The refugees returning to the Promised Land after 70 years of captivity in Babylon had a problem. He was a killjoy named Haggai, and he was chewing them out for rebuilding their houses. Well . . . that’s not exactly the case. His complaint wasn’t so much that they were building their houses as … Read more
Our Father is not, according to Jesus, merely our Father. He is our Father “who art in heaven.” What does that mean? Getting at the answer to that in our present culture is harder than you’d think, not least because heaven, says C. S. Lewis, is an acquired taste. There are moments, he writes, … Read more
In Luke’s Gospel, the “Our Father,” like so much else in Jesus’ teaching, is occasioned by a request from His disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (Lk 11:1). This should get our attention, because it is typical of Jesus’ method of revelation that, instead of going around announcing, “Hey! I’m … Read more
Rev. Simon Tugwell notes that the very first thing we should know about prayer, according to St. Paul, is that we do not know how to do it. Paul makes this fact clear when he tells the Romans that the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray … Read more
Important differences between people who get their teaching from American Tribal Pieties and those who get it from the teaching of the Catholic Church are much in evidence in the health care debate. Those moved primarily by tribal loyalties (and let me state from the outset that this by no means describes everybody) tend to … Read more
Last week, I wrote a little piece on the ways in which the various Protestantisms filter the sometimes ambiguous text of Scripture through various semi-permeable membranes in order to accept the bits of the Catholic Tradition they approve of while a) removing those things they dislike and b) stapling on those human ideas and notions … Read more
One basic rule of thumb to understand in Catholic/Protestant conversations is that it is not the case that Catholics rely on Sacred Tradition and Protestants don’t. Rather, Catholics (and by this I mean “educated Catholics speaking out of the Magisterial teaching of the Church”) rely on Sacred Tradition and know they do, while Protestants rely … Read more
The Beatitude before this one pronounces a blessing on those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Taken in isolation, it would be easy to read that Beatitude as a sort of general, “Rah, rah for the underdog” sentiment. But coupled with this saying, it takes on a very different sense; for this Beatitude is a … Read more
I remember when I was in the fourth grade a rerun of The Twilight Zone was interrupted by a news bulletin announcing that somebody named “Martin Luther King Jr.” had been shot. I had not the foggiest idea who that might be, but I could tell from my mom’s worried face that he must be … Read more
“It takes three to make a quarrel,” said Chesterton. “There is needed a peacemaker. The full potentialities of human fury cannot be reached until a friend of both parties tactfully intervenes.” Chesterton was being funny, of course. But, as always, he was wisely pointing to a truth as well. It is the truth that keeps … Read more
A certain mindset that postmodernity finds very appealing identifies purity with sterility. To be pure is, in this view, to be uncontaminated, germ-free, barren, scrubbed, metallic. This mindset (which is actually very ancient) tends to think of “pure” spirituality as a spirituality unsoiled by contact with grosser elements such as matter and, most especially, … Read more
“Whereto serves mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?” asks Portia in The Merchant of Venice. It’s a good question, and one that most of us don’t really think about these days. That’s because, increasingly, we are a culture that only has “mercy” on people who “couldn’t help it” or “didn’t know any better.” … Read more
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5:6). The goods of this world, though they remain good, can be deceptive when you are a member of a fallen race. In certain moods of rude good health and the flush of adolescent insolence, it is all too … Read more
Today’s Beatitude — “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt 5:5) — continues Jesus’ tradition of transmuting lead into gold. Just as nobody wants to be poor and nobody wants to mourn, so nobody wants to be “meek.” That’s because we think of the meek as doormats and dartboards. We assume … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, Mark P. Shea lays out the case against artificial contraception. It’s stronger than you might think. If you had collared me before I was Catholic and asked my opinion of Rome’s teaching on artificial contraception, I would have said something like this: I understand and applaud the Magisterium’s … Read more
The beatitude teaches us, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3). The gospel calls us to a paradox in its teaching on poverty. First, it bids us recognize in the face of the poor the face of Christ. Our culture is resistant to this idea and … Read more
I remember it like yesterday. The insistent kitchen phone was ringing on the other side of the wall as I woke. I had gone to bed exhausted with sorrow and fear the night before, having returned from the hospital where my dad lay, snoring loudly in the depths of a coma. Just as my eyes … Read more
Over Lent, we took a good long look at one of the legs of Catholic moral teaching: the Ten Commandments. Some people have the notion that the Ten Commandments are pretty much all you need for Catholic moral teaching. Hew to them and you’ll be a moral person — and being a moral person … Read more
Last week, we started looking at the broad movement among some conservatives (including Catholics) over the past several years to excuse, minimize, defend, and champion the use of torture by the U.S. government in the “War on Terror.” Among Catholics, in particular, the conversation has taken place at multiple levels, since the Catholic torture defender … Read more
In this Crisis Magazine classic, Mark P. Shea shows why honoring Mary is the most natural thing for a Christian to do. It has to be one of the strangest things in the world: So many Christians who love Jesus with all their hearts recoil in fear at the mention of His mother’s name, … Read more