret the part where he chickened out, not the part where he was PLANNING TO SMUGGLE DRUGS. Abagnale stole millions of dollars, dozens of cars and was a common fornicator, but is curiously unapologetic. He even seems proud of his “code of ethics” which prevented him from fleecing individuals directly (though how his escapade with a number of college girls as faux flight attendants squares with that I do not know).
To be fair to Abagnale, I should say that I have about a dozen pages left in his book, so maybe he saved it all up for the end. But there is a prideful arrogance about him that both explains why he was so successful as a con man and grates on the reader. He mentions many times that he “is a Catholic” but one wonders exactly how he defines that term. Ordinarily, a Catholic criminal who has (to all appearances) “gone straight” would be expected to present at least a measure of regret.
To be fair to Nichols, I should add that he seems to have some awareness of how his personal failings contributed to the failure of his marriage, and he does seem to regret it. But he too is strangely unaware of the incongruity of his actions and his attitudes towards them, existing in a kind of amoral vacuum from which only the glorious “I” can escape.
Having criticized the content of both books, let me conclude by saying that both are entertaining and well-conceived books. Nichols uses journals abandoned by his ex as a backdrop for his Atlantic crossing to great effect, and his account of the last days afloat are vivid. Abagnale possesses a kind of charm, in spite of his arrogance, that keeps the reader engaged. And a handful of his felonies (though fewer than he himself would probably tally) really do seem to target people one cannot help but root against. It is as disappointing to admit as to discover a tendency towards schadenfreude in oneself.
Both Nichols and Abagnale seem to be fairly reflective sorts, who evaluate their motives and failings pretty regularly. But peculiarly, neither one seems to be especially concerned by what they find. Nichols describes an incident from his twenties where he planned to smuggle several tons of hashish into the US, but only seems to regret the part where he chickened out, not the part where he was PLANNING TO SMUGGLE DRUGS. Abagnale stole millions of dollars, dozens of cars and was a common fornicator, but is curiously unapologetic. He even seems proud of his “code of ethics” which prevented him from fleecing individuals directly (though how his escapade with a number of college girls as faux flight attendants squares with that I do not know).
To be fair to Abagnale, I should say that I have about a dozen pages left in his book, so maybe he saved it all up for the end. But there is a prideful arrogance about him that both explains why he was so successful as a con man and grates on the reader. He mentions many times that he “is a Catholic” but one wonders exactly how he defines that term. Ordinarily, a Catholic criminal who has (to all appearances) “gone straight” would be expected to present at least a measure of regret.
To be fair to Nichols, I should add that he seems to have some awareness of how his personal failings contributed to the failure of his marriage, and he does seem to regret it. But he too is strangely unaware of the incongruity of his actions and his attitudes towards them, existing in a kind of amoral vacuum from which only the glorious “I” can escape.
Having criticized the content of both books, let me conclude by saying that both are entertaining and well-conceived books. Nichols uses journals abandoned by his ex as a backdrop for his Atlantic crossing to great effect, and his account of the last days afloat are vivid. Abagnale possesses a kind of charm, in spite of his arrogance, that keeps the reader engaged. And a handful of his felonies (though fewer than he himself would probably tally) really do seem to target people one cannot help but root against. It is as disappointing to admit as to discover a tendency towards schadenfreude in oneself.
Monday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Our God, Our Help in Ages Past
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.
Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.
Saturday, September 07, 2002
We in the blogosphere can argue all we want about whether the coming war will be just or not, but the fact is, war appears to be coming. With that in mind, I would like to suggest to the White House that the first troops into Baghdad should be the 1st Afghanistan Volunteer Battalion. It seems fitting.
Let slip the blogs of war
Victor Lams, whom I like very much, has issued a challenge to those of us who favor war: Put up or shut up. Now, don't get hung up on the tone--Victor has said he's not feeling well, and the blog is somewhat less temperate on the subject than he actually feels. But I think he and all those who say this (generally about wars *they* don't believe in) are completely, utterly wrong. (See here for my reasoning on why the coming war is a just war. Come to think of it, scroll around some, too, as I have posted various bits and pieces on that. I will get off the war for a while very soon, and get back to topics on daily life, but this is important, and their are too many lukewarm pacifists dominating the blogwaves right now.)
First, my bonafides: I failed a DoD physical in 1992 for various (minor) reasons, but enough sadly to keep me from fighting drug smugglers in the Carib in the USCG. So, I tried to put up, and the armed forces told me to shut up. That's actually kind of embarassing, which is why I won't say anything more about it, but I just wanted you to know I at least tried, and stand to lose several good friends in any prolonged violent conflict.
But even though I'm sympathetic to the point (otherwise, I wouldn't have felt compelled to put that last paragraph in), I don't think it actually holds water. It would be one thing to support the war but Run Off To Canada (the *other* ROTC) when your draft number is called. But that is not the same thing as failing to volunteer for a task that you think needs doing. Acting as a deterrent to direct aggression, for instance, is probably a mission for the military Victor supports (judging solely from his blog) but he never volunteered to patrol the GIUK gap on a 688-class submarine. Carrying a rifle in the DMZ in Korea is challenging, risky service that most Americans think is moral and just, but so far, many people who support it haven't volunteered for that either.
Forget the military. I think it a good idea to arrest violent criminals and put out fires, but I have never seriously considered being either a cop or a policeman. If I suggest that what is needed is for cops to get more aggressive arresting criminals, will the "put up or shut up" folks tell me to become a cop or else just live with the crime? Hardly.
My point is, you need not volunteer to fight a particular conflict to think it just or worth doing. The conflict is objectively just, or it is not, and my willingness to participate has very little to do with it. It may have a lot to do with how loudly I will declare *political* support of it, but the alliance between morally correct and politically feasible is tenuous. The question is not, "would you volunteer?" but "would you run away?" And if you would run away from fighting in a particular conflict, then, I agree, you really should stuff your piehole and sit down about it. But not because that makes the conflict unjust, simply because cowardice is unseemly, and loud cowardice especially so.
Victor Lams, whom I like very much, has issued a challenge to those of us who favor war: Put up or shut up. Now, don't get hung up on the tone--Victor has said he's not feeling well, and the blog is somewhat less temperate on the subject than he actually feels. But I think he and all those who say this (generally about wars *they* don't believe in) are completely, utterly wrong. (See here for my reasoning on why the coming war is a just war. Come to think of it, scroll around some, too, as I have posted various bits and pieces on that. I will get off the war for a while very soon, and get back to topics on daily life, but this is important, and their are too many lukewarm pacifists dominating the blogwaves right now.)
First, my bonafides: I failed a DoD physical in 1992 for various (minor) reasons, but enough sadly to keep me from fighting drug smugglers in the Carib in the USCG. So, I tried to put up, and the armed forces told me to shut up. That's actually kind of embarassing, which is why I won't say anything more about it, but I just wanted you to know I at least tried, and stand to lose several good friends in any prolonged violent conflict.
But even though I'm sympathetic to the point (otherwise, I wouldn't have felt compelled to put that last paragraph in), I don't think it actually holds water. It would be one thing to support the war but Run Off To Canada (the *other* ROTC) when your draft number is called. But that is not the same thing as failing to volunteer for a task that you think needs doing. Acting as a deterrent to direct aggression, for instance, is probably a mission for the military Victor supports (judging solely from his blog) but he never volunteered to patrol the GIUK gap on a 688-class submarine. Carrying a rifle in the DMZ in Korea is challenging, risky service that most Americans think is moral and just, but so far, many people who support it haven't volunteered for that either.
Forget the military. I think it a good idea to arrest violent criminals and put out fires, but I have never seriously considered being either a cop or a policeman. If I suggest that what is needed is for cops to get more aggressive arresting criminals, will the "put up or shut up" folks tell me to become a cop or else just live with the crime? Hardly.
My point is, you need not volunteer to fight a particular conflict to think it just or worth doing. The conflict is objectively just, or it is not, and my willingness to participate has very little to do with it. It may have a lot to do with how loudly I will declare *political* support of it, but the alliance between morally correct and politically feasible is tenuous. The question is not, "would you volunteer?" but "would you run away?" And if you would run away from fighting in a particular conflict, then, I agree, you really should stuff your piehole and sit down about it. But not because that makes the conflict unjust, simply because cowardice is unseemly, and loud cowardice especially so.
Psalm 11
1 In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?
2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
1 In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?
2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
Saturday Intentions
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses, and those carried away by scandal. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
If you have someone you would like to add, please email me.
For Fr. Jim's cousin Tom. For Mrs. Kairos Guy, who is getting better. For the people of Zimbabwe and the prisoners of the Lao Gai. For Dylan's mom and a friend out west. For those who minister in inner cities, that they may help bring about peace. For Chris and his wife, in training for the law and NFP. For my wife's cousin Sue. For those who kill themselves and the people they leave behind. For John Paul II. For Alicia, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. For Bill L.'s mother, father, and daughter, who shares something in common with me. For Eugene D. For those who need strength to bear their crosses, and those carried away by scandal. For mothers who choose life, especially those who choose adoption. For Randy, Deb, Roger, Corey, Michael and the anonymous ones as well.
Friday, September 06, 2002
George Schultz has a much more detailed litany of Iraq's wrongdoing than I gave yesterday. The only thing necessary for those who doubt whether this amounts to a just cause is to trust Thomas Aquinas. Why is this so hard to understand?
Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault. Wherefore Augustine says (QQ. in Hept., qu. x, super Jos.): "A just war is wont to be described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or to restore what it has seized unjustly." Summa Theologica, Q. 40.
Secondly, a just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked, should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault. Wherefore Augustine says (QQ. in Hept., qu. x, super Jos.): "A just war is wont to be described as one that avenges wrongs, when a nation or state has to be punished, for refusing to make amends for the wrongs inflicted by its subjects, or to restore what it has seized unjustly." Summa Theologica, Q. 40.
Peggy Noonan really is something, some days.
Don't ask...
...why I'm posting this. Sometimes I am enigmatic. It's part of the whole "Kairos Guy oeuvre."
This was found in the pro picks in the Washington Post this am.
Dallas (-8) at Houston: Big doin's at Crawford, Tex., for this one. The Leader of the Free World orders in a large pizza and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia comes over with the family. Prince Bandar thinks David Carr is going to be the real deal. Pick: Texans.
[To give everybody time to get good and lathered up about my coming out in favor of converting Saddam into a smoking hole in the ground, I won't be posting much else until fairly late in the day.]
...why I'm posting this. Sometimes I am enigmatic. It's part of the whole "Kairos Guy oeuvre."
This was found in the pro picks in the Washington Post this am.
Dallas (-8) at Houston: Big doin's at Crawford, Tex., for this one. The Leader of the Free World orders in a large pizza and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia comes over with the family. Prince Bandar thinks David Carr is going to be the real deal. Pick: Texans.
[To give everybody time to get good and lathered up about my coming out in favor of converting Saddam into a smoking hole in the ground, I won't be posting much else until fairly late in the day.]
Thursday, September 05, 2002
A just war
Over at HMS Blog, a discussion has begun on the justice of a probable war with Iraq. Some of my comments can be found over there, in the form of a note to Greg. I would suggest you head there first, and read up on the conversation, and then come back here for my take. Most of what is below is from an email to Greg that he may wind up posting (so sorry if it's redundant).
For an excellent primer on the development of the Just War Theory, go here. It's written by a Marine Corps Lt. Col. who is also a theologian. He has been recalled to active duty, by the way, so please keep him in your prayers.
Okay, here goes. Forget al Qaida. That's a red herring. (Actually, it's not, but the case for war does not hinge on it.)
1) Iraq attacks Americans weekly, at least 150 times this calendar year alone. It fires missiles at American pilots patrolling the no-fly zones. Those zones were imposed by the *United Nations* at the end of Iraq's most recent external aggression (one of a number of cases since Hussein took power). They are there to protect Iraq's citizenry from its government, and to keep Iraq's military away from its international borders, which it will surely cross again as it has at least 3 times since 1984.
2) Strict controls on Iraq's exports and imports were imposed by the *United Nations* at the cessation of hostilities (not, mind you, in a peace treaty, but under an armistice). One of the conditions for the removal of those sanctions was Iraq allowing complete and unfettered access to UN Weapons Inspectors, so that they could certify Iraq had dismantled its WMD program.
3) Explicit in the Resolutions authorizing the weapons inspections was the promise that force would be used by the coalition if Iraq hindered the inspections process. Iraq threw out the inspectors in 1998.
Now, just because Bill Clinton was more worried about reclaiming Congress in the mid-term elections than about the WMD program in Iraq, does not mean we suddenly have no moral or legal authority to blast the crap out of Saddam's armed forces.
The fact is, if you are looking for a case where there is not a just war, it is in the present state of low-level conflict. We are not using proportionate force at the moment. ("Proportionate" by the way does not in this case mean "proportionate to what they did to us." It means "appropriate to achieving the military objective in the least destructive manner possible," or "Don't blow up any more than you have to, but don't blow up less either." Many sensible people understand that sudden, overwhelming force is often in fact much less destructive than prolonged, incremental conflict. Think of Kosovo versus Rolling Thunder and you'll understand what I mean. This notion that al Qaida killed 2,800 people on 9/11, but if we kill 2,801 then we are no longer fighting a just war is deliberate obfuscation on the part of its proponents. Absolute figures have no bearing on whether or not a war is "proportionate.")
The reason we continue at the "bomb a SAM battery here, bomb a battery there" approach is partly because of all the arm-chair theologians who run around arguing about "just war theories" from their seats in Congress and their internet pulpits. I mean no personal disrespect to Greg or anyone else, but there is a very strong case to be made in international law as well as moral law that *failing* to act against Iraq is the immoral course.
The Catholic Bishops are using a version of the just-war theory that conflates general principles with narrow rules imposed by the treating of Westphalia, in part because countries were using legalistic narrowing of the general principles to call unjust wars just. Now, they may be good rules, but they are rules written in response to the Thirty Years War, designed in part to prevent a reccurrence of that War. As such, they are subject to revision in time and place in a way that the general princples are not. The general principles (what I would call the "universal truths" of the just war theory) are "legitimate authority"--acting as a sovereign state, not a private army; "just cause"--which classically was understood not only to involve self-defense but punishment of evil; and "right intention"--the decision to punish the evil appropriately, and to wind up in a better situation after the war than before.
The US government--acting, I might add, under the legal authority of numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions which have been in palce for more than a decade--is a "legitimate authority." "Just cause" in this case consists of any number of things, from violation of SC Resolutions (a just cause deriving from a "legitimate authority") as well as international aggression (in the form of the Gulf War as well as support of al Qaida) and punishment of the evil of using chemical and possibly biological weapons on its own citizens. The litany of evil here is so long it has perhaps numbed people into thinking that his obvious evil is not cause enough, but Aquinas would have no beef with it. And "right intention" in this case would be the intention to kill Saddam and erase his regime from the face of the earth. Until we went and got all humanistic in our thinking, we used to understand that, as a matter of man's law--the kind states are Divinely ordained to enforce--Saddam *deserves* to die, and in the Christian tradition a legitimate authority is justified by Divine sanction in depriving him of his life in retribution for his crimes.
The Bishops' document has to be understood in the context of possible global nuclear war. When it was written, non-state actors like al Qaida were marginal threats to international security. A nuclear exchange between the US and USSR over, say, missiles in Cuba, was the context for the document. Until the Bishops are prepared to reexamine their thinking in the context of non-state actors subverting entire nations for their own ends (there is no argument among serious people that Afghnistan had been since the Cole bombing a wholly-owned subsidiary of al Qaida, until we liberated it) and are prepared to examine that the primary threats to nation-states at the moment resemble those more of the 13th century than the 20th, I believe following their rules on "just war" is equivalent to following their 19th century teachings on slavery.
Thus I can only work from the general principles worked out by Augustine and Aquinas, before the peculiar circumstances of 1648 made rulers acknowledge that man needs little laws when he won't follow the big ones. We haven't exactly been following the big ones in this case, but it's not too late.
Let me just climb into my asbestos suit here...okay...let the flames begin.
Over at HMS Blog, a discussion has begun on the justice of a probable war with Iraq. Some of my comments can be found over there, in the form of a note to Greg. I would suggest you head there first, and read up on the conversation, and then come back here for my take. Most of what is below is from an email to Greg that he may wind up posting (so sorry if it's redundant).
For an excellent primer on the development of the Just War Theory, go here. It's written by a Marine Corps Lt. Col. who is also a theologian. He has been recalled to active duty, by the way, so please keep him in your prayers.
Okay, here goes. Forget al Qaida. That's a red herring. (Actually, it's not, but the case for war does not hinge on it.)
1) Iraq attacks Americans weekly, at least 150 times this calendar year alone. It fires missiles at American pilots patrolling the no-fly zones. Those zones were imposed by the *United Nations* at the end of Iraq's most recent external aggression (one of a number of cases since Hussein took power). They are there to protect Iraq's citizenry from its government, and to keep Iraq's military away from its international borders, which it will surely cross again as it has at least 3 times since 1984.
2) Strict controls on Iraq's exports and imports were imposed by the *United Nations* at the cessation of hostilities (not, mind you, in a peace treaty, but under an armistice). One of the conditions for the removal of those sanctions was Iraq allowing complete and unfettered access to UN Weapons Inspectors, so that they could certify Iraq had dismantled its WMD program.
3) Explicit in the Resolutions authorizing the weapons inspections was the promise that force would be used by the coalition if Iraq hindered the inspections process. Iraq threw out the inspectors in 1998.
Now, just because Bill Clinton was more worried about reclaiming Congress in the mid-term elections than about the WMD program in Iraq, does not mean we suddenly have no moral or legal authority to blast the crap out of Saddam's armed forces.
The fact is, if you are looking for a case where there is not a just war, it is in the present state of low-level conflict. We are not using proportionate force at the moment. ("Proportionate" by the way does not in this case mean "proportionate to what they did to us." It means "appropriate to achieving the military objective in the least destructive manner possible," or "Don't blow up any more than you have to, but don't blow up less either." Many sensible people understand that sudden, overwhelming force is often in fact much less destructive than prolonged, incremental conflict. Think of Kosovo versus Rolling Thunder and you'll understand what I mean. This notion that al Qaida killed 2,800 people on 9/11, but if we kill 2,801 then we are no longer fighting a just war is deliberate obfuscation on the part of its proponents. Absolute figures have no bearing on whether or not a war is "proportionate.")
The reason we continue at the "bomb a SAM battery here, bomb a battery there" approach is partly because of all the arm-chair theologians who run around arguing about "just war theories" from their seats in Congress and their internet pulpits. I mean no personal disrespect to Greg or anyone else, but there is a very strong case to be made in international law as well as moral law that *failing* to act against Iraq is the immoral course.
The Catholic Bishops are using a version of the just-war theory that conflates general principles with narrow rules imposed by the treating of Westphalia, in part because countries were using legalistic narrowing of the general principles to call unjust wars just. Now, they may be good rules, but they are rules written in response to the Thirty Years War, designed in part to prevent a reccurrence of that War. As such, they are subject to revision in time and place in a way that the general princples are not. The general principles (what I would call the "universal truths" of the just war theory) are "legitimate authority"--acting as a sovereign state, not a private army; "just cause"--which classically was understood not only to involve self-defense but punishment of evil; and "right intention"--the decision to punish the evil appropriately, and to wind up in a better situation after the war than before.
The US government--acting, I might add, under the legal authority of numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions which have been in palce for more than a decade--is a "legitimate authority." "Just cause" in this case consists of any number of things, from violation of SC Resolutions (a just cause deriving from a "legitimate authority") as well as international aggression (in the form of the Gulf War as well as support of al Qaida) and punishment of the evil of using chemical and possibly biological weapons on its own citizens. The litany of evil here is so long it has perhaps numbed people into thinking that his obvious evil is not cause enough, but Aquinas would have no beef with it. And "right intention" in this case would be the intention to kill Saddam and erase his regime from the face of the earth. Until we went and got all humanistic in our thinking, we used to understand that, as a matter of man's law--the kind states are Divinely ordained to enforce--Saddam *deserves* to die, and in the Christian tradition a legitimate authority is justified by Divine sanction in depriving him of his life in retribution for his crimes.
The Bishops' document has to be understood in the context of possible global nuclear war. When it was written, non-state actors like al Qaida were marginal threats to international security. A nuclear exchange between the US and USSR over, say, missiles in Cuba, was the context for the document. Until the Bishops are prepared to reexamine their thinking in the context of non-state actors subverting entire nations for their own ends (there is no argument among serious people that Afghnistan had been since the Cole bombing a wholly-owned subsidiary of al Qaida, until we liberated it) and are prepared to examine that the primary threats to nation-states at the moment resemble those more of the 13th century than the 20th, I believe following their rules on "just war" is equivalent to following their 19th century teachings on slavery.
Thus I can only work from the general principles worked out by Augustine and Aquinas, before the peculiar circumstances of 1648 made rulers acknowledge that man needs little laws when he won't follow the big ones. We haven't exactly been following the big ones in this case, but it's not too late.
Let me just climb into my asbestos suit here...okay...let the flames begin.
Today is Little Kairos Jr.'s first day of school. so my yet incomplete magnum opus will not be done until late today or sometime tomorrow. Check back this evening.
Christian! Seek Not Yet Repose
Christian! seek not yet repose,
Hear thy guardian angel say;
Thou art in the midst of foes;
“Watch and pray.”
Principalities and powers,
Mustering their unseen array,
Wait for thy unguarded hours;
“Watch and pray.”
Gird thy heavenly armor on,
Wear it ever night and day;
Ambushed lies the evil one;
“Watch and pray.”
Hear the victors who o’ercame;
Still they mark each warrior’s way;
All with one clear voice exclaim,
“Watch and pray.”
Hear, above all, hear thy Lord,
Him thou lovest to obey;
Hide within thy heart His Word,
“Watch and pray.”
Watch, as if on that alone
Hung the issue of the day;
Pray that help may be sent down;
“Watch and pray.”
Christian! seek not yet repose,
Hear thy guardian angel say;
Thou art in the midst of foes;
“Watch and pray.”
Principalities and powers,
Mustering their unseen array,
Wait for thy unguarded hours;
“Watch and pray.”
Gird thy heavenly armor on,
Wear it ever night and day;
Ambushed lies the evil one;
“Watch and pray.”
Hear the victors who o’ercame;
Still they mark each warrior’s way;
All with one clear voice exclaim,
“Watch and pray.”
Hear, above all, hear thy Lord,
Him thou lovest to obey;
Hide within thy heart His Word,
“Watch and pray.”
Watch, as if on that alone
Hung the issue of the day;
Pray that help may be sent down;
“Watch and pray.”
About Me
- Name: Brian
- Location: Boston, MA, United States
The 5 point Scale: 1: I drank it, and wanted to warn you against doing the same. (I won't post a lot of these.) 2: If it's the only wine available, sure, whatev. 3: "Tuesday night wine." Okay, it's not fabulous, but if you open it on a work night and don't finish it and it goes bad before the end of the bottle, well--Tuesday was enjoyable and you won't feel guilty about the unconsumed bits, at least for the money you spent. 4: Terrific, as far as plonk goes. 5: Priced like plonk, but drinks like something much pricier. Within the boundaries of this blog, exceptional wine.
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