Francesco Cairo (1607-1665), “The Holy Trinity” 1. Where does the word “Trinity” come from? It comes from the Latin word trinitas, which means “three” or “triad.” The Greek equivalent is triados. 2. When was it first used? The first surviving use of the term (there may have been earlier uses that are now lost) was around A.D. 170 by Theophilus of Antioch, who wrote: In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity [Τριάδος], of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the …
Category: Apologetics
Why Catholicism is the True Religion
I recently met a man, about sixty-five years old, who, after I told him what I do, related this story: “When I was in Catholic high school, I asked one of the brothers, ‘How do we know that of all the religions in the world Catholicism is the right one?’ This question had been bugging me, and I was anxious to hear his answer. He replied, ‘We don’t know. We have to take it on faith.’ His response completely deflated me.” After we parted, I wondered how I would have answered that question. Of course, there is no external, rational …
Why The Catholic Religion is the Best
St. Georg Ochsenhausen (By Thomas Mirtsch, via Wikimedia Commons) Some religions are superior to others, and Christianity is the best. And of the Christians, Catholicism is the best. Fr. Dwight Longenecker I know. I know. This is not really politically correct. You’re supposed to pretend that all religions are equal. The comparative religions professor (who often has comparatively no religion) teaches that all religions are human inventions based on interesting and unique historical circumstances and cultures. The theory is that religions developed from animism when cavemen grunted at the sun, moon and stars and made up stories about the people …
Fewness of Those Who are Saved
This sermon is logically divided into two parts. The first, demonstrates that most Catholics are damned, and is based on revelation, tradition, the opinion of learned theologians, as well as “reason, experience and the common sense of the faithful”. The second is more speculative, in which St. Leonard advances the proposition, which I have not infrequently heard, (and which I have, indeed, stated myself,) that people are only damned if they want to be. I consider that to be possibly erroneous. The second also contains an evidently false proposition, at least in an obvious reading. Therefore, although it contains much …
The Eighth Deadly Sin
The Eighth Deadly Sin Many people are confused about what the Church teaches these days. So to get us started down a different path, I’ve compiled just a few points of reference from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, still our most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the Faith. Adam and Eve were real people and our first parents (CCC, #375) Human nature is fallen and prone to sin (407) The devil exists and tempts us (395) Marriage is a sacrament and is indissoluble (1601) Regardless of motive, euthanasia is a murder (2277) Contraception is sinful (2370) Abortion is a …
Viva Cristo Rey
In the 1920s, when the United States had a quasi-Stalinist regime on its southern border, “Viva Cristo Rey!” was the defiant battle cry of the Cristeros who fought the radically secular Mexican government’s persecution of the Church. “Viva Cristo Rey!” were likely the last words spoken by Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ, whose martyrdom in 1927 may have been the first in history in which the martyr was photographed at the moment of death. Today, in the United States, “Cristo Rey” has a different, although not wholly unrelated, meaning—for it’s the name of an important experiment in Catholic education for poor …
Underestimating Christ
Underestimating Christ One of the underappreciated sides of John Paul II’s teaching is something that applies to all of us. In his encyclicals Fides et Ratio and Ex Corde Ecclesiae, his overall aim was to show just how vast is the influence of Jesus Christ. This is not influence in a cultural sense. This is influence because: “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race.” (John 1:3, 4) This is influence, not at the level of …
On True and False Loyalty
On True – and False – Loyalty Loyalty, Fidelity, Trust, and unswerving Devotion – these virtues are prized by almost every association, club, or group; by every business, church, or military organization; and by every society in every historical era. So highly regarded is loyalty that it is accompanied by a retinue of prepositions. Loyalty is said to be up, down, across, throughout, before, after, and during. The Bible, too, speaks regularly about the covenant between God and man, assuring us that God is always faithful (Dt 7:9, Lam 3:22, 2 Tim 2:13, etc.) and urging us to seek friends …
Three Bishops Set the Bar
Three Bishops Set the Bar: What’s Next? Three bishops in Kazakhstan have solemnly professed the Church’s received teaching and discipline regarding sacramental marriage and the limited conditions under which the “divorced and remarried” may receive Holy Communion. (Three more bishops and a cardinal have now joined them.) Presented “before God who will judge us,” their Profession is effectively an apostolic declaration that these are matters of faith and morals that no one, including other bishops, may reinterpret so as to approve sexual activity in “second unions” or to permit Holy Communion for those who continue such activity. This is a …