"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
The other day I received an email from a reader who had spoken to a non-Catholic with a rather rare point-of-view, and who asked for helpful suggestions when speaking to him…
During a discussion about the Saints, the Protestant in question made the following statement:
“…no one is in Heaven except Jesus, Enoch, and Elijah.”
This sort of theological position is rarely held by those in mainstream Protestantism, but how might we respond to this?
If you get this one, chances are that we’re friends 🙂
Audrey Assad is, by far, my favourite contemporary Catholic artist. Here’s an interview she recently gave to “Our Catholic Way”:
Last January I had a discussion on Facebook in which the person with whom I was speaking made the bold claim that the unborn “aren’t human yet”. An interesting assertion! I responded with two questions:
Question #1: “What kind of offspring do human parents have?”
Question #2: “What do you call an organism with human DNA?”
Of course, the answer to both of these questions is “human”. Unfortunately, my friend chose to ignore both of these questions, so I asked another:
“If a fetus in his mother’s womb isn’t human…what is he? To what species does he then belong?”
Once again, this question went answered. To assert that the unborn aren’t human requires that they be something else. I asked repeatedly what that “something else” was, but I never got an answer…
Eventually, my friend posted the following image:
From left-to-right, this picture shows embryos from different species: zebrafish, chicken, dog, human and skink. Although he didn’t articulate it, it appeared that he thought that being unable to visually identify the human fetus somehow proved that the it wasn’t human.
This is, of course, terrible logic. If I don’t know the answer to a question on a quiz show, does that mean that no answer exists? Of course not, it just means that I don’t have the right information at my fingertips.
There are lots of things which aren’t easy to identify with the naked eye. An unmarked bottle of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) can look very similar to a bottle of water (H20). If I placed an unmarked bottle of each liquid in front of you, would a visual inspection be enough to convince you to take a drink from one of them? Of course not! What would need to happen in order to make you drink with confidence? You’d want to run more conclusive tests than a simple visual inspection.
In the same way, just because I can’t easily see from an image whether or not a fetus is a human fetus, doesn’t change the fetus’ species. It’s true that the naked eye can’t easily give you the answer to that question, but appropriate scientific examination can! In this case, a simple DNA test could give you a conclusive answer as to the species of each of the above embryos.
Biologically speaking, it is impossible to declare that the unborn are anything less than human. If they are indeed human, it would follow that, as such, even the unborn should be treated with respect and dignity.
Here’s a blast from the past, a song from my university days around the time I started to encounter God in a new way. Today’s song is “Build This House” with Lou Fellingham:
All I have and all I am is Yours
There’s nothing that I have on earth
That doesn’t come from You
I lay aside my pride and worldly worth
To serve You is the greatest
Thing that I could ever do
For unless You build this house
I am building it in vain
Unless the work is Yours
There is nothing to be gained
I want something that will stand
When Your holy fire comes
Something that will last
And to hear You say well done
Giving glory to You Lord
Glory to You Lord
So easy to desire what others have
Instead of seeing all the gifts
That You have given me
So help me fan the flame which You began
And burn in me a love for You
That all will clearly see
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” – Matthew 5:8
“Every Christian feels a natural yearning of the heart towards God, a true desire to taste the sweetness of communion, of being with Him as He created us to be: but the impurity of our hearts – full of passions conflicts, and fear bars the way. Yet, there is a cure for the weight of sin which burdens the heart and soul of each of us and afflicts the conscience, keeping us from inner peace and from peace with our neighbors and loved ones.”
In the Holy season of Great Lent we contemplate the mystery of repentance. But what does it mean to be repentant? In the overly intellectual modern age we tend to focus on how we have violated moral laws either through action or inaction. Repentance is much more than a passing feeling of sorrow for wrongs done which, upon reflection can easily overwhelm us and lead to despair. It is a turning away from focusing on worldly matters to those of God. It is a new outlook, a new, correct spiritual direction which we should strive to live at all times, not just during this special season.
According to Saint Gregory Palamas, “Repentance, is to hate sin and love virtue, to reject evil and to do good.” But how do we reach this state? Why should we even strive for repentance? Should we as some modern people say, let go of the guilt and just do good? It may be helpful to reflect on our fallen state as humans to light the way.
