Classical Theist

I always remain as careful as I can be when it comes to criticism of the Pope, but this is just an indefensibly scandalous thing to say and anyone who defends this statement out of misplaced zeal is unwittingly undermining the faith

This should dissuade us from thinking freely on these things in the prudential order, but as is the case with all decisions of practical reason, we must allow the Church to form the basis of our thoughts and concepts. This docility and openness to be taught by the Church is a precondition for a well formed conscience.

A perfect example of this is on marriage and the family No Catholic should speak publicly on these issues in my opinion if they haven’t at the very least read entry level magisterial documents like Arcanum divinæ, Casti connubii, Humanæ vitæ, and Familiaris consortio If this is not done then the Church’s treasury of wisdom on these issues will absolutely be diluted or mistaken for unnuanced half truths about these issues

the most straightforward way to get a handle on what the Church teaches on a myriad of moral, social, and political issues is to just read papal encyclicals on the matter while you’ll run across occasional potential conflicts in continuity, those are very rare and they’re also typically very insightful in their own right and easy to read and yet very few Catholic thinkers have much familiarity with these writings

while focusing on the historical guilt of the Jewish crowds in the Passion narrative won’t really do anything for your spiritual life, ignoring it altogether is an insult to the Gospel writers and to the Holy Spirit Who intentionally used the malice of the Jews to allegorize our own contributions to the sufferings of Christ

God could easily have created a far more impressive material cosmos even with the Fall taken into account, but instead of dazzling us with spectacles of worldly beauty, He calls us to a higher state of spiritual maturity so that we can more easily perceive the imperfections of this world and in so doing set our sights exclusively on God Himself, recognizing Him as the only reality that can fulfill the otherwise insatiable desires of the heart

there’s truth to this I’m sure but I also feel like this is one of those things dumb people or midwits say to make themselves feel smarter than they actually are

facts

a single psalm prayed well will provide infinitely greater benefit for you and for the world than winning a thousand theological or political debates unsupported by consistent prayer and sacrifice

“Thy lips, O Gregory, distill The honey that thy heart doth fill; In spiced sweetness flowers thence The savor of thine eloquence. The hidden mysteries that lie In Holy Scripture, to thine eye, Are plain; the Truth Himself draws near To make their subtle secrets clear.” - Hymn for Lauds commemorating Pope St. Gregory the Great

Answering the Orthodox: Divine Simplicity, Created Grace, and the Beatific Vision; youtu.be/DwM4FrjnwF0?si…

the law of mercy and love was limited for Jews because their relationship with God was kept at a distance, it is now universal and unlimited in Christ because we are now elevated into His own Divine Sonship and are therefore called to love as He loves and is loved by the Father

the parable of the prodigal son by mystically identifying the younger son as a symbol for pagan gentiles tacitly acknowledges that pagan religions are sinful breakaways from primeval monotheism which was faithfully retained by Jews, discovered by Greeks, and perfected in Christ

Pope Francis’ law of gradualism would be a perfect pastoral approach if it were applied to moral/evangelical counsels as opposed to binding moral precepts I’d argue that this conflation of counsel and precept is what underlies the errors of laxists and rigorists alike

Exploring the Church Fathers with Aarvoll : The Didache https://www.youtube.com/live/SFBnavkPkjg?si=d_KguGGLNxq31m2M

Exploring the Church Fathers with Aarvoll : The Didache https://www.youtube.com/live/SFBnavkPkjg?si=d_KguGGLNxq31m2M

many of Jesus’s parables are simply unintelligible in their plain meaning if you adopt a dual covenant approach to post-temple Judaism

if pope francis is dead right on one thing (regardless of whether or not he practices this advice himself), it’s that the more detached Catholicism is from ideology, the purer it is

Patron Request: Refuting More Protestant Nonsense https://youtube.com/live/t2iPFqip_fU?feature=share

Patron Request: Refuting More Protestant Nonsense https://youtube.com/live/t2iPFqip_fU?feature=share