Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer, writes, “When I consider the brief span of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and behind it, the small space that I fill, or even see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces which I know not, and which know not me, I am… Read More Pascal and Grace: Piercing The Blindness of Pride
“Failure is a better teacher than success.” Variants of this old saying have been attributed to a number of different people over the years. It has also been the rallying cry of sports teams, working professionals, academics, entrepreneurs and almost anyone else who has struggled, failed and been determined to come back stronger. People make… Read More 7 Famous Sinners and What We Can Learn From Them
When Scripture’s creation-based, anthropocentric revelation is rejected, and an evolutionary animal continuum (from amoeba to man) is presupposed as the only reality, then human beings begin taking their cues for behavior from the animal-insect world. This rationalization has reached tragically absurd levels today as witness postmodernist writer Steven Shaviro’s longing for the sexual autonomy of… Read More From Creation and Family to the Petri Dish
Larry Chapp seems to express a kind of anxiety or apprehension in this video discussion about the obvious problem of the traditional magisterium as he comes “out of the closet” and reveals himself to be, of all things, an eschatological “universalist” wherein, in the end, we can all hope that Scripture and Tradition will be… Read More A Note on Dr. Larry Chapp — at the edge of Hell. Nothing to lose.
On overcoming. St. Augustine teaches, “When the unlawful pleasure of concupiscence tempts you, fight, resist, do not consent; and the saying is fulfilled, Go not after thy desires.” Still further, he says elsewhere that of two persons who have the same temptation to impurity, it sometimes happens that one consents to it and the other… Read More Predominant Sin of Our Times
1033 We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: “He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life… Read More CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2nd. Ed. On Perdition
In one of Saint Therese of Lisieux’s favorite books, End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life, the author, Fr. Charles Arminjon (1824-1885) writes among many important things on the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. And he draws a most important moral Gospel lesson: “There are circumstances when even… Read More Even the Wicked Are Rewarded In This Life.
“Sinners themselves admit the magnitude of their misery, as we read in the Book of Wisdom: “We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we did not know. What has pride profited us? Or what advantage has the boasting of riches… Read More The Destiny of Wickedness
“The world is the theater of God’s glory—says Calvin, following Augustine. Man is the witness of the great acts of God, and “has to express what he has seen.” It is a great conception, but it is inadequate. I like better St. Irenaeus, who brings it even closer: Man himself is the glory of God,… Read More Theater of God’s Glory by Thomas Merton
The will to power and the privatio boni — St. Augustine “… the worshipers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be… Read More Augustine and the Nihil
By Saint Louis de Montfort, Doctor of The Church, great luminary of St. John Paul II, writes, “If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins “you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 5:4). Even if you are on the… Read More The Rosary, Hope Even for Great Sinners
St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Doctor of the Church, teaches, “Brother, when the devil tempts you again to sin, if you wish to be lost, you have it in your power to commit sin; but do not then say that you wish to be saved. As long as you wish to sin, regard yourself as damned,… Read More St. Alphonsus de Liguori on Judgment and Mercy
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