Category: Faith & Reason

Nicea at 1700, look more closely

Approaching the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, you’ll start to hear a lot of really bad and stupid arguments. One is that Constantine originally supported the Athanasian line of thought against the Arian line and that’s why the Council decided the way they did. Here’s the the thing: no! And here’s why –

“The story of 1st Nicaea and (especially) its aftermath is not just not what e.g. Dan Brown claimed: it’s literally the opposite.
Constantine didn’t interfere at the council on behalf of what is now orthodoxy. If anything, he was sympathetic to Arianism, but mainly he was against a creed that would exclude the Arians: he wanted everyone to stop *fussing*. He was complicated, but *probably* at least on many levels wanted a Christianity that was a syncretistic popular religion to tie together the empire and provide continuity with paganism, an easy fuzzy-minded baptism of Sol Invictus.

That is what he didn’t get.

He *tried* to interfere theologically at one point after the council: he commanded Athanasius to rescind Alexander’s anathematization of Arius.

Athanasius responded thusly: “What concern had the emperor with it? When did a decision of the Church receive its authority from the emperor? Or rather, when was his decree even recognized? There have been many [local] councils in times past, and many decrees made by the Church; but never did the fathers seek the consent of the emperor for them, not did the emperor busy himself in the affairs of the Church….The Apostle Paul had friends among those who belonged to the house of Caesar, and in the writing to the Philipians he sent greetings from them: but never did he take them as associates in his judgment”.

In other words, Constantine was, for at least part of his life, *really trying* to be in a Dan Brown novel. Like, his level best. Not the part about deciding what books were in the Bible, but the part about patching together an imperially helpful compromise syncretistic religion. That religion would have been Arianism: a platonic high God with a Jesus who was a sort of highest in the created order Sol Invictus divine son. Who one was allowed to worship. This religion would have been amenable to all kinds of both gnostic and demi-pagan developments: you could bolt on an emanation or two; old gods could sneak back in as Arian “saints” to be worshiped, because if you could worship a created being in Jesus, why not worship other lesser created beings? As a treat?

But that is *precisely* what was rejected at & after Nicaea.

One God. Christ Jesus, the man, is God. Consubstantial with the Father. There is no time when He was not.

All the saints who we honor, Mary herself, are simply not consubstantial with the Father. That is not and has never been orthodoxy. And this has always been entirely public and clear. The possibility of a paganized and syncretized religion presented itself, then: as long after the death of the last apostle as we are after the American Revolutionary War.

It tried its best. It looked very much like it was going to win.

Of course that religion would have lost Christianity’s Judaism, but it might have been a lot more helpful empire-building wise. Super easy to skootch any pagans you run into in to the Arian “Church”.

But what Athanasius (and, in the end, all but two of the 318 bishops who attended) said to Constantine and Arius was this: Yes I see what you mean, that would be a more straightforward religion and make things easier politically. But that is not what the apostles taught. That is a new thing. And we say no.

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί”

– Sussanah Black Roberts, Editor of Plough Quarterly and Mere Orthodoxy

Fr David Tracy, RIP

Native nutmegger, Father David Tracy, 86, died on Tuesday, April 29, the feast of St. Catherine of Siena. He was a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, author, and professor. Father David is consider by many –and rightly so– to be an eminent Catholic theologian and distinguished professor at the University of Chicago. One of the groups Father David was a part of was Chicago’s Lumen Christi Institute, which he played a key role in its mission. As the director of the Institute said, “Fr. Tracy shaped the culture of the Institute, as he modeled intellectual friendship and the pursuit of truth across divisions.”

Kenneth Woodward writes:

David Tracy was not just a great theologian, though he was easily the most influential Catholic fundamental theologian of his era. He was that far more capacious figure, a great Christian humanist. The range of his reading matched the range of his thought and interest. He knew classical literature, much of medieval literature and a great deal of modern literature. And sociology. And science. In fact, these insights influenced many of his later essays and led him to the concept of “fragments,” which figures so importantly in his late essays. But he was also and always a priest nourished by both the celebrating and the receiving of the sacraments. He knew the hypocrisies that can infest both the church and the academy but it didn’t matter: he was thoroughly at home in both. Oh, and he wrote some of the longest, fruitful and stand-alone interesting footnotes of any writer I know.

A very interesting 2019 interview can be read here.

Having two graduate degrees in Theology I’ve read Fr David’s writing. I would say without exaggeration that Father David and Cardinal Avery Dulles are considered “deans of Catholic Theology in the USA.”

May Father David Tracy memory be eternal.
St. Augustine, pray for us.

Jesus has a genealogy

Who are you? Where do you come from? Who are your parents? Where did they come from, and who are they related to by blood? These questions are frequently  asked and explored by us. We want to know more than the superficial facts of a person’s life.

Today in the Byzantine Church we hear the gospel addressing Jesus’ family tree, a sequence of who makes up his lineage. Uniquely called, today is The Sunday Before Christmas: Matthew 1:1-25. While it may seem tedious and painful to hear since many can’t pronounce the names, but what the pericope demonstrates is that God uses the unlikely to bring into human history His work of salvation. God is not elitist; the Eternal Word of God has a “rough trade” family history.

The genealogy of Matthew’s gospel is a journey in human history –the good, the bad, the rough around the edges. It’s a journey by which we are meant to be informed, one person at a time, but not dismissed. The proclamation of Jesus’ genealogy in the wisdom of the Church shows us that the carriers of the Messianic promise are imperfect according to the world’s standards. If you idealize Jesus, a trap for certain, then you will need to think more deeply about what constitutes the line of communion with the Divine Majesty. We are reminded of this in the epistle reading from Hebrews which has a great line to ponder: God has a better plan for us. What prevails is that all people have a place in the plan of God, all of a role to play in the plan of salvation. The crooked line of our lives and witness matter –and this good news. Jesus demonstrates this fact.

National Eucharistic Pilgrimage begins in New Haven

Members of the CT – North East Area represented the Order of Malta in New Haven CT with members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the launch of the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Procession for the National Eucharistic Revival Pilgrimage. Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne, Archbishop of Hartford, celebrated the sacred Liturgy. Following Mass the congregation formed a procession in the Church’s neighborhood.

The group photo was taken in the basement of St. Mary’s Church, the founding location of the Knights of Columbus, with Father Peter J. Langevin, KHS, Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich, and Father Joseph MacNeil, Parochial Vicar at Blessed McGivney Parish (New Haven, CT).

This fourth route will journey through the major cities of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Mid-Atlantic states to the Indianapolis Convention on July 17. One of the traveling Pilgrimage vans, which was parked at the Blessed MIchael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, contains the Tabernacle to securely transport the Blessed Sacrament for travelling Adoration .

Avery Dulles Remembered

Today marks 15 years since the Lord called Avery Dulles to Himself. The famed Jesuit Cardinal served the Church for several decades as a theologian trying to communicate the Church’s tradition in a time of controversy.

Personally, I miss Avery’s calm voice and steady thinking. For several years we were members of a Communio Circle in Weston, Connecticut with Maria Shrady and several theological bright lights. Sadly, the group has ceased to meet.

Thomas A. Guarino writes an appreciative essay, “Remembering Avery Dulles” in First Things. Guarino fittingly recognizes Dulles’ contribution to the field of American Theology and role of the theologian in the Church.

May Avery Cardinal Dulles’ memory be eternal.

Marvel at God’s compassion

This morning I came across a quote taken from the works of St. Peter of Damaskos (a 12th century) that I think begins to open a new window for our spiritual life. I think the mature Christian is a person who understands that the life of grace is a continuum: sometimes we live fully in the illumination of God’s life generating a virtuous life. Other periods of life we may struggle with a particular way of thinking and acting. I will say we can’t cave to thinking that we are hypocrites if we work on conforming our lives to the love, compassion and wonder of God’s Way. True conversion is neither THAT immediate nor lasting. To me, those who claim otherwise are fooling themselves and shallow and their spiritual advice not worth the paper it is written upon. The spiritual life takes time and it’s a deliberate work that is very tough-going and heart-wrenching. Whether the spiritual work is fully engaging in what is said in Matthew 25, or believing that Jesus of Nazareth is the Bread of Life, or to love our enemies, not stealing, murdering, or breaking (bending, stretching?) one’s promises and vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. We can’t reduce or empty the real questions which make life meaningful. Any reduction of the heart’s needs is too severe and unreasonable and therefore not of God.

The spiritual life is proposed to be an ascesis (an intentional work of the mind, heart & body). It is not always self-evident nor is it fully realizable without real, lively attention to grace. The fruit of grace is an openness and freedom to be the self. As one person taught, we are a mystery, and this constitutes this very self. What is veiled and unveiled takes intellectual, spiritual and affective maturity. And from my experience not too many of us have the required maturity. A periodic author that I have consulted has said, “It does not merely aim at the satisfaction of human understanding, it must “deepen” it. Thus, to replace the word “mystery” with the word ‘Father’ in relation to God renders an extremely comprehensible term which at the same time identifies God’s uniqueness and intensifies the mystery. The religious sense prepares us for such a revelation but revelation intensifies the depth of this religious sense” (A. Spencer).

In the end, we have to rely not on the negative to define who we are, and what we want to become. We are more than our “sin.” It is not the negative that will make us free in Christ. It may take to the end of our life to truly be what we are made to be. What we want may be illusive if we don’t do the work of conversion. We are more than our sin, we are more than the pathologies and our ideas that live rent free in our heads. Why is it that we allow toxicity to reign in the heart that tend to become unhealthy? I can say that I have personally struggled for years with defining myself and others by their actions without looking honestly at personal history and reality and the true desires of the human heart.

All this brings me to think about what it means to be in-relation to another person in a deeper way even if it breaks the convention, and challenges what has been proposed as the door to be a true son or daughter of the Lord of Life. I’m thinking of what it may mean to deal with humanity sexuality between consenting adults. I wouldn’t want to get into details here since that would be indiscrete. But I know first hand how certain religious superiors have not assisted the brethren well in dealing with matters of sexuality in a way that leads to greater freedom. In fact, the religious superiors have too readily adopted the world’s standards, in either a permissive way or in a way that does not allow for redemption. As Cardinal George said, our society now permits everything but forgives nothing.

All too often sexuality is feared and reduced to bromides. Human sexuality is supposed to be life-giving, generative, and beautiful. But it doesn’t have to be that way if we consider the perspective and way of proceeding of Eastern Christianity.

St. Peter of Damaskos writes:

Even if you are not what you should be, you should not despair. It is bad enough that you have sinned; why in addition do you wrong God by regarding him in your ignorance as powerless? Is he, who for your sake created the great universe that you behold, incapable of saving your soul? And if you say that this fact, as well as his incarnation, only makes your condemnation worse, then repent; and he will receive your repentance, as he accepted that of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20) and the prostitute (Luke 7:37-50). But if repentance is too much for you, and you sin out of habit even when you do not want to, show humility like the publican (Luke 18:13): this is enough to ensure your salvation. For he who sins without repenting, yet does not despair, must of necessity regard himself as the lowest of creatures, and will not dare to judge or censure anyone. Rather, he will marvel at God’s compassion.

As Christians we seek the hundredfold: our true happiness in this world, and our true happiness in the next (Mark 19:29). We live and act for the sake of Jesus and are promised one hundred times to inherit everlasting life and to be happy in this life. We forget that Jesus wants and begs for our happiness in this life!!!!  Why is it that we forget this point in biblical revelation? How we get there takes time, love (concern for another’s well-being and destiny), and prudence. I can’t fall off the ground. So far my relationships are electric on a certain level. I am aware of my sinfulness and know my need for happiness and for redemption. Jesus tells us so. Amen.

Prayer for peace in the Holy Land

Queen of peace, Chosen daughter of a land still devastated by wars, hatred and violence.

We confidently address our plea to you: Do not allow Jesus to cry at the sight of the Holy City which did not understand the gift of peace may, once again, fall into indifference and political calculation. Look at the afflictions of so many mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, victims of destructive energies that are blind and without a future. Inspire ways of dialogue, a vigorous will in solving problems and a collaboration of certain hope. Don’t let us ever to get used to oppression, to consider the struggles as inevitable and the victims they produce as collateral.

Make sure that the logic of aggression does not prevail over good will and that the solution of many problems is not considered impossible. Just like with Your prayer in the midst of the Disciples on Pentecost, obtain from the Almighty that situations, even if apparently insurmountable in the Holy Land, find ways of happy solution.
AMEN.

Fernando Cardinal Filoni
Grand Master of the Holv Sepulchre of Jerusalem

Feast of Candlemas Day

Today is the 40th day since Christmas.

Hail, O full of grace, Virgin and Mother of God, from you has arisen the Sun of Justice, Christ our God, enlightening those who stand in darkness. You, too, O just Elder Simeon, rejoice for you carry in your arms the Redeemer of our souls, who grants us resurrection. (Troparion of the Feast)

As the Church celebrates this feast of encountering of humanity’s meeting of the Lord, Candlemas Day also is important in the lives of farmers. An old English song goes as follows:

“If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go, Winter, and come not again.”

George Pell’s long legacy

Unexpectedly, George Cardinal Pell died in Rome following complications from hip surgery. He was 81.

Phil Lawler’s January 11th’s article, “Cardinal Pell’s long shadow” is an excellent tribute to a man who served the Lord and Church with much grace and sacrifice. Pell’s witness served to build the city of God challenging the crazy ideology of anti-Catholicism which is also antagonistic toward reasonableness. Read what Lawler has to say. There are several other articles on Pell that one ought to read alongside his Prison Journals.

May His Eminence’s memory be eternal.