Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
It's not quite a follow-up to this earlier post, but this interesting nugget from St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae, 3 q. 72 a. 2) puts the issue in an interesting light: Christ, by the power which He exercises in the sacraments, bestowed on the apostles the reality of this sacrament, i.e. the fulness of theHoly Ghost, without the sacrament itself, because they …
Continue reading "The Apostolic Charisms and the Sacraments"
For the entire work and an interactive table of contents, click here. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of …
For the entire work and an interactive table of contents, click here. In the year 334 B.C. Alexander the Great, having subdued the Greek states, began his conquest of the Persian Empire. In less than eleven years he succeeded in doing just that he would have gone further into India if his weary army had …
Continue reading "Born to be Alive: Before the Second Chapter"
While passing through Holy Week and Easter, on Low Sunday our family had another passage: the death of my wife's mother, Ruby Foister. Â The photo/video presentation the funeral home put together is below. The other arrangements are here. "Saint" is a good term for my mother-in-law. The Scripture quotation in the title--taken from Psalm 116:15--is …
Continue reading "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints…"
(KO 091113) 1973? The best way to describe this album's style is "eclectic." But that's not in a contemporary sense--even for the time it came out--but in a traditional sense. "The Companions of Paul" (the group's name in English) draw from a variety of folk styles, including French folk music (an ancestor of zydeco), bluegrass …
Continue reading "Les compagnons de Paul: Jésus va revenir est-tu prêt?"
(Jef 335.111) 1974? A very nice French Christian folk album. To my mind it isn't quite up to this (from the same label, though), but it isn't bad either. Les Chalands Vivre Ave Toi Comme une Terre Desséchée Amitié Langueur La Feuille Morte Oh! Oh! Seigneur Ce N’est Pas Étrange Quand J’ai vu les Mains …
Century 35625 (1963?) One of the frustrating things about our culture is that everyone "markets" what they do as brand new. That includes Christian music. Music leaders, composers, and publishers would like to think that the move away from "traditional" Christian hymnody (and they usually fail to define "traditional") is all recent and the music …
The Pentecostal and Charismatic world has been atwitter (a phrase with new meaning these days) about the conversion of Ulf Ekman, Sweden's foremost Charismatic pastor, to Roman Catholicism. My friend Dale Coulter has a more "respectable" take on this, and he's right: it's easier to make the Tiber swim from a Full Gospel start than …
Continue reading "From One Who's Been There: My Thoughts on Ulf Ekman's Conversion to Catholicism"
This Cincinnati, OH, based group put out two very nice folk-rock albums. There is a mixture of original compositions and covers, some of which (well, one of which) you wouldn't expect on a non-Catholic album. The group does well in different styles and these albums are very good as a result. More information about the …
Continue reading "Rising Hope: Farewell to the Shadowlands and Where the Songs Come From"
The greeting video that Pope Francis sent to Kenneth Copeland's conference has created a stir. There are the usual Protestant vs. Catholic kinds of issues being brought up, and of course the obvious one: why a Pope who has pushed Catholic social teaching back to the forefront--to the discomfort of American conservatives--would even give a …
Continue reading "The Big Differences Between Pope Francis and the Prosperity Charismatics"
Positive Infinity 