Showing posts with label Thought Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thought Food. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
GOODBYE
In January 2002 my family started a web magazine titled "Aretheos.com". A few years ago it was downsized to the present blog site. It does not seem appropriate to pursue this occasional site at this time. We hope you pray and follow the Church's teachings.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Stephen Hawking's Mistake (Part Two)
Not believing in anything truly non-material (spiritual) Hawking says that there is "no heaven for broken computers" and that he is not "afraid of the dark".
We are just autonomous (self-operating) computers according to this view.
Look at your computer. You're operating it - the computer is not self-aware.
Oh, our self-awareness is just the critical mass of the self-referential qualities of our brain's software? Right, and the universe popped itself into existence.
Back in the 1980's I used to make the intellectual mistake of trying to point out the immaterial side of our minds by using images as an example. I would say that if anyone, even employing the finest techniques, were to dissect our brain they would not find an image. That analysis was flawed. If you dissect a photograph or a monitor you will not find an image either. The image requires the entire "system".
But that leads us to this realization: Close your eyes and bring up an image. Who is looking at it? Now go another step. Recall an abstract axiom of geometry. Who is comprehending the idea? Or even finer: who is bringing up or who is recalling?
Look at yourself looking at your computer, Mr. Hawking. Cause and effect ad infinitum is nonsense. If there is an infinite series of universes or an infinite regression of self-reference then neither the universe nor self-awareness would come into being.
God took the clay (shaped the earth) and gave us the breath of life, an immortal soul. As in the previous post the word "God" is Aristotle's humble "uncaused cause". Human logic cannot go beyond that position.
Of course, if the uncaused cause caused a universe with creatures capable of asking these questions, capable of communication, might there be revelation? I see you and know you exist but I won't know you until you reveal yourself.
We are just autonomous (self-operating) computers according to this view.
Look at your computer. You're operating it - the computer is not self-aware.
Oh, our self-awareness is just the critical mass of the self-referential qualities of our brain's software? Right, and the universe popped itself into existence.
Back in the 1980's I used to make the intellectual mistake of trying to point out the immaterial side of our minds by using images as an example. I would say that if anyone, even employing the finest techniques, were to dissect our brain they would not find an image. That analysis was flawed. If you dissect a photograph or a monitor you will not find an image either. The image requires the entire "system".
But that leads us to this realization: Close your eyes and bring up an image. Who is looking at it? Now go another step. Recall an abstract axiom of geometry. Who is comprehending the idea? Or even finer: who is bringing up or who is recalling?
Look at yourself looking at your computer, Mr. Hawking. Cause and effect ad infinitum is nonsense. If there is an infinite series of universes or an infinite regression of self-reference then neither the universe nor self-awareness would come into being.
God took the clay (shaped the earth) and gave us the breath of life, an immortal soul. As in the previous post the word "God" is Aristotle's humble "uncaused cause". Human logic cannot go beyond that position.
Of course, if the uncaused cause caused a universe with creatures capable of asking these questions, capable of communication, might there be revelation? I see you and know you exist but I won't know you until you reveal yourself.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sweet Words, Strong Words
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
“In like manner, of course, it was manifestly suitable that, even in the human generation of the Word of God, some spiritual property of the generation of a word should shine out. Now, a word as it proceeds from a speaker – whether conceived within or expressed without – brings no corruption to the speaker; rather, the word marks the plenitude of perfection in the speaker. It was in harmony with this that in His human generation the Word of God should be so conceived and born that the wholeness of His Mother was not impaired. And this, too, is clear: It became the Word of God, by whom all things are established and by whom all things are preserved in His wholeness, to be born so as to preserve His Mother's wholeness in every way. Therefore, suitably this generation was from a virgin.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
Summa Contra Gentiles, IV, ch. 45
“But in like manner the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself pleads for us with unutterable groanings. And he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit desires, that he pleads for the saints according to God.”
Romans 8:26-27
Novices in the spiritual life often receive spiritually sweet experiences. Later their inner selves can suffer bitterness (Rev. 10). For now let us just consider the wonderful sweetness of the words of the Hail Mary.
God speaks:
Hail – Remember the joy when you greet someone whose mere presence lifts your spirits. Imagine, you are allowed to greet the loving Mother of God! Immediately, without distraction, she attends to
you. She listens to your mind and heart.
Mary – In every human language this name is feminine and beautiful. Ave Maria. “Mary” calls to mind the great blue-green oceans and forests. Mother Mary.
Full – Overflowing with life,
of
Grace – the life of God. How sweet to our sense and thoughts when someone is brimming over with life and goodness.
The Lord – Almighty God, our Creator, our existence, our glory...
is
with thee. – God is with Mary. Mary on earth has entered the Kingdom of Heaven already. When we are with Mary in this sacred prayer we are beginning contemplation, we are in Heaven.
Blessed art thou – Full of grace , again, but in the aspect of the overbrimming benefits God gives as the result of His Life of grace.
among women – not only the new Eve but, just as “man” should be understood generically, the queen of all mankind in Christ.
And blessed – The source of goodness is the sweet baby born with the cooperation of
is the fruit - the heart,mind and body of Mary, flowering under the light of the Holy Spirit in her
of thy womb, - innermost being. The Mother contains her child and yet is contained within Him
Jesus – There is no sweeter or stronger word than “Jesus”.
The Church resonds:
Holy Mary, - She shares the glorious holiness of God as we, too, her children are called to share.
Mother of God, - Isaiah 49:15
- Theotokos
- by Baptism, our mother.
Pray - How good it feels when we ask someone to pray for us who we know is prayerful and whose
prayers are powerful. At Cana Jesus tells his mother that it is not time. She simply turns to the
waiters ( and us) and says "Listen to him".
for us sinners - O happy fault! We come to a merciful mother and our sins make her more eager to
cleanse, discipline and teach us. And not just those whose clothes are dirty by venial
sins but grave sinners are embraced by the Mother of the Shepherd.
Now - At this moment, in these circumstances Mary will aid us.
and at the hour - And, no matter what kind of death we suffer, she stands
of our death. with us by our cross.
Amen.
John 1:1
“In like manner, of course, it was manifestly suitable that, even in the human generation of the Word of God, some spiritual property of the generation of a word should shine out. Now, a word as it proceeds from a speaker – whether conceived within or expressed without – brings no corruption to the speaker; rather, the word marks the plenitude of perfection in the speaker. It was in harmony with this that in His human generation the Word of God should be so conceived and born that the wholeness of His Mother was not impaired. And this, too, is clear: It became the Word of God, by whom all things are established and by whom all things are preserved in His wholeness, to be born so as to preserve His Mother's wholeness in every way. Therefore, suitably this generation was from a virgin.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
Summa Contra Gentiles, IV, ch. 45
“But in like manner the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself pleads for us with unutterable groanings. And he who searches the hearts knows what the Spirit desires, that he pleads for the saints according to God.”
Romans 8:26-27
Novices in the spiritual life often receive spiritually sweet experiences. Later their inner selves can suffer bitterness (Rev. 10). For now let us just consider the wonderful sweetness of the words of the Hail Mary.
God speaks:
Hail – Remember the joy when you greet someone whose mere presence lifts your spirits. Imagine, you are allowed to greet the loving Mother of God! Immediately, without distraction, she attends to
you. She listens to your mind and heart.
Mary – In every human language this name is feminine and beautiful. Ave Maria. “Mary” calls to mind the great blue-green oceans and forests. Mother Mary.
Full – Overflowing with life,
of
Grace – the life of God. How sweet to our sense and thoughts when someone is brimming over with life and goodness.
The Lord – Almighty God, our Creator, our existence, our glory...
is
with thee. – God is with Mary. Mary on earth has entered the Kingdom of Heaven already. When we are with Mary in this sacred prayer we are beginning contemplation, we are in Heaven.
Blessed art thou – Full of grace , again, but in the aspect of the overbrimming benefits God gives as the result of His Life of grace.
among women – not only the new Eve but, just as “man” should be understood generically, the queen of all mankind in Christ.
And blessed – The source of goodness is the sweet baby born with the cooperation of
is the fruit - the heart,mind and body of Mary, flowering under the light of the Holy Spirit in her
of thy womb, - innermost being. The Mother contains her child and yet is contained within Him
Jesus – There is no sweeter or stronger word than “Jesus”.
The Church resonds:
Holy Mary, - She shares the glorious holiness of God as we, too, her children are called to share.
Mother of God, - Isaiah 49:15
- Theotokos
- by Baptism, our mother.
Pray - How good it feels when we ask someone to pray for us who we know is prayerful and whose
prayers are powerful. At Cana Jesus tells his mother that it is not time. She simply turns to the
waiters ( and us) and says "Listen to him".
for us sinners - O happy fault! We come to a merciful mother and our sins make her more eager to
cleanse, discipline and teach us. And not just those whose clothes are dirty by venial
sins but grave sinners are embraced by the Mother of the Shepherd.
Now - At this moment, in these circumstances Mary will aid us.
and at the hour - And, no matter what kind of death we suffer, she stands
of our death. with us by our cross.
Amen.
Monday, August 25, 2008
True Liturgical Reform
I. Reform Before Worship
Since the 19th century people have thought that liturgical revivals or reforms would change the condition of the Christian people. Revive Gregorian chant. Put missals in the hands of the laity. Encourage them to participate, to pay attention. Dialogue Latin Mass. Worship in the vernacular language. Liturgical archeology. Lately, a return to Mass in Latin.
What does God say about a people who pay him lip service? In Mt.5:23-24, Jesus says if we remember on the way to the altar that our brother holds anything against us, leave our gift at the altar and first go and reconcile with our brother. Reform comes before our worship not after.
The worship that Jesus offers to the Father and which he gives to us his brothers and sisters is a multi-faceted mystery which we will never fully fathom. We start, however, by realizing that we are offering Sacrifice. The sacrifice is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord which he brings and offers to the Father.
As such when we gather together for the Divine Liturgy we are offering through the Christ-like office of the bishop and his priest a real sacrifice.
In the last part of the 20th century the understanding that we were offering a Holy Sacrifice seemed to be overshadowed by the idea of "celebration". Lets have a community rally!
Indeed the Divine Liturgy is a real celebration where our Risen Lord Jesus both offers the sacrifice and comes to us in Holy Communion. Yet we are tempted to reduce the Divine Liturgy to a mere temporal human celebration to promote temporary human community. Perhaps having become aware of this shortcoming, we think a return to artificially imagined past liturgical practices will straighten everything out.
II. Our Reform
No changing of liturgical prayers and practices in the name of "reform", tradition or ecclesial archeology will, mechanically, produce better Christians. No Industrial Revolution massive or streamlined production improvements are called for. As we approach the table of the Last Supper, the altar of the Cross, the empty stone tomb of the Risen Lord we must return to the beginning of the Gospel: "Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Mt.4:17) Reform first, the rite of penance first!
The Divine Liturgy is offered in Christ as worship, not used by us as a tool. It is not a means for social engineering the Church and certainly not a media for entertaining display.
Pray for our reform as a priestly people. Our spiritual repentance
joined with physical reverence and the mental acknowledgment that this is a Sacrifice will, with the necessary Christian faith, hope and charity, lead to true liturgical reform.
Let us go to the Temple of the Body of Christ and beat our breasts, saying: Be merciful to me, Lord, a sinner! Then our Sacrifice will be pleasing and acceptable to God.
Since the 19th century people have thought that liturgical revivals or reforms would change the condition of the Christian people. Revive Gregorian chant. Put missals in the hands of the laity. Encourage them to participate, to pay attention. Dialogue Latin Mass. Worship in the vernacular language. Liturgical archeology. Lately, a return to Mass in Latin.
What does God say about a people who pay him lip service? In Mt.5:23-24, Jesus says if we remember on the way to the altar that our brother holds anything against us, leave our gift at the altar and first go and reconcile with our brother. Reform comes before our worship not after.
The worship that Jesus offers to the Father and which he gives to us his brothers and sisters is a multi-faceted mystery which we will never fully fathom. We start, however, by realizing that we are offering Sacrifice. The sacrifice is the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord which he brings and offers to the Father.
As such when we gather together for the Divine Liturgy we are offering through the Christ-like office of the bishop and his priest a real sacrifice.
In the last part of the 20th century the understanding that we were offering a Holy Sacrifice seemed to be overshadowed by the idea of "celebration". Lets have a community rally!
Indeed the Divine Liturgy is a real celebration where our Risen Lord Jesus both offers the sacrifice and comes to us in Holy Communion. Yet we are tempted to reduce the Divine Liturgy to a mere temporal human celebration to promote temporary human community. Perhaps having become aware of this shortcoming, we think a return to artificially imagined past liturgical practices will straighten everything out.
II. Our Reform
No changing of liturgical prayers and practices in the name of "reform", tradition or ecclesial archeology will, mechanically, produce better Christians. No Industrial Revolution massive or streamlined production improvements are called for. As we approach the table of the Last Supper, the altar of the Cross, the empty stone tomb of the Risen Lord we must return to the beginning of the Gospel: "Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Mt.4:17) Reform first, the rite of penance first!
The Divine Liturgy is offered in Christ as worship, not used by us as a tool. It is not a means for social engineering the Church and certainly not a media for entertaining display.
Pray for our reform as a priestly people. Our spiritual repentance
joined with physical reverence and the mental acknowledgment that this is a Sacrifice will, with the necessary Christian faith, hope and charity, lead to true liturgical reform.
Let us go to the Temple of the Body of Christ and beat our breasts, saying: Be merciful to me, Lord, a sinner! Then our Sacrifice will be pleasing and acceptable to God.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Voting
Is voting a right or a duty? Both? How does a full Catholic Christian vote? I challenge you to find information on the Catholic teaching about voting.
Josef Pieper in his work The Four Cardinal Virtues (my edition is Notre Dame Press) has some valuable things to say. Read this book and see what he writes in the section on "Distributive Justice"
Josef Pieper in his work The Four Cardinal Virtues (my edition is Notre Dame Press) has some valuable things to say. Read this book and see what he writes in the section on "Distributive Justice"
Archeologism
Taking past practices as inherently better than present practices is archeologism. When "liturgical reform" was prompted by the occasion of the Second Vatican Council, many rituals were picked artificially from different sources and times. They were imposed immediately in an authoritarian manner. Think of the rediscovery of Pompei as an example: works of art and sculpture were looted out of context and placed in various palaces. Pretty stuff but not living art.
Another example from a story my friend Dan told me. Dan is active on his parish council. In one recent meeting someone was talking about the "responsorial psalm" after the first Scripture reading. They wanted to get more "response" from the worshippers and reminded everyone that this responsorial was an ancient liturgical practice revived in the new liturgy. Dan simply responded (!), "Why do you think they dropped it?".
Another example from a story my friend Dan told me. Dan is active on his parish council. In one recent meeting someone was talking about the "responsorial psalm" after the first Scripture reading. They wanted to get more "response" from the worshippers and reminded everyone that this responsorial was an ancient liturgical practice revived in the new liturgy. Dan simply responded (!), "Why do you think they dropped it?".
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