Levavi oculos meos in montes

Pippin found the sound very pleasant to listen at first; but gradually his attention wavered. After a long time (and the chant showed no sign of slackening) he found himself wondering, since Entish was such an 'unhasty' language, whether they had yet got further than Good Morning; and if Treebeard was going to call the roll, how many days it would take to sing all their names.  I wasn't particularly happy with my last post .    When I look at its individual elements, I can't see anything irredeemably bad, but the parts don't fit together that well.   I think I was going for a kind of  braiding  essay, but ended up with more of a tangle.    I'll let it stand, though.  Blogging is a way of thinking through time... a kind of temporal braiding.   My main intention in writing it was to emphasize that the skills involved in encountering other peoples' opinions -- in reading discernment , if you will, in honor of St Ignatius whose fea...

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone. " " I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”  The Hobbit Yesterday I  read John Henry Newman's Letter to the Duke of Norfolk .    Though written more than a century ago, it is quite relevant in many ways.    It is basically on the implications of the doctrine of papal infallibility , which had then just recently been defined by the Vatican I Council.   Much of what he writes in this letter is correcting Prime Minister William Gladstone's notions  on what the doctrine meant for Catholic citizens of the UK.    Though he did not fully succeed in altering Gladstone's opinions, he did provide a lucid explanation of the authority of the Church through history, the role of the doctrine of infallibility, and the cor...

 Before " and " there has to be something else. ..."be" being the operative word there.   That is, before you have some kind of joining or togetherness, before you can affirm or deny,  you have to have an implicit "IS". I am probably not saying it with maximum clarity, but that is kind of the point here.   Language itself, which is the medium for thought, is radically dependent on a preceding ground.    Chesterton is right to say that our English word "being" is not quite adequate to express this.   Now it unfortunately happens that the word ‘being’, as it comes to a modern Englishman, through modern associations, has a sort of hazy atmosphere that is not in the short and sharp Latin word. Perhaps it reminds him of fantastic professors in fiction, who wave their hands and say, “Thus do we mount to the ineffable heights of pure and radiant Being: or, worse still, of actual professors in real life, who say, “All Being is Becoming; and is ...

The War is not over (and the one that is, or the part of it, has been largely lost). But it is of course wrong to fall into such a mood, for Wars are always lost, and War always goes on; and it is no good growing faint. -- JRR Tolkien Reading Tracey Rowland's summary of what is now sometimes called " Strict Observance Thomism " revived my interest in Fr Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, a Dominican scholar who died in 1964.   He has been called the "monstre sacre" of Thomism, and someone called Richard Peddicord has written a book with that title: The Sacred Monster of Thomism Here's a short overview with list of table of contents. There are several reviews around the internet.   Of recent years there has been a revival of scholarly interest in Garrigou Lagrange, apparently.    The appellation of sacred monster was applied to Garrigou-Lagrange by Francois Mauriac, according to the book.  In French the term means   a venerable or popular public figure ...

 Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along. To look ahead,' said he. And what brought you back in the nick of time?' Looking behind,' said he.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Yesterday I finished Tracey Rowland's book Catholic Theology which I wrote a bit about here .    Rather than write out a summary I will link to two reviews both of which describe the layout of the book.    Review by Dr Pravin Thevathasan Review by Dr Joshua Furnal  Dr Furnal is a Catholic theologian, and from scanning his published works it looks like he is interested in Kierkegaard, Thomism, and possibly ecumenism.    From the details of his criticisms, he thinks she is unduly negative about Consilium-style theology and dismissive of Pope Francis's thinking.      Dr Thevathasan's review is more like the review I would write if I did write one.    The part I think everyone agrees on, that she sketches out in the cours...

“Sam was chewing an apple thoughtfully. He had a pocket full of them: a parting present from Nob and Bob. ‘Apples for walking, and a pipe for sitting,’ he said. ‘But I reckon I’ll miss them both before long.'” Fellowship of the Ring,  ‘To give your language an individual flavour, it must have woven into it the threads of an individual mythology. … The converse indeed is true, your language construction will breed a mythology’. JRR Tolkien Continuing the topic of grammar.   Both/And  can't go against the  Principle of Non-Contradiction .   This principle as stated by St Thomas is both metaphysical and logical: Thomism’s metaphysical first principle of non-contradiction (PNC) reads, “Being cannot both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect.” Its sister first principles are those of  identity  and  excluded middle . Its logical form reads, “The same predicate cannot be affirmed and denied of the same subject.” Oh, and by the way,...

“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Catholicism, a bit simplistically, always has been considered the religion of the great ‘both/and’ – not of grand exclusivities, but of synthesis. The word ‘catholic’ means precisely ‘synthesis.’ “A good and truly Catholic pastoral approach means to live in the both/and; to live one’s own humanity and the humanism of man … and, at the same time, not to forget God. … Therefore, I’d say simply to commit myself to the great Catholic synthesis, to this ‘both/and.’ “In this sense, let’s live Catholicity joyously.  -- Pope Benedict XVI  A bit more on AND continued from the previous post .    Polarization is not Catholic. A Catholic cannot think either-or (aut-aut) and reduce everything to polarization. The essence of what is Catholic is both-and (et-et)... This [saying] is not m...

 “Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to"  JRR Tolkien Tracey Rowland brings up the Catholic "And" in her book on theology.    The simple conjunction was considered "verdammt" by the Protestant theologian Karl Barth because in his view it added to the "sola" or "only" formulations of faith.    Instead of "faith alone", Catholics have "faith and works"; instead of "Bible alone" they have "Bible and Tradition." Rowland writes:  The Catholic proposition has always been able to avoid extremes, extreme alternatives: either God or the world, either God or man, either the Cross or the Resurrection, either the soul or the body. Life is immanent and contains immanent purposes, but we know, too, that the ultimate, transcendental purpose is the one that crowns all existence. Communism and laissez-faire capitalism offered a paradise on earth, in opposition to the authentic heavenly paradise tha...

 A note for physicians: if you listen carefully to what patients say, they will often tell you not only what is wrong with them but also what is wrong with you.” ― Walker Percy, Love in the Ruins I have just started reading a book by Tracey Rowland called Catholic Theology .      You can read a bit about the book here:    Tracey Rowland's Guide through the Catholic Academic "Zoo" .   She is Australian and a former member of the International Theological Commission .   The book is meant to be an introductory aerial view of the different branches of theology within the Catholic Church at this time, including a tracing of historical origins.   As she says in the interview :  Certainly I am one of those who believe that our current woes began in the 14th century with the rise of Franciscan nominalism which fed into the theology of late scholasticism which in turn fuelled the crises of the sixteenth century. As the narrative go...

Earth's returns For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin! Shut them in, With their triumphs and their glories and the rest! Love is best. --Robert Browning , Love Among the Ruins I started a page called On the Christifideles and the Media .     It has a link to the English text of Pope Pius XII's address to Catholic journalists.  The principles outlined in the resources are useful for not-especially trained laymen speaking up in their community, but also, I think are useful for Catholics reading or listening to opinion.     At least, I think they are useful reminders for myself. I also started an  Amoris Laetitia timeline  page.    This is a paradigm "Catholic genre" debate.     As well as the first level topics of marriage and the Eucharist, there are implicit presuppositions that can be thought of as underlying questions.    To what extent is a document magisterial, especially when it introduces an inn...

 This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell, We shall escape the circle and undo the spell. Often deceived, yet open once again your heart, Quick, quick, quick, quick!—the gates are drawn apart.  -- CS Lewis    “Therefore it is the paradox of history that each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts it most.” GK Chesterton    Dom Leclercq turns in Chapter 1 to the angusto initio  of the beginnings of cenobitic monasticism, focusing on the conversion of St Benedict of Nursia.   He was born a little after the Fall of Rome ,  probably around 480 AD, and sent to Rome to be educated.    St Gregory the Great tells the story:    There was a man of venerable life, Benedict by name and grace, who, from the time of his very childhood, carried the heart of an old man. His demeanor indeed exceeded his age; he gave himself no discontent or pleasure, but living here upon earth, he despised the world wit...

 The statement that the meek shall inherit the earth is very far from being a meek statement. I mean it is not meek in the ordinary sense of mild and moderate{218} and inoffensive. To justify it, it would be necessary to go very deep into history and anticipate things undreamed of then and by many unrealised even now; such as the way in which the mystical monks reclaimed the lands which the practical kings had lost. If it was a truth at all, it was because it was a prophecy. But certainly it was not a truth in the sense of a truism. The blessing upon the meek would seem to be a very violent statement; in the sense of doing violence to reason and probability.   GK Chesterton, The Everlasting Man A week ago I noted  that Sebastian Morello, a British philosopher and lecturer whose articles in the European Conservative I have been reading this past week, writes that "Catholicism has largely become an internet genre." Taken one way, this is very true, in the sense ...

“But though his fear was so great that it seemed to be part of the very darkness that was round him, he found himself as he lay thinking about Bilbo Baggins and his stories, of their jogging along together in the lanes of the Shire and talking about roads and adventures. There is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid Hobbit, waiting for some final and desperate danger to make it grow…  The current situation in the Church often reminds me of the books I grew up reading, where ordinary folk encountered great dangers, and somehow survived and flourished.    This kind of storytelling is very much embedded in Christianity.   You don't see it so much in the pagan literature, though there are sometimes hints and glimmers.     As we heard in the Novus Ordo readings last Sunday,   but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the m...

 The heart of man is not compound of lies, but draws some wisdom from the only Wise, and still recalls him. ... The right has not decayed. We make still by the law in which we're made.  JRR Tolkien, Mythopoeia    I'm trying to think out the role of the "christifideles" in the Church and specifically the best practices for communicating one's opinions and reactions.   This seems trickier now than it was in 1990 when I converted.     Yesterday I found this appeal to the cardinals , from 2018, which cites Canon 212 : The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without pre...

I give you the end of a golden string;   Only wind it into a ball,  It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate,   Built in Jerusalem’s wall.  This poem, from the artist and author William Blake, has been on my mind the past few days, since coming across it in a book called Conversion:  The Spiritual Journey of a Twentieth Century Pilgrim by Malcolm Muggeridge .    I am reading the book slowly; it is not really a narrative autobiography, but more like a series of reflections on different stages of his life with the golden string metaphor uniting them.   And it's worth reading just for the quotes, from Blake, Simone Weil and many others. It occurred to me, though I'll have to keep thinking about it to see where the analogy falls down, that there's a sense in which the golden string applies to the progress of the Catholic Church.  To make it apply, you would have to think of the Church as what Vatican II called the "pilgrim Church", th...