Safe Haven

I don't know much of anything about St. Bonaventure, if I'm being honest. I do have an aspiring religious friend who likes him, if for no other reason than to get away from St. Thomas! [He needs to know that there's no way a Doctor of the Church can be overrated.--ed.] I agree. We can always count on Father to say, "We gather to celebrate the life and the faith witness" of whomever it is. Even the priest's little quirks in speech like this become part of what you grow to expect. I think St. Bonaventure would be pleased that, weather permitting, we have made this same journey hundreds of times. Not that merely being present has any merit, but the hope that we will be moved by the glorious grace of Christ for some good end. We had been talking about grace having possibly come to a notorious mass murderer. We both agreed that we wanted to be the sorts of men who rejoice at stories like that. Easy to say, from a distance. And I had Sister Helen on my mind ...

Frankly, I always thought Jesus was crazy in saying this, at the risk of impiety. Surely having been tempted, he knows this isn't true, right? But consider that other Scripture, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. " It is an impossible task, that virtue I haven't acquired. The idea of holding it together until the next Eucharist. We need to stop trying so hard. Who is Jesus? Do I want to know, and go where he goes, or do I have something else going on? It doesn't say, "I will fear no evil, because it's not that big of a deal." No one is saying that the valley of the shadow of death is a stroll on a spring day in Palo Alto. For you are with me. My Lord, the truth is, apart from you, I can do nothing. If you still want me with you, I'll go with you. Please stay with me.

There's this.  And I said to no one in particular, "What a pile of s***." If you lose readers, you lose readers. And if you're being an intemperate jerk who should stay away from politics, no amount of passionate defenses of your work changes all that. The funny thing about charity is, it's the ultimate proof that you can be right, and still lose. Is there no one Catholic who can say, "Our social teaching bids us go in some interesting directions"? Is it that hard to say that grudging acceptance of Pope Francis is not obedience? Is impugning the motives of those who have faults in reasoning now considered "pruning"? I get it. When you write and opine for your daily work, you're gonna make someone mad. And maybe you should. But I never felt edified, reading Mark Shea's Facebook feed. I stuck it out, because I knew he's right most times. But what good is it to gain the whole world, and forfeit your soul? The Register can find some...

Actually, I have stayed inside. St. Louis weather is like that one friend who makes bad decisions at the last second all the time. I'm barely one hundred yards from my apartment, and it might as well be ten miles. At least I made it to Mass. What if our spiritual life is like a guy looking out at a stormy day? You might think, "Well, there goes this day, and I don't feel like much." Suppose the smallest faithfulness however pleases God the most? Don't just mail it in. You never know how much one victory means.

These are hilarious. You can sense the camaraderie here. Part of the reason they have been so successful is their friendship. Timmy helped create that. I do think the team will notice a void. Like many Spurs fans, I am alternately joyful, thankful, sad, and even shocked. In the end, though, everything is good. How good do you have to be to make Coach Popovich cry ? Tim Duncan good. The team will not want to embarrass him, but I think the fans have more appreciation to give.

I started with spiritual reading, and I was greatly consoled by mediating on this text from the Gospel: "As the Father has loved me, so I love you." I think we think of "Christianity" as a system much of the time. We have books, conferences, and symposia on "Christianity's Impact On X, Y, and Z" and so forth. That's fine, as far as it goes. Try never to forget though that the Holy Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--made you and loves you.  The Holy Spirit is Himself the fruit of the love between the Father and the Son, so if God wants to share that love with you and me, there is a very good chance we have no idea the life we could be living now, or in the world to come. I tried to simply stay there in the moment. The saints are the saints because their lives became one long moment of remaining with Jesus. And then it game to my mind again that Tim Duncan retired today. I admit, I got a little choked up. Timmy is the Spurs. He makes them go. ...

I don't know the facts of each case, but 2 more black men have died at the hands of police. Dr. Bryan Cross asserts that a dubious utilitarianism which could countenance a pre-emptive war (unjust) in Iraq is the same philosophy that justifies excessive police violence after the fact. Indeed, it is utilitarian, but also consequentialist, in that an observer could find some positive outcome, and use that desirable outcome to judge an action morally acceptable. I also read a good piece by a lawyer who essentially reminded law students not to support a law unless they were willing to kill in order to enforce it. It seems a bit stark, until we realize that governments coerce by their nature. The question of when and whether such coercion is just is separate from the acknowledgment that force is the nature of political authority. All the more reason we have to lament the loss of awareness that the natural moral law gives governments their authority. As a baseline, I agree with the ar...

I had some time today in the morning, so I made a morning offering. I would love to tell you that this happens every day, but that's a lie. But there I was, and I was thankful for grace, which seems to be more plentiful than my disgust with myself. Perhaps that truly is the story of God's love for all of us: abundant life more plentiful than our disgust with ourselves. I don't mean to suggest that we don't do things which offend the holiness of God; read the Catechism concerning sins of various sorts for five minutes if you have a doubt. But we overdo everything in this culture, including self-condemnation. It seems holy to drone on and on about how terrible you are. It's really just pride. The truth is, I'm on the knife's edge of my worst self at any given moment, but it is that worst me that Christ knows and loves, giving His life to save. Personally, I don't want to hear about Christ's "finished work" from the lot of you. If you don...

We celebrate sacraments in the Church; we don't just perform them. I think many separated Christians get afraid of the way the sacraments work , because it seems at once presumptous and fearful. Yet if we can agree that a pious soul might need to remember that Christ is the true minister of all sacraments, then we can understand that the Catholic teaching is the logical application of that truth. You cannot stir up in yourself enough faith or zeal to make a sacrament work, so to speak. We can, however, in those moments during and prior, decide whether we understand who Jesus is, and whether we are willing to let Him walk with us, no matter how many times we stumble. The whole thing is shot through not only with charity, but faith and hope, too. I can think of nothing more bold than to approach the throne of grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but the way some people tell it, we never needed any of it. The double-edged sword of the claim that sacraments aren't necessary i...

Roger Federer is in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, a tournament he has already won a record 7 times. I'm going to remind you that Federer is the greatest tennis player ever, and still near his peak at the age of 34. To watch him even on TV is an experience. The tennis is art, cloaked in sports. What is more, Federer nemesis and the world's top-ranked player, Novak Djokovic, was upset by another player. Many people are saying that it's Federer's tournament to lose. I won't say that, because there are great players still in the draw, including the second-ranked player and 2013 Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray. But Federer beat Murray for the title 4 years ago. And here we are again. Recall that Federer has lost in the championship final to Djokovic the last two years. There is no doubt we are witnessing in Federer the greatest player ever to play. If he wins Wimbledon for the 8th time, it will be both a massive triumph, and entirely predictable. Maybe that's...

You could read thirty of these , and it wouldn't be enough. I probably ranked as a casual fan, albeit one who understood something of the context. Sports at its best is a big giant human interest story, and there were few as interesting and as human as Pat Summitt. I hope you get sick of the stories and remembrances, because then you will begin to understand. An icon, right under your nose. I really need Bob Costas to do a piece; some say he's melodramatic. I say he understands why sports matters. I can remember when the Lady Vols blew a 16-point second half lead against Baylor one year, with another trip to the Final Four on the line. Even in the determined jubilation of Baylor, it was in their eyes: We just beat the greatest coach of all time. Kim Mulkey wasn't apologetic for winning, but she wanted to be. And this is the power of the legend: she knew she'd better look that way. The great Peyton Manning released a statement. Two-time Super Bowl champion, and arg...

Left? Right? Who cares? It's the general inability of anyone to speak or think in anything besides tribalistic terms that makes those descriptors pointless. I'd defiantly own "mushy moderate," but, you don't actually know what you mean by "conservative." No one does. We have to do a monumental thing: we have to re-build ethics and re-establish virtue, and then establish the positive good of government as such. There is no point in talking about "limited government" if one doesn't know what government is for. And if someone believes in anarchy, they should just say that. There are precious few actual Communists to make common cause against. Other foolish people think that every solution that begins with government at some level spending money must be offered by people who don't understand "economics." Well, I may not. But it strikes me in the same way as the people who dodge metaphysical questions by saying, "Because, sc...

Right now, Pat Summitt is fighting for her life. I expect to get the sad news any day. She's the greatest coach in college basketball history. Most people don't know, because women's college basketball was a punchline, until she made it relevant to the sports world. Geno Auriemma has 11 national championships, all since 1995, but when he goes down as the greatest ever, it will be noted that he had to eclipse Pat Summitt to do it. I can remember when I started counting each win. I remember when I figured out that the average record of a Lady Vols team in 38 years was 28-6. I remember when I thought I would never see this again. She won't remember, but we should. The greatest teams, players, and coaches don't win on skill; they win on fear. The very best make you think you as the opponent will choke, and then you do. Pat Summitt's stare could melt lead. She's finally facing an opponent who won't crack. Alzheimer's, and his pal, Death. Still, if w...

"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."--The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America Many people simply refer to this text, and any discussion of the regulation of firearms simply ends. I'm not going to do that, because 1) a Christian worldview demands more careful reflection; 2) there is nothing sacrosanct about the Constitution itself, that is, it isn't a religious text, or sacred object, no matter how good or correct we think it to be; and 3) we have new challenges that the Founders could not have foreseen.  One of the great strokes of genius in our founding and its documents is the separation of powers. More than this, that the Constitution does not enumerate all the rights individuals may have, but rather limits what the government may licitly do with respect to the individual. The US Constitution limits th...

John 11:35. The shortest verse in the Bible. You may have known that. What you may not have ever pondered is how weird the situation is. Jesus knows Lazarus is ill; he stays where he is. He waits for Lazarus to die, then goes down there. Why? Lots of answers in the grand scheme suggest themselves, but not in the moment. You can understand why Jesus gets questioned about this from even those who know he isn't just some guy from down the street. It's absolutely true that the just will get it all back at the resurrection. What great faith! But Jesus has even bigger plans. He knows exactly what he's going to do. It's in that context that Jesus wept. "He's in a better place" might be true, but it's beside the point. Death, sorrow, and all the rest may be here, but they don't belong. So much so that the Master of life and death cried. If he were not God in the flesh, we might say he "ugly-cried." He couldn't abide it for one secon...

One of the best in the business. My teacher. Everyone from young children to the learned and aged has been benefiting from Dr. Nguyen's good gifts, and this is a good example. For my part, I think that if the sacred pastors want to say, "Catechesis is really poor, and puts people at risk of ending up in some painful situations," that's what they should say. It is undesirable, to say the least, to cast doubt on the efficacy of the sacraments, even unwittingly, in the name of compassion. Lord God, by Your Holy Spirit, help us all to discern truth from error, that we may enter boldly and unstained into the wedding feast of the Lamb. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

I'll continue hammering the Democrats, and anyone else who thinks this is a real argument for killing defenseless human beings in the womb. If you're not able to grasp the basic argument, you might be right about dozens of other affronts to human dignity, but your moral authority over me is exactly zero. Just so we understand one another.

You make my social media feed interesting, that's for sure. I can't decide if you are crazy, or just willfully provocative. Believe it or not, I like that. Holy Mother Church is still waiting for you. I will certainly gloat when we get Russell Moore. And we will. Resistance is futile. In other news, you need someone to your left who is not insane, and not Alan Noble. Excuse me, Dr. Alan Noble. I'm happy to help.

Let me be direct, and brief: you can't settle the question of whether to baptize infants or not from Scripture alone. Strictly speaking, Scripture doesn't "say" anything. All appeals to Scripture are appeals to an interpretation of Scripture. Once you get past all the impressive citations of particular passages, it's an unwinnable argument, from either side. Bad faith and theological-dogmatic relativism are the most obvious results. This is very simply why we have a Magisterium in holy mother Church, and why said Church claims to be the one Christ founded, because it is. It is reasonable to believe such because that which all Christians hold in common despite their divisions cannot be accounted for without the authority of the Catholic Church. And such an authority, so visible, and so constant through these many centuries, must be divine, if we grant that God has spoken at all. There does need to be an acknowledgment that the paedobaptist--despite his efforts ...

I've blogged about this Kenny Loggins album before. But I had a new reason, when Spotify took one of the tracks off the album. I was kind of mad. Anyway, I went to iTunes, and sure enough, if you want the song, "If You Believe," you must buy the whole album. So I did. I'm not given to fideism; that is, to believing without a reason or reasons, so it seems odd to draw insight and titles from pop singers, and angsty Lutheran philosphers. And Kenny won't be everyone's cup of tea. He was always on the sentimental side, and this is the last album he did that was conceptually (and theologically) coherent. He got New Age-y after this, and that won't do anyone any good. Still, this album is pretty great, 25 years later. [Yikes!--ed.] Yeah. Anyway, aside from the insightful greatness of "Conviction Of The Heart," I was struck by a few lines from another song called, "Now Or Never." He sings in part: "And tell him that love is why we...