Sunday, July 6, 2014

Sunday Snippets - A Catholic Carnival (6 July 2014)

Thursday July 3rd was the Feast of Thomas the Apostle
     Welcome once again to “Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival”, a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers who come together every Lord’s Day to share their posts from the previous week.  Well, we don’t literally gather, we cyberly gather at This That and the Other Thing where RAnn figuratively presides over our e-convocation [Main Event here], but you get the idea. This is the first Sunday in some time that is not also a solemnity, by the way – but that’s all right, every Sunday is a little Easter, a commemoration of Christ’s Resurrection.  Alleluia!          
     There was not an underlying theme this past week at Principium et Finis, but we did look at the matter/spirit, body/soul connection from a couple of different angles, both in reference to the relationship between temporal authority and the Church. There seems to be a bit of a trend among some Catholics toward adopting a sort of permanent adversarial stance toward their country.  It seems to me that an appropriate, and in fact commendable Patriotism balances the love of one’s fellow citizens and the history and traditions of one’s country with the recognition of the sovereignty of God.  This is a good thing. I suspect that in some quarters there is not a clear enough distinction being made between Patriotism and its evil cousin, the idolatry known as Nationalism, which puts the nation or the state in the place reserved for God.
     Wednesday, for instance, I took issue with a writer whom I admire, David Warren, because in an otherwise well-done article he engages in a sort of historical Docetism by denying the significance of the material context, that is the culture of Greece and Rome, in which the Church took shape during the first few centuries of its existence.  Friday, Independence Day here in the United States, I discussed the formal declaration of that independence, a document which points to a unique republic in which “sovereignty belonged to the people, [but] the true Sovereign was God himself”.  Because of the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address* famously described his country as “a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”.  While the United States has often fallen short of its ideals, the Declaration has always served as a standard by which it measures, and sometimes corrects itself, and as an inspiration to aim higher (it has also been an inspiration to countless others around the world).  It also reminds us that all earthly authority is ultimately subject to the authority of God, a truth we ignore at our peril.

     This past week at Principium et Finis
   
Another glorious contribution form the Boy Wonder of Salzburg: “Mozart: Gloria from his Coronation Mass in C Major” [here]  

The preliminary document for this fall's synod on the family suggests maybe the Pope doesn't want to jettison Church teaching after all . . . “Good News: The Pope Is Catholic” [here]

We can't fight the rise of secularism by holding up an image of Western Culture that denies its human sources: "How Do We Counter the Culture of Narcissism?" [here]

Sure, atheists can be good people - if they want to.  Or not.  Whatever.  “Why Be Moral? (Throwback Thursday Edition)” [here]

A July 4th reflection on the Declaration of Independence: “Appealing To The Supreme Judge Of The World” [here]  

*Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, July 1-3, marked the 151st anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest and most destructive battle ever on North American soil.

Pickett's Charge, Gettysburg, July 3rd 1863




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