Friday, February 5, 2010

Wrath of God

When it is cold, shall we ponder the wrath of God? Am I strong enough in virtue and holiness to endure the awesome, incomprehensible presence of God?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

NOT sitting in Santa's lap!!!


Posted by PicasaWhat to do when you dress up the kids for that special picture with Santa and they categorically REFUSE to even go near him!!!!("Never like it! Never never ever!!!!") Well, after walking all around the mall and finally viewing Santa from a safe and non-threatening distance (from one level above), showing them all the children that are telling Santa what they want for Christmas and how safe and fun it was, we tried again. Knowing that e-mail was also an effective means of communicating with Santa, Luke was not convinced that this Santa's lap thing was necessary. Sophia was not going without Luke and since I have enough pictures of screaming, unhappy and terrified children in the laps of various seasonal characters (and Gepetto from Disney World) we whipped out the cell phone and snapped pictures of them near, but not too near Santa with all the pretty decorations in the background! It is already a favorite, because of the story it tells!

Modesty Matters


Modesty and mystery, I could not say it any better! Click on the title and see what I mean!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Know That They Are Not Gods

In our study of Baruch and Zachariah question 4 of our assignment asks what the most frequent refrain was in chapter 6 and then write a  reflection on what this means for us today.  There were many interesting answers, mine was a comparison between the two extremes of scientific worship.

 4.   The most frequent refrain in chapter 6 is “Know that they are not God’s, do not fear them.” This phrase appears in:  versus 4, 14, 22, 28, 64, 68


  I think that this could be applied to our cultures wrestling with matters of science.  There is an atheistic scientific mindset which is in awe (fear) of science itself. This mindset tells us that science has the keys to happiness and fulfillment especially if we can disposes ourselves of the pesky notion that we are made in the image and likeness of God.  C.S. Lewis referred to this as the abolition of man, referring to a scientific atheism that seeks to destroy what makes human beings human!  How else do you get a culture to accept the premise that a human embryo is a disposable body part factory to be exploited with out regard to inalienable rights! B. F. Skinner made a really chilling claim  in support of this type of “progress”:  ”to… man we say good riddance!  Only by dispossessing him can we turn to the real causes of human behavior.  Only then can we turn from the inferred to the observed, from the miraculous to the natural, from the inaccessible to the manipulable” (Beyond Freedom and Dignity…quote taken from Archbishop Chaput’s book “Render Unto Ceasar”   And if this progressive march is interrupted by calls for a serious look at the ethical limits of science, that is heresy and you might be called a “flat earther” or have the ghost of Galileo thrown at you.  But Baruch reminds us: “know that (science) is not a god, do not (reverence) it”

On the other hand there are those people of faith who seem to fear (not awe) science.  They fear discoveries that point to the origin of man on a natural level, or they fear what they do not understand.  This is a lack of trust in the God of the Universe, who made us in His image and likeness, and gave us curiosity and intellects and the desire to understand a universe that can seem chaotic and random at times., but deep in our souls we know that it is not and we seek to find that Order.  This fear makes science into a god, by giving it the power to dethrone the Lord.  Know that science is not a god, you do not need to fear it.