“To force American citizens to choose between violating their
consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable.
It is as much an attack on access to health care as on religious
freedom. Historically this represents a challenge and a compromise of
our religious liberty....The Obama administration has now drawn an unprecedented line in the sand."
HT: Whispers in the Loggia
Ethics "Homework"
One of the recommendations Deacon Keith made last night was to read Gaudium et Spes 22. For your convenience, we are posting it here:
"The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.
He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.
As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of His own blood. In Him God reconciled us to Himself and among ourselves; from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that each one of us can say with the Apostle: The Son of God "loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20). By suffering for us He not only provided us with an example for our imitation, He blazed a trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.
The Christian man, conformed to the likeness of that Son Who is the firstborn of many brothers, received "the first-fruits of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:23) by which he becomes capable of discharging the new law of love. Through this Spirit, who is "the pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. 1:14), the whole man is renewed from within, even to the achievement of "the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8:23): "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the death dwells in you, then he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:11). Pressing upon the Christian to be sure, are the need and the duty to battle against evil through manifold tribulations and even to suffer death. But, linked with the paschal mystery and patterned on the dying Christ, he will hasten forward to resurrection in the strength which comes from hope.
All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.
Such is the mystery of man, and it is a great one, as seen by believers in the light of Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful. Apart from His Gospel, they overwhelm us. Christ has risen, destroying death by His death; He has lavished life upon us so that, as sons in the Son, we can cry out in the Spirit; Abba, Father.
Taken from Gaudium et Spes: (http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html)
P. Benedict - "Faith is in danger of being put out"
As we know, in vast areas of the earth, faith is in danger of being put out, as a flame that finds no more fuel. We find ourselves before a profound crisis of faith, before a loss of the religious sense that is the greatest challenge for today's Church. The renewal of the faith must thus be the priority in the effort of the entire Church in our day. I hope that the Year of Faith may contribute, with the cordial collaboration of all components of the People of God, to make God present in this world and may open to man acess to the faith, that he may entrust himself to that God who has loved us to the end (cf. John 13,1), in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen....
Arab Spring or Wishful Thinking?
The dangers of wishful thinking in the Middle East
Projecting Western ideas onto the Arab Spring seriously underestimates the danger of Islamism.
Last July Matthew Kaminski opined in the Wall Street Journal that the transition to democracy in the Middle East would be as easy as it was for the democracies that emerged after the fall of the Soviet empire. Alas, this was predictably not so, and has now been proven, as vote after vote has shown the strength of the Islamists, most particularly in Egypt, where they have won some 70 percent of the ballot. With his article on January 3, "Arab Democracy Is the Best Bet for a Muslim Reformation", Kaminski continues in this vein of false optimism, based upon his propensity to project Western conceptions and norms onto the Islamic world, where they are largely irrelevant.
Wishful thinking can be dangerous when it distorts reality. Here is a short list of misconceptions in his latest piece.
"The appeal of political Islam... grows when religiosity is repressed." Islamism is a reaction to modernity, not to repression. It would grow regardless. With the shackles off in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, watch it grow even more. To think that it will diminish because it is not repressed is a dangerous fantasy. Thanks to the Arab Spring, it now has the opportunity to seize control, and most likely will do so. Democratic elections have simply revealed the strength of the view that "Islam is the answer."
"Calls for Sharia to become state law emerged only in the twentieth century, as a result of Islam's encounter with the West." Really? Sharia existed for many centuries before this encounter. The first call for state sharia enforcement came from Ibn Taymiyya in the late thirteenth century when he declared the Mongol rulers (converts to Islam) apostates because they continued to live by their tribal law, rather than by Sharia. Taymiyya laid the basis for requiring a ruler to enforce sharia if he wished to maintain his legitimacy, which is why Taymiyya is so popular among the Islamists today. The only recent sharia states have been Saudi Arabia, Taliban Afghanistan, and Sudan - those with the least amount of exposure to the West. In any case, the sharia enforcement issue emerges from the struggle within Islam, not from the encounter with the West.
"The Quran is politically agnostic and says nothing about the preferable form of government." Not quite. In Surah 3:110, the Qur'an speaks of the regime in Medina as "the best community [or nation] ever raised for mankind." Since the Qur'an is understood by almost all Muslims as coexisting eternally with God, this statement means that the Medinan concept of the "best community" obtains forever. This is why the Salafists desire to emulate it exactly, and why every major effort of reform in Islam goes back, instead of forward. It may also help explain why democracy has never arisen indigenously in the Arab Middle East.
"Salafists... practice Osama bin Laden's creed of Islam." No, bin Laden's creed of Islam is not Salafist, but came directly from the Muslim Brotherhood and is infected with its ideology, which was partially obtained from Western totalitarianism. His teacher in Saudi Arabia was Mohammed al Banna, the brother of the founder of the Muslim brotherhood, Hassan al Banna. Salafism, on the other hand, is an ancient and integral part of Islam.
Kaminski calls for a Reformation in Islam, without seeming to realize that Islamism is that Reformation. Be careful of what you wish for. One reason that the Islamic world became calcified is that the "gates of ijtihad" were closed in the Middle Ages. This meant that the authority for making original interpretations of the Koran or the hadith had been withdrawn because the sharia had, by that time, covered every possible situation in human life with a specific ruling. The Islamists today have reclaimed the authority of individual interpretation in order to wipe out the Islamic jurisprudence that stands in their way, most particularly in their use of indiscriminate violence and terrorism.
In the place of "rigid Kemalist secularism" in Turkey, Kaminski claims that there "has emerged a more dynamic society, more tolerant of differences." The 97 members of the news media in prison, including journalists, publishers and distributors (according to the Turkish Journalists' Union), and the generals jailed by the AKP might disagree, as might the persecuted businessman, who were funding media that expressed differences with the ruling party until they were charged with tax violations. The idea that a mild dose of Islamism leads to diversity is almost hilarious.
Kaminski several times quotes Iranian philosopher Dr Abdulkarim Soroush, who undoubtedly is one of the most eloquent advocates of free societies within Islam -- which may help explain his exile in the United States. However, Kaminski seems to be unaware of the most important issue that Soroush has raised regarding the relationship between theology and democracy. Soroush has said,
"You need some philosophical underpinning, even theological underpinning in order to have a real democratic system. Your God cannot be a despotic God anymore. A despotic God would not be compatible with a democratic rule, with the idea of rights. So you even have to change your idea of God."
Without a different theology within Islam, can one have democracy? This is the real problem. Unfortunately, Sunni Islam gives no sign of abandoning its theology of God as pure will and power, which has been the foundation of so much despotism in Islamic history. Muslim theologians and philosophers who propose a God of rationality often find themselves, like Dr Soroush, in exile. This is what is subverting the opportunity for a transition to democracy in the Arab Spring.
Kaminski's most egregious error comes with his closing quote of former Polish dissident and writer, Adam Michnik, "If Judaism can co-exist with democracy, any religion can." By this Kaminski means to suggest that this should be no problem for Islam. Judaism, however, gave us Genesis, in which man is described as having been created in the image and likeness of God. This revelation is the basis of our civilization, as well as the foundation of democracy. The Qur'an, on the other hand, makes explicitly clear that man is not made in God's image and to suggest otherwise is blasphemy. Therefore, it may not be as easy as Mr. Kaminski thinks.
Robert Reilly has worked in foreign policy, the military, and the arts. His most recent book is The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis.
Projecting Western ideas onto the Arab Spring seriously underestimates the danger of Islamism.
Last July Matthew Kaminski opined in the Wall Street Journal that the transition to democracy in the Middle East would be as easy as it was for the democracies that emerged after the fall of the Soviet empire. Alas, this was predictably not so, and has now been proven, as vote after vote has shown the strength of the Islamists, most particularly in Egypt, where they have won some 70 percent of the ballot. With his article on January 3, "Arab Democracy Is the Best Bet for a Muslim Reformation", Kaminski continues in this vein of false optimism, based upon his propensity to project Western conceptions and norms onto the Islamic world, where they are largely irrelevant.
Wishful thinking can be dangerous when it distorts reality. Here is a short list of misconceptions in his latest piece.
"The appeal of political Islam... grows when religiosity is repressed." Islamism is a reaction to modernity, not to repression. It would grow regardless. With the shackles off in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, watch it grow even more. To think that it will diminish because it is not repressed is a dangerous fantasy. Thanks to the Arab Spring, it now has the opportunity to seize control, and most likely will do so. Democratic elections have simply revealed the strength of the view that "Islam is the answer."
"Calls for Sharia to become state law emerged only in the twentieth century, as a result of Islam's encounter with the West." Really? Sharia existed for many centuries before this encounter. The first call for state sharia enforcement came from Ibn Taymiyya in the late thirteenth century when he declared the Mongol rulers (converts to Islam) apostates because they continued to live by their tribal law, rather than by Sharia. Taymiyya laid the basis for requiring a ruler to enforce sharia if he wished to maintain his legitimacy, which is why Taymiyya is so popular among the Islamists today. The only recent sharia states have been Saudi Arabia, Taliban Afghanistan, and Sudan - those with the least amount of exposure to the West. In any case, the sharia enforcement issue emerges from the struggle within Islam, not from the encounter with the West.
"The Quran is politically agnostic and says nothing about the preferable form of government." Not quite. In Surah 3:110, the Qur'an speaks of the regime in Medina as "the best community [or nation] ever raised for mankind." Since the Qur'an is understood by almost all Muslims as coexisting eternally with God, this statement means that the Medinan concept of the "best community" obtains forever. This is why the Salafists desire to emulate it exactly, and why every major effort of reform in Islam goes back, instead of forward. It may also help explain why democracy has never arisen indigenously in the Arab Middle East.
"Salafists... practice Osama bin Laden's creed of Islam." No, bin Laden's creed of Islam is not Salafist, but came directly from the Muslim Brotherhood and is infected with its ideology, which was partially obtained from Western totalitarianism. His teacher in Saudi Arabia was Mohammed al Banna, the brother of the founder of the Muslim brotherhood, Hassan al Banna. Salafism, on the other hand, is an ancient and integral part of Islam.
Kaminski calls for a Reformation in Islam, without seeming to realize that Islamism is that Reformation. Be careful of what you wish for. One reason that the Islamic world became calcified is that the "gates of ijtihad" were closed in the Middle Ages. This meant that the authority for making original interpretations of the Koran or the hadith had been withdrawn because the sharia had, by that time, covered every possible situation in human life with a specific ruling. The Islamists today have reclaimed the authority of individual interpretation in order to wipe out the Islamic jurisprudence that stands in their way, most particularly in their use of indiscriminate violence and terrorism.
In the place of "rigid Kemalist secularism" in Turkey, Kaminski claims that there "has emerged a more dynamic society, more tolerant of differences." The 97 members of the news media in prison, including journalists, publishers and distributors (according to the Turkish Journalists' Union), and the generals jailed by the AKP might disagree, as might the persecuted businessman, who were funding media that expressed differences with the ruling party until they were charged with tax violations. The idea that a mild dose of Islamism leads to diversity is almost hilarious.
Kaminski several times quotes Iranian philosopher Dr Abdulkarim Soroush, who undoubtedly is one of the most eloquent advocates of free societies within Islam -- which may help explain his exile in the United States. However, Kaminski seems to be unaware of the most important issue that Soroush has raised regarding the relationship between theology and democracy. Soroush has said,
"You need some philosophical underpinning, even theological underpinning in order to have a real democratic system. Your God cannot be a despotic God anymore. A despotic God would not be compatible with a democratic rule, with the idea of rights. So you even have to change your idea of God."
Without a different theology within Islam, can one have democracy? This is the real problem. Unfortunately, Sunni Islam gives no sign of abandoning its theology of God as pure will and power, which has been the foundation of so much despotism in Islamic history. Muslim theologians and philosophers who propose a God of rationality often find themselves, like Dr Soroush, in exile. This is what is subverting the opportunity for a transition to democracy in the Arab Spring.
Kaminski's most egregious error comes with his closing quote of former Polish dissident and writer, Adam Michnik, "If Judaism can co-exist with democracy, any religion can." By this Kaminski means to suggest that this should be no problem for Islam. Judaism, however, gave us Genesis, in which man is described as having been created in the image and likeness of God. This revelation is the basis of our civilization, as well as the foundation of democracy. The Qur'an, on the other hand, makes explicitly clear that man is not made in God's image and to suggest otherwise is blasphemy. Therefore, it may not be as easy as Mr. Kaminski thinks.
Robert Reilly has worked in foreign policy, the military, and the arts. His most recent book is The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis.
Pope Benedict XVI Announces Year of Faith
PRINT & READ!
APOSTOLIC LETTER
“MOTU PROPRIO DATA”
“MOTU PROPRIO DATA”
PORTA FIDEI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
BENEDICT XVI
FOR THE INDICTION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH
1. The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is
always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering
entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of
God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming
grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a
lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can
address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal
life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the
gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory
(cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy
Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father,
who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in
the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit,
who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious
return.
Pope Benedict & the Baptism of Christ
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Sooner
or later everything that begins on earth comes to its end, like the meadow
grass that springs up in the morning and by evening has wilted. In Baptism, however,
the tiny human being receives a new life, the life of grace, which enables him
or her to enter into a personal relationship with the Creator for ever, for the
whole of eternity. Unfortunately, human beings are capable of extinguishing
this new life with their sin, reducing themselves to being in a situation which
Sacred Scripture describes as "second death". Whereas for other
creatures who are not called to eternity, death means solely the end of
existence on earth, in us sin creates an abyss in which we risk being engulfed
for ever unless the Father who is in Heaven stretches out his hand to us. This,
dear brothers and sisters, is the mystery of Baptism: God desired to save us by
going to the bottom of this abyss himself so that every person, even those who
have fallen so low that they can no longer perceive Heaven, may find God's hand
to cling to and rise from the darkness to see once again the light for which he
or she was made. We all feel, we all inwardly comprehend, that our existence is
a desire for life which invokes fullness and salvation. This fullness is given
to us in Baptism.
We have just heard the account of the
Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.
It was a different Baptism from that which these babies are about to receive
but is deeply connected with it. Basically, the whole mystery of Christ in the
world can be summed up in this term: "baptism", which in Greek means
"immersion". The Son of God, who from eternity shares the fullness of
life with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was "immersed" in our
reality as sinners to make us share in his own life: he was incarnate, he
was born like us, he grew up like us and, on reaching adulthood, manifested his
mission which began precisely with the "baptism of conversion"
administered by John the Baptist. Jesus' first public act, as we have just
heard, was to go down into the Jordan, mingling among repentant sinners, in
order to receive this baptism. John was naturally reluctant to baptize him, but
because this was the Father's will, Jesus insisted (cf. Mt 3: 13-15).
Why, therefore, did the Father desire this?
Was it because he had sent his Only-Begotten Son into the world as the Lamb to
take upon himself the sins of the world (cf. Jn 1: 29)? The Evangelist
recounts that when Jesus emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended
upon him in the form of a dove, while the Father's voice from Heaven proclaimed
him "my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Mt 3: 17). From
that very moment, therefore, Jesus was revealed as the One who came to baptize
humanity in the Holy Spirit: he came to give men and women life in abundance
(cf. Jn 10: 10), eternal life, which brings the human being back to life
and heals him entirely, in body and in spirit, restoring him to the original
plan for which he was created. The purpose of Christ's existence was precisely
to give humanity God's life and his Spirit of love so that every person might
be able to draw from this inexhaustible source of salvation. This is why St
Paul wrote to the Romans that we were baptized into the death of Christ in
order to have his same life as the Risen One (cf. Rom 6: 3-4). For this
reason Christian parents . . . bring their children to the baptismal font as
soon as possible, knowing that life which they have communicated calls for a
fullness, a salvation that God alone can give. And parents thus become
collaborators of God, transmitting to their children not only physical but also
spiritual life.
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
As the world around us busies
itself with dismantling all evidence of the recent Feast, we who have basked in
the glory of the dawn of the Sun of Justice remain at the side of the sacred
crib. And just as a newly espoused woman
gazes upon the jewel which betokens the love of her lover, we who have found
the pearl of great price, do not turn our eyes from the one who has come to
save our souls. Therefore, in the midst
of this great festal season, as we wonder at the mystery that has been born in
our midst, let us listen to the words of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Father and
Doctor of the Church, and seek in them the glory of our Divine Savior.
How
gentle art thou, dear Babe! How mighty
is the omnipotent and irresistible power of thy judgment! How sweet and amiable is thy love! Who can withstand thee?
Thy
Father dwells in the high heavens; thy Mother stands on the lowly earth; who
can understand thee? If the earthly man
investigate thy nature, which surpasses the ken of mortals, it is found in the
highest heavens, hid in the vast bosom of the divinity.
If,
again, one wish to see thy Body made visible to the eye of man, lo! it lies
upon the earth: it has issued from the narrow womb of Mary, and all may see
it. The soul knows not what to think,
and the mind grows bewildered in the calculation of thy ways, O Jesus, rich
Lord and God!
Thy
divinity is shut beneath a twofold barrier; yet art thou, and I confess it, an
immeasurable ocean to him who attempts to fathom thee, even now that thou hast
humbled thy greatness to our littleness.
When we seek for a sight of thee, we see thee a Man, having hoped to see
thee as the great God; and when we wish to look upon thee as Man, then
straightaway is our eye struck and dazzled by the bright splendor of thy
Divinity.
And
who would think thee to be the Heir of David’s throne? Instead of costly furniture, thou hast but a
crib; instead of the regal palaces, thou hast but a cave; instead of the richly
caparisoned steeds, there stands near thee one poor ass.
Yet,
dear Babe, how lovely art thou! Accessible to all, and meeting with thy smile
all who come to thee! Thy love is verily
the love of one who longeth after men, as a hungry man that longeth after
bread.
Thou
welcomest to thee, with a like affection, strangers and thy kindred, women and
thy Mother, impure prostitutes, and the Virgin that feeds thee at her
breast. And how is this? Is it the sweet condescension of thy heart,
or is it the love wherewith thou lovest all things thou hast made, that has
brought thee to this excess of affection?
What
is it that induces thee to stoop thus towards all, rich and poor, and run even
to them that ask thee not to come?
Whence hast thou this inclination to love us men so much?
What
charity is this, that if a man insults thee, thou art not indignant? Or if he threaten thee, thou fearest not to
go to him? Or if he treat thee with
cruelty, there is not a wrinkle on thy brow?
Ah! thy charity is of another sort from theirs, who persecute them that
do them wrong and who seek revenge upon their enemies!
Teach us, O’ Lord, the humility
with which you are humble! Teach us,
O’Lord the love with which thou lovest!
Teach us, O’Lord to see rightly and to perceive in You the glory of the
Eternal God.
Posted by Deacon Sabatino
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