All in an insightful day's work.

[John McGuire]

The problem with U.S. Christianity? We want prayers answered, not Providence getting in our way to "success." (Besides, we've already defined Providence in Americanist dogma as not a personal thing but a Calvinist Manifest Destiny of American Messianism (Protozionism?), so that's a settled case in our sadly quite decadent minds.)

Those who start treating God as inanimate start seeing nature as animate; those who do not fulfill his life-radiating commands fall ostensibly prey to its death-dealing demands.

All the sophisticated arguments in the world are nothing without...PeteRock.

Methinks until one has truly emptied and denied himself as Jesus commanded may he aspire to grasp the mystical reality of the Papacy. Deal forcefully with me, Lord, for I am often slow of heart. I am often a practical donatist, gauging by MY CRITERIA the worthiness of that Church authority YOU SET UP AND GUARANTEED.

To Man two roads are freely available: Christ or self, life or death. The gift is free, but the terms are set, and only one Church Jesus built on Peter teaches them all.

I do not know how a man can be quite so modernly short-sighted as to find orthodox Catholic Christianity depressing. My conclusion is that there must be a crazy mix-up of some kind almost undoubtedly owing to a radical rift between generations...

The problem with hacking a "purely spiritual" or a "purely carnal" way of life is that neither gives life, neither is truly human, neither passes the Incarnation litmus test.

You'll never get socialism to stick until you've first given society a greasy coat of hedonism.