Thank you father. I was a very bad person but have turned around since I stumple upon your youtube videos. I have been listening to your sermons and addicted to them. You have set my heart on fire to love God and ready to follow his light. Please pray for me.
Thank you Father Barron! You are an amazing philosopher, theologian, and teacher. We use your videos in my Faith of Catholics class and watch your commentaries every day. Keep fighting the good fight! You're an inspirational to all of us, and especially to me!
(8:10) “Faith opens you to this infinitely vast space of God’s intentions for you. And that’s why faith is not debilitating; faith is liberating. Faith opens up the heart, and the soul, and the mind to these infinite horizons. We are justified, saved, liberated, not by our own efforts, but by faith.” Life’s been hard lately, and listening to you revitalizes me, let me tell you.
Secularism is one of the challenges the church is encountering just like arianism or manichaens in the past that the church will overcome. This was a really good lecture Fr. Barron, thank you.
Thank you! That completely explains it at last! My brother and I were very confused by this definition. I will pass your answer on to him God bless you Father!
Holy Father, I too have a "gold watch", a Movado Men's Museum. They are beautifully designed and I've had my eye on one for a very, very long time. Finally, while wandering through the wholesale jewelry mart in Los Angeles I found one. I bought it. It was a present from me to me on my 75th birthday. "Glory be to God for All Things."
A gold watch! Really... of all the things to discuss...Father I am glad you brought out the fact the Popes nailed it and your discussion was as usual well done.
1) God bless you Father! This is an amazing video! I completely understand what you mean by the last point - during times of doubt and spiritual dryness, I always feel most afraid, limited and enslaved to the doubt itself, during times of more intense faith, I feel free (probably because that is when I am most certain that I am loved).
Given this video on faith, a discussion on the theology of iconography would make a wonderful analysis on the mysteries of faith and how the veneration of icons and statues directs us to God's incomprehensible mysteries.
go to one hour of Eucharistic Adoration. Sit silently and listen. Be receptive. Let your heart be open. If you look towards the center you will find Him. Be warned, once you realize it, you're whole life will have to change :)
Grant Morrison was in the hospital dying from a virus and Christ came to him and said "I am the hidden stone that breaks all hearts" I think that's a beautiful way to put it.
I read a book recently the an American Protestant called Tozer, and he said that God is himself like Fr Barron says. Whether the human race believes in God or not, he does not change his essence. God did not make us because he was lonely but as an overflow of his beauty. What astounds me every time in the Eucharist is that he gives the deepest personal connection than any finite thing. His son faced the most barbaric form of torture to save created beings. Hope that helps, God bless.
(7:30) “Whenever I think I will find the meaning of my life on my own terms, I lock myself in the very narrow space of my ego.” (7:52) “You are in fact justified, saved, liberated, not by your own accomplishment, but by a surrender to the purpose of God. There’s faith - Faith is a surrender to the alluring darkness of what God wants you to become.” "Alluring darkness" - Brilliant.
Also, in a similar vein, this question struck me; "Why should we believe in reason (or logic)?" Any logical reason that you give is, well, using reason (or logic) to justify the use of reason (or logic), and so it's circular reasoning. It just begs the question. I'm not saying we should abandon reason or logic (because the case against reason falls to the same problem, I think), just that using reason requires a certain kind of faith in, well, the use of reason.
One God (ipsum esse), two processions (The Son from the Father and the Spirit from the Father and the Son), three persons (subsistent relations called "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit."
A great question....I think it may be similar to how we are separated from God now. I have heard it said, that in hell, you are so inwardly focused, so self centered in yourself, that you cannot see God that is all around. Id love to hear Father Barron's response to this question though!
Every time I watch this clip and you refer to Benedict XVI as 'Papa Ratzinger' it initially makes think that you were going to say paparazzi. Fr. Barron, can you elaborate in a video on how faith can be darkness? I feel like that is where I am now in life, and perhaps a few other of your viewers can relate to that. Thank you for the videos!!!
all truth. The fulness of that truth subsists in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that He founded. The deposit of faith is entrusted to St. Peter, the apostles, and both his, and their successors the Pope, and the bishops in communion with Him who exercise the Magisterium.
Great commentary father. It always a countdown for us until you release a commentary after a book or a movie. Have you ever thought of doing a few DIY video (theology and carpentry) ?
God proves He is a "personal God" by manifesting Himself as "God the Son" (Jesus Christ). He shows us He is not removed from humanity, but intimately and inseparably part of our existence. This applies mankind as well as to each of us as individuals.
No, no! To say that God is ipsum esse is to say that God is absolutely unlimited in his being. And this in turn implies that God has all ontological perfection, very much including intellect, will, and freedom--those things that constitute personhood. Ipsum esse is the supreme person!
I live in God with faith for a long time now, He is sneaky and clever ( for lack of better words ) when he give you what you ask." Your word are obvious and completely true ! " I don"t intellectualize about God, i emotionalize about him ! I worry about the world...its so far of track with the word ...how can the vast majority be saved ? ...I would like to ask a question ; Will God, praying in the name of jesus, except my penance if I do it my self ?
What is it with people and my "gold" watch?! I can assure you, friend, that if I sold that watch, the proceeds would buy one meal for the "poor" at Bakers Square!
Father Barron I love your videos thank you so much.I have a question.Im 15 but I have been drawn so much towards Catholicism.My parents are very religious Anglicans but I went through this period of unbelief.I realised I longed for more its what I needed.One day when I was walking I just realised I need to find the truth and found it to be Catholicism. I have a plan to go through RCIA once I go away to college in a different city, but I don't know how to tell my parents or how they will react.
Father, I do not mind the watch. People will often take a metal watch to be a Rolex or Omega. There is nothing wrong with the style, and up until recently I wore metal watches that were inexpensive. To end on a theological note, the gold does emulate the heavenly splendor that is written on icons.
Father, I've been reading Thomas Merton's No Man Is an Island. The freeing aspect of faith you speak of in this video relates closely to many points in his book, am I right?
Great work, Father. I love your art selections. Caravaggio's Conversion on the Way to Damascus in the Santa Maria del Popolo shows Paul struck from his horse, but tells the whole Christ story in one image. Paul is shown lying on the ground under a horse as Christ was in the stable. But he's also in a crucifixion pose. And who but Caravaggio could have painted The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, now at Sanssouci?
is revealed and, after it is unveiled or revealed, whose inner essence cannot be fully understood by the finite mind. The incomprehensibility of revealed mysteries derives from the fact that they are manifestations of God, who is infinite and therefore beyond the complete grasp of a created intellect. Nevertheless, though incomprehensible, mysteries are intelligible. One of the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith, that is, to develop an
The problem with secularism as an ideology is that it suppresses the deepest longing of the heart for God and in that measure does enormous damage to human beings.
Science itself can never dismiss (forever) claims of other entities--that's not how science works. It tests hypotheses over and over and can create useful, working theories. However! If a scientist is honest with himself regarding what science is, he cannot outright dismiss claims of the supernatural, nor should he. It is, I think, the best tool we have as humans, but it isn't infallible.
Fr would you be able to explain what Francis is talking about with respect to space and time at the end of section 57? I've just read the encyclical but cannot get my head around that particular part. It's clearly an addition to Benedict's work by Francis. But any insights would be wonderful, thank you.
I completely agree with and understand that, its the definition of God as "the sheer act of to be itself" that confuses me However, that was a very informative and beautiful response :D Thank you very much and God bless :D
Father could you please explain what you mean by the theological virtue of Hope being " a trust that God is the sovereign Lord" in your post on the three theological virtues. This didn't help me. Thanks. Excellent post BTW, keep them coming!
I agree. This is why I found the "ipsum esse" definition so confusing. It makes sense in the abstract sense (God being so completely above everything that he is incomparable to it) but this description of God seemed to me to be cold and detached. However, Father Barron explained it how God can be both a person with a personality and the being itself :D
Of course God speaks through Hitchens writings, precisely in the measure that they are true. All being (and truth is simply the conformity between the mind and what is real) speaks of God. Now in the measure that Hitchens writings are false (and that is a large measure, in my judgment), God does not speak through them. Notice the principle: God speaks through all "things," which is to say what is real.
That wasn't exactly what I meant by my question. I did not mean if God is a "person" in the sense of "human," but in the sense of having a personality. I am aware that my view of God is NOT what God actually is, since God is greater then any human definition and human language cannot describe God. But thanks for your response :D
understanding of what God has revealed. While God is a "mystery", true things can be said with regards to Him and His ways. Over 2,000 years God revealed Himself and His ways to man in general, and then through the chosen people of God, Israel through the patriarch Abraham, the prophet Moses, and the king David as well as others. These revelations were written about, ruminated over, and eventually collected into a canon - Tanakh. Similarly, Christians believe that the Logos of God, the
>The default position is the null hypothesis. Not in any experience I've had. Most of the time it is "I won't make the claim but religious people are stupid". The contempt that the modern atheist has for the religious is so think one can cut it. A proposition has four answers: A) Don't know (not investigated) B) Yes C) No D) Can't know Only the first can be default: and would represent an initial agnosticism.
Interestingly enough, faith is a constitutive element of reason-- any argument has premises that come from either the conclusion of another argument or from some other observation, but these have premises themselves that come from other arguments/observations, and so on. So, you end up with an infinite regress of arguments, so nothing can ever be justified, unless you settle on some "ground level" beliefs... and these just need to be taken on faith.
1. God did not. We were perfect, we wandered off. Jesus came to finish perfection in a way, some say that if we would have not fallen away he would have come to finish the creation. 2. How does he not? For the eyes of the world cannot see God eyes of Faith open you the horizon. Look around how much good there is, look at nature, look at our time! 3. You have the ability to sense it. It's not wrong you are free to choose. 4. You need to open up, he is there. Blessed are the ones who seek.
Why are Holy Places dark places as CS Lewis puts it very wonderfully in Til We Have Faces. Hidden also means occult, wow I was just thinking of Newman, you read my mind. He influenced so many people. God Bless
They say if you were the only human being on earth, Jesus still would have done it for you alone. It's not Christs fault there are billions that benefit.
I believe this is why Christians, Orthodox, and Catholics refer to God - His being and His ways, as a "mystery" (from the Greek, musterion). "Mystery" is not being used here in the sense of the genre of fiction, a problem that needs to be solved, or something that can become clear or completely comprehended with some investigation and logical deduction. "Mystery" in the properly theological context means a divinely revealed truth whose very possibility cannot be rationally conceived before it
Micro-quibble: "...they believe anything" is Chesterton's most famous quote, and I'm sure somewhere he wishes he had actually said that. In The Oracle of the Dog, Father Brown says, “It’s the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense and can’t see things as they are.” In The Miracle of Moon Crescent, he tells the skeptics/dupes, “You were all balanced on the very edge of belief - of belief in almost anything.” Misquote? I think GKC would say 'common man's wisdom.'
@beutner : thanks, i believe the book definitely belongs in the historical fiction section. The author relies on Roman accounts of Jesus and i doubt they would paint Jesus as a peaceful figure after crucifying him.
1. That's a good question to take to a theologian. 2. A lot of people claim that God has shown Himself to them in our time. I guess you have to be watching for it. 3. It's actually not wrong (a sin) to lack belief. If you are living as best as you can and are contemplative and searching for God, but cannot find faith, you are not held accountable for your inabilities. What is wrong is to know and knowingly reject God. 4. That's pretty much a paraphrase of what Saint Thomas said.
In what way are the people of Europe "damaged"? And where does my longing for people to accept that gods are nowhere to be seen and thus the need to focus on solving problems we can solve to help reduce suffering rather than focus on hidden untestable entities fit in with this?
"Ipsum esse is the supreme person!" Yet, in the Catholicism series you say "God is not one being among many, not one contingent reality among many" I agree with your position and appreciate it very much, but I too have a hard time reconciling this idea with the idea of "the supreme person" maybe an idea for your next video ;)
second person of the Trinity, became Incarnate as a man and dwelt among us 2,000 years ago, restoring, recapitulating, renewing His covenant with man in Adam, and Abraham, definitively in the person of Jesus Christ and extending that covenant to all of mankind. So true things can be said of mysteries, God's "will" can be discerned based on His prior revelation and ways of interacting with man. Upon His ascension into heaven, Christ promised to send His Holy Spirit, to lead the apostles into
I want to know what books he's reading :D But I doubt that's his office . . . It probably belongs to the parish (there's usually more then one priest at a parish, though that's changing now that there are unfortunately less priests). He couldn't make a video tour of it because it would affect other people's privacy.
But on a deeper note, about him accepting your penance, you are gonna tell God you are guilty of this sin or that sin, and that you are ready and willing to atone for yourself in the form of penance, but he said it a thousand times, your sin has been dealt with by Jesus. If you are saying you have to deal with your sin, you are saying Jesus did not. Don't think of your sins as something that demands punishment, think of them as errors that need correction.
Father Barron,If my "faith" causes me depression then is something is definitely wrong with that faith.Could it be that I have been deluded by people who use the Faith to make a fool of me?
2) Howver, there is one thing that isn't clear to me: if God is the shear act of being itself, how can God also be a personal God? I have struggled with this ever since watching your "Catholicism" series. It seems to me that we are worshiping "being itself" - the act or even verb "to be" rather then a personal God, and that strikes me as more of an Eastern the Christian idea. It makes sense, but it seems to contradict everything I learned about God since grade school . . .
The priest is a symbol for us to use like a tool. He is a representative for god so WE can believe our confessions were heard. His only authority from Christ is his awareness of that authority. When you are in Christ or Christ in you, you will know you have authority in your own life. You just have to watch out for "spiritual pride" and "self righteousness". He will accept it if it is in a spirit of humility, gratitude, surrender and honesty. You bet.
God is personal in the sense that, you are the only mind that there is. I mean you can't know god through a thousand other people's knowings of him so if he isn't strictly personal to you alone and nobody else, he is useless to you. We, people just have a habit of trying to make others accept our god because if they value it, it increases our value.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I'm pretty sure you can search the Bible and Book of Mormon from cover to cover and never find the term "blind faith" used even once. Faith is the opposite of blind: it is God revealing himself to us. The new atheists seem to be arguing from the assumptions that that which is immeasurable cannot be observed, and that which has not been observed should not be believed and probably does not exist. They seem to argue that faith in the immeasurable must necessarily = a blind belief or trust in something or someone that cannot be observed or proven. An inquiring mind should instead consider if it might be possible for the immeasurable to be observed and question how. The answer is faith. Faith is the mechanism by which we observe the immeasurable, namely God and his works. Since this mechanism is particular to each individual, one man's faith cannot be shared with another. A man of faith may attempt to describe what he observes to a man without faith, and the man without faith may choose to believe it or not, but the man without faith cannot actually share the observations of the man of faith.
"Not so much the Lutheran reading of demonizing good works etc." I reacted a bit to that statement. It is a bit of a strawman. Luther did not demonize good works, he demonized good works as a way to justification. But he underlined the importance of good works as following from faith, good works only for the sake of God and neighbour. See "Concerning Christian Liberty" Luther where he writes about this topic.
This of course we do have evidence for. Mankind is pretty good at creating Gods spirits and supernatural realms. My second point is that you say God speaks through everything. Does this include lets say Christopher Hitchens book 'God is not great'? If not then what grounds do you have to dismiss God speaking through Hitchens book compared with other things on your "God speaks through everything" list?
My grandma had a watch that looked just like that from Walmart. I don't think that's even real gold pleating. I have a "gold" pocketwatch from Claire's that, being from Claire's and all, is certainly not gold (the gold paint is starting to peel off lolol)
Thank you father. I was a very bad person but have turned around since I stumple upon your youtube videos. I have been listening to your sermons and addicted to them. You have set my heart on fire to love God and ready to follow his light. Please pray for me.
Fr. Barron, I want to tell you that you're a credit to Christ's Church, and an inspiration. Thank you for all your insights, and God bless you.
Thank you Father Barron! You are an amazing philosopher, theologian, and teacher. We use your videos in my Faith of Catholics class and watch your commentaries every day. Keep fighting the good fight! You're an inspirational to all of us, and especially to me!
These are truly good news Fr. Barron.
(8:10) “Faith opens you to this infinitely vast space of God’s intentions for you. And that’s why faith is not debilitating; faith is liberating. Faith opens up the heart, and the soul, and the mind to these infinite horizons. We are justified, saved, liberated, not by our own efforts, but by faith.”
Life’s been hard lately, and listening to you revitalizes me, let me tell you.
A very good explanation by Fr. Robert Barron of salient points of the encyclical Light of Faith.
Secularism is one of the challenges the church is encountering just like arianism or manichaens in the past that the church will overcome. This was a really good lecture Fr. Barron, thank you.
Thank you! That completely explains it at last! My brother and I were very confused by this definition. I will pass your answer on to him
God bless you Father!
Holy Father, I too have a "gold watch", a Movado Men's Museum. They are beautifully designed and I've had my eye on one for a very, very long time. Finally, while wandering through the wholesale jewelry mart in Los Angeles I found one. I bought it. It was a present from me to me on my 75th birthday. "Glory be to God for All Things."
A gold watch! Really... of all the things to discuss...Father I am glad you brought out the fact the Popes nailed it and your discussion was as usual well done.
Well, God bless you for that. Please keep praying for me. I promise to pray for you.
Papa Franceso! Amazing work Bishop! Thank you for being my generation's Fulton Sheen.
Thank you Bishop Barron
It's like a sound heard at another frequency. Thanks again!
people are so fast to dismiss my faith, but you know what, I feel really lucky to have it
1) God bless you Father! This is an amazing video! I completely understand what you mean by the last point - during times of doubt and spiritual dryness, I always feel most afraid, limited and enslaved to the doubt itself, during times of more intense faith, I feel free (probably because that is when I am most certain that I am loved).
Given this video on faith, a discussion on the theology of iconography would make a wonderful analysis on the mysteries of faith and how the veneration of icons and statues directs us to God's incomprehensible mysteries.
go to one hour of Eucharistic Adoration. Sit silently and listen. Be receptive. Let your heart be open. If you look towards the center you will find Him. Be warned, once you realize it, you're whole life will have to change :)
Grant Morrison was in the hospital dying from a virus and Christ came to him and said "I am the hidden stone that breaks all hearts" I think that's a beautiful way to put it.
This is wonderful! You're such a great communicator of this. Yet again thank you!
Faith can never be internalized its the foundation of our existence
Boom!!! That's great! I look forward to reading this encyclical. Thanks for your insight!!!
❤
I read a book recently the an American Protestant called Tozer, and he said that God is himself like Fr Barron says. Whether the human race believes in God or not, he does not change his essence. God did not make us because he was lonely but as an overflow of his beauty. What astounds me every time in the Eucharist is that he gives the deepest personal connection than any finite thing. His son faced the most barbaric form of torture to save created beings. Hope that helps, God bless.
(7:30) “Whenever I think I will find the meaning of my life on my own terms, I lock myself in the very narrow space of my ego.”
(7:52) “You are in fact justified, saved, liberated, not by your own accomplishment, but by a surrender to the purpose of God. There’s faith - Faith is a surrender to the alluring darkness of what God wants you to become.”
"Alluring darkness" - Brilliant.
Yes!
Not to mention the fact that God became Man in Jesus Christ....that's really personal!
Thank you Father for your great work!
God bless you!
Yes, Fr. Barron please do a video on that new book Zealot.
To all of my agnostic and atheist brothers and sisters,
Also, in a similar vein, this question struck me; "Why should we believe in reason (or logic)?" Any logical reason that you give is, well, using reason (or logic) to justify the use of reason (or logic), and so it's circular reasoning. It just begs the question. I'm not saying we should abandon reason or logic (because the case against reason falls to the same problem, I think), just that using reason requires a certain kind of faith in, well, the use of reason.
Ah, the wisdom and wit of Chesterton!!
Thank you so much for your explanation.
I just recently discovered your videos and have subscribed! Thank you and please keep up the awesome work!
One God (ipsum esse), two processions (The Son from the Father and the Spirit from the Father and the Son), three persons (subsistent relations called "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit."
A great question....I think it may be similar to how we are separated from God now. I have heard it said, that in hell, you are so inwardly focused, so self centered in yourself, that you cannot see God that is all around. Id love to hear Father Barron's response to this question though!
Fr. Barron please do a commentary on "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth"
Every time I watch this clip and you refer to Benedict XVI as 'Papa Ratzinger' it initially makes think that you were going to say paparazzi. Fr. Barron, can you elaborate in a video on how faith can be darkness? I feel like that is where I am now in life, and perhaps a few other of your viewers can relate to that. Thank you for the videos!!!
all truth. The fulness of that truth subsists in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that He founded. The deposit of faith is entrusted to St. Peter, the apostles, and both his, and their successors the Pope, and the bishops in communion with Him who exercise the Magisterium.
Great commentary father. It always a countdown for us until you release a commentary after a book or a movie. Have you ever thought of doing a few DIY video (theology and carpentry) ?
God proves He is a "personal God" by manifesting Himself as "God the Son" (Jesus Christ). He shows us He is not removed from humanity, but intimately and inseparably part of our existence. This applies mankind as well as to each of us as individuals.
Whatever is causing your depression is not faith as such. It is some distortion of faith or some unhealthy concomitant of faith.
awesome !
No, no! To say that God is ipsum esse is to say that God is absolutely unlimited in his being. And this in turn implies that God has all ontological perfection, very much including intellect, will, and freedom--those things that constitute personhood. Ipsum esse is the supreme person!
Dang Fr Barron goes hard here.
I live in God with faith for a long time now, He is sneaky and clever ( for lack of better words ) when he give you what you ask." Your word are obvious and completely true ! " I don"t intellectualize about God, i emotionalize about him ! I worry about the world...its so far of track with the word ...how can the vast majority be saved ? ...I would like to ask a question ; Will God, praying in the name of jesus, except my penance if I do it my self ?
What is it with people and my "gold" watch?! I can assure you, friend, that if I sold that watch, the proceeds would buy one meal for the "poor" at Bakers Square!
Great video
thank you great video!
AMEN
Father Barron I love your videos thank you so much.I have a question.Im 15 but I have been drawn so much towards Catholicism.My parents are very religious Anglicans but I went through this period of unbelief.I realised I longed for more its what I needed.One day when I was walking I just realised I need to find the truth and found it to be Catholicism. I have a plan to go through RCIA once I go away to college in a different city, but I don't know how to tell my parents or how they will react.
Father, I do not mind the watch. People will often take a metal watch to be a Rolex or Omega. There is nothing wrong with the style, and up until recently I wore metal watches that were inexpensive. To end on a theological note, the gold does emulate the heavenly splendor that is written on icons.
Father, I've been reading Thomas Merton's No Man Is an Island. The freeing aspect of faith you speak of in this video relates closely to many points in his book, am I right?
Great work, Father. I love your art selections. Caravaggio's Conversion on the Way to Damascus in the Santa Maria del Popolo shows Paul struck from his horse, but tells the whole Christ story in one image. Paul is shown lying on the ground under a horse as Christ was in the stable. But he's also in a crucifixion pose.
And who but Caravaggio could have painted The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, now at Sanssouci?
is revealed and, after it is unveiled or revealed, whose inner essence cannot be fully understood by the finite mind. The incomprehensibility of revealed mysteries derives from the fact that they are manifestations of God, who is infinite and therefore beyond the complete grasp of a created intellect. Nevertheless, though incomprehensible, mysteries are intelligible. One of the primary duties of a believer is, through prayer, study, and experience, to grow in faith, that is, to develop an
The problem with secularism as an ideology is that it suppresses the deepest longing of the heart for God and in that measure does enormous damage to human beings.
Science itself can never dismiss (forever) claims of other entities--that's not how science works. It tests hypotheses over and over and can create useful, working theories. However! If a scientist is honest with himself regarding what science is, he cannot outright dismiss claims of the supernatural, nor should he. It is, I think, the best tool we have as humans, but it isn't infallible.
Not so! Those are depictions of the altogether classically orthodox idea that God is the architect and designer of the universe.
Father Barron sir, I have a request. If you ever find time in your busy schedule, will you make a second commentary about the new Super man?
Fr would you be able to explain what Francis is talking about with respect to space and time at the end of section 57? I've just read the encyclical but cannot get my head around that particular part. It's clearly an addition to Benedict's work by Francis. But any insights would be wonderful, thank you.
I completely agree with and understand that, its the definition of God as "the sheer act of to be itself" that confuses me
However, that was a very informative and beautiful response :D
Thank you very much and God bless :D
Father could you please explain what you mean by the theological virtue of Hope being " a trust that God is the sovereign Lord" in your post on the three theological virtues. This didn't help me. Thanks.
Excellent post BTW, keep them coming!
I agree. This is why I found the "ipsum esse" definition so confusing. It makes sense in the abstract sense (God being so completely above everything that he is incomparable to it) but this description of God seemed to me to be cold and detached. However, Father Barron explained it how God can be both a person with a personality and the being itself :D
I MUST ask, what is the painting at 4:15 called? Who is the artist of that beautiful portrait of Christ? I appreciate the help!
Sacrae Theologiae Doctor. (Doctor of Sacred Theology).
Of course God speaks through Hitchens writings, precisely in the measure that they are true. All being (and truth is simply the conformity between the mind and what is real) speaks of God. Now in the measure that Hitchens writings are false (and that is a large measure, in my judgment), God does not speak through them. Notice the principle: God speaks through all "things," which is to say what is real.
Exactly.
That wasn't exactly what I meant by my question. I did not mean if God is a "person" in the sense of "human," but in the sense of having a personality. I am aware that my view of God is NOT what God actually is, since God is greater then any human definition and human language cannot describe God. But thanks for your response :D
understanding of what God has revealed. While God is a "mystery", true things can be said with regards to Him and His ways. Over 2,000 years God revealed Himself and His ways to man in general, and then through the chosen people of God, Israel through the patriarch Abraham, the prophet Moses, and the king David as well as others. These revelations were written about, ruminated over, and eventually collected into a canon - Tanakh. Similarly, Christians believe that the Logos of God, the
>The default position is the null hypothesis.
Not in any experience I've had. Most of the time it is "I won't make the claim but religious people are stupid". The contempt that the modern atheist has for the religious is so think one can cut it.
A proposition has four answers:
A) Don't know (not investigated)
B) Yes
C) No
D) Can't know
Only the first can be default: and would represent an initial agnosticism.
Interestingly enough, faith is a constitutive element of reason-- any argument has premises that come from either the conclusion of another argument or from some other observation, but these have premises themselves that come from other arguments/observations, and so on. So, you end up with an infinite regress of arguments, so nothing can ever be justified, unless you settle on some "ground level" beliefs... and these just need to be taken on faith.
1. God did not. We were perfect, we wandered off. Jesus came to finish perfection in a way, some say that if we would have not fallen away he would have come to finish the creation.
2. How does he not? For the eyes of the world cannot see God eyes of Faith open you the horizon. Look around how much good there is, look at nature, look at our time!
3. You have the ability to sense it. It's not wrong you are free to choose.
4. You need to open up, he is there. Blessed are the ones who seek.
Why are Holy Places dark places as CS Lewis puts it very wonderfully in Til We Have Faces. Hidden also means occult, wow I was just thinking of Newman, you read my mind. He influenced so many people. God Bless
(person x 3)? Is ipsum esse similar to or part of homooúsios? Am I understanding this teaching correctly?
They say if you were the only human being on earth, Jesus still would have done it for you alone. It's not Christs fault there are billions that benefit.
Quite Nice. A+
amen...
I believe this is why Christians, Orthodox, and Catholics refer to God - His being and His ways, as a "mystery" (from the Greek, musterion). "Mystery" is not being used here in the sense of the genre of fiction, a problem that needs to be solved, or something that can become clear or completely comprehended with some investigation and logical deduction. "Mystery" in the properly theological context means a divinely revealed truth whose very possibility cannot be rationally conceived before it
Micro-quibble: "...they believe anything" is Chesterton's most famous quote, and I'm sure somewhere he wishes he had actually said that. In The Oracle of the Dog, Father Brown says, “It’s the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense and can’t see things as they are.” In The Miracle of Moon Crescent, he tells the skeptics/dupes, “You were all balanced on the very edge of belief - of belief in almost anything.” Misquote? I think GKC would say 'common man's wisdom.'
A second one?
@beutner : thanks, i believe the book definitely belongs in the historical fiction section. The author relies on Roman accounts of Jesus and i doubt they would paint Jesus as a peaceful figure after crucifying him.
1. That's a good question to take to a theologian. 2. A lot of people claim that God has shown Himself to them in our time. I guess you have to be watching for it. 3. It's actually not wrong (a sin) to lack belief. If you are living as best as you can and are contemplative and searching for God, but cannot find faith, you are not held accountable for your inabilities. What is wrong is to know and knowingly reject God. 4. That's pretty much a paraphrase of what Saint Thomas said.
In what way are the people of Europe "damaged"? And where does my longing for people to accept that gods are nowhere to be seen and thus the need to focus on solving problems we can solve to help reduce suffering rather than focus on hidden untestable entities fit in with this?
"Ipsum esse is the supreme person!"
Yet, in the Catholicism series you say "God is not one being among many, not one contingent reality among many"
I agree with your position and appreciate it very much, but I too have a hard time reconciling this idea with the idea of "the supreme person"
maybe an idea for your next video ;)
Science could in principle dismiss material entities, it could do so by surveying the entirety of the universe.
second person of the Trinity, became Incarnate as a man and dwelt among us 2,000 years ago, restoring, recapitulating, renewing His covenant with man in Adam, and Abraham, definitively in the person of Jesus Christ and extending that covenant to all of mankind. So true things can be said of mysteries, God's "will" can be discerned based on His prior revelation and ways of interacting with man. Upon His ascension into heaven, Christ promised to send His Holy Spirit, to lead the apostles into
I want to know what books he's reading :D But I doubt that's his office . . . It probably belongs to the parish (there's usually more then one priest at a parish, though that's changing now that there are unfortunately less priests). He couldn't make a video tour of it because it would affect other people's privacy.
But on a deeper note, about him accepting your penance, you are gonna tell God you are guilty of this sin or that sin, and that you are ready and willing to atone for yourself in the form of penance, but he said it a thousand times, your sin has been dealt with by Jesus. If you are saying you have to deal with your sin, you are saying Jesus did not. Don't think of your sins as something that demands punishment, think of them as errors that need correction.
Father Barron,If my "faith" causes me depression then is something is definitely wrong with that faith.Could it be that I have been deluded by people who use the Faith to make a fool of me?
I second that
2) Howver, there is one thing that isn't clear to me: if God is the shear act of being itself, how can God also be a personal God? I have struggled with this ever since watching your "Catholicism" series. It seems to me that we are worshiping "being itself" - the act or even verb "to be" rather then a personal God, and that strikes me as more of an Eastern the Christian idea. It makes sense, but it seems to contradict everything I learned about God since grade school . . .
The priest is a symbol for us to use like a tool. He is a representative for god so WE can believe our confessions were heard. His only authority from Christ is his awareness of that authority. When you are in Christ or Christ in you, you will know you have authority in your own life. You just have to watch out for "spiritual pride" and "self righteousness". He will accept it if it is in a spirit of humility, gratitude, surrender and honesty. You bet.
God is personal in the sense that, you are the only mind that there is. I mean you can't know god through a thousand other people's knowings of him so if he isn't strictly personal to you alone and nobody else, he is useless to you. We, people just have a habit of trying to make others accept our god because if they value it, it increases our value.
he did
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I'm pretty sure you can search the Bible and Book of Mormon from cover to cover and never find the term "blind faith" used even once. Faith is the opposite of blind: it is God revealing himself to us. The new atheists seem to be arguing from the assumptions that that which is immeasurable cannot be observed, and that which has not been observed should not be believed and probably does not exist. They seem to argue that faith in the immeasurable must necessarily = a blind belief or trust in something or someone that cannot be observed or proven. An inquiring mind should instead consider if it might be possible for the immeasurable to be observed and question how. The answer is faith. Faith is the mechanism by which we observe the immeasurable, namely God and his works. Since this mechanism is particular to each individual, one man's faith cannot be shared with another. A man of faith may attempt to describe what he observes to a man without faith, and the man without faith may choose to believe it or not, but the man without faith cannot actually share the observations of the man of faith.
"Not so much the Lutheran reading of demonizing good works etc."
I reacted a bit to that statement. It is a bit of a strawman. Luther did not demonize good works, he demonized good works as a way to justification. But he underlined the importance of good works as following from faith, good works only for the sake of God and neighbour. See "Concerning Christian Liberty" Luther where he writes about this topic.
I can't tell with certainty just what kind of watch Father is wearing, but from a distance it looks an awful lot like my old Timex.
Why give it to the poor? What do you do for the poor?
Can't imagine how much difficulty you have when explaining this to young people. Some people just need to grow up.
This of course we do have evidence for. Mankind is pretty good at creating Gods spirits and supernatural realms.
My second point is that you say God speaks through everything. Does this include lets say Christopher Hitchens book 'God is not great'? If not then what grounds do you have to dismiss God speaking through Hitchens book compared with other things on your "God speaks through everything" list?
My grandma had a watch that looked just like that from Walmart. I don't think that's even real gold pleating. I have a "gold" pocketwatch from Claire's that, being from Claire's and all, is certainly not gold (the gold paint is starting to peel off lolol)