The doctrine of the Communion of Saints is rather simple. It's that Christians don't leave the Church when they die. The work they began in this life doesn't end when they enter the next. We have a perspective problem in this life. In fact, it's very like being in high school (our education system has … Continue reading All Saints
Faith
October 21: Blessed Karl of Austria
Today is the feast of Blessed Karl of Austria, the last Hapsburg Emperor (for now). For those who don't know the tragic story of this holy monarch, Blessed Karl was the grand nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph and ascended the throne in 1916 at the age of twenty-six. He was an extremely pious and kindly … Continue reading October 21: Blessed Karl of Austria
History and Compromise at ‘The Everyman’
My latest post at The Everyman is up, comparing our present world to Austria in the 1930s. It's depressingly apt. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A virulent ideological movement is spreading through a nation’s institutions. It presents itself as the wave of the future, elevating those who have been beaten down, and … Continue reading History and Compromise at ‘The Everyman’
Talking Confession at Catholic Match
My latest Catholic Match post is up, talking about why you need to go to Confession: This brings us to the second point: besides your eternal salvation (if anything can be ‘besides’ that), Confession, along with the other Sacraments, conveys a very useful lesson. Namely, that we do not get to set the terms of … Continue reading Talking Confession at Catholic Match
Sunday Thoughts: The Treasure in the Field
Deconstructing fairy tales is like deconstructing a ming vase; it's easy to do, but it says more about you than about the subject itself. When some wag sniffs at the 'love at first sight' trope, or writes smarmy novels about Cinderella realizing how shallow her love for Prince Charming really is, it only shows the … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts: The Treasure in the Field
Sunday Thoughts – Corpus Christi
I think one of the great problems of the contemporary world is that we undervalue the material aspect of things. I’m sure that sounds shocking, given how materialistic we are, but actually our materialism is only what is to be expected from the undervaluing of matter. Because as with lust to sex, the evil of … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts – Corpus Christi
I Cannot Now Unsee It
The Syllabus of Errors: Illustrated
The Conquest of Death
For by a man came death, and by a man the resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. -1 Cor. 15: 21-22 God never undoes what He once does, nor unsays what He has once said. When man brought death upon himself through the … Continue reading The Conquest of Death
Authority in the Passion
The concept of authority has been on my mind quite a lot lately. There's a whole lot to delve into there, especially since it's a subject we moderns tend not to understand very well. We tend to think of it as either consented rule (which would make it synonymous with 'counsel' or 'employment') or oppression. … Continue reading Authority in the Passion
Serpent's Den 