Christian contemplation thrown into the muddy highways of the world : encouragement : experiences : resources
Yesterday, Vatican News announced that Libreria Editrice Vaticana would publish a new book on Pope Saint Paul VI and that Pope Francis has written the preface for it. That preface is available on the Vatican News site in full. And it’s a doozy. The Holy Father begins with some thoughts which don’t directly touch on …
Continue reading “Contemplation and Shared Influence in Pope Francis’ Preface to a Book on Paul VI”
Today is the first memorial day of Blessed Pope Paul VI, beatified less than a year ago by Pope Francis. Since before my reception into the Catholic Church (from a Protestant background), Pope Paul has been my favourite pope – or at least my favourite pope after the age of the Church Fathers. He walked …
Today is the memorial of Saint Gerard Majella, a Redemptorist saint who died in 1755. In 1946, little Marcel Văn was listening to much talk about this saint during his time as a Redemptorist brother in Hanoi. There are many strong stories of miracles and great feats in Saint Gerard’s life. Little Văn quite simply asked the …
Elsewhere I’ve given some thoughts on the Gospel claim that “those who do the truth come to the light” (Jn 3:21). I’ve also given some thoughts on our actual economy of salvation. I think both of these themes are very important for the contemplative in the world. All those who do the truth are already …
Continue reading “The Eucharist and the Economy of Salvation”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4KUk_bFlTk I like this video very much. Jacques Maritain, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Blessed John Paul II: great intellectuals of the twentieth century, who loved Jesus in his substantial Eucharistic Presence, with faith like little children. What a reminder: that faith and intelligence go together; that Jesus is there; that here we witness …
Towards the end of last year, the International Theological Commission submitted a “study of the theme of the status of theology”: Theology Today: Perspectives, Principles and Criteria. Early this year, after approval by William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the study was officially published. As in all things, the task of the Commission …
Continue reading “Theology in the Contemplative Life (Notes on an ITC Study)”
Over the course of several decades, Charles Cardinal Journet (1891–1975) wrote a three- or four-volume treatise on the Catholic Church as a fundamental mystery and revelation in the Christian faith (Church of the Word Incarnate). Three or four volumes: this was long. But it was the work of a contemplative theologian who loved the Church …
Contemplative in the Mud 