The most fact-oriented people are those willing to check self-proclaimed “fact-checkers”, the most scientifically-minded people are those willing to question every so-called “scientific consensus”, and the most virtue-driven people are those willing to expose “virtue signallers”.

—Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski

dailynietzsche:

“Nobody is very likely to consider a doctrine true merely because it makes them happy or virtuous.”

—F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §39 (excerpt).

dailynietzsche:

“What serves the higher type of men as nourishment or delectation must almost be poison for a very different and inferior type. The virtues of the common man might perhaps signify vices and weaknesses in a philosopher.”

—F. Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, §30 (excerpt).

HOMILY for 6th Saturday per annum(II)

James 3:1-10; Ps 11; Mark 9:2-13

“It’s good to talk”. This was the slogan for British Telecommunications. But St James is right to remind us that not all talk is good for when talking we must mind the subject, the content, and the manner of our talk so that all is done well.

So in St Mark’s brief account of the Transfiguration, we may note three kinds of talk: firstly, the holy men of God talking with Christ, which we may call prayer; then the frightened and unnecessary talk of Peter – the kind of talk that we might be tempted to engage in because we’re bored, or distracted, or uncomfortable with silence – and finally, the necessary and salvific talk of God, divine revelation, which points to the Word of God, Jesus Christ. To this talk, we must heed, for the sake of our salvation.

But how might we speak to God or about God? How are we to guard our tongues when talking to one another – and I admit I am not the most watchful in this regard. I turn, therefore, to the advice given by St Francis de Sales, a Doctor of the Church and spiritual master who was renowned for the gentleness and sweetness of his talk. He begins: “Doctors diagnose a man’s state of health by looking at his tongue; and our words are true indications of the state of our soul: Thy words, says our Lord, will be matter to acquit or mater to condemn thee.”

Then, concerning talking about God, he says: “If you truly love God… you will speak of him in conversation with your family, your friends, and neighbours… As the mouth of the bee is only used for honey, so should your tongue be ever honeyed, as it were, with God, while you are never more happy than when you have his praise on your lips… But always speak of God as of God; in other words, with reverence and devotion, with love and humility… Let fall, as far as possible, the delicious honey of devotion, drop by drop, now in the ear of one, now in the ear of another; praying secretly in your soul that God may let it sink into their hearts/ Above all do this with gentleness and kindness; not as though correcting them, but by inspiring them; for it is wonderful how powerfully hearts are moved when goodness is set before them in a fair and lovely guise.”

Concerning our talk and conversation, St Francis de Sales says: “Be very careful never to say anything unseemly, for though your intention may be good your hearers may take it otherwise… Nothing is so opposed to charity, and more to devotion, as contempt and scorn for those about us. Derision or mockery always involves contempt and so is gravely sinful… But with regard to what we say in fun and with innocent humour, this pertains to the virtue which the Greeks called eutrapelia… by means of which we derive friendly amusement from humorous situations which arise from human imperfections; but we must be very careful lest this degenerate into mockery.”

Finally, he calls us to be careful not to rashly judge others’ actions, for “as bees in misty or cloudy weather retire to the hive and concern themselves with the honey, so the thoughts of the virtuous are restrained from inquiry into hidden matters or the obscure actions of those about them, and instead are concerned with good resolutions for their own amendments; to concern ourselves with examining the lives of others betokens a futile mind.”

Therefore, coming down from the Mount of the Transfiguration, when the Lord speaks of the suffering and death we must endure, we might also consider the mortifications we can apply to ourselves, through the merits of Christ’s Passion and Cross. Certainly, for many of us today, it can be mortifying to hold our tongues, to guard our words, and to talk well. For it’s not just good to talk, but we must speak good and speak well. In this regard, may Our Lady pray for us!

HOMILY for St Nicholas

Isaiah 35:1-10; Ps 84; Luke 5:17-26

Those of us friars who put a shoe outside our doors last night woke up to find a chocolate Santa Claus in them this morning. Because today is the feast of Santa Claus – St Nicolaus - of course, and the custom of putting a shoe outside one’s door or hanging a stocking at the fireplace comes from a story of St Nicholas’s charity. As a young man, born to a wealthy family in Lycia on the south-west coast of modern-day Turkey, he heard about a neighbour who had fallen on desperately hard times. This poor man couldn’t afford to care for his three daughters and was going to give them away into servitude to a rich family so that, even though they would have become slaves, they could at least have food, clothing, and lodging. Even in our times, this kind of unthinkably desperate situation is still happening. St Nicholas’s solution was to throw bags of gold into the poor man’s house, and one of those landed in a shoe (or a sock). Thus, the idea of giving gifts at this time of year, and particularly the custom of putting those gifts in a shoe or a stocking arose from this story.

St Nicholas’s charitable act, however, is deeply rooted in his strong Incarnational theology. Later in life, as Bishop of Myra, St Nicholas would be present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 where he was among the bishops who opposed the heretic Arius who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Creed we say on Sunday originates from this Council, with its affirmation of the miracle of Christmas, namely, that the baby born of Mary at Bethlehem is (in the words of the Council of Nicaea) “the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through Whom all things came into being, things in heaven and things on earth”.

This gift of Christ’s Incarnation has saved Mankind from slavery to sin and death. So, too, St Nicholas’s gift has that saving, genuinely life-changing effect. And St Nicholas’s anonymous gift is given to those three girls regardless of whether they were good or bad, naughty or nice, or whether or not they deserved it. So, too, the Saviour Jesus Christ gives salvation to those who will accept the gift of his grace, even though we do not deserve it, and so he gives himself to us freely, willingly, lovingly.

So much of this is dumped down by the modern-day tale of Santa Claus. Chocolate, of course, is delicious, and some of the gifts we receive can be very pleasurable indeed. But none of them can truly be said to be life-changing, let alone can save us from slavery or death! Indeed, sometimes the material things we buy and receive at Christmastime can enslave us to pleasure, worldly delights, and our passions! Moreover, a popular song tells us that Santa is “making a list and checking it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice” – presumably as a way to scare kids into being good. But since when has genuine virtue been cultivated by fear or threats? Rather, the real Santa Claus knew that gratitude and virtue and love flows from a genuine experience of the goodness and mercy and saving love of God, of the new life that Christ can bring, and he can do this only because he is “true God from true God” as St Nicholas affirms.

Today’s feast, therefore, is for me a chance to recall the divine gift of Jesus Christ in our lives, and whose sweetness and generosity we are called to proclaim in word and in action, following the example of St Nicholas. As Dominican preachers of grace and mercy, St Nicholas has long been associated with our Order. St Dominic himself died 800 years ago, as we know, and was buried in Bologna at a church originally named after St Nicholas. And the miraculous relics of St Nicholas are in Bari on the east coast of Italy, entrusted to the care of the Dominicans in 1951, where many still go on pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Claus, who is venerated as the patron saint of sailors, children, brides, and pawnbrokers. For at the essence of our Christian faith, and so, at the core of St Nicholas’s charitable and miraculous works and of his robust defence of Nicene orthodoxy are these beautiful words from today’s prophecy: “Courage! Do not be afraid. Look, your God is coming… he is coming to save you.”

So the gifts we receive on St Nicholas’s day are but a foretaste of the greatest gift who is made manifest on Christmas day, the One of whom the Council of Nicaea said: “because of us men and because of our salvation [he] came down, and became incarnate and became man.”

Wittgenstein’s main language argument

I think,most people would agree with Wittgenstein’s famous argument about language being limited or not a reliable tool to communicate about some big philosophical problems like “What is virtue?”,“What is knowledge? etc. But i am having a hard time grasping the silliness of this argument. If Wittgenstein denies that language cannot be used to talk about abtract concepts in a meaningful way because its impossible to know the true definition of these concepts and feelings we experience, he is essentially trying to enforce virtue when he is not sure if he is even talking about the same thing.I think exact sensation in two different people is impossible for example I may look at a blue colour of different shade and intensity than you based on our visual capacity and neural network.Similarly,It is impossible to paint the exact picture of some abstract concept of something in someones mind through language due to this subjectivity of sensation, but it is the thing we evolved from start and still evolving.He also put in question all the philosophers that lived before him. Wittgenstein claims for a better communication tool which can be used to talk about these concepts but he forgot to think that it takes millions and billions of years to evolve a structure of thoughts to communicate an idea.Language is still evolving, maybe one day it will become that ideal structure for Wittgenstein then. But for now we should not cry and go on rant about this natural gift from evolution.

Fight like a good soldier, and if you sometimes fall through weakness, rise again with greater strength than before, trusting in God’s most abundant grace.
– Thomas á Kempis

Sleep tends to be the common experience of letting one’s self go, as is the case with all moments of rest (good or bad). Anthropologically (philosophically) speaking, man was made to rest. In this sense, we might say that letting one’s self go is a necessary dimension of being human. But to qualify this act: we are letting ourselves go into what is ultimately good. (Rest in God)

In this way, excessive control of one’s self is actually a type of vice. Metaphorically it would be like the soul imitating a body always tense, always utilising one’s muscles as though to become rigid, and inflexible.

I think this is the point of virtue – that our left hand doesn’t know what our right hand is doing. When we do the good for good reason, habitually it becomes second nature to us. In some cases, to have these virtues is to somewhat not even realise that we have them. They simply flow out of our daily attitudes and acts naturally.

But one who exerts strenuous effort to do some externally good act reveals to others perhaps a fault. Perhaps the good habit isn’t there. Perhaps the externally good action isn’t done for the right reason. It’s like that fakery of a smile plastered on a person’s face that communicates something empty. It’s that cleaning of the outside of a cup, but not the inside.

If doing what is good is latently resented by the amount of energy and difficulties required – it seems empty. I think that’s why sometimes we see people leave the priesthood or seminary or married life or whatever, and end up entering into all sorts of absurd and contrary actions to their vocation. The virtue – the internalisation of chastity or charity, never happened – just the external acts, perhaps white-knuckled.

Sometimes Christ has been described in the spiritual sense to be at rest on the cross. Can we relate? Today if a man on the street spat on your face, would you be more concerned for him? Would it be easy to see him as a brother and not worry about our own ego? This virtue requires no control of impulses, or bridling anger. It’s just the fruit of knowing the poor, and serving them in charity.

To circle back to the original point – we were made for rest. If doing the good is constantly difficult, we might want to ask why. What is preventing the good from becoming second nature to us? Have we perhaps ascribed more meaning to hard work and busyness than we ought to? Are we only doing externally good acts without an interiorly good spirit? Are our good deeds mere external acts, like whitewashed tombs?

Don’t burn out – instead build virtue. Virtue is only understood properly when married to the interior life. Let your whole self go into what is truly good, and there will be less fragility at the sight of a cross. In fact, we may find rest in it.

~ Fr Christopher Pietraszko

Calvary – Michael Godard(2008)

Perhaps you are filled with shame for causing My bitter passion. Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal injury, not on Me, but on death. These nails no longer pain Me, but only deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but through them I draw you into My heart.

My body was stretched on the cross as a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of My all-embracing love. I count it no less to shed My blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom. Come, then, return to Me and learn to know Me as your Father, Who repays good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.

~ from a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop

St Joseph, Guardian of Sons – Melchior Paul von Deschwanden

Eternal God, originator of Fatherhood,
I offer to you the blessed office of Father.
May the men who occupy this dignified place
protect and care for their children and wives
with valiant honesty, heroic chastity,
noble humility, and stern sobriety.

Ignite a fire in the hearts of men, O God,
so that they may respond to the Divine call
to fatherhood, both natural and spiritual,
and model themselves after the holy example of
Blessed Joseph, Father of the Universal Church.

Through his intercession, may fathers
be strengthened to flee from sin,
subdue their flesh, wrestle with the
powers of corruption, banish the darkness,
and obtain victory over hell and its agents.

We ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ, sanctifier of all men,
to the glory of God the Father.
Amen.

themanfulspirit:

My Brethren It Is Easter

As a gift that keeps on giving, I wanna share The Chosen with you, if you haven’t heard of it already. It’s a show that is HBO quality giving what may be the most human depiction of Jesus’ life in all of media.

It’s a passion project done by multiple denominations of Christianity, entirely crowd-funded, and it is completely free to watch.

https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen/watch

Have a manful easter.

Greetings, dear readers…if there are any of you left out there. :) I know I haven’t posted in a long time, but that is only because I haven’t felt moved by the Spirit to do so. Until this morning, when after praying the litany of humility, I started begging (as usual) for the other virtue I most lack: patience. It occurred to me that I ought to make a litany of patience that I could pray each day. I share it with you now in hopes that it will bless you and aid you in your own prayer.

Litany of Patience

From the desire to control my life,
R: Deliver me, O Jesus.
From rash judgment and haste…
From impulsive decision making…
From the desire to act when I need to be still…
From the desire to speak when I need to stay silent…
From the delusion that my own ideas and plans are what would be best…
From impatience with the sins and idiosyncrasies of others…
From impatience with my own sins and slow growth in virtue…
From impatience with Your plan for my life…
From the desire to live on my own timeline…
From the fear of running out of time…
From the fear of aging and death…
From the temptation to act out of sorrow, discouragement, anxiety, or fear…

Lord, teach me to trust your love so entirely:
That I may wait upon your Word before making important decisions.
That I may not get ahead of or behind your Spirit.
That I may maintain an eternal perspective in all that I do.
That I may accept and surrender to your will for me daily.
That I may truly believe that ALL things work for the good of those who love you.
That I may radiate to others Your peace and joy which surpass all understanding.

Amen.

*throws a Virtue redesign at you and then flees the scene*

‘Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue.

It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.’

~ Oscar Wilde