I came across this video while browsing YouTube. Very interesting discussion about Plato and his influence on Byzantine and Roman thought and theology. Professor Hanegraaff has a series of similar videos, and I recommend the ones I’ve seen. The Ritman Library is also worth checking out.
+JMJ+
St. Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr
January 21, 2018
One of the best things I have ever read on this topic was a letter by Fr. Malachi Martin, S.J. Father Martin became a fairly well-known author and champion of traditional Catholicism, and because of this he made many enemies over the years, especially within the Church. They attacked him relentlessly. For example, Fr. Martin claimed that the Pope had released him from his vows of obedience and poverty leaving only his vow of chastity binding, and that he had not been laicized and still held the office of a priest. He was called a liar for many years, including by other Jesuits. After his death, the Jesuits begrudgingly admitted that yes, Fr. Martin had in fact been released from those vows by the Pope and was never laicized.
He clearly had experience dealing with this, and his response is something I refer to from time-to-time to put things in perspective. There are too many important things to spend time on than to worry about the nonsense people say about us.
I am sending you these few lines as my commentary on the abuse and calumnies flung in my direction by certain members of our Roman Catholic Church. Many of my friends and well-wishers have urged me to respond to the abusers and the calumniators; and remember that this abuse and calumnious attack has been going on for over thirty-three years! That is a long time; and I have become a veteran of such oppression, so much so that in a certain sense I know much better than any of my friends and well-wishers how to deal with this sustained harsh treatment.
The basic lesson I have learnt over those thirty-three years is: not allow myself be diverted from fulfilling my mission as a priest and a servant of the Holy See of Peter. This means not merely refusing to pick up the stones thrown at me and returning them on the heads of my abusers. It means principally that I fulfill my duties as a priest—celebrate daily Mass, recite my breviary, fulfill my pastoral obligations to those under my care. It means that I never allow the distortions—doctrinal and other—of these very zealous abusers and calumniators to enter into my optic or cloud my angle of vision. It means, of course, praying for their spiritual welfare—and also that the Holy Spirit grant them some measure of understanding. For understanding is chiefly what lacks to them.
Well over twenty-five years ago, I wrote to my Superior in Rome complaining about a recrudescence of these attacks, and suggesting a certain course of action. He wrote back quoting that passage of John’s Gospel where Christ warns His disciples that the time would come when they would be ostracized and persecuted by people who would do that to them and think they were doing God’s will. “Can’t you suffer, too, for Christ’s sake?” This was my Superior’s answer.
Besides all that, all these years have taught me a few central lessons; you have to have undergone it all to be able to appreciate the principal lesson. Which is: abusers and calumniators are not out to get the truth, to build up, to edify. Their bent is to destroy, to liquidate. Hence, no matter what information you give them, they will not desist; they will use it to further their distrustful ambition. Hence, I found that there was no point in even trying to communicate with them; anything they learned became merely grist for their grindstones of hate.
A second valuable lesson I learned was this: they don’t really matter in the kingdom of God and in the daily warfare between Christ and Lucifer. There are too many Confessions to be heard, too many Masses to be said, too many souls seeking and needing spiritual direction, too many confused priests to be enlightened, too many aberrant bishops to be corralled back into the fold of Christ, too many holydays in honor of Angels and Saints, too many exorcisms of the possessed and the obsessed, too many of the faithful dying and needing Extreme Unction, too many children needing Confirmation—in a word, too many needy ones for any priest to hesitate for one moment and to tarry over the spewings and spittings coming from the unclean mouths, the jealous souls and the erroneous pens of pigmy men who fancy themselves upon a solid rock and who crave to ascend to fame and vanity over the dead bodies and soiled reputations of their victims.
I have always let such people know that I personally have no difficulty in waiting for the final showdown in the presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, as the Just Judge of the living and the dead.
In sum, I have no time to wait—there’s too much work to be done. I know that many of my friends and well-wishers now and again answer some of my attackers. I generally discourage any sustained effort in that direction; the reason? Nothing will ever change the minds of these people—nothing except the grace of God. As I said, I am most willing to wait for God to change their minds. In the meantime, I have far too much to do. I can’t afford to waste time on them.
+Malachi
+JMJ+
St. Augustine of Hippo, Church Father, Doctor Gratiae
August 28, 2017
For Athena Philosophos, friend and ally.
On this feast day of St. Augustine I would like to say something about patrimony and why it is important. For traditionalists, we take that which was done before us, build upon it, and hand it down to the next generation. We respect our ancestors for the work they have done to the best of their ability, and we lovingingly give our work to our children as an inheritance. The fact that St. Augustine was one of the founders of Catholic thought and that thought handed down to us is in no small part why we call him a “Church Father.”For Catholics who are traditionalists, we have an interesting patrimony that includes not only the benefices of Mother Church, but pagans as well. Likewise, modern pagans who are traditionalists have Catholicism as part of their patrimony whether they realize it (or are willing to admit it) or not. It is important for both groups to realize this so we may set aside differences as we are able in order to preserve and enhance Western civlization and culture.
St. Augustine, before converting to Catholicism, was a pagan. First, a Manichaean, Augustine lived the life of a wild bachelor (one famous quote of his is: “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet”); as he grew older Augustine turned to Neo-Platonism which in no small part helped eventually lead him to conversion. Once converted, Augustine soon became a Bishop and one of the founding theologians of Catholicism. His thought immediately influenced Catholic teaching, infusing it with Neo-Platonism as doctrine would allow. St. Augustine was single handedly responsible for the conversion of many pagans because of his background and his ability to think in terms of the philosophies of the time. In a sense, Augustine was a main bridge builder between paganism and Christianity, a pontifex. In fact, according to St. Augustine, to be a good and true Christian one must acknowledge the truth that appears in pagan literature because that is to recognize the truth of the Lord.
Now this is especially important because it shows the patrimony of Western Civilization – and especially philosophy – came from the pagans and was passed down to Catholicism. The pagans that came before us were literally our ancestors and are deserving of respect. And, so, the Church does in fact respect them. Plato was known in some quarters as “Saint Plato” because of his contributions to reason and philosophy. Hermes Trismegistus was thought of as a peer of Moses and his philosophy a pre-figurement of Christianity. Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Cicero, et altier, were all pagans yet their philosophy was taught not only in Catholic universities, but in seminaries as well.
In the various branches of Apostolic Churches (i.,e., Roman Catholic and Orthodox) the holy days and liturgies were informed by paganism. The Church did not “steal” those traditions as some would claim. The pagans who converted brought them with them and adorned the Church with the best traditions they had. That is why the Pope is referred to as Pontifex Maximus after the high priest of Rome, and this is also why the vestments and liturgies in the Latin Rite contain elements of pagan worship. Our ancestors brought them with and put them to the service of God. Some Protestant sects often complain about the Catholic Church being “paganized”. Of course it is. It is our patrimony turned to the service of Christ, and we embrace it. Why would we deny the work of our ancestors and throw it away like a so-called “Progressive”? That would be foolhardy.
So, too, however, would it be good for modern pagans to embrace the patrimony they have received in Catholicism. Remember, just as the ancestors of the Catholics are pagans, so now the ancestors of modern pagans are Catholics. For both groups, these ancestors are our family, handing forward in sincerity and in love both their religions and their traditions. They should be thought of with respect and their teaching given a proper deference and some benefit of the doubt that they were onto something that is at least worthy of examination. All of our forefathers contributed greatly to what we call western civilization, and should be treated appropriately.
So my traditional Catholic brothers and sisters, and my traditionalist pagan ones as well, let us remember our shared and continued patrimony and live by these words of St. Augustine in this time when tradition, Western culture, and Western civilization are at risk. Let St. Augustine remain as a bridge between us that we may fight for tradition together.
St. Augustine, ora pro nobis.
+JMJ+
The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
The commemoration of St. Timothy and Companions
August 22, 2017
The metaphor of the body as Brother Ass is perfectly fine as St. Francis presents it, but we can derive a bit more out of it that may be useful.
Picture one’s self riding on top of a donkey. This is you traveling through life. The donkey is your body with all of its urges, drives, and desires. The rider represents you, the true you – the essential you – your soul and the seat of your intellect. On your travels, you must, of course, stop to feed and water the donkey. The donkey needs to be allowed to sleep, and to breed, and to fulfill the natural functions proper to all animals.
Of course, at times, the donkey will be disobedient and want to indulge himself. He will want to eat too much or lay down when he should be working. Given the chance, he would probably breed indiscriminately far and wide. He may decide to go down a path other than the one you would like him to go down. As the person riding the donkey, you are responsible for guiding him. You need to resist his pulling and braying and keep him on course. You need to keep him fit for service, not letting him get fat and lazy, nor starving him so he can’t carry his weight.
As time goes on, assuming you are a perceptive rider, you realize that it is possible to train the donkey to some degree. Where he used to bolt off the trail and you would have to pull back as hard as you could, it is at the point now that a sharp tug will get him back on course. Whereas when he would lay down and be lazy refusing to get up and you might have to hit him with a switch, now it just takes a firm slap on the hindquarters to get him to rise.
You also realize consistency is the key to the training. When you waver and allow him to get away with misbehaving, it tends to snowball until he is back at the beginning, completely unruly, or sometimes has even engaged in worse behavior.
As we see, this is a good metaphor for one of the Cardinal Virtues – Temperance. This virtue has to do with the assertion of our intellect and will over the desires and distractions of the body. Though each of us have our unique set of vices, the good news is that virtue behaves like a muscle – it can be built and kept in shape through exercise. It is also, true, however, that disuse and neglect can cause a muscle to atrophy, and it is likewise with Temperance as well as the other Cardinal Virtues.
Some, such as the Christian Gnostics, may make the mistake that the body is somehow evil or to be disparaged. This is not the case. As St. Paul tells us, “Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19-20) What is the case is we must resist the primal urges of the body so that we lead it and not the other way around. It is meant to be our vehicle, so we must care for it properly, but it must be reason that remains in charge.
If a person spends some time around animals, they soon realize that animals do indeed have feelings. We’ve seen dogs happily wagging their tail, baring their teeth in anger, and showing embarrassment by their body language when breaking a rule. Like any other animal, the metaphorical Brother Ass has feelings as well.
Feelings can be roughly described as an internal input that acts as a reinforcer or dissuader of behavior. When something – seemingly – makes us happy, we seek more of it. When something makes us sad, we avoid it. If something makes us scared, we run. Unlike the urges of the body, we really can’t train emotions that well. Some heresies taught that we could, but we really can’t. The fact that our emotions can cause us to behave inappropriately sometimes can also make a person think there is something wrong with having emotions. There is nothing further from the truth as long as the proper emotion fires in the proper degree as a response to the stimuli. Fear keeps us safe, but the wrong amount of fear or being afraid at the wrong time causes problems. Likewise, anger is important – it motivates to act against things such as injustices; but it works against us when we are so angry we lose the use of reason, or if we are angry for the wrong reasons.
So, in this way, too, we must rule over Brother Ass when he experiences emotions. The emotions are taken as input, but not acted upon until reason is applied a decision reached as to the proper action – or lack of action – based on the emotion.
The final consideration is this: we only experience free will when our will is not interfered with by our desires and our emotions. Our will comes from our intellect and reason. If that is curtailed because we are letting drives and feelings reign, then our will is not completely free. It is important that we have a clear path in our heads, freely chosen by us, and that we direct Brother Ass to take us there regardless.