Mahsheed's Corner

Here is an interesting quote from Pope Benedict in Spes Salvi:

In the modern era, the idea of the Last Judgement has faded into the background: Christian faith has been individualized and primarily oriented towards the salvation of the believer's own soul, while reflection on world history is largely dominated by the idea of progress. The fundamental content of awaiting a final Judgement, however, has not disappeared: it has simply taken on a totally different form. The atheism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is—in its origins and aims—a type of moralism: a protest against the injustices of the world and of world history. A world marked by so much injustice, innocent suffering, and cynicism of power cannot be the work of a good God. A God with responsibility for such a world would not be a just God, much less a good God. It is for the sake of morality that this God has to be contested. Since there is no God to create justice, it seems man himself is now called to establish justice. If in the face of this world's suffering, protest against God is understandable, the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false. It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice; rather, it is grounded in the intrinsic falsity of the claim. A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope. No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering. No one and nothing can guarantee that the cynicism of power—whatever beguiling ideological mask it adopts—will cease to dominate the world. This is why the great thinkers of the Frankfurt School, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, were equally critical of atheism and theism. Horkheimer radically excluded the possibility of ever finding a this-worldly substitute for God, while at the same time he rejected the image of a good and just God. In an extreme radicalization of the Old Testament prohibition of images, he speaks of a “longing for the totally Other” that remains inaccessible—a cry of yearning directed at world history. Adorno also firmly upheld this total rejection of images, which naturally meant the exclusion of any “image” of a loving God. On the other hand, he also constantly emphasized this “negative” dialectic and asserted that justice —true justice—would require a world “where not only present suffering would be wiped out, but also that which is irrevocably past would be undone”[30]. This, would mean, however—to express it with positive and hence, for him, inadequate symbols—that there can be no justice without a resurrection of the dead. Yet this would have to involve “the resurrection of the flesh, something that is totally foreign to idealism and the realm of Absolute spirit”[31].

via Mark Shea

Labels: Written By Others

I can't resist sharing this clip from an old movie called "Roma". I think it is fascinating!!!

Labels: Awesome Videos

A great post by Exultet:

An excerpt:

But what, in fact, does God do when we fail spectacularly? Let's look at Scripture.

The pattern is set early in the very first "daytime drama" ever written: the story of Adam and Eve. They are created for blissful and eternal union with God. There are hundreds of thousands of things they can spend their days doing that will bring joy to themselves and pleasure to their heavenly Father. But like bees to the flower, they zero in on the one thing that will make the whole arrangement nosedive into misery.

There are many ways the story could have proceeded afterwards. If God hadn't revealed the determined mercy of his nature, all of Scripture would have been very short and read only by the angels: "God created the whole world. He made Adam and then a suitable helpmeet for him for their mutual benefit and delight. They screwed it up. God withdrew his hand and they died instantly. The End." But, in fact, the serpent failed to keep God from pursuing his plan -- creating for himself a people who would love him in return and live with him in wonderful joy forever. It just took longer.

So that's one example. What else do we find?

* At one of the most important and solemn moments in God's formation of a people for his own, after the clearest and most powerful exhortations to faithfulness and purity by the living God, the very people he has delivered from bondage get a bit impatient that he is taking so long to give his law to Moses. They grumble to Aaron who gets the bright idea to melt down all the gold into a pretty idol so they won't feel so lonely. To add to the disaster, Moses is so angered by this travesty that he smashes the tablets to smithereens on which the finger of God himself has written the law of the ages.

And God? Does God blast them all with lightning and rain meteors upon their heads? Why, no. God calmly asks for a fresh set of stone tablets and takes it upon himself to inscribe the law again. Angered but not dismayed, the sovereign Master of the Universe continues faithfully and steadily honing, hammering and purifying this crew into a fit people to receive the Messiah and be the means of God's redemption of the world.

* God singles out David as one "after his own heart", to belong to Him in a special way and play an important role in salvation history. Sometime later, though, David's eyes light on a babe (inconveniently married) with whom he becomes obsessed. Unused to frustration, he exploits the faithfulness and loyalty of her soldier husband by arranging to have him killed on the field of battle, and proceeds to take possession of the object of his desire.

What does God do in the face of this baseness? He perseveres in his purposes, calling David to deep repentance (the record of which continues to inspire and bless the people of God), fulfilling his covenant, and arranging for David to be an ancestor of the Redeemer through the child eventually born to him (wait for it) by the woman who he so venally seduced. (Matt 1:6) Not does God forgive the sin, he glorifies himself even in those circumstances.

* There was always something a little special about Simon Peter. The minute Jesus meets him and issues a call to be a disciple, he gives him the name Cephas ("the rock") [Jn 1:42]. Clearly not an accident, the deeper meaning becomes clear later: "You are Peter [rock] and upon this Rock I shall build my church." (Matt 16:15-19) Who was it whose grandiose "I will never deny you!" made him look like a knave and a fool when he turned tail as the going got rough? Yes, indeed, that was Peter. And who, after his betrayal, preached the first sermon after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, going on to lead the churches of Jerusalem and Rome? Right again.

Read the whole thing here.

Via Happy Catholic

Labels: Spirituality, Written By Others

Say you're at a good point in life where everything is going well. What do you say to your friend, who is not as fortunate?

A) I'm happy because I worked hard and made all the right decisions. I deserve it.

B) I'm happy even though I don't deserve it, I've been blessed.

Both answers can be obnoxious to the friend, because it sounds like in A: You are not deserving of happiness and B: You are not blessed by God.

What about C?
C) I'm happy due to a combination of my decisions and dumb luck.
Note that C is a variant of A couched in more diplomatic terms. But to an unhappy person even C can be obnoxious, simply because to a certain type of unhappy person any evidence of happiness in others is an affront (read psychic injury).

Just keep in mind that when a believer annoys you with a B-type comment that the alternative is no better.

I'll write something about Divine Providence in another post.

Labels: Thoughts

Remember in my last post when I spoke of Dr. House meeting Truth?

Here is Dawn Eden writing of her encounter with Truth, and of course she is the much better writer so please visit her site, if you like my writings you'll love her. Plus she's much more prolific (there's an interesting pun for you!).

By the way, she makes an interesting observation when she talks about higher education:

As the course progressed, I became uneasy with the professors' teaching methods. Colwell and Clements used what I have since discovered is the common propaganda method used by liberals seeking to discredit Judeo-Christianity: When they wanted to demonstrate a "good" religion's views on the environment, they would have us read original source material, such as the Tao Te Ching, or texts from Native American mythologies. When they wanted to demonstrate the "bad" views of Judaism and Christianity, they had us read chapters from a book whose author cherry-picked Bible quotes and framed them within the author's critical commentary.

So read the whole thing here.

Labels: Written By Others

I just watched the second episode of the 5th season of House.
It's one of my favorite shows despite being a medical drama.

What I like best about the show is the main character's quest for meaning. Dr. House (played by Hugh Laurie) is a broken man, literally with his damaged leg, and figuratively in his experiences and relationships. I hope against hope that he will come to faith and mend his relationships and find a good woman. (I know that's impossible because in a TV drama the main character can never be allowed to arrive anywhere, but maybe in the final episodes...) I also look for pro-life issues, such as anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia positions, although in that regard I don't hold my breath--let's just say it's a mixed bag there but when the pro-life moments happen it's amazing. What's encouraging is his quest for truth, which if undertaken courageously, eventually leads to Truth.

In this last episode Dr. House has suffered the loss of his closest friend, Dr. Wilson. It's catastrophic for him, and heartbreaking to see him deal with the rejection. I can relate. As you can imagine I was transfixed during the entire episode. But objectively speaking, Dr. Wilson is right to break it off because House's friendship has simply been too costly. He is needy, manipulative, and careless in that he lives dangerously and since he is reckless with the consequences to himself he can't be expected to care about what happens to his friends. His friends have paid a heavy price for being with him. Since he lacks conventional morals and personal boundaries he constantly oversteps and compromises his friends' welfare. He draws in people with his charisma and brilliance but when they assess the cost they end up pulling away from him.

He knows this but cannot stop himself so it's good that he's hit rock bottom. His desperation is palpable as you can see his pride being stripped away little by little. According to the Christian view, it is precisely when one has come to this state is one closest to God. He is living out the beatitudes (I'm thinking of poor in spirit and those who mourn) and is thus ripe for grace. It will be exciting to see how (or even if) he redeems himself.

Labels: TV Shows

I just came across this hilarious song and video from 1972 (Jimmy Castor Troglodyte song):



Via a hilarious and edifying article by RR Reno.

Labels: Music