This Explains a Lot

First it was Lent, then it was Holy Week, then it was Bright Week. But I can only suppress my sarcasm for so long.

Plus Newt has announced that he is running for President.

Mr Instant Catholic, with Number Three on his arm, charming the Catholic voter? A beneficiary of the contemporary annulment culture, the one that shares the Good News- “Of course you get the annulment, plus you get to keep the honey”?

Like I said, this explains a lot:

Read Full Post »

Love of Enemies

The soul cannot know peace unless he prays for his enemies. The soul that has learned of God’s grace to pray, feels love and compassion for every created thing, and in particular for mankind, for whom the Lord suffered on the Cross, and His soul was heavy for every one of us.

The Lord taught me to love my enemies. Without the grace of God we cannot love our enemies. Only the Holy Spirit teaches love, and then even devils arouse our pity because they have fallen from good, and lost humility in God…..(St.Silouan the Anthonite)

Icon by Leonid Ouspensky

Read Full Post »

Children and Other Living Things

 When I was young there was a popular poster. It had a stylized flower and the caption “War is not healthy for children and other living things.” A bit winsome, perhaps, the innocent part of the hippie thing, but true nonetheless.

Indeed, the most compelling argument that the Just War theory can no longer be applied is this: in every war since World War II the number of civilian casualties has greatly exceeded the number of military casualties.

Many, even Catholics, who should know better, lightly dismiss this as “collateral damage”, but this is stretching the meaning beyond anything the framers of the Just War tradition ever dreamed. “Collateral damage” is one of those euphemisms- like “enhanced interrogation” or “products of conception”- that exists to salve the consciences of those who defend what is indefensible if described nakedly. These clinical-sounding words hide raw reality: “collateral damage” means dead children. “Products of conception” means dead babies. “Enhanced interrogation” means torture.

That so many who claim to be “prolife” defend wars which disproportionately kill innocent children is chilling.  Such callousness can only come when reality is cloaked in abstraction. Blinded by nationalism and fear, too many are willing to  ignore Our Saviour’s clear teaching.

Whatever “love your enemy” means, I am pretty sure that it does not mean killing his children.

Read Full Post »