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All Along the Watchtower

~ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you … John 13:34

All Along the Watchtower

Tag Archives: Philosophy

Augustine, Bonaventure, and Aquinas and Divine Illumination

31 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Philip Augustine in Commentaries, Faith

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Catholic, Catholicism, Christian, Christianity, God, history, Philosophy, St Augustine, writers

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I have been attempting to rehabilitate St. Anselm’s the ontological argument for God. However, no matter how hard I try my own understanding of discovering knowledge is similar to Aquinas’ that it begins with the senses and the recognition of the world. The issue that I’ve developed is that I disagree with St. Thomas Aquinas/Aristotle in regards to universals/forms like beauty and truth. Therefore, my ontological argument has more or less become an epistemological argument for God which is Augustinian in nature and tied to Augustine’s theory of knowledge of Divine Illumination.

I’ve been reading a bit on Divine Illumination and Aquinas’ Aristotelian Agent Intellect synthesis into his first principle of knowledge. And not surprisingly, it appears that there are those who claim that Aquinas makes a strict separation from Augustine in regards to Divine Illumination. However, it’s not a settled debate and Peter Kreeft argues in the Summa of the Summa that Aquinas is more Platonic/Augustinian in his understanding than Aristotelian, albeit many Thomist would disagree with his sentiment–I’ve personally asked one. Nonetheless, I am of the opinion that what Thomas does is merely move the understanding of Divine Illumination to the material sensory of understanding. For instance, two different husbands may look at their respective spouses and believe their own is more beautiful than the other. Some would argue this indicates that Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, what appears to be innate from the two husbands is beauty itself. Sure, it’s their senses that tell them what is beautiful, nonetheless, it is not their senses that is the source for understanding the concept of beauty itself. If this is true, then, it would render that not all knowledge is gained through the senses.

The more I think about this interpretation of knowledge with Aquinas’ synthesis on the sense revealing knowledge, the more I agree with it in accord to Augustine’s philosophy of Divine Illumination in regards to Romans chapter 1 and 2 which speak about knowing God “is manifest in them” and the “law written in our hearts,” I firmly agree with Augustine that we’re in possession of certain knowledge by God; however, we’re only moved to discovering by interactions with creation as attributed by Aquinas emphasis on Participation. So, when we judge beauty, for instance, the concept of the beautiful is divinely instilled by God; however, it is through our experience with a sunrise, a mountain, the ocean, or our loved ones that stir the understanding of the beautiful.

Upon doing more reading on the topic, I find this to be very similar to Bonaventure’s assessment. Perhaps, I need to read more Bonaventure. Naturally, the above is just a short examination of my current work. I am at the moment writing a more detailed treatise on the subject of illumination.

And if you think Augustine and Bonaventure are right, support Augustinian thought by buying this cool shirt! And help me teach our youth about St. Augustine.

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Get yourself a new St. Augustine Pear Stealing T-shirt!

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Philip Augustine in Catholic Tradition, Faith

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, Evangelization, history, Philosophy, St Augustine, T-shirts, Theology, Tshirts

Hello folks!

Things are starting to get back to normal for me, thanks for your prayers. I’ve just started my first M.A. class in theology; we’ll see how that goes. Nonetheless, I’ve been inspired by some other Catholic publications to create T-shirts to help evangelize the faith by creating conversation starters!

My first t-shirt is tied to St. Augustine’s Confessions which is a reflection on an event of his youth in which he stole pears with another fellow. The Latin reads: “But it was not what my unhappy soul desired.”

https://teespring.com/st-augustine-pear-stealing#pid=369&cid=6525&sid=front

560

The money raised from this T-shirt will be used for obtaining copies of The Confessions for our local Public School Religions Program, as well as other youth. Give it a thought!

God Bless,

Philip Augustine

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Fade to Black: An Evil of Individualism

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by Philip Augustine in Commentaries, Faith

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Art, Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, Jesus, Metal, Music, Philosophy, Rock

Jameshetfieldwien07_1.jpgphoto by Flowkey

As I reflect back at my youth at times when I didn’t necessarily take my faith seriously, Art that I once enjoyed in my youth—and still may enjoy—that isn’t necessarily Christian, or tasteful for that matter, I am having to rectify with my serious reflection on how it applies to me and my Catholic faith today.  

I was born in the mid-eighties, so, naturally, the nineties dominated the formation of my childhood. To be honest, in my youth—ages 10 to 15—I wasn’t really a music fan. In seventh grade, I had been introduced to Metallica by a friend and I was intrigued by some of the bands more melodic tunes such as “Fade to Black, “Nothing Else Matters,” The Unforgiven,” The Unforgiven 2” etc. Now, looking back as a mature man who is heading the natural course towards an old man, I believe that my fascination with the melodies and lyrics of these songs was the lyricist’s poetry ordered toward what Christians call “Original Sin.”

Examining the lyrics to “Fade to Black:”

Life, it seems, will fade away

Drifting further every day

Getting lost within myself

Nothing matters, no one else

I have lost the will to live

Simply nothing more to give

There is nothing more for me

Need the end to set me free

…

Emptiness is filling me

To the point of agony

Growing darkness taking dawn

I was me, but now he’s gone

No one but me can save myself, but it’s too late

Now I can’t think, think why I should even try.

Pretty Dark for a child not even able to drive. However, it’s real human emotion, it’s an experience with the dark voids of human nature that finds its source in Original Sin. Of course, some may stumble across my words and be puzzled at the expression of ‘Original Sin.’ GK Chesterton once quipped that the most striking evidence for Christianity was to view the evil in the world—cause by Original Sin. Furthermore, I once read an article about GK Chesterton that I reported asked him about what was wrong with the world to which he replied, ‘I am.” There has been a lot of great achievements in our collective human history from the idea of individual freedom;  however, the idea breeds the idea of individualism in which the only thing matters is my ‘rights’ to do as I please, so to hell with anyone else. In a way, with the rise of individualism, modernity has created a cultural selfishness that becomes the antithesis of culture itself. In a culture merely rooted in “I am,” we have lost the ability to see another individual sitting beside us. 

If one looks at the lyrics presented by this particular Metallica song, one will notice a whole lot of “I” and “myself” in each passage. In fact, the lyricist declares “No one but me can save myself, but it’s too late.” The Christian perspective will perhaps see some of the symptoms of what is ailing this particular person. The person has turned inward towards himself as stated “getting lost within myself.” Remember in Exodus 3, God expresses his very nature as his name “I AM.” In many ways, modernity’s stress on individualism has always been rooted in the human distortion of “I am” in  “The Fall” of Genesis 3—Genesis 3 and Exodus 3 coincidence? Now, of course, this doesn’t reflect fault in the lyricists, as others around him could have alienated him to where he believes “he” is his only source of salvation. Indeed, as Christians, we need to reflect on our duty to see those who are marginalized and approach them with the Gospel.

Christians must also see from this loss of will that any sort of “self-centering” methods promoted by other Christians is also not in accord with orthodox Christianity as it focuses not on outward search for the Incarnation of Christ who is the way, but rather instead of an inward removal from the physical world into a more gnostic spirituality. Christianity by its very nature brings hope to those who desperately are searching for their restless hearts to be at rest. Pope St. John Paul II June 29th, 1978 wrote extensively in his diary about Christian community and the right order toward Christ:

“As for Christian existence, it begins with Jesus Christ, who Himself constitutes a ‘communion.’ First and foremost, he alone is the unity of God and man, having in Himself full grace, that is, full power to reconcile man with God.” (In God’s Hands pg. 134) 

We must reach out to our neighbors, it’s not our duty to serve as judge to whether those who look to be in need will abuse charity, as for many this is an excuse not to help. It begins with “Hello” and a shaking of hands. It begins by seeing a homeless person walking over to them asking them their name. It begins with seeing people as people rather than an identity of culture, race, sexual preference, gender ideology, etc. Do these things, where an object of the faith, and if they ask, “What cause you to stop by?” You say: “Jesus Christ.” 

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With No Free Will; An Incorruptible God Must Be The Agent of Corruption.

15 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by Philip Augustine in Blogging, Catholic Tradition, Faith

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, Faith, God, Islam, Judaism, Philosophy, religion

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One aspect of folks that I value is the ability to allow free dialogue, even if it doesn’t seem important, may hinder one’s argument, or a point that tends to lead in a different direction. Of course, I value this because I value the exploring of ideas to reveal truth.

Perfect Chaos is a blog run by Steven Colborne, who believes in God, maybe even the Christian God, but doesn’t believe in Free Will basically because God is in charge of everything existence. Steven posted again today about The Free Will Problem. Naturally, there are analogies that can be given to show when one is in charge they can allow free will etc. However, as I’ve continued to exhibit through Catholic thought, there is ample philosophical evidence within Catholicism that indicates a lack of free will is more or less rubbish.

In this particular blog of Steven’s I gave Augustine’s answer to Steven’s assertions that Free Will doesn’t exist, please refer to his post as well as his essay that he gives a link to in the post. I answered that in accordance with Catholic tradition that Steven fails to properly refute Augustinian Theodicy. More or less Steven doesn’t even address it, which of course the comment is a critique that Steven could use to finely tune his own thoughts on the matter–even for his own side of the argument. Unfortunately, Steven deleted my comment, so I present it here to you, reconstructed. 

Augustine’s point is rested in the Confessions Book 7:

Augustine explains his view of Free Will: ” I was absolutely certain when I willed a thing or refused to will it that it was I alone who willed or refused to will. Already I was beginning to see that therein lay the cause of my sin. I saw that what I did against my will was something done to me, rather than something I actually did. I concluded that it was not my fault, but my punishment.”

Augustine explains earlier in Book 7 how this relates to God in a fashion the resembles Anselm’s ontological argument: ”

There has never has been, nor will there be, a soul able to conceive anything better than you, who are the supreme and best good. But since it is of the utmost truth and certainty that the incorruptible is preferable to the corruptible, even as I already preferred it to be, I could now attain in thought to a being better than yourself, my God, if you were not incorruptible. Therefore, where I perceived that the incorruptible must be preferred to the corruptible, there ought I to seek you. There too, ought I to observe where itself is, that is, whence comes that corruption, by which your substance can in no way be violated. For absolutely no corruption defiles our God.”

The glaring problem in a Christian argument against Free Will, or for that matter the argument for God is that for God to be God, He must be a perfect being. Naturally, this fits into Aquinas’ model in the Summa Theologica:

“Now God is the first principle, not material, but in the order of efficient cause, which must be most perfect. For just as matter, as such, is merely potential, an agent, as such, is in the state of actuality. Hence, the first active principle must needs be most actual, and therefore most perfect; for a thing is perfect in proportion to its state of actuality, because we call that perfect which lacks nothing of the mode of its perfection.”

So, as I challenged Steven, for God to be perfect, He must be without corruption or He simply wouldn’t be God. If there is no Free Will, then God would have to be responsible for evil, one would have to assert and defend those evils such as theft, rape, death, any violence, natural disasters would need to be part of God’s perfection and not corruptions in the world to argue that Free Will doesn’t exist because God would be responsible for all of these actions and they could not take away from His perfection.

Sadly, again, Steven deleted my comment which was simply a good nature criticism that I had seen lacking in his essay. As my second response was also deleted after I noticed he deleted my initial comment, I decided to bring my critique to the general readership of the blogosphere.

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Pope Francis, The Lack of Marriage Instruction, What it Means for Sin.

09 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by Philip Augustine in Faith, Pope

≈ 35 Comments

Tags

Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, current events, Marriage, Philosophy, Pope Francis, Theology

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The best way to reply to everyone’s comment’s after some thought I believe is in post format. I have been perusing through George Weigel’s new book on Pope St. John Paul II Lessons in Hope in which I was struck by a particular passage written Weigel about understanding the man and philosopher Wojtyla. Weigel writes, “There are theologians who write as if they never studied philosophy at all—and it shows, usually in confusion…philosophy is essential prerequistite to doing theology seriously…for there is no way to understand John Paul II’s magisterium—his teaching as pope—without understanding the rudiments of his philosophical position.”[1] In light of Weigel’s point, I am really struck by his words to the point that in regards to our own discussions here, I am moved to reexamine my own life and education to understand why I have arrived to this particular conclusion. I am not a relativist, I believe the truth to be the truth; however, I do fully understand that our perceptions shaped by our environmental factors guide the manner in which we interpret the truth.

Prior to my degree in history, I was a Classics major, so I do have a background in basic classical philosophy, although I have read briefly the points of more modern philosophers—unimpressed. I am reminded in my early years as a student of the famous Plato Allegory of “the Cave.” Slaves being chained to a rock; their perception of reality dictated by the darkness and the small ray of light producing shadows on the rock, and the slave that breaks free rises to the top and see the world and everything that causes the reality of the cave below.

At this point, I must reject Cartesian philosophy that our experience could be nothing more than a dream state and our existence is the only sure thing we can possibly know. Dreamlike states do not follow any laws of nature and therefore do not possess the vital logical elements to come to any proper conclusion of the truth. For example, Descartes would say experience could be imagined; however, experience dictates that in we cannot dream of things or imagine them without any sort of priori knowledge of them, they must be revealed to us for ourselves to grasp them. Naturally, Classical philosophy makes clear that if one can imagine some attributes they have been observed to be true.

So, the Cave example illustrates also that no matter the difference of experience—there are truths that both the slave from above and the ones in the cave can both understand. The slave that escapes understands the origin of the shadows and the cause from the sun; nonetheless, the slaves in the cave can have no such experience. However, through our human reason, the slave from above could still possess the methods to explain the concept of light by having the cave slaves manipulate the shadows with their own environment. The slave from above can also block the sun entirely during the day to exhibit that the source of light, which causes the shadows, exists somewhere outside the cave, and possibly can explain it must be its own celestial body. It may be true that the slave from above cannot explain other facets of the outside world such as the nature and essence of trees, but it is possible to explain the source of light the absence of it is darkness.

Although the experiences of the cave slaves and the one from above are different—through reason—the conclusion of the truth of a source of light and darkness can still be reached by both parties.

So, what is the effect of this allegory on my own theology? I ask, “If I believe two people to be good Catholics or Christians and they’ve come to two different conclusions, what is the possible cause of their experiences that have led to these conclusions?” And, “What truths can be reached by both parties with their common experiences?”

Therefore, in regards to theology, I began to reflect on Christ, other parts of the Gospels, and St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

In many ways, in the Gospels, Christ asks us to become poor or like the poor. Naturally, the reason for this is because, like the outside the cave, those of us who have experienced being poor—I should preface destitute—can have absolutely no understanding of those who live these experiences everyday.

Let’s take a look:

Matthew 19:21

21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” [2]

21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” [3]

42 A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44 For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” [4]

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free, [5]

“When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”[6]

Of course, these are just the passages that I’ve found briefly, but naturally, what they tell you is to either be the poor by giving up your possessions or to be around the poor by making them your guests, and thus, by doing so, you remove yourself from the cave.

I will tell you that it wasn’t from sitting in class that gave me this understanding of Plato’s allegory, it was twofold, first with my new job, it forced me out into the poorest of poor neighborhoods in my community, I saw first hand what it was like to be poor in my community. All of my previous conceived ideas that I held in my ivory tower were washed away. The second is when I started a ministry for studying early church history at my parish and studied how the early Church Fathers used the philosophy of the pagans to better their own Christian philosophy by understanding that any can possess truth. So, it wasn’t until I left my cave that I began to put all of these things together.

So, let us bring out the lessons of Christ in the Gospel and St. Paul in marriage while examining Pope Francis Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia to see if we find a common understanding of the truth that has been revealed to us by experiences.

In regards to divorce let’s get straight to it with Christ’s words in Matthew Chapter 19:

3 Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” 4 b He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” 7 d They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss [her]?” 8 He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” 10 [His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. 12 Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.” [7]

A fairly straightforward text, one that I’ve used time and time again to illustrate that all Christians must accept Christ’s definition of marriage and any of those who advocate for same-sex marriage is guilty of espousing heresy. I also agree with my orthodox Catholic brothers and sisters that Christ is very clear on his teaching on divorce. It’s impossible. I believe it to be prudent to reflect on the ending of this particular passage:

He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. 12 Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

 Now, I’ve grown up Catholic, I can tell you that honestly the only time in my diocese a Catholic is instructed on Christian marriage is during Pre-Cana. I will state this to be a grave mistake, in Christ words here, he instructs that there are those who are incapable of marriage—I have never heard this lesson taught in a homily or any other Catholic resource to best honest, but it’s lesson that must be stressed early on within our Catholic families. I would surmise that withholding a proper discourse on such a lesson many are married, even if they go through pre-Cana, who are not fit for marriage. Therefore, naturally, annulments, divorces, second marriages, and children divided up among all these situations are victims of the failure of the Church to teach the proper understanding of marriage early on in every Catholics’ life. As such, we shall address the experience of those children in the frameworks of the cave allegory and those who completely ignore it by the lack of mercy in their legalism. In fact, by illuminating such a glaring misinstruction by the Church with Christ’s teaching on marriage, it gives some credence to Pope Francis’ words:

“It’s provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say ‘yes, for the rest of my life!’ but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know.”[8]

It should not be a large leap of reason to understand that if no one is taught that there are those incapable of marriage, then there are many of us Catholics without the proper understanding for discernment in such a Christian vocation. I do not doubt by living among my own peers there are many who say forever without any concept of what that possible means. Of course, this is Pope Francis’ understanding “They don’t know that it’s indissoluble, they don’t know that it’s for your entire life. It’s hard,” [9]

Now, what is St. Paul’s understanding of marriage?

Advice to the Married. 1 Now in regard to the matters about which you wrote: “It is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman,” 2 but because of cases of immorality every man should have his own wife, and every woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his duty toward his wife, and likewise the wife toward her husband. 4 A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control. 6 This I say by way of concession, however, not as a command. 7 Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

8 b Now to the unmarried and to widows I say: it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do, 9 but if they cannot exercise self-control they should marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire. 10 To the married, however, I give this instruction (not I, but the Lord): A wife should not separate from her husband 11 —and if she does separate she must either remain single or become reconciled to her husband—and a husband should not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say (not the Lord): if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she is willing to go on living with him, he should not divorce her; 13 and if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he is willing to go on living with her, she should not divorce her husband. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, whereas in fact they are holy.

15 If the unbeliever separates, however, let him separate. The brother or sister is not bound in such cases; God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband; or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? [10]

 Again, I agree, it is pretty straightforward, but again, remove yourself from the cave. Imagine, if your wife or husband in a valid marriage leaves you, and you are one of those who cannot possibly control your desires in which St. Paul speaks. You may have corrupted view of marriage, you may be living a life of sin by adultery or adultery through a second marriage, but it would be prudent to examine whether in this particular situation when reflecting on St. Paul’s teaching by your habits, by your knowledge, etc. whether you’re fully culpable of mortal sin in such situation. I believe to dismiss such examples, which could be very common, would be merely looking at the shadows of the cave; not listening to the explanation of light by the surface slave.

Again, let’s examine St. Paul in Ephesians 5:

Wives and Husbands. 21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. 24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, 27 that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.

31 “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.”

32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. 33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband. [11]

This particular passage was the source of sermon message at my wedding. Do our husbands have a proper understanding that our marriage must be a true representation of Christ’s love for the Church? Many get caught up on the submission of the wife in the text; however, no one bats an eye when St. Paul says the Husband must willingly die for his wife. Again, I agree the teaching is straightforward, but the first time I heard a proper teaching on this text was when I was 27 years old, I was already well into my years of discerning marriage without the proper instruction from the Church and culture. These situations must all be considered when examining a step by step resolution when solving the Church’s marriage crisis.

Of course, let me explain, none of this is contradicted by the Catechism’s understanding on sin, the teachings of the magisterium and it is a full reflection footnote 351 in Amoris Laetitia:

“ In certain cases [emphasis added], this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy.” … I would also point out that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”

 Of course, let us examine this under the other controversial footnote 329:

In such situations, many people, knowing and accepting the possibility of living “as brothers and sisters,” which the Church offers them, [emphasis added] point out that if certain expressions of intimacy are lacking, “it often happens that faithfulness is endangered and the good of the children suffers.”

So what about those children? Should their parents to submit to legalism? Perhaps, but it’s apparent that their parents from an early age, and I would surmise the children themselves will be, have been in a dark damp cave without the proper Christian teachings on marriage, which should have occurred throughout their entire life. And without the proper teachings, they cannot have the proper knowledge of the gravity of their actions and they certainly may not be in full possession of their will under the habit of which they should have been warned and discussed by St. Paul. Therefore, to deny these individuals of communion, is a lack of mercy to receive one who none are worthy to receive, one who may give them a proper understanding through the grace of His sacraments.

Phillip Augustine
“Behold, I come to do your will, O God.”

[1] George Weigel, Lessons in Hope (Basic Books: New York, 2017), 11.

[2] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 19:21.

[3] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mk 10:21.

[4] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mk 12:42–44.

[5] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Lk 4:18.

[6] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Lk 14:12–14.

[7] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 19:3–12.

[8] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/most-marriages-today-are-invalid-pope-francis-suggests-51752

[9] Ibid.

[10] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 1 Co 7:1–16.

[11] New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Eph 5:21–33.

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Is Enlightenment Philosophy Moral?

08 Sunday Jan 2017

Posted by Philip Augustine in Church/State, Commentaries

≈ 28 Comments

Tags

Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, conservatism, God, history, liberalism, Philosophy, religion, Thomas Aquinas

Enlightenment-Catholic-Meme.jpg

An issue that I have with my American Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ is a beam that I use to have in my own eye. Those in favor of originalism of the United States Constitution, Enlightenment philosophers, and the natural law that they speak, have created idols out of the founding documents, the men who created them, and the supposed “rights” which out of the Enlightenment has promoted the ideology of self-idolization in the form of “Individualism.” Of course, one can make the argument that relativism was birthed from the Protestant Reformation, given a pedestal during the Enlightenment, and now has led to secular atheism of Western Civilization as it’s logical conclusion. No doubt, some friends here will certainly disagree, but the statement must be stated regardless.

We could certainly look to Locke’s anti-Catholicism or Paine’s flirtation with Atheism or pantheism at best, but instead, let’s look at Rousseau for the moment. This “enlightened” philosopher I’ve heard said by academics to be the most influential critic of Christianity at the time, who promoted the misguided philosophy of individualism. Rousseau’s basic argument in regards to religion was that one could have “spiritualism without religion,” and it’s argument that is constantly being put forth in our current times. However, a parish priest by the name of Nicholas Bergier challenged Rousseau by writing a book titled “Deism Refuted by Itself.” In the Book Fr. Bergier made clear that Enlightenment philosophers do not believe in a Biblical God but in an impersonal “nature”–hence pantheism. In the book, Fr. Bergier articulates that man cannot have just a private relationship with God outside of Government or the community in which they live because of God and later’s Christ’s covenant with mankind.

In the 13th century, of course, before the Enlightenment, St. Thomas Aquinas challenges proto-enlightenment philosophers thoughts by arguably originating the concepts of “natural law theory.” The problem with Enlightenment philosophers is that they look at government, natural law, and justice as a negative principle. They rightly judge that we cannot take away from our neighbors right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness without paying the penalty of the law. However, Christ exclaimed not a negative principle of justice, but a positive one”

Mt. 22:36-40 NABRE

36 “Teacher,[a] which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him,[b] “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it:[c] You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 [d]The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

In this regard, according to Aquinas, Justice and the law–must be fully connected with Charity. The issue with Enlightenment philosophy is that it is a philosophy of individualism that does not view Charity as a necessity but rather an option, which can promote self-idolization as it seeks nothing more but to keep people from hurting others but fails to promote help for our neighbors. What Aquinas writes in the Summa Theologica, Q 90, Second Article, “Consequently the law must needs regard principally the relationship to happiness. Moreover, since every part is ordained to the whole, as imperfect to perfect; and since one man is a part of the perfect community, the law must needs regard properly the relationship to universal happiness. ”

Furthmore, Aquinas writes, “Since then every man is a part of the state, it is impossible that a man be good, unless he be well proportionate to the common good…Consequently the common good of the state cannot flourish unless the citizens be virtuous. (Q 92 Obj 3.)

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Dionysus and Apollo

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Nicholas in Faith

≈ 21 Comments

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Art, Philosophy, Psychology

apollo-and-dionysus

Nietzsche and Jung drew upon the characters and roles of Dionysus and Apollo to create a framework for principles of human art and behaviour.

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