Today it seems fitting to talk about not one Saint, but a trio. I'll begin with the first two: St. Augustine whose feast is today (28 August), and St. Monica, whose feast was yesterday. St. Augustine, of course, is one of the greatest theologians, a bishop, Doctor of the Church, and subject of one of the … Continue reading A Dynamic Trio: St. Augustine, St. Monica & St. Ambrose
The End Point of Progressive Christianity
Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint,but blessed is he who keeps the law. (Proverbs 29:18) We're not cats, bats, or moray eels, as I pointed out in a recent post. "We humans are different. We are, again, unique among the world’s creatures. We’re not governed by instinct, we alone can make free choices about how … Continue reading The End Point of Progressive Christianity
Agnus Dei from Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli
Spiritual Warfare has been a theme in a number of my posts recently, and for good reason: while the struggle "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12) is always with us, it has been causing more … Continue reading Agnus Dei from Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli
Witness to the Gospel of Love: St. Maximilian Kolbe
Picture yourself in the death camp at Auschwitz. You're standing in formation with all your fellow prisoners. The Nazis who run the camp have a harsh disincentive to escape: for every inmate who finds a way to break out of the camp the guards pick out ten other prisoners at random and starve them to death. As … Continue reading Witness to the Gospel of Love: St. Maximilian Kolbe
Spiritual Warfare, the Chain of Command, and St. Equitius
"You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." -attributed to Leon Trotsky There's a battle raging, and we're all part of it, like it or not. The growing intensity of the Culture War that's engulfing our society is just a surface manifestation of the real war that's been underway since Satan … Continue reading Spiritual Warfare, the Chain of Command, and St. Equitius
Giuseppe Sarti’s ‘Now the Powers of Heaven’ and Rublev’s ‘Holy Trinity’
Giuseppe Sarti Those of us in the West who have heard of the Italian composer Giuseppe Sarti most likely know about him through the tribute paid by another composer: in Mozart's Don Giovanni Don Juan listens to an air from Sarti's opera Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode as the old rake enjoys his … Continue reading Giuseppe Sarti’s ‘Now the Powers of Heaven’ and Rublev’s ‘Holy Trinity’
Has Tradition Become a Dirty Word?
Picture Sunday Mass in a typical parish. A mother comes up for communion holding a small child in her arms. As she approaches the priest, she awkwardly holds on to her infant with one arm in order to free up the other to take the Eucharistic host and quickly pop it into her mouth before … Continue reading Has Tradition Become a Dirty Word?
God, We Praise You – Domenico Scarlatti’s “Te Deum” and Raphael’s “Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”
Domenico Scarlatti In the teaching world we have a saying: "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree". In other words, when we meet the parents, we often understand why our students are the way they are (my lovely bride often quotes this back to me when one of our children does something particularly egregious … Continue reading God, We Praise You – Domenico Scarlatti’s “Te Deum” and Raphael’s “Disputation of the Holy Sacrament”