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Yesterday, I watched a video of Charlie Kirk debating a cocky Oxford student on the topic of religion. Charlie always impresses me with his ability to keep calm, especially when the other guy is agitated and loud. Anyway, I won't go into all the details, as the video was rather long, but the basic idea was that non-religious Oxford man was trying to say that orthodox Christians are wrong in how we interpret Scripture when it comes to the sinfulness of homo$exual acts. The guy was trying to say that it was "all a linguistic error," you see. Charlie did a very good job of explaining what the verses actual say, but the guy wasn't really listening. At one point, though, seeing that trying to explain Scripture wasn't working, Charlie appealed to Tradition. This shocked me, as Charlie Kirk is a pretty staunch Protestant. He even acknowledged, as much, in his argument when he said, 'Now, I'm a Protestant, but we have 2000 years of Tradition..." I was like, "Whoa," and kept eating my popcorn with wide-eyed amusement. However, Mr. Oxford Man brushed that off. And then, the debate turned into both men trying to prove whose interpretation was correct. Round and round it went until the moderator cut it off. Charlie is close. So close. What he's missing is that third pillar--the teaching authority of the Church--the Magisterium. Mr. Oxford Guy has no authority to tell anybody what Scripture means. Protestantism lacks the Magisterium, which is why you have hundreds of denominations all saying THEY know what Scripture says. Once you chuck the authority given to Christ's Church by Christ, well, this is the inevitable outcome. As a Catholic, I do not nor should I, appeal to my own authority on interpretation. I should appeal to the authority of the Church given to us by Christ. The Church that canonized the Scriptures, passed on the Traditions when the Scriptures weren't yet compiled, and has authority from Christ. Like I said, he's close. He's got two of the pillars. Let's pray that he, and others in the same boat, find that third pillar, Catholic Pilgrims. Live the faith boldly and travel well this Thursday. *Pillars are from Laodicea in modern day Turkey
Continue ReadingLove, for it to be true, must be like a refiner’s fire. It must help burn off weakness and purge you of sin. If God is nothing more than a distant deity that asks nothing of us, we will never become who He created us to be. If your spouse never tries to raise the bar for you, never calls you out of sin, they do not really love you. Real love cannot stand to see you sink and be stagnant. If a parent refuses to discipline, guide, and lead their children, there is no real love. Parents are called to help “burn” off the selfish inclinations of children and teach them to be productive, caring, giving people. If a friend is fine with seeing you fall into sin, if they encourage sin, or join you in sinning, they do not love you. We have confused in our culture the idea of what love actually is and what it should do. For many, love is blind tolerance to any behavior or belief. However, Love is never indifferent to sin. Love always should call you higher. Love should make you want to be a better person. Love should burn off weaknesses within us. Will we always like to hear that we aren’t perfect people? No. More often than not, it will anger us and cause division. Jesus said as much. However, we cannot expect people who love us to stand by and watch us lose our souls to mortal sin. That would be the most unloving thing a person could do, but we see people do it all the time. True love will and should cause some friction within you, Catholic Pilgrims, as it calls you out of complacency and selfishness into a life of holiness. Have a blessed Sunday.
Continue ReadingMy maternal grandfather served in WW2 in the Army. When I was a little kid, neither one of my grandfathers spoke of their time in the war. It made sense, they weren't going to burden a small child with the horrific things they witnessed. But, as I got older, both of my grandfathers began to open up. At the old country dining room table in my grandparent's home, my grandfather started to tell stories of his time serving under General Patton. At the end of the war, we were surprised to hear him talk about how he liberated a concentration camp. He closed his eyes, as if recalling the scene in his mind. He quietly said through tears, "You just can't imagine the evil that people can inflict on others." Even with all the pain he carried through the years of what he saw and dealt with, he was a wonderful man and a top-tier grandpa. I miss him dearly. We often wonder why God allows evil to exist. It's one of the strongest arguments atheists have against the existence of God. There is no slam-dunk argument to counter it, but I think the answer can be found in Christ and His Saints, like Maximillian Kolbe. Where we find terrible evil, that is where you will find the greatest stories of supernatural love. I only know what light is because I experience the absence of it--darkness. I only know what warmth is because I experience the absence of it--cold. I only know what truth is because I experience the absence of it--lies. I only know what love is because I have experienced the absence of it--hate. If you ever read the book "The Giver," you will understand this better. Now, God didn't want evil to be in this world, but He had to give us free will, otherwise, we'd be robots programmed to "love" Him. As we know, that is not real love. Through our fallen humanity, evil entered the world. It is devastating and tragic. But, when terrible evil shows up, great love always shows up, too: Christ on the Cross, St. Maximillian Kolbe giving up his life in Auschwitz for another man. It is that immense love that moves us to tears, the only way our bodies know how to express such intense feelings of awe and gratitude over people that have the courage to face evil and remind us of what our humanity should look like. The paradox of this life is that we know love because we know the absence of it, Catholic Pilgrims. We know Christ loves us because we understand the evil that put Him to death. Thank you, God, for giving us people that know how to love like Christ. St. Maximillian Kolbe, pray for us!
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