Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (4 May 2014)

     Welcome yet again to “Sunday Snippets: A Catholic Carnival”, a carnival indeed, although without barkers.  Or clowns . . .hey, no wisecracks over there!  Actually I can do without clowns, although I sort of miss the cotton candy.  Anyway, it’s not that kind of carnival; rather, it is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers sharing their posts for the week, and that’s worth celebrating, isn’t it?  You can find the main gathering here, at This That and the Other Thing under the auspices if our gracious host, RAnn.

    Many of my posts this week at Principium et Finis seem to involve freedom, responsibility and the interplay between the two.  God has given us true freedom, yet we have a responsibility to exercise it for good, and in particular for the good of others. If we fail to make proper use of our freedom, we eventually find that we have lost it. This is true in our civic life as well as in our working life, both of which areas I discuss in the posts below.

The view from Principium et Finis World Headquarters, Friday, May 2nd.

     I also want to take a moment to expand a little on a point I make in Monday’s post when discussing the CDF ‘s Doctrinal Note On Some Questions Regarding The Participation Of Catholics In Political Life [text here], for which the CDF’s head Cardinal Ratzinger, soon to become Pope Benedict XVI, was largely responsible.  I can’t help but be impressed at how Ratzinger, in a document narrowly focused to address specific errors, can be so clear and at the same time gentle and loving in his admonition, all while packing a whole lot of beautifully explained Catholic doctrine into just a few pages.  He was a consummate teacher, and I expect to return to this and other examples of his work in the future.  But on to the week that was:

Monday – Some joyous Mozart for the Easter season (this was retweeted by the Dame Kiri Fan Site): “Kiri Te Kanawa ‘Exultate, Jubilate’” [link]

Tuesday – In which I ruminate on fulfilling one’s civic duty, with some help from Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) and John Adams: “ Some Personal Thoughts On Being A Christian Witness In Public Life” [link]

Wednesday - Another in my series on the Liturgy of the Hours, the sometimes overlooked hours of Terce, Sext, and None:  “Liturgy Of The Hours: Daytime Prayer Sanctifies Our Labors” [link]

Thursday - How does one answer the claim that women experience no psychological consequences from abortion? “Abortion Myth #3” [link]

and - A few brief comments on the Foster Father of Jesus and his role in our working lives: “St. Joseph the Worker, Pray for Us!” [link]

Friday - People who advocate changing the legal definition of marriage often accuse those of us who defend this vital institution of being opposed to freedom.  I say they’ve got it backwards. “ Traditional Marriage: The “Liberty” Argument” [link]

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

     Friday's post was published on the feast day of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, or St. Athanasius the Great, and I included a note pointing to his brave, lonely, stand in defense of the True Faith as an example to us, along with a brief prayer asking his intercession as we take unpopular stands in our world today.  Unfortunately, as an alert reader pointed out to me, the beautiful picture I attached was of St. Athanasius of Athos, a different person altogether.  I have replaced it with an image of the proper St. Athanasius, which I am including here as well.
     Finally, the picture above:  today's Gospel reading tells of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who, when things seem unbearably dark, find their greatest Hope fulfilled in an encounter with the Risen Christ. The rainbow, of course, is an ancient symbol of hope and renewal: since God saw fit to send one my way, what better time to share it?