HAPPINESS
"In nothing (...) should one be more careful (...) than not to follow, like sheep, the footsteps of the other sheep ahead lf us. Without paying attention to where the path is leading us, but rather, paying attention only to the characteristics of the path itself. For nothing entangles us in greater evils than to allow ourselves to be carried away by opinion, judging as good what we have received by the consent of many, following their example and governing ourselves, not by reason, but by imitation, which results in us running over one another, causing what happens in the great ruins of towns, in which no one falls without many others following him, the first ones being the occasion of the loss of all the rest. [...] If we turn away from the mob, we shall gain health, because the people are staunch defenders of their errors against reason, and this what happens in бюelections, in which the electors, when the weak favour returns to them, admire the judges whom they themselves have appointed. The same thing that we approved of before, we come to reprove. That this is the end of all business in which the greatest number of votes are cast. [...] When it is a question of the blessed life, it is not right to answer what is usually said when voting: "This is the opinion of the majority," for that is the worst thing, because the things of men are not in such a good state that the majority is pleased with what is best; but rather it is a sign of being bad to approve it by the mob. Let us seek what is well done, and not that which is more worn out; that which will place us in the possession of eternal happiness, and not that which the vulgar, the erroneous investigator of truth, classifies. And I call vulgar, not only those who wear vulgar clothes, but also those who wear precious ones; for I do not look at the colours with which bodies are covered, nor do I give credit to the eyes to judge of man; I have another better and surer light by which to discern the false from the true. (...)".
"Moral Treatises" - Seneca.
#HAPPINESS
"In nothing (...) should one be more careful (...) than not to follow, like sheep, the footsteps of the other sheep ahead lf us. Without paying attention to where the path is leading us, but rather, paying attention only to the characteristics of the path itself. For nothing entangles us in greater evils than to allow ourselves to be carried away by opinion, judging as good what we have received by the consent of many, following their example and governing ourselves, not by reason, but by imitation, which results in us running over one another, causing what happens in the great ruins of towns, in which no one falls without many others following him, the first ones being the occasion of the loss of all the rest. [...] If we turn away from the mob, we shall gain health, because the people are staunch defenders of their errors against reason, and this what happens in бюelections, in which the electors, when the weak favour returns to them, admire the judges whom they themselves have appointed. The same thing that we approved of before, we come to reprove. That this is the end of all business in which the greatest number of votes are cast. [...] When it is a question of the blessed life, it is not right to answer what is usually said when voting: "This is the opinion of the majority," for that is the worst thing, because the things of men are not in such a good state that the majority is pleased with what is best; but rather it is a sign of being bad to approve it by the mob. Let us seek what is well done, and not that which is more worn out; that which will place us in the possession of eternal happiness, and not that which the vulgar, the erroneous investigator of truth, classifies. And I call vulgar, not only those who wear vulgar clothes, but also those who wear precious ones; for I do not look at the colours with which bodies are covered, nor do I give credit to the eyes to judge of man; I have another better and surer light by which to discern the false from the true. (...)".
"Moral Treatises" - Seneca.
#HAPPINESS
VARIOUS ARTICLES
"It is rather enigmatic how a scientist can adopt scientism because science and scientism are incompatible. Science owes its success in large part to the fact that it adopts particular or restricted points of view, avoiding questions that fall outside its scope. Scientists concentrate on very specific issues and use rigorous methods to study them, avoiding extrapolations and unwarranted generalisations. In contrast, scientism is an unfounded generalisation, a bad philosophy that presents itself as science or as a consequence of science. To use Dawkins' terminology, scientism is a virus of the mind. Many scientists are probably somewhat accidentally and unconsciously so. But when scientism is taken seriously, it becomes a kind of pseudo-religion that provides a meaning to life and an ideal to strive for. Conversion to such robust scientism is usually due to two factors: disillusionment with some form of religion, and the discovery that science is wonderful and seems to provide meaning and values as well as knowledge".
"Oracles of science, famous scientists against God and religion" - Mariano Artigas and Karl W Giberson
#VARIOUSARTICLES
"It is rather enigmatic how a scientist can adopt scientism because science and scientism are incompatible. Science owes its success in large part to the fact that it adopts particular or restricted points of view, avoiding questions that fall outside its scope. Scientists concentrate on very specific issues and use rigorous methods to study them, avoiding extrapolations and unwarranted generalisations. In contrast, scientism is an unfounded generalisation, a bad philosophy that presents itself as science or as a consequence of science. To use Dawkins' terminology, scientism is a virus of the mind. Many scientists are probably somewhat accidentally and unconsciously so. But when scientism is taken seriously, it becomes a kind of pseudo-religion that provides a meaning to life and an ideal to strive for. Conversion to such robust scientism is usually due to two factors: disillusionment with some form of religion, and the discovery that science is wonderful and seems to provide meaning and values as well as knowledge".
"Oracles of science, famous scientists against God and religion" - Mariano Artigas and Karl W Giberson
#VARIOUSARTICLES
RELIGIOUS ARTICLES
"In the way of God, not to go forward is to turn back (...) He who has taken the cross and begun the way of perfection, and turns back, is not fit for the kingdom of Heaven (...) St. Augustine says: (...) we do not turn back when we strive to go forward, it is when we stop when we start to turn back (...) if we do not want to turn back, we must always walk and strive to go forward (...) St. Bernard follows this thought at greater length in two of his epistles....) if we do not want to turn back, we must always walk and strive to go forward (...) There he speaks to the (...) lazy and lukewarm man, who is content with a common life, and does not want to go forward in his own advantage, and he argues with him in this way:
- Dont you want to go forward?
- No.
- Then do you want to go back?
- No.
- What do you want then?
- I want to be as I am; I don't want to be better or worse.
- You want to do what is impossible to do. For in this world there is nothing that can remain (...) of God alone is that (...) All the things of the world are in continual change (...)
(...) Christ himself (...) while he was seen on earth and conversed with men, did he perchance stand still? No. (...) as he grew in age, so he grew in wisdom and grace before God and man (...) And the Prophet says that he prepared himself to run this way (Ps 18:6): He was glad as a giant to run his race. For if we want to remain with Christ, we must walk as he walked, says St. John (1 Jn 2, 6). For if, while Christ is running, you do not run after him, but stand still, it is clear that you will fall far behind him and be left far behind (...).
Jacob saw (Gen 28, 12) a ladder reaching from the ground to Heaven; and he saw angels on it, but none of them were sitting or standing, but they were either ascending or descending; only God was sitting at the top of the ladder (...) in this life in the way of virtue there is no middle way between ascending and descending, between going forward and going backward, but in the same case that one does not go forward, one goes backward (...).
Thus at sea, the calm is a kind of serious storm, (...) very dangerous for sailors, because they use up the provisions they had for the journey, and then they were left without provisions in the middle of the sea, and so it happens to those who sailing on the stormy sea of this world, who have become becalmed in virtue (...) consume and spend what they have acquired, and the virtue they had runs out, and then they are left with nothing in the midst of many waves and storms of temptations that arise and other occasions of sin, for which they were in need of more provision and more abundance of virtue. Woe to him who has become becalmed in virtue! (Gal 5:7). You were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? You began to run well at the beginning, when you entered into religion, and now you have run around and become calm in virtue (1 Cor 4:8): You have had your fill, you have become rich, and what you have is enough for you. See that you have a long way to go (1 Ry 19, 7), and many occasions will offer themselves to you for which you will need more humility, more patience, more mortification and indifference, and you will find yourselves unnoticed and far behind, at the time of the greatest need [...]".
"Exercise of perfection and Christian virtues" - Father Alonso Rodriguez S. J.
#RELIGIOUSARTICLES
"In the way of God, not to go forward is to turn back (...) He who has taken the cross and begun the way of perfection, and turns back, is not fit for the kingdom of Heaven (...) St. Augustine says: (...) we do not turn back when we strive to go forward, it is when we stop when we start to turn back (...) if we do not want to turn back, we must always walk and strive to go forward (...) St. Bernard follows this thought at greater length in two of his epistles....) if we do not want to turn back, we must always walk and strive to go forward (...) There he speaks to the (...) lazy and lukewarm man, who is content with a common life, and does not want to go forward in his own advantage, and he argues with him in this way:
- Dont you want to go forward?
- No.
- Then do you want to go back?
- No.
- What do you want then?
- I want to be as I am; I don't want to be better or worse.
- You want to do what is impossible to do. For in this world there is nothing that can remain (...) of God alone is that (...) All the things of the world are in continual change (...)
(...) Christ himself (...) while he was seen on earth and conversed with men, did he perchance stand still? No. (...) as he grew in age, so he grew in wisdom and grace before God and man (...) And the Prophet says that he prepared himself to run this way (Ps 18:6): He was glad as a giant to run his race. For if we want to remain with Christ, we must walk as he walked, says St. John (1 Jn 2, 6). For if, while Christ is running, you do not run after him, but stand still, it is clear that you will fall far behind him and be left far behind (...).
Jacob saw (Gen 28, 12) a ladder reaching from the ground to Heaven; and he saw angels on it, but none of them were sitting or standing, but they were either ascending or descending; only God was sitting at the top of the ladder (...) in this life in the way of virtue there is no middle way between ascending and descending, between going forward and going backward, but in the same case that one does not go forward, one goes backward (...).
Thus at sea, the calm is a kind of serious storm, (...) very dangerous for sailors, because they use up the provisions they had for the journey, and then they were left without provisions in the middle of the sea, and so it happens to those who sailing on the stormy sea of this world, who have become becalmed in virtue (...) consume and spend what they have acquired, and the virtue they had runs out, and then they are left with nothing in the midst of many waves and storms of temptations that arise and other occasions of sin, for which they were in need of more provision and more abundance of virtue. Woe to him who has become becalmed in virtue! (Gal 5:7). You were running well, who hindered you from obeying the truth? You began to run well at the beginning, when you entered into religion, and now you have run around and become calm in virtue (1 Cor 4:8): You have had your fill, you have become rich, and what you have is enough for you. See that you have a long way to go (1 Ry 19, 7), and many occasions will offer themselves to you for which you will need more humility, more patience, more mortification and indifference, and you will find yourselves unnoticed and far behind, at the time of the greatest need [...]".
"Exercise of perfection and Christian virtues" - Father Alonso Rodriguez S. J.
#RELIGIOUSARTICLES
VARIOUS ARTICLES
"Social networks have a preference for image, favouring exposure through images, in such a way that through images they propose to the user to represent everything: their life, their behaviour, their daily life, even their 'thoughts' with the famous 'memes', which are short messages accompanied by... an image. One perceives an absence of space for an expansion of the world of the idea, which requires a development for which there is no 'time' in the immediacy of the networks, where everything must be said now and hopefully in funny and creative ways... hopefully with images.
Even when topics are addressed that would require a greater argumentative development, as when on Facebook someone talks about abortion, for example, the comments area is full of people who want to settle the issue in two lines, the solidity of the idea matters little, what is sought is to impress with some short but witty phrase that crushes the 'opponent' or ridicules him in front of others. [...]
[...] We repeat that it is not our intention to elaborate here an apocalyptic plea against social networks, nothing of the sort. But we would like to draw attention to the model of 'thinking' that derives from their irrational use. And by 'irrational' we mean the use made of it by people who spend hours and hours daily in front of their 'networks', as if oblivious to the real world around them.
We believe that such a model of 'thinking' centred on the image, on immediacy, on the concrete, on the individual, etc., if turned into a habit through an almost addictive use of the networks, could inevitably lead to a weakening of the abstract capacities of human intelligence, negatively impacting not only the possibility of thinking in depth about transcendent and truly important issues, but at the same time, and given the connection between the cognitive and volitional spheres, reducing the person's actions to the material and sensitive universe, which is the one that belongs to the image sold by the networks. [...]"
Source
#VARIOUSARTICLES
"Social networks have a preference for image, favouring exposure through images, in such a way that through images they propose to the user to represent everything: their life, their behaviour, their daily life, even their 'thoughts' with the famous 'memes', which are short messages accompanied by... an image. One perceives an absence of space for an expansion of the world of the idea, which requires a development for which there is no 'time' in the immediacy of the networks, where everything must be said now and hopefully in funny and creative ways... hopefully with images.
Even when topics are addressed that would require a greater argumentative development, as when on Facebook someone talks about abortion, for example, the comments area is full of people who want to settle the issue in two lines, the solidity of the idea matters little, what is sought is to impress with some short but witty phrase that crushes the 'opponent' or ridicules him in front of others. [...]
[...] We repeat that it is not our intention to elaborate here an apocalyptic plea against social networks, nothing of the sort. But we would like to draw attention to the model of 'thinking' that derives from their irrational use. And by 'irrational' we mean the use made of it by people who spend hours and hours daily in front of their 'networks', as if oblivious to the real world around them.
We believe that such a model of 'thinking' centred on the image, on immediacy, on the concrete, on the individual, etc., if turned into a habit through an almost addictive use of the networks, could inevitably lead to a weakening of the abstract capacities of human intelligence, negatively impacting not only the possibility of thinking in depth about transcendent and truly important issues, but at the same time, and given the connection between the cognitive and volitional spheres, reducing the person's actions to the material and sensitive universe, which is the one that belongs to the image sold by the networks. [...]"
Source
#VARIOUSARTICLES
❤1
VARIOUS ARTICLES
"The more talented a man is, the more he should listen to the advice of another. For talent puffs up and makes one think he knows everything. And, therefore, it exposes one to error in many things that a man of talent does not know. For to have talent is not to have wisdom".
"Formación de selectos" - Ángel Ayala
#VARIOUSARTICLES
"The more talented a man is, the more he should listen to the advice of another. For talent puffs up and makes one think he knows everything. And, therefore, it exposes one to error in many things that a man of talent does not know. For to have talent is not to have wisdom".
"Formación de selectos" - Ángel Ayala
#VARIOUSARTICLES
JUAN MANUEL DE PRADA
[...] Islam has for some time now been engaged in stirring up contradictions in the West, taking refuge in the doctrine advocated by Libya's Gaddafi: ‘Allah will guarantee the Islamic victory without swords, without guns, without conquest. We need no terrorists, no suicide bombers. The more than fifty million Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent in a few decades'. And while the victory comes [...] Islam entertains itself by proposing Sadducean traps that will shorten those few decades [...].
[...] civilisations are founded by religions; and, with the decline of religions, civilisations die out, to the point of extinction. Human coexistence requires a collective bond, an adherence to a particular vision of the world that only a common religious belief provides: when such a common belief takes root, as in Islam, it is possible to undertake joint undertakings with enthusiasm; when such a common belief is disintegrated, corrupted or replaced by idolatries of different political sign, as in the West, not only is it impossible to undertake joint undertakings, but human coexistence itself becomes unsustainable. ‘A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within’, wrote Will Durant; and in Islam they know well how to precipitate that destruction [...].
‘Removing the veils from the eyes’ - Book “Swimming against the current” pages 55 to 56.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
[...] Islam has for some time now been engaged in stirring up contradictions in the West, taking refuge in the doctrine advocated by Libya's Gaddafi: ‘Allah will guarantee the Islamic victory without swords, without guns, without conquest. We need no terrorists, no suicide bombers. The more than fifty million Muslims in Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent in a few decades'. And while the victory comes [...] Islam entertains itself by proposing Sadducean traps that will shorten those few decades [...].
[...] civilisations are founded by religions; and, with the decline of religions, civilisations die out, to the point of extinction. Human coexistence requires a collective bond, an adherence to a particular vision of the world that only a common religious belief provides: when such a common belief takes root, as in Islam, it is possible to undertake joint undertakings with enthusiasm; when such a common belief is disintegrated, corrupted or replaced by idolatries of different political sign, as in the West, not only is it impossible to undertake joint undertakings, but human coexistence itself becomes unsustainable. ‘A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within’, wrote Will Durant; and in Islam they know well how to precipitate that destruction [...].
‘Removing the veils from the eyes’ - Book “Swimming against the current” pages 55 to 56.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
HAPPINESS
"The true good of the body is perfectly reconciled and harmonised with the good of the soul. The first good of the body is health, and nothing so procures and preserves health as the victory over the evil passions. Therefore, by condemning the passions and helping us to overcome them, the Church frees us from most of the destructive causes of our bodily well-being.
Let ambition, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, sloth, with all the evils which these degrading vices bring with them, be suppressed, and the majority of men will enjoy sweet well-being and true happiness. On the other hand, it is easy to prove that fortitude, prudence, justice, temperance, and the other virtues which flow from them, procure for the Christian pure and delicate joys, infinitely superior to the gross enjoyments of the senses.
Man is the happier the more industrious, the more sober, the more charitable, the less desire he has, and the greater the peace he enjoys. In former times, when religion was better practised than it is today, there were very many citizens who enjoyed this happiness.
As for the sufferings, which are inseparable from human life, the Church diminishes and alleviates them. She diminishes them by the resignation and patience which she inspires; she alleviates them by all the means of her inexhaustible charity.
Therefore, the Church procures for the man who practices her divine teachings happiness even on earth. [...]"
"Religion Demonstrated" - Father Hillarie
#HAPPINESS
"The true good of the body is perfectly reconciled and harmonised with the good of the soul. The first good of the body is health, and nothing so procures and preserves health as the victory over the evil passions. Therefore, by condemning the passions and helping us to overcome them, the Church frees us from most of the destructive causes of our bodily well-being.
Let ambition, avarice, impurity, drunkenness, sloth, with all the evils which these degrading vices bring with them, be suppressed, and the majority of men will enjoy sweet well-being and true happiness. On the other hand, it is easy to prove that fortitude, prudence, justice, temperance, and the other virtues which flow from them, procure for the Christian pure and delicate joys, infinitely superior to the gross enjoyments of the senses.
Man is the happier the more industrious, the more sober, the more charitable, the less desire he has, and the greater the peace he enjoys. In former times, when religion was better practised than it is today, there were very many citizens who enjoyed this happiness.
As for the sufferings, which are inseparable from human life, the Church diminishes and alleviates them. She diminishes them by the resignation and patience which she inspires; she alleviates them by all the means of her inexhaustible charity.
Therefore, the Church procures for the man who practices her divine teachings happiness even on earth. [...]"
"Religion Demonstrated" - Father Hillarie
#HAPPINESS
CHASTITY AND MARRIAGE
THE HUSBAND'S DECALOGUE:
1. Get your life sorted out - at least fundamentally - before you start a family.
2. Your work is important, but don't let it absorb you in such a way that it takes time that you owe to your loved ones.
3. Good humour, a permanent serenity of spirit, is the most valuable gift you can offer your wife and children.
4. Your wife should be your best friend and companion. And you should have at least the same attentions towards her as you had when she was just your girlfriend.
5. Respect her field of work. There are few things so ridiculous and harmful as a fussy husband who is meddling in his wife's own affairs.
6. If your wife is fit for a profession - except for housekeeping - let her have it.
7. In relation to your children, don't forget that educating is an art. A difficult and delicate art, made up of a little science, a lot of good sense and, above all, a lot of love.
8. Example is the key to education. Earn respect and obedience by your actions.
9. Be very manly in everything, but bear in mind that this is perfectly compatible with the signs of affection that your loved ones need.
10. And if you are fortunate enough to be a believer, may Christ be the light and joy of your life in the fulfilment of your duties as a father and husband.
THE WIFE'S DECALOGUE:
1. The home will be what you make of it. That must be the great work of your life.
2. The immediate administration of property is yours. Be far-sighted, prudent and with great common sense.
3. May your good taste and your care - more than your money - make your home a welcoming refuge for all those who make up your family.
4. Always try to remain your husband's bride. And let it show in your words as well as in your presentation.
5. Never forget that before your own children - and of course your parents - there is your husband.
6. May your words, your joy and your peace of mind be a relief and rest to all who make up your home, or come near it.
7. Your first duty to your children is called tenderness. On it, as a basis, it will be easy for you to exercise, together with your husband, that difficult and delicate art which is called education.
8. Don't shout and don't lose your temper. You will be better obeyed if you tell your children things calmly.
9. Take special care in the order and administration of the household: in mealtimes, and in prudent economy.
10. Finally, if you are fortunate enough to have faith, seek your support in God, for in Him you will always find the strength and grace you need to carry out your beautiful mission in life.
"To save your soul" - Father Jorge Loring
#CHASTITYANDMARRIAGE
THE HUSBAND'S DECALOGUE:
1. Get your life sorted out - at least fundamentally - before you start a family.
2. Your work is important, but don't let it absorb you in such a way that it takes time that you owe to your loved ones.
3. Good humour, a permanent serenity of spirit, is the most valuable gift you can offer your wife and children.
4. Your wife should be your best friend and companion. And you should have at least the same attentions towards her as you had when she was just your girlfriend.
5. Respect her field of work. There are few things so ridiculous and harmful as a fussy husband who is meddling in his wife's own affairs.
6. If your wife is fit for a profession - except for housekeeping - let her have it.
7. In relation to your children, don't forget that educating is an art. A difficult and delicate art, made up of a little science, a lot of good sense and, above all, a lot of love.
8. Example is the key to education. Earn respect and obedience by your actions.
9. Be very manly in everything, but bear in mind that this is perfectly compatible with the signs of affection that your loved ones need.
10. And if you are fortunate enough to be a believer, may Christ be the light and joy of your life in the fulfilment of your duties as a father and husband.
THE WIFE'S DECALOGUE:
1. The home will be what you make of it. That must be the great work of your life.
2. The immediate administration of property is yours. Be far-sighted, prudent and with great common sense.
3. May your good taste and your care - more than your money - make your home a welcoming refuge for all those who make up your family.
4. Always try to remain your husband's bride. And let it show in your words as well as in your presentation.
5. Never forget that before your own children - and of course your parents - there is your husband.
6. May your words, your joy and your peace of mind be a relief and rest to all who make up your home, or come near it.
7. Your first duty to your children is called tenderness. On it, as a basis, it will be easy for you to exercise, together with your husband, that difficult and delicate art which is called education.
8. Don't shout and don't lose your temper. You will be better obeyed if you tell your children things calmly.
9. Take special care in the order and administration of the household: in mealtimes, and in prudent economy.
10. Finally, if you are fortunate enough to have faith, seek your support in God, for in Him you will always find the strength and grace you need to carry out your beautiful mission in life.
"To save your soul" - Father Jorge Loring
#CHASTITYANDMARRIAGE
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EDUCATION
"From day to day there is a growth in the number of those who are convinced that present education devotes too much attention to the understanding of the young and neglects too much the formation of character, of the willpower of the young. Hence the sad fact that, in the society of educated men, there are more educated students than students with templance (...) "The real value of man does not depend on the strength of his understanding, but of his will. He who is devoid of it will only weaken with great intellectual endowments; and there is no more wretched, and sometimes more infamous creature in the world than a great intelligence to which character does not correspond (...)Do you know what education is? To incline the will of man so that in all circumstances he will decide to follow the good without hesitation and with joy (...) in the education of character, what is difficult is not so much the formulation of right principles for life, which is relatively easy to achieve, as the persistence in them through all obstacles (...) Sow a thought and you will reap desire; sow desire and you reap action; sow action and you reap habit; sow habit and you reap character; sow character and you reap your own destiny (...) He who arrives without firm character in the hustle and bustle of the world, loses even what little he may have had"
"The young man of character" - Father Tihamer Toth
#VARIOUSARTICLES
"From day to day there is a growth in the number of those who are convinced that present education devotes too much attention to the understanding of the young and neglects too much the formation of character, of the willpower of the young. Hence the sad fact that, in the society of educated men, there are more educated students than students with templance (...) "The real value of man does not depend on the strength of his understanding, but of his will. He who is devoid of it will only weaken with great intellectual endowments; and there is no more wretched, and sometimes more infamous creature in the world than a great intelligence to which character does not correspond (...)Do you know what education is? To incline the will of man so that in all circumstances he will decide to follow the good without hesitation and with joy (...) in the education of character, what is difficult is not so much the formulation of right principles for life, which is relatively easy to achieve, as the persistence in them through all obstacles (...) Sow a thought and you will reap desire; sow desire and you reap action; sow action and you reap habit; sow habit and you reap character; sow character and you reap your own destiny (...) He who arrives without firm character in the hustle and bustle of the world, loses even what little he may have had"
"The young man of character" - Father Tihamer Toth
#VARIOUSARTICLES
SPIRITUAL PERFECTION
"(...) St. Gregory says (...) Just as a debtor who owes a thousand ducats to another does not rest or gets the payment lifted (...) and until he has paid the whole debt he always walks with that weight; so we should not look at whatever good we have done so far, we have already paid part of the debt we owe to God, but not all the rest that we still have to pay; and that is what should make us careful and it is the thorn we should always keep pierced in our hearts. (...) Just as pilgrims and good wayfarers do not look at what they have walked, but at what they have yet to walk, and always keep it before their eyes until they have finished their journey, so we, as pilgrims and wayfarers on our way to our heavenly homeland, must not look at what we think we have walked, but at what we have yet to walk (...) for those who walk and intend to get somewhere will profit little by having walked a long way, if they do not finish what they have yet to walk. And see also that the prize of the race, which is destined for those who run best, is not won by those who have run very lightly through most of it, if they are weary at the end of it; so it will profit you little if you have begun to run well, if you become weary in the middle of the race (...)".
"Exercise of perfection and Christian virtues" - Father Alonso Rodríguez S. J.
#SPIRITUALPERFECTION
"(...) St. Gregory says (...) Just as a debtor who owes a thousand ducats to another does not rest or gets the payment lifted (...) and until he has paid the whole debt he always walks with that weight; so we should not look at whatever good we have done so far, we have already paid part of the debt we owe to God, but not all the rest that we still have to pay; and that is what should make us careful and it is the thorn we should always keep pierced in our hearts. (...) Just as pilgrims and good wayfarers do not look at what they have walked, but at what they have yet to walk, and always keep it before their eyes until they have finished their journey, so we, as pilgrims and wayfarers on our way to our heavenly homeland, must not look at what we think we have walked, but at what we have yet to walk (...) for those who walk and intend to get somewhere will profit little by having walked a long way, if they do not finish what they have yet to walk. And see also that the prize of the race, which is destined for those who run best, is not won by those who have run very lightly through most of it, if they are weary at the end of it; so it will profit you little if you have begun to run well, if you become weary in the middle of the race (...)".
"Exercise of perfection and Christian virtues" - Father Alonso Rodríguez S. J.
#SPIRITUALPERFECTION
HAPPINESS
"(...) a sincere atheist, the Frenchman Valery, in "Carnets", says: "If God existed, if I could only believe that He exists, I would be immensely happy. I could no longer be interested in anything but Him. I would be surrounded by tenderness and protection. The pleasures of the world would be nothing, death would be nothing. If I knew that God exists, if my life were but a delay of my meeting with Him, even if this life were painful, it would be as gentle as the long wait for a beloved woman, of whose arrival one is absolutely certain.
If God existed, nothing would matter to me. If God existed, it seems to me that I would be naturally good to everyone, like a man who is suddenly a millionaire, emptying his sacks of money all over the place for the sheer pleasure of it. If God existed, it seems to me that my faults would be absorbed in Him and forgiven, by the very fact that I would recognise them as faults.... If God existed, I would be eternally happy".
If God existed..., but he was not sure, that is why he admired and desired the faith of believers. And we must give him and others like him proof of his existence. Let them see that our way of life is impossible, if God does not exist".
"Lights on the way" - Father Ángel Peña O. A. R.
#HAPPINESS
"(...) a sincere atheist, the Frenchman Valery, in "Carnets", says: "If God existed, if I could only believe that He exists, I would be immensely happy. I could no longer be interested in anything but Him. I would be surrounded by tenderness and protection. The pleasures of the world would be nothing, death would be nothing. If I knew that God exists, if my life were but a delay of my meeting with Him, even if this life were painful, it would be as gentle as the long wait for a beloved woman, of whose arrival one is absolutely certain.
If God existed, nothing would matter to me. If God existed, it seems to me that I would be naturally good to everyone, like a man who is suddenly a millionaire, emptying his sacks of money all over the place for the sheer pleasure of it. If God existed, it seems to me that my faults would be absorbed in Him and forgiven, by the very fact that I would recognise them as faults.... If God existed, I would be eternally happy".
If God existed..., but he was not sure, that is why he admired and desired the faith of believers. And we must give him and others like him proof of his existence. Let them see that our way of life is impossible, if God does not exist".
"Lights on the way" - Father Ángel Peña O. A. R.
#HAPPINESS
❤🔥4
JUAN MANUEL DE PRADA
"While we pretend to do emotivistic things with handicapped children, we are dismembering them in a dark cellar. And I write 'deficient' because I believe that we will not succeed in combating this scourge as long as we cling to emotive pretendings. It is incontrovertible evidence that the make-up or embellishment of mental deficiencies with sappy euphemisms has run parallel to the extermination of the children who suffer from them. Words serve to confront us with realities; and when words are twisted to mitigate reality, it is so much easier to hide reality and throw it in the dustbin. And what we say about language applies to other forms of sugar-coating as well. It may sound sarcastic, but the truth is that deficient children are being crossed out of the book of life amidst syrupy tributes and seraphic politically correct jargon, to the sentimental relief of those of us who are massacring them. To combat this stealthy extermination, instead of varnishing the mental deficiency with smug euphemisms, we should start by facing up to the harsh reality. Then perhaps we would awaken the dormant heroism that is necessary to lovingly welcome these children that we are now so blithely crossing out of the book of life, while we weep in the cinema (...) It is a lie that these children are "like us"; it is sentimental hogwash to claim that they are "as capable" as the rest of us. To give birth to and care for a handicapped child may bring infinite spiritual rewards; but to attain them one must first make the most self-sacrificing sacrifices and the most painful renunciations; one must, in short, accept a form of surrendered life that our age abhors. To give birth to and care for a handicapped child, one must have the courage to renounce the freedom that our era celebrates, which is freedom understood as the exaltation of desire, and embrace the freedom that our era proscribes, which is freedom understood as responsibility and demand. To give birth to and care for a deficient child, one must dare to love and receive love with an unbridled intensity that intimidates our generation rotten with flabby emotionalism. It is natural that such a generation does not have the courage to have deficient children; and that it then needs to flood its hypocritical eugenic conscience with sentimental outpourings. [...]"
From the article "The extermination of the champions" - Juan Manuel de Prada
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
"While we pretend to do emotivistic things with handicapped children, we are dismembering them in a dark cellar. And I write 'deficient' because I believe that we will not succeed in combating this scourge as long as we cling to emotive pretendings. It is incontrovertible evidence that the make-up or embellishment of mental deficiencies with sappy euphemisms has run parallel to the extermination of the children who suffer from them. Words serve to confront us with realities; and when words are twisted to mitigate reality, it is so much easier to hide reality and throw it in the dustbin. And what we say about language applies to other forms of sugar-coating as well. It may sound sarcastic, but the truth is that deficient children are being crossed out of the book of life amidst syrupy tributes and seraphic politically correct jargon, to the sentimental relief of those of us who are massacring them. To combat this stealthy extermination, instead of varnishing the mental deficiency with smug euphemisms, we should start by facing up to the harsh reality. Then perhaps we would awaken the dormant heroism that is necessary to lovingly welcome these children that we are now so blithely crossing out of the book of life, while we weep in the cinema (...) It is a lie that these children are "like us"; it is sentimental hogwash to claim that they are "as capable" as the rest of us. To give birth to and care for a handicapped child may bring infinite spiritual rewards; but to attain them one must first make the most self-sacrificing sacrifices and the most painful renunciations; one must, in short, accept a form of surrendered life that our age abhors. To give birth to and care for a handicapped child, one must have the courage to renounce the freedom that our era celebrates, which is freedom understood as the exaltation of desire, and embrace the freedom that our era proscribes, which is freedom understood as responsibility and demand. To give birth to and care for a deficient child, one must dare to love and receive love with an unbridled intensity that intimidates our generation rotten with flabby emotionalism. It is natural that such a generation does not have the courage to have deficient children; and that it then needs to flood its hypocritical eugenic conscience with sentimental outpourings. [...]"
From the article "The extermination of the champions" - Juan Manuel de Prada
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
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CHESTERTON
"Capitalism becomes contradictory as soon as it is completed, because it consists in dealing with the mass of men in two opposite ways at the same time. When the majority of men are wage-earners, it becomes more and more difficult for the majority of men to be customers. For the capitalist always tries to undercut what his dependent asks for, and in so doing he undercuts what his customer can spend. As soon as he has difficulties in his business, as is the case at present in the coal business, he tries to reduce what he has to invest in wages, and in so doing reduces what others have to spend on coal. He wants the same man to be rich and poor at the same time. This contradiction of capitalism does not appear in the early stages, because there are still populations not subject to the common proletarian condition. But as soon as the totality of the rich employs the totality of the workers, this contradiction becomes apparent as an ironic fate and as an obvious flaw. [...]"
The Limits of Sanity, Gilbert Keith Chesterton; The Quiet Ox, 2010; pgs. 40-41.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIANDJMPRADA
"Capitalism becomes contradictory as soon as it is completed, because it consists in dealing with the mass of men in two opposite ways at the same time. When the majority of men are wage-earners, it becomes more and more difficult for the majority of men to be customers. For the capitalist always tries to undercut what his dependent asks for, and in so doing he undercuts what his customer can spend. As soon as he has difficulties in his business, as is the case at present in the coal business, he tries to reduce what he has to invest in wages, and in so doing reduces what others have to spend on coal. He wants the same man to be rich and poor at the same time. This contradiction of capitalism does not appear in the early stages, because there are still populations not subject to the common proletarian condition. But as soon as the totality of the rich employs the totality of the workers, this contradiction becomes apparent as an ironic fate and as an obvious flaw. [...]"
The Limits of Sanity, Gilbert Keith Chesterton; The Quiet Ox, 2010; pgs. 40-41.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIANDJMPRADA
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HAPPINESS
"...] "temporal goods seem desirable to us as long as we do not have them; once they are possessed, we discover their poverty, which cannot respond to our desire and produces disappointment, sadness and sometimes anger. The opposite happens with spiritual goods: they do not appear desirable to those who do not possess them and desire only sensible goods. But the more they are possessed, the more their value is realised, and consequently the more they are loved". For the same reason, while material goods (the same house, the same field) cannot belong simultaneously and integrally to more people, the same spiritual goods can belong at the same time and fully to everyone, and each one possesses them all the more the better he knows how to communicate them to others. (...) St Thomas says that in some men, like the miser, the lust for money is infinite, what shall we say then of the spiritual will? The more it rises to the knowledge of superior goods and of the supreme good, the greater this spiritual desire becomes; and the Christian faith adds that only God, seen face to face, can satisfy it. (...) The same aggregate, even simultaneous, of all finite goods and mixed imperfections would not be able to constitute the good itself, conceived and desired by us, just as a multitude of fools would never amount to a man of genius.... (...) true happiness, which man already naturally desires, cannot be found in any limited and restricted good (...) which made Saint Catherine of Siena exclaim: "if you want a friendship to last, if you want to continue to refresh yourselves in that vessel, make it fill itself unceasingly at the fountain of living water, otherwise it will not satisfy your thirst". (...) only God, seen face to face, can fill the deep emptiness of our heart, only He can fill the deep abyss of our will. [...]"
Source: Blog Itinerarium Mentis
#HAPPINESS
"...] "temporal goods seem desirable to us as long as we do not have them; once they are possessed, we discover their poverty, which cannot respond to our desire and produces disappointment, sadness and sometimes anger. The opposite happens with spiritual goods: they do not appear desirable to those who do not possess them and desire only sensible goods. But the more they are possessed, the more their value is realised, and consequently the more they are loved". For the same reason, while material goods (the same house, the same field) cannot belong simultaneously and integrally to more people, the same spiritual goods can belong at the same time and fully to everyone, and each one possesses them all the more the better he knows how to communicate them to others. (...) St Thomas says that in some men, like the miser, the lust for money is infinite, what shall we say then of the spiritual will? The more it rises to the knowledge of superior goods and of the supreme good, the greater this spiritual desire becomes; and the Christian faith adds that only God, seen face to face, can satisfy it. (...) The same aggregate, even simultaneous, of all finite goods and mixed imperfections would not be able to constitute the good itself, conceived and desired by us, just as a multitude of fools would never amount to a man of genius.... (...) true happiness, which man already naturally desires, cannot be found in any limited and restricted good (...) which made Saint Catherine of Siena exclaim: "if you want a friendship to last, if you want to continue to refresh yourselves in that vessel, make it fill itself unceasingly at the fountain of living water, otherwise it will not satisfy your thirst". (...) only God, seen face to face, can fill the deep emptiness of our heart, only He can fill the deep abyss of our will. [...]"
Source: Blog Itinerarium Mentis
#HAPPINESS
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VARIOUS ARTICLES
"Certainty is based on evidence, and evidence is nothing other than the patent presence of reality. Evidence is mediate when it is not given in the conclusion but in the steps that lead to it: I do not know Antonio's parents, but Antonio's existence evidences that of his parents, makes it necessary. The existence of Antonio, whom I see every day, is for me an immediate certainty; the present or past existence of his parents, whom I have never seen, is also evident to me, but with a not direct but mediate evidence that comes to me through their son.
Man's limited condition means that most of his knowledge is not immediately realised. Few men have seen molecules, the seabed, the stratosphere or Madagascar. Nor have most men ever seen, nor will they ever see, Julius Caesar or Charlemagne. However, they know with certainty the existence of these and many other people and realities. Their certainty rests on a type of mediate evidence: that provided by a unanimous body of witnesses. In one case, the scientific community; in another, the images of all the media; and in the case of events or people of the past, the eloquent testimonies of history and archaeology.
These mediated evidences are supported not by their own reasoning but by second or third parties. If we did not admit their value, if we did not believe anyone, our parents would not be able to educate us, science would not progress, teaching would not exist, reading would be meaningless... In other words, if we only gave value to what we know for ourselves, social life, besides being made up of ignorant individuals, would be impossible. Therefore, believing is necessary and reasonable.
Can he who believes have certainty? We know that certainty is born out of evidence. What evidence is offered to the believer? Only one: that of the credibility of the witness. He who has not been to America believes in those who have been and testify to its existence. He who has never seen Hitler believes those who have. And before Hitler, Napoleon, El Cid or Nero. In all these cases the credibility of the witnesses is evident. And among these cases we must include those that give rise to some religious beliefs. Therefore, faith - believing someone's testimony - is a rational requirement, and its exclusion is an arbitrary reduction of human possibilities (...) For the truth to be accepted it is necessary to find a person accustomed to recognising things as they are, and those who live according to their own exclusive interests usually lack the necessary strength to face the consequences of the truth".
"Searching for the truth" - José Ramón Ayllón
#VARIOUSARTICLES
"Certainty is based on evidence, and evidence is nothing other than the patent presence of reality. Evidence is mediate when it is not given in the conclusion but in the steps that lead to it: I do not know Antonio's parents, but Antonio's existence evidences that of his parents, makes it necessary. The existence of Antonio, whom I see every day, is for me an immediate certainty; the present or past existence of his parents, whom I have never seen, is also evident to me, but with a not direct but mediate evidence that comes to me through their son.
Man's limited condition means that most of his knowledge is not immediately realised. Few men have seen molecules, the seabed, the stratosphere or Madagascar. Nor have most men ever seen, nor will they ever see, Julius Caesar or Charlemagne. However, they know with certainty the existence of these and many other people and realities. Their certainty rests on a type of mediate evidence: that provided by a unanimous body of witnesses. In one case, the scientific community; in another, the images of all the media; and in the case of events or people of the past, the eloquent testimonies of history and archaeology.
These mediated evidences are supported not by their own reasoning but by second or third parties. If we did not admit their value, if we did not believe anyone, our parents would not be able to educate us, science would not progress, teaching would not exist, reading would be meaningless... In other words, if we only gave value to what we know for ourselves, social life, besides being made up of ignorant individuals, would be impossible. Therefore, believing is necessary and reasonable.
Can he who believes have certainty? We know that certainty is born out of evidence. What evidence is offered to the believer? Only one: that of the credibility of the witness. He who has not been to America believes in those who have been and testify to its existence. He who has never seen Hitler believes those who have. And before Hitler, Napoleon, El Cid or Nero. In all these cases the credibility of the witnesses is evident. And among these cases we must include those that give rise to some religious beliefs. Therefore, faith - believing someone's testimony - is a rational requirement, and its exclusion is an arbitrary reduction of human possibilities (...) For the truth to be accepted it is necessary to find a person accustomed to recognising things as they are, and those who live according to their own exclusive interests usually lack the necessary strength to face the consequences of the truth".
"Searching for the truth" - José Ramón Ayllón
#VARIOUSARTICLES
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CHASTITY AND MARRIAGE
"Original sin did not wound the man and the woman in the same way (...) it wounded them in a dissymmetrical way, (...) "The man wants a house to have a woman and the woman wants to have a man to have a house" (...) Both want the same things but in different ways (...) they will be affected by the same lusts and will incur the same capital vices, but in different ways. Both suffer from gluttony, but the man's gluttony is closer to animal voracity, while the woman's gluttony is more refined, inclined to sweets, sweets and delicacies. Both will suffer from lust, but the male will regress towards animal instinct and physical possessiveness, while the female will tend towards affective possession and spiritual domination of the male's soul.
Both suffer from anger, but the male tends to manifest and vent his anger in bodily, physical form. We could call his anger hot anger; (...) the woman tends to vent (...) rather verbally, by means of hurtful words, offence, slander and malediction: hurting with the tongue or indirectly and cunningly harming. Her anger, though tremendous, can be described as cold anger.
(...) the male tends to return to the instinctive and to the appetites of the body. In him the animal pole tends to predominate and to become dehumanised (...) sometimes he is a real "swine" (...) we see how the male tends to eat and drink to excess, even if it hurts him (...) he becomes lustful, he is incapable of dying to his sexual passion for love of his wife when in reality (...) it would make her happy.
The woman, on the other hand, tends to become unbalanced by (...) the appetites of the soul or the concupiscence of the eyes (...) tends (...) to "usurp the divine" (...) she is inclined to the illegal exercise of divinity, and to the usurpation of divine providence. And not for evil, she wants good but she wants to do it in her own way. And she wants to be the one to say what is good and what is bad (...) it is along this path of her own good intentions that the woman becomes dominant (...) and sometimes uses the weakness of passion of the man to manipulate him.
That is why it has been said that the dominant sin of the male is lust and the dominant sin of the female is greed, ambition. Because of this dissymmetry of the wounds of the original sin, instead of seeking the good of the other, each one uses or tries to take advantage of the weakness of the other. And in any case, since it is not understood that it is a wound, worthy of mercy, each one ends up being irritated by the wound of the other. The woman is irritated by the physical possessiveness of the man and the man by the affective possessiveness of the woman.
The sacrament of marriage has been instituted as a sacrament of healing of the wounds of original sin in man and woman. And the spouses are to be ministers of that healing for each other. Therefore, the wife must help to heal in the husband the wound of lust, and the husband must help to heal in the wife the wound of insatiable affection, the unbridled desires of the soul and the related terrors. The healing effects of the sacrament are chastity and obedience respectively. Mortification of the instincts in the man and of the desires of self-will in the woman.
That is why a sacrament of healing was needed. To ensure that man and woman, wounded as they were from birth by original sin, and condemned to misunderstanding and perpetual misunderstanding, could be healed and live the conjugal happiness to which God the Father had destined them "in the beginning". History proves that this is not utopia."
"The house on rock" - Father Horacio Bojorge
#CHASTITYANDMARRIAGE
"Original sin did not wound the man and the woman in the same way (...) it wounded them in a dissymmetrical way, (...) "The man wants a house to have a woman and the woman wants to have a man to have a house" (...) Both want the same things but in different ways (...) they will be affected by the same lusts and will incur the same capital vices, but in different ways. Both suffer from gluttony, but the man's gluttony is closer to animal voracity, while the woman's gluttony is more refined, inclined to sweets, sweets and delicacies. Both will suffer from lust, but the male will regress towards animal instinct and physical possessiveness, while the female will tend towards affective possession and spiritual domination of the male's soul.
Both suffer from anger, but the male tends to manifest and vent his anger in bodily, physical form. We could call his anger hot anger; (...) the woman tends to vent (...) rather verbally, by means of hurtful words, offence, slander and malediction: hurting with the tongue or indirectly and cunningly harming. Her anger, though tremendous, can be described as cold anger.
(...) the male tends to return to the instinctive and to the appetites of the body. In him the animal pole tends to predominate and to become dehumanised (...) sometimes he is a real "swine" (...) we see how the male tends to eat and drink to excess, even if it hurts him (...) he becomes lustful, he is incapable of dying to his sexual passion for love of his wife when in reality (...) it would make her happy.
The woman, on the other hand, tends to become unbalanced by (...) the appetites of the soul or the concupiscence of the eyes (...) tends (...) to "usurp the divine" (...) she is inclined to the illegal exercise of divinity, and to the usurpation of divine providence. And not for evil, she wants good but she wants to do it in her own way. And she wants to be the one to say what is good and what is bad (...) it is along this path of her own good intentions that the woman becomes dominant (...) and sometimes uses the weakness of passion of the man to manipulate him.
That is why it has been said that the dominant sin of the male is lust and the dominant sin of the female is greed, ambition. Because of this dissymmetry of the wounds of the original sin, instead of seeking the good of the other, each one uses or tries to take advantage of the weakness of the other. And in any case, since it is not understood that it is a wound, worthy of mercy, each one ends up being irritated by the wound of the other. The woman is irritated by the physical possessiveness of the man and the man by the affective possessiveness of the woman.
The sacrament of marriage has been instituted as a sacrament of healing of the wounds of original sin in man and woman. And the spouses are to be ministers of that healing for each other. Therefore, the wife must help to heal in the husband the wound of lust, and the husband must help to heal in the wife the wound of insatiable affection, the unbridled desires of the soul and the related terrors. The healing effects of the sacrament are chastity and obedience respectively. Mortification of the instincts in the man and of the desires of self-will in the woman.
That is why a sacrament of healing was needed. To ensure that man and woman, wounded as they were from birth by original sin, and condemned to misunderstanding and perpetual misunderstanding, could be healed and live the conjugal happiness to which God the Father had destined them "in the beginning". History proves that this is not utopia."
"The house on rock" - Father Horacio Bojorge
#CHASTITYANDMARRIAGE
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SPIRITUAL PERFECTION
Be docile and flexible in God's hands. You know what is necessary for this: to remain in peace and complete tranquillity; never to be in unrest and never to be disturbed by anything; to forget the past; to live as if the future did not exist; to live for Jesus in the present moment, or rather, to live as if there were no life in you, but to let Jesus live at His pleasure; walk like so in all circumstances and on all occasions, without fear or worry, as befits the children of Jesus and Mary; never to think of yourself voluntarily; to abandon the care of your soul to Jesus, etc. He has taken it from us, it belongs to Him, He will take care of it, for He is its owner. Fear not the judgment of so sweet of a Master. Put away all fear, and replace such a feeling with love; act in all things calmly, gently, thoughtfully, without haste, without outbursts; be calm when necessary, walking in complete quietness, abandonment and full confidence. The time of this exile will come to an end, and Jesus will be ours and we will be His. Then, each of our tribulations will be a crown of glory that we will place on the head of Jesus, for whom is all glory.
"Inner Peace" - Father Jacques Philippe
#SPIRITUALPERFECTION
Be docile and flexible in God's hands. You know what is necessary for this: to remain in peace and complete tranquillity; never to be in unrest and never to be disturbed by anything; to forget the past; to live as if the future did not exist; to live for Jesus in the present moment, or rather, to live as if there were no life in you, but to let Jesus live at His pleasure; walk like so in all circumstances and on all occasions, without fear or worry, as befits the children of Jesus and Mary; never to think of yourself voluntarily; to abandon the care of your soul to Jesus, etc. He has taken it from us, it belongs to Him, He will take care of it, for He is its owner. Fear not the judgment of so sweet of a Master. Put away all fear, and replace such a feeling with love; act in all things calmly, gently, thoughtfully, without haste, without outbursts; be calm when necessary, walking in complete quietness, abandonment and full confidence. The time of this exile will come to an end, and Jesus will be ours and we will be His. Then, each of our tribulations will be a crown of glory that we will place on the head of Jesus, for whom is all glory.
"Inner Peace" - Father Jacques Philippe
#SPIRITUALPERFECTION
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FATHER LEONARDO CASTELLANI
ON DEMOCRACY
"In short, what Suarez means to say is that civil authority cannot be exercised except for the people and with some form of their consent; while the Roseao pretends that it must be exercised by the people, and by means of representatives or mandators explicitly elected shot by shot, who on the one hand have unlimited and deiform powers in a truly monstrous way, and on the other, can be deposed at the whim of the multitude, adorned with a kind of Divine Will, that is to say, Infallible, Most Wise and Creator of Good and Evil. A sinister and heretical error, the cause of all modern revolts, and of the terrible political poisoning whose convulsions the whole world is suffering at this moment.
From this error have come the consequences that you know of in our Argentina. Who governs Argentina? The most virtuous, the most just, the wisest, the most far-sighted? Who would dare to sustain it? NO. Theoretically, those who rule are "those who the people want". And do the people always want the most just, the most virtuous, the wisest, the most far-sighted? NO. The masses would theoretically always want them if: 1° the masses themselves were always in a state of grace and wisdom, and 2° that they were capable of discerning them, which is absurd by hypothesis, because in that paradisiacal case, the masses would no longer need any government at all.
In fact, you know who the mass, or rather the part of it that votes, wants in the reality of things. The mass is compelled to love those who are self-imposed as "wiser, more just, more virtuous, more visionary" in a crafty and fierce struggle, where virtue, justice and wisdom are conspicuous by their glaring absence, where all the vices born of ambition, greed and laziness, and all the sins from murder to lying and insult make the most flagrant, colourful and shameless exhibition of themselves, in a nakedness that grows more cynical and more brazen every day. A frightful prostitution of that sublime ideal of the Kingdom of God which at the beginning we called "democracy", before which The Philosopher would have no choice but to cover his face with his toga and leave the circus into solitude; and the Christian to begin to pray and fear some great punishment from heaven, "quod advertat Deus", an intervention of Azrael the Destroyer."
"Songs of Militis" - Father Leonardo Castellani S. J., pp. 285-286.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
ON DEMOCRACY
"In short, what Suarez means to say is that civil authority cannot be exercised except for the people and with some form of their consent; while the Roseao pretends that it must be exercised by the people, and by means of representatives or mandators explicitly elected shot by shot, who on the one hand have unlimited and deiform powers in a truly monstrous way, and on the other, can be deposed at the whim of the multitude, adorned with a kind of Divine Will, that is to say, Infallible, Most Wise and Creator of Good and Evil. A sinister and heretical error, the cause of all modern revolts, and of the terrible political poisoning whose convulsions the whole world is suffering at this moment.
From this error have come the consequences that you know of in our Argentina. Who governs Argentina? The most virtuous, the most just, the wisest, the most far-sighted? Who would dare to sustain it? NO. Theoretically, those who rule are "those who the people want". And do the people always want the most just, the most virtuous, the wisest, the most far-sighted? NO. The masses would theoretically always want them if: 1° the masses themselves were always in a state of grace and wisdom, and 2° that they were capable of discerning them, which is absurd by hypothesis, because in that paradisiacal case, the masses would no longer need any government at all.
In fact, you know who the mass, or rather the part of it that votes, wants in the reality of things. The mass is compelled to love those who are self-imposed as "wiser, more just, more virtuous, more visionary" in a crafty and fierce struggle, where virtue, justice and wisdom are conspicuous by their glaring absence, where all the vices born of ambition, greed and laziness, and all the sins from murder to lying and insult make the most flagrant, colourful and shameless exhibition of themselves, in a nakedness that grows more cynical and more brazen every day. A frightful prostitution of that sublime ideal of the Kingdom of God which at the beginning we called "democracy", before which The Philosopher would have no choice but to cover his face with his toga and leave the circus into solitude; and the Christian to begin to pray and fear some great punishment from heaven, "quod advertat Deus", an intervention of Azrael the Destroyer."
"Songs of Militis" - Father Leonardo Castellani S. J., pp. 285-286.
#CHESTERTONCASTELLANIJMPRADA
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HAPPINESS
"Plato was also interested in the relationship between power and morality. In his great dialogue, the Greek philosopher tells the story of Giges, a shepherd who finds a magic ring that allows the wearer to become invisible. Giges uses the ring to enter the palace, seduce the queen and kill the king. Plato's question is whether we should be moral people even if we had the power to act immorally with impunity (...) Plato (...) justifies the value of the moral life (...) the essential argument of his answer is simple: the immoral life is worse than the moral and virtuous life because, ultimately, the immoral life corrupts the soul. The immoral life basically leads to unhappiness: mental anguish, loss of affection from friends and loved ones and emotional bankruptcy. All the power in the world is not enough to compensate for the psychological emptiness of an immoral life. The moral person, on the other hand, lives a life of integrity and self-fulfilment, even when his or her power, wealth and fame are limited. The moral person is at peace with him/herself (...)
(...) Why be moral, asks Plato. And Tolkien answers: "to be yourself". What kind of life should I choose? One according to your abilities. If you need a ring of power to live your life, you have chosen the wrong life (...)".
"The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy" - Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson
#HAPPINESS
"Plato was also interested in the relationship between power and morality. In his great dialogue, the Greek philosopher tells the story of Giges, a shepherd who finds a magic ring that allows the wearer to become invisible. Giges uses the ring to enter the palace, seduce the queen and kill the king. Plato's question is whether we should be moral people even if we had the power to act immorally with impunity (...) Plato (...) justifies the value of the moral life (...) the essential argument of his answer is simple: the immoral life is worse than the moral and virtuous life because, ultimately, the immoral life corrupts the soul. The immoral life basically leads to unhappiness: mental anguish, loss of affection from friends and loved ones and emotional bankruptcy. All the power in the world is not enough to compensate for the psychological emptiness of an immoral life. The moral person, on the other hand, lives a life of integrity and self-fulfilment, even when his or her power, wealth and fame are limited. The moral person is at peace with him/herself (...)
(...) Why be moral, asks Plato. And Tolkien answers: "to be yourself". What kind of life should I choose? One according to your abilities. If you need a ring of power to live your life, you have chosen the wrong life (...)".
"The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy" - Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson
#HAPPINESS
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FORGIVENESS
"On 10 November 1996 John Paul II celebrated 50 years of priesthood. To pay tribute to him, he was joined in Rome by bishops and priests ordained, like him, in 1946. Among the testimonies they gave of their own priestly experiences, particularly moving was that of the Albanian Jesuit Father Anton Luli, who had to spend most of his priestly life in the darkness of persecution.
Fr Luli was taken prisoner in 1947, just ordained priest, when he was 37 years old; he would only be released in 1989 at the age of 79, after four decades of imprisonment: "Holy Father - he said on that occasion - I had just been ordained priest when the communist dictatorship and the most merciless religious persecution came to my country, Albania. Some of my brothers in the priesthood, after a trial full of falsehood and deceit, were shot and died martyrs for the faith. Thus they celebrated, like broken bread and blood shed for the salvation of my country, their last personal Eucharist. The year was 1946. The Lord asked me, on the other hand, to open my arms and allow myself to be nailed to the cross and thus to celebrate, in the ministry that was forbidden to me and with a life spent amidst chains and tortures of all kinds, my Eucharist, my priestly sacrifice. On 19 December 1947 I was arrested on the charge of agitation and propaganda against the government. I lived through seventeen years of strict imprisonment and many years of hard labour. My first prison, in that freezing month of December in a small village in the Scutari mountains, was a bathroom. There I stayed for nine months, forced to crouch on hardened excrement and unable to straighten up completely because of the cramped conditions. On Christmas night of that year - how could I forget - they took me out of that place and took me to another bathroom on the first floor of the prison, forced me to undress and hung me with a rope under my armpits. I was naked and could barely touch the floor with the tips of my toes. I felt my body slowly and inexorably faint. The cold was slowly creeping up my body, and when it reached my chest and was about to stop my heart, I cried out in agony. My executioners came and took me down and kicked me. That night, in that place and in the solitude of that first torture, I experienced the true meaning of the Incarnation and of the Cross. But in those sufferings I had at my side and within me the consoling presence of the Lord Jesus, High and Eternal Priest, at times even with a help that I can only describe as "extraordinary", for the joy and consolation that he communicated to me was very great. But I have never held a grudge against those who, humanly speaking, robbed me of my life. After my liberation, I met one of my executioners by chance in the street: I felt compassion for him, went to meet him and hugged him. I was released during the 1989 amnesty. I was 79 years old.
"Therapy of forgiveness" - Father Miguel Ángel Fuentes I. V. E.
#FORGIVENESS
"On 10 November 1996 John Paul II celebrated 50 years of priesthood. To pay tribute to him, he was joined in Rome by bishops and priests ordained, like him, in 1946. Among the testimonies they gave of their own priestly experiences, particularly moving was that of the Albanian Jesuit Father Anton Luli, who had to spend most of his priestly life in the darkness of persecution.
Fr Luli was taken prisoner in 1947, just ordained priest, when he was 37 years old; he would only be released in 1989 at the age of 79, after four decades of imprisonment: "Holy Father - he said on that occasion - I had just been ordained priest when the communist dictatorship and the most merciless religious persecution came to my country, Albania. Some of my brothers in the priesthood, after a trial full of falsehood and deceit, were shot and died martyrs for the faith. Thus they celebrated, like broken bread and blood shed for the salvation of my country, their last personal Eucharist. The year was 1946. The Lord asked me, on the other hand, to open my arms and allow myself to be nailed to the cross and thus to celebrate, in the ministry that was forbidden to me and with a life spent amidst chains and tortures of all kinds, my Eucharist, my priestly sacrifice. On 19 December 1947 I was arrested on the charge of agitation and propaganda against the government. I lived through seventeen years of strict imprisonment and many years of hard labour. My first prison, in that freezing month of December in a small village in the Scutari mountains, was a bathroom. There I stayed for nine months, forced to crouch on hardened excrement and unable to straighten up completely because of the cramped conditions. On Christmas night of that year - how could I forget - they took me out of that place and took me to another bathroom on the first floor of the prison, forced me to undress and hung me with a rope under my armpits. I was naked and could barely touch the floor with the tips of my toes. I felt my body slowly and inexorably faint. The cold was slowly creeping up my body, and when it reached my chest and was about to stop my heart, I cried out in agony. My executioners came and took me down and kicked me. That night, in that place and in the solitude of that first torture, I experienced the true meaning of the Incarnation and of the Cross. But in those sufferings I had at my side and within me the consoling presence of the Lord Jesus, High and Eternal Priest, at times even with a help that I can only describe as "extraordinary", for the joy and consolation that he communicated to me was very great. But I have never held a grudge against those who, humanly speaking, robbed me of my life. After my liberation, I met one of my executioners by chance in the street: I felt compassion for him, went to meet him and hugged him. I was released during the 1989 amnesty. I was 79 years old.
"Therapy of forgiveness" - Father Miguel Ángel Fuentes I. V. E.
#FORGIVENESS