Fides et Ratio

SS passages profound

Jn 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. NIV

At the moment of His Passion, he has conquered the world.

Gratitude, love multipliers, bottomless well of goodness.

Embrace thankful outside self-path towards happiness. First step life of peaceful happiness.

True key, zero expectations, humility, happy to be about the beautiful of fall explosion of color.

ALL GRACE IS MEDIATED.

> God is always bringing grace to me through other people, priests greatest graces, etc.

COS Dialogue, God the Father, I have designed you in such a way that you are not capable in and of yourself to make it to heaven. Need community, small groups, healthy Catholic communities, need faithful. Ex/ Aggressive dog does not attack 2 people.

God can bring good out of every circumstance, no matter how tragic or evil. TOL Everything is grace said during her intense and long passion.

Catherine of Siena 1347-1380; Teresa of Avila 1515-1582

This level of authentic gratitude is possible for all disciples of Christ (baptized) but it is not easy. Interior Castel TOA is a classic to help with the process of becoming a saint.

Ascent of Carmel

Matthew Leonard classes Science of Sainthood Teresa of Avila Nine Grades of Prayer, based in large part but not exclusively on the Interior Castle

https://www.scienceofsainthood.com for more information

Need the other to see reflection of goodness in the other, same with sorrow.

Carol Houselander Reed of God, Lords lived out every moment somewhere in the world. People grateful, sorrow, Lord in the tomb mortal sin, be effective means of grace.

Eve took, we are given.

Seems paradoxical. Weakness of the human intellect. God move beyond, sorrow not end but can be a lunch pad.

Sorrow of Our lady, death of her Son, birth of Church

Dunn Death you will die.

Death is entrance to eternal beginning.

The post Authentic Gratitude VII appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

People of hope, authentic gratitude, thankfulness

Throughout the day hearts and minds raised in gratitude. Angelus, 3 o’clock Divine Mercy, Liturgy of the Hours, friends have an 11 club. Many ways to help our humanity to raise its heart to God, the essential definition of prayer. TOA counsels us to frequently refer to spiritual matters in our conversation as a way of curtailing an evil tongue. Thankfulness of God is an opportune times.

Natural thanksgiving, people who helped me, even if poor parents, they gave life, boos hired you. So many people far from faith, can find something to be thankful every day.

Shoes on feet, gas in car, tree is beautiful, charming cat, baby, flower. Nobody is pauper with thanksgiving. Find 10 things to thankful, make a list, start small, but no limit.

Gratitude is independent of circumstances.

SS quotes of Dan Burke. Haunting.

Jn 16:33

33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Jn 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. NIV

Phil 4:4

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  NIV

1 Cor 10:13

 No temptation[c] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[d] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[e] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. RSVCE

This passage does not say: it’s not a guarantee of God’s that all if have to do is resist the sin and I always win. Not the reality of our humanity. We have to grow in our knowledge, wisdom of God. Sometimes we need a retreat, to soak in wisdom of saints and doctors of the church, other times need someone else to fight with you (worst case) exorcism. Deep problems with habitual sin, endorphins, sexual, eating wound deeply embedded in emotional being, counseling, deliverance ministry, learning how to reprogram. Sometimes need more than one person walking with us.

The post Authentic Gratitude VI appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

 6. Anger or wrath:uncontrolled feelings of hatred or rage. “Anger is a desire for revenge … The Lord says, ‘Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment’” (No. 2302).

Pride top sins, Satan wants to be like him, suffers from it. Satan is author of death master of all of them.

Take a drug to feel nothing, acedia, refusing the joy from God.

Human person truly becomes a slave to sin. No will to fight, rather be numb. Devasting point. Antidote to malaise is not joy but numbness, Novocain. Counterfeit. Best is feeling nothing.

Where’s the joy?

God wants more for us than nothingness, numbness. God made steak taste good. Given to us, because He is God. God is good, We are made in His image

God calls us to community easier to see good, more than self.

We mirror God’s live to each other.

God wants us to people of light, not walk in darkness, fullness of joy forever.

In this discussion, we are focusing on acedia/sloth of which malaise or dysphoria is a subset

Grateful- 1 warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received

Gratitude- state of being grateful; thankfulness[2]

Thanksgiving[3]–

>> act of the will, a choice, especially within the spiritual realm

Eucharist, a special form of thanksgiving

Eucharist (Gr. eucharistia, thanksgiving), the name given to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar under its twofold aspect of sacrament and Sacrifice of the Mass, and in which, whether as sacrament or sacrifice, Jesus Christ is truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. Other titles are used, such as the “Lord’s Supper” (Coena Domini), “Table of the Lord” (Mensa Domini), the “Lord’s Body” (Corpus Domini), and the “Holy of Holies” (Sanctissimum), to which may be added the following expressions, now obsolete and somewhat altered from their primitive meaning: “Agape” (Love-Feast), “Eulogia” (Blessing), “Breaking of Bread”, “Synaxis” (Assembly), etc.; but the ancient title “Eucharistia”, appearing in writers as early as Ignatius (Antioch), Justin, and Irenaeus (Lyons), has taken precedence in the technical terminology of the Church and her theologians. The expression “Blessed Sacrament of the Altar”, introduced by Augustine, is at the present day almost entirely restricted to catechetical and popular treatises. This extensive nomenclature, describing the great mystery from such different points of view, is in itself sufficient proof of the central position the Eucharist has occupied from the earliest ages, both in the Divine worship and services of the Church and in the life of faith and devotion which animates her members.[4]

Eucharistia goes to Ignatius of Antioch, ground as the fine flour of the Eucharist, by the wild beasts in the coliseum

Adoration, particularly illuminative before the Blessed Sacrament

Light therapy, impactful value seasonal disorder

Aquinas build and perfects nature. Aware of physically metaphors for the Truth of God. I am light, there is no darkness.

Sitting in front of Blessed Sacrament masstimes.org select service type adoration

Very quiet, not a Mass, nothing to do, sit in presence of the Lord

Faith seeking understanding, have the sensibility of a catholic, not idolatrous, sign where we can endure His beauty.

Malaise, sorrow, do the physical things, then find Adoration sit in presence of God for an hour. Son Lamp.

[1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/grateful  accessed October 4, 2024

[2] https://www.wordnik.com/words/gratitude  accessed October 4, 2024

[3] https://www.wordnik.com/words/thanksgiving  accessed October 4, 2024

[4] https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/eucharist  accessed October 4, 2024

The post Authentic Gratitude V appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

Look at a prophetic book, not looking at something the prophet sat down with a pen and start writing. Not doing this. Going off and preaching. They are someone else later, collecting their sayings and putting them all together in the book that we have.

Similarly, in the Gospels, God speaks His perfect and inspired Word through Jesus handed down through His apostles and finally written down by the apostles, years after the Resurrection.

With the prophets, we have this as well. Things are not in a story form, in the same order.

Be ready for some of them, they to seem to be out of order. Come to them with the context I know that they have. Basic background for each prophet and for what they are prophesying about And any background in Kings or Chronicles.

A simple Outline of Isaiah

In the book of Isaiah, chapter 1-5 begin with an accusation that Israel has broken the covenant, a preview of God’s judgment, parable of a failed vineyard. Chapter 6 is Isaiah’s call. Chapter 7-12 King Ahaz and Assyria. This is not chronological. Rather, it is Isaiah building the case that Israel is not serving the God, and covenant curses are a result.[1]

Isaiah son of Amoz prophesized (in Judah) (spoke the Word of God) in (Kingdom of) Judah during the reigns of four kings (Isa 1:1), beginning the year Uzziah died in 742 BC (Isa 6:1)

Prophesies before and after (The Northern Kingdom is defeated 721 BC and exile for her unfaithfulness) Assyria exiles the northern kingdom, Israel, for her faithfulness

Traditionally died a martyr, sawn in two (Heb 11:37)

God tells Isaiah a prophetic voice: Comfort My people, console them, remind them, this discipline where they paid for their sins and iniquity atoned for, this discipline of exile, was not the final word.

I have not left them, later in Isaiah God says I have not divorced you, My Bride. I have disciplined My people so that they turn again to Me and be faithful.  I will restore you and redeem you.

40:3 A voice cries:[b]

NT says this is filled by John the Baptist who is literally in the wilderness and crying out make straight a way for our God. Because God is returning, our Lord, Father creator of heavens and earth, coming back to His people for judgment and especially redemption.

Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain made low.

Does this mean the literal prophecy some day we should look out or window in Colorado look at the mountain and see one go down and another flat area going down the valley or go back home, from Texas, and see a whole bunch of flat land rise up?

No, remember this is poetry. Valleys the low places lifted up, high places will come down,

The lowly, the people who have been kicked out of their homes, Israel humble and penitent

Great tall mountains towering over them, the overlords in the kingdom of Babylon will be brought low

Poetic images of mountains for people. Richness of imagery, Shakespearean.

[1] Tully 139

The post Isaiah II appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

Ozempic, RFK Jr, Proper Human Diet Dr. Ken Berry

Flat lines everything, terrible side effects, $1600/month, that is a lot of good food

Humans should enjoy the goods of the earth, something is amiss. A pill is not the solution. Human ecology, called to be beacons of hope to those with none, created to eat beautiful things. Extruder, extractor concerned gnostic, special knowledge to eat properly. Man is happy with a fully integrated life. Love God & neighbor, engage with world in truth. Ozempic is a lie.

 Not an honest relationship with food.

Ex/ Birth control destroyed libido, did not get rid of lust. Desire for a spouse is a good. Many coming to realize the terrible side effects. Musk, Peterson, Tucker Carlson and others.

Natural Womanhood great organization to help. https://naturalwomanhood.org/category/birth-control-issues/

Natural sensations good and right for the human body. Virtue, vir, strong. Fight for the virtue, become weak.

The post Authentic Gratitude IV appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

Dan Burke Spiritual Warfare & the Discernment of Spirits Sophia Press

Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V. The Discernment of Spirits Crossroads Press

III. Define malaise and dysphoria, subset of sloth/acedia (capital vice) and/or a time of spiritual desolation (Ignatius definition)

Malaise- 2. a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being[1]

Dysphoria- a state of feeling very unhappy, uneasy, or dissatisfied[2]

Capital Vices With Definitions

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also refers to these sins as “capital sins” and explains why they are the most dangerous. “Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called “capital” because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, avarice [greed], envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth” (No. 1866).[3]

Discernment of spirits, cognizant the Holy Spirit, holy angels. Virtue golden mean, counterfeit vices. Easy to be pulled away from truth.

Satan taking evil with an appearance of good. Start out in good ways. Not evil draws but potential goodness. Slow instrumental steps move us away.

Eve saw good qualities proposed to her. Preternatural gifts and supernatural gifts of grace.

Trained to believe goodness from pill or injection. Abusing body, then expecting happiness is impossible. Gnostic do whatever to my body, then take a pill. Ozempic birth control for the appetite

RFK Jr suppresses everything, flatlining joy.

Feast day is because we did. Food is not an enemy. Tastes good for a reason. Sins multiply if not rightly directed.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malaise  accessed October 4, 2024

[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dysphoria  accessed October 4, 2024

[3] https://www.simplycatholic.com/understanding-the-7-deadly-sins/  accessed October 4, 2024

The post Authentic Gratitude III appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

So vast, Isaiah captures so much of the entirety of SS. Encompasses so much, get whole story of the whole Bible in one book.

Very important book full of both prophesies of Christ & words of rebuke and consolation for the people of God as He deals with His wayward people.

Isaiah served at the royal court of four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. All were good kings except Ahaz. The capital of Judah was Jerusalem, also called Zion. Note the mentions of Isaiah in 2Kgs 18-20, 2Chronicles 26:22, 2 Chronicles 32:20-32[1] and as part of his job, he would be expected to be highly educated and a great communicator. (Shakespeare wrote with the audience of royalty in mind) Additionally, Isaiah writes in Hebraic verse. These factors lead some biblical scholars refer to his level of composition as Shakespearean.

Ysha’yah: Isaiah

Original Word: יְשַׁעְיָה

Setting slaves free, forgiveness of debts.

III Prophet definition, job

>> Prophets job to receive a word from God and go speak/deliver/communicate it. The prophets as a group are very diverse, spanning different historical realities. However, the message is unified because they are representing God.[3]

People remembered what they said, repeat it over again, in different orders depending on what word God spoke that the people needed at that moment & place.

Unique to each generation, Israel in exile, exactly what they needed at that time

[1] https://simplybible.com/f598-background-to-isaiah.htm  accessed October 15, 2024

[2] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3470.htm  accessed August 19, 2024

[3]  Eric J. Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture: A Literary, Canonical, and Theological Introduction (Baker Academics: Grand Rapids, MI 2022) 57

The post Isaiah I appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

Physical: Light therapy, grounding pub med source[1], proper human diet i.e. Ken Berry[2] Jordan, Tammy & Mikhaila Peterson diet and their depression

Spiritual: Is often neglected. Authentic remedy considers both the physical (mental included here) and spiritual aspects of the human person.

Waters of spirituality are muddled. We are speaking about the Holy Spirit, not just some vague spirit element.

Many people have a jaded notion of spirituality, will never be lifted out of despair, tragically very demonic.

Dan Burke Spiritual Warfare & the Discernment of Spirits

Ensouled body, of a unit. God is pure spirit, angel pure spirit. Our spirituality allows us to connect to both the spiritual and bodily world.

Even though we can see things on the earth good, we cannot discern which is best. We might do what we ought not do.

How much more at risk with things of an invisible nature. Satan easily deceives us.

Certainty put ourselves safely under HS, worship Triune God. Catholic Church 100 %.

Holy Ghost vs Holy Spirit

Lucifer barrier of light, cognizant of our limitations.

Ignatian Discernment process, Fr. Gallagher, Dan Burke

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/  accessed October 4, 2024

[2] https://www.drberry.com  accessed October 4, 2024

The post Authentic Gratitude II appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

Thanksgiving only antidote to that level of darkness. Know God is most generous. Paul I am weak God is strong. Essential element to a good healthy Christian psychology. Live as we walk in the light. Embodiment of hope for the world. Attitude of gratitude.

How do I remain of calm?

2 wings of truth Faith & Reason, Not faith alone. Data helps, but first support is with our Savior

Faith seeking understanding. Anselm

Wisdom poetic way of introduction to God. Can have belief without hope. Shallow.

Draw to both intellect and appetite. Faith & hope. True embodiment of hope. Friendship among others. Thankfulness is the foundation.

The post Authentic Gratitude I appeared first on Fides et Ratio.

A second place from the Pilgrim’s Guide to America J. Anthony Moran

National Shrine to the Little Flower

Pg 210-211 read

https://littleflowerbasilica.org

https://littleflowerbasilica.org/visit on planning a pilgrimage

In the midst of lovely rejuvenating of our temporal end, combine a vacation with a pilgrimage is very Catholic. A Catholic vacation integral to human person and soul. Good,  beauty and truth. Looking to something more than simple fun.

Resources in WI are beautiful on vacation, heart of vacation a pilgrimage to these holy places.

IX Local day or perhaps farther afield. Homebound?

The Past as Pilgrimage & After Virtue offers a solution.

Ex/ Consider focusing on your Confirmation saint. The Holy Spirit drew one to him or her for a particular reason. This person was to be a model for one’s spirituality throughout life. The confirmation saint orients one into the communal life of the Church with ritualized memory, a feature of a pilgrimage.[1]

X Propose to start thinking about it now, plan for it (preparation both materially & spiritually), read about, pray about it.

The chief means of moral education is the telling of stories.[2]

By immersing oneself in the story, one becomes part of a living tradition which is socially embodied… Within a tradition the pursuit of goods (virtues, wisdom, etc) extends through generation, sometimes many generations.[3] This is a true Past as Pilgrimage.

Go to Confession, have an uplifting setting, turn off devices unless needed for meditations.

Many resources online, Mass or Adoration live streamed, enter into the truth, beauty, goodness of the lord

XI Exhortation

To be a Christian is to be bound by the past. Most of the sacred texts of the Old & New Testament deal with historical events, and the ultimate truth of Christianity depends on the historical reality of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ in a particular place at a particular time.[4]

The Father to Catherine of Siena Dialogues “we are designed to need each other.” We are not islands.

Though we are focusing on the USA, most every country has similar opportunities. Those in countries hostile to Christianity are challenged. Reflecting on the witness of the martyrs would be especially meaningful. Somehow, if safe, find a way to have a pilgrimage. It is part of a Catholic’s DNA.

Don’t leave the graces in the bank. St Catherine Laboure to Our Lady, why are there dark spaces from your fingers. Graces not asked for, graces not asked for beg, for graces.

Addendums

I invite you to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where you can see her sacred image—a magnificent mosaic of the miraculous image on the Tilma created by Vatican Mosaic artists—which draws the attention of pilgrims to the altar of sacrifice on which Our Lord makes present His sacrifice and to the tabernacle in which He remains for us as the Bread from Heaven. The crucifix which hangs above the altar of sacrifice, with the image of Our Lady as its background, reminds us that God the Son became incarnate in the Virgin Mary’s womb, in order to offer His life for us on Calvary and to make that Sacrifice ever present for us, until He returns in glory at the end of time. The Virgin of Guadalupe accomplishes her mission in her “sacred little house” in which her Divine Son dwells in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

https://novena.cardinalburke.com/novena/reflection-fourteen-september-25#reflection-one

[1] Christopher Shannon & Christopher Blum, The Past as Pilgrimage- Narrative, Tradition, & the Renewal of Catholic History(Christendom Press: Front Royal, VA 2014) 26

[2] Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue third edition, (Univ of Notre Dame Press: Notre Dame, IN 2012)121

[3] MacIntyre 222

[4] Shannon & Blum 37

The post Pilgrimage VI appeared first on Fides et Ratio.