Why Being Rather Than Nothingness? Part XIII

Dr Martin continues his series on time and reality, discussing why transhumanism's desire to live forever is more of a curse than a blessing.

From Crisis

By Regis Martin, STD

“To continue living forever—endlessly—appears more like a curse than a gift.”

Here's a take-home question for you. Are you at home in the world? I mean, entirely and completely at home? Are you, to put it in a boringly pedantic way, perfectly reconciled with your place of residence in a world bound by space and time, a world framed by the window of the five senses through which you perceive and receive it?   

If you are not, and there is evidence to suggest that you are not alone—that growing numbers of disaffected people agree with you—what is it that prevents your being wholly at home in such a world?

Are you perhaps like that tiresome Neo-Platonist fellow named Plotinus, who flat out refused to give his address because he was so ashamed to be in the body? Is that your hang-up? Finding yourself far too fastidious for the flesh, is that it? Or maybe you are just one of those contrarians, who find themselves always at sword’s point with the world, whose pretensions tend to enrage you all the time, which is why the relationship you have with the world remains permanently mutinous?

So, why won’t you simply accept that this is the way things are? And if you can’t submit serenely, well, then do so sullenly.

On the other hand, could it be that you were never really meant to remain in the world? At least not forever, which would be an utterly intolerable imposition. I mean, if the world made by God is a finite place, which necessarily includes an expiration date, then most certainly it will all come to an end. And isn’t that a good thing?

Pope Benedict certainly thought so. “To continue living forever—endlessly—appears more like a curse than a gift,” to quote from Spe Salvi, which he wrote in 2007. And while we should all wish to put off the Old Guy as long as possible, nevertheless, he insisted, “to live always, without end…can only be monotonous and ultimately unbearable.”

Indeed, death was never intended by God from the beginning, and only due to sin did it first enter in. But, strange to say, owing to God’s mercy, it became a kind of remedy for life made unbearable by so great a weight of sin. Here is how St. Ambrose explained it in a sermon preached at his brother’s funeral, as cited by Pope Benedict in his encyclical: “Human life,” he explains,  

because of sin…began to experience the burden of wretchedness in unremitting labor and unbearable sorrow. There had to be a limit to its evils; death had to restore what life had forfeited. Without the assistance of grace, immortality is more of a burden than a blessing.

Thus, paraphrasing Ambrose, death must be no cause to mourn, but rather, to rejoice—owing to its having become the proximate cause of our salvation. We should welcome death, therefore, much as we would any stranger who comes bearing gifts, however mysterious.

Life, too, must give us no reason to mourn. If there be evils in the world, and only the willfully blind would think not, they are not found in being, which is good, but only in the will, which is bent upon committing them. Evil is but an absence, a privation of what otherwise abides, and lacking ontological weight, it has only nothingness to commend. If we must speak of it at all, then let us call it love’s shadow. After all, if God made the world, then it must in some conclusive and significant sense be a good place to be.

And yet, for all that, our faith enjoins us not to grow too enamored of the things of this world, knowing that they shall, like the flowers and the fields full of clover and grass, wither and die. Yes, we must remain in the world, at least until God calls us home, but not of the world. How can this be unless God intended that we are not to stay here forever?

It’s all right, therefore, not to be altogether at home in this world. It is most fitting, actually, that we should feel that way, that we not become too comfortable and cozy amid the fleshpots, knowing with complete moral certainty that no finite thing will ever be found to fulfill the deepest desires of the heart. If each of us is this “hollowed-out space,” of which St. Augustine speaks, waiting for God to fill it, why shouldn’t we feel less than satisfied with every mortal and sensate pleasure?

We are all on a journey, in other words; and until we arrive, reaching at last our place of destination beyond the stars, there can be no lasting place here below. Nor will we succeed in banishing altogether a certain dis-ease of the soul, that “repining restlessness” of which the poet George Herbert speaks, knowing that here below is no place of permanent residence.

The intuition, not surprisingly, is among the salient themes of Holy Scripture. “For here we have no lasting city,” the Letter to the Hebrews tells us, “but we seek the city which is to come” (13:14).

Or the passage in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, reminding us that because “we are citizens of Heaven, we eagerly await a savior from Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ” (3:20). Notice that St. Paul is telling us not only that we await a Savior, as if He were just another salesman peddling a product, but that we do so most eagerly, which suggests a decided relish at the prospect of spending an eternity in His company beyond the remotest frontiers of this world.

Or St. Peter in his First Letter, in which, addressing the members of the Jewish Diaspora, he exhorts them, “Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul” (2:11). Why else would Peter speak in that peremptory way unless it were true, finally and ineluctably true, that here is no lasting home, that God has destined us for another, which beckons us at every turn far, far beyond the reaches of this one?

And then, outside the pages of Scripture, we see more of the same. In a letter sent by Pope St. Clement I, perhaps the only correspondence we have from him, to the troubled Church in Corinth near the end of the first century, we read of the Church’s “exile” status, implying not only the alien condition of her members forced to live in a pagan world but, more importantly, that of pilgrims languishing in a strange land yet destined for another, truer home, which is Heaven.

In other words, none of us are entirely at home in the world. Like the Archangel Raphael in that luminous prayer penned by Ernest Hello, “whose home lies beyond the region of thunder,” we have all been called to inhabit “a land that is always peaceful, always serene and bright with the resplendent glory of God.” Who among us would not pine for Paradise if handed a travel brochure describing its precincts in such terms? If one’s home finally were Heaven, then it would not be the least bit unnatural to evince a certain impatience in getting there.

Life, as the sainted Teresa of Avila has described it, is no better than “a night in a third-class hotel.” Having been to Avila and sampled one or two of its accommodations, I can testify to the accuracy of the account. Who wants to spend a lifetime stuck in a slum when a much nicer hotel beckons? It would be a kind of madness, never wishing to leave.

In a wonderful little book called The Feast of Faith, Joseph Ratzinger reminds us that in the experience of the Church’s liturgy, “the absolutely Other takes place, the absolutely Other comes among us.” And citing the commentary of St. Gregory of Nyssa on the Song of Songs, he  relates how man is described therein as one “who wants to break out of the prison of finitude, out of the closed confines of his ego and of this entire world.” And it is true, Ratzinger assures us, “this world is too small for man, even if he can fly to the Moon, or one day perhaps to Mars. He yearns for the Other, the totally Other, that which is beyond his reach.”

What is ultimately behind all this yearning of the heart, of course, is the most exigent need of all: namely, to escape death, and thus to surmount the oppressions of a merely time-bound world

“In all their celebrations,” continues Ratzinger, “men have always searched for that life which is greater than death. Man’s appetite for joy, the ultimate quest for which he wanders restlessly from place to place, only makes sense if it can face the question of death.”

It is because we must all die, bound to the wheel of a broken and fallen world, which rolls remorselessly on and on, leading but to the grave, that we feel the need to get out, not to resign ourselves to a mere material fate. We may be finite beings, circumscribed by what appears to be only a closed world, hermetically sealed on all sides, but our longings are not finite. They remain infinite, which means that they may be met only by an Infinite Other, who loves us infinitely. And He set about proving it by having made Himself small in order that He might then raise us up to a height equal to His own.

Faith and Redeeming the Time

"Part of the weakness of conservatism has been a tendency to only look backward, often with nostalgia, which can only result in a kind of melancholy acceptance that most good things have been lost and the best we can do is hunker down and survive."

From The Imaginative Conservative

By Barbara J. Elliott, PhD (R+I+P)

If the people who profess belief in God were to actually live with intentionality—in their business decisions, in their classrooms, in their television broadcasts and movie scripts, in their community organizations, and in their art—together we would transform the culture.

One advantage I have in this conversation is that the Elliott household continues the discussion in more hours and words than we can capture on this scroll. We wrestled with some ideas today I would like to share with the rest of you.

One is a hope for us in this discussion to remember, reclaim and formulate anew the truths that comprise a body of thought worthy of living by, which we can pass on to our children and students, while taking up the sword of imagination to do battle with the present culture. Part of the weakness of conservatism has been a tendency to only look backward, often with nostalgia, which can only result in a kind of melancholy acceptance that most good things have been lost and the best we can do is hunker down and survive.

Another weakness of the current conservative movement is its uber-politicization. What we need is a revitalization of the life of the mind and spirit, because it is here that the deep wellspring can nourish us as individuals and as a movement. I am certain that we are pilgrims with an eternal destination, and that the political circumstances of that journey are secondary or tertiary in importance in the grand scheme of things. The culture we create has a profound effect on our lives and those that follow us. But as T.S. Eliot reminds us in Notes Toward the Definition of Culture, cultural disintegration is the most devastating and the most difficult to repair. It takes a long time to grow the grass to feed the sheep, which will provide the wool to make the yarn, to finally produce a coat.

I am reminded of a presentation given years ago at the Center for Constructive Alternatives by a Member of the British Parliament, Rhodes Boyson, on “How Ideas Become Political Reality.” His model is so good that we used it in the early days of The Heritage Foundation to move ideas through the steps quickly and effectively. It runs something like this:

At the originating end of the model there are a few seminal thinkers, whose penetrating thought and serious intellectual work produces books of substance and importance. These thinkers share fruitful ideas with others in their writing.

The wisdom and insights are then passed on to those who teach in university classrooms and intellectual forums. They share these ideas with inquiring minds who engage, debate, reformulate, and eventually pass them on to others.

These ideas are then passed on to popularizers—they appear in newspaper articles, magazines, journals, television programs and radio broadcasts. (I’ll update his model to include blogs, websites, and tweets.) The ideas are simplified, shortened, and often taken as fragments. These snippets of ideas are scattered like confetti across the landscape—or perhaps more aptly, like seed.

These ideas lodge and begin to put down roots in pockets of people who share an affinity for the particular snippets that support their particular interests. Clubs, civic groups, grassroots political organizations, and a variety of voluntary associations then espouse these ideas and look for ways to put them into practice. (Up to this point, the model works for culture as well.) These groups also serve as points of pressure on individual politicians and political parties.

The last—indeed the very last—people reached by ideas are the politicians themselves. They put their fingers in the wind to determine the direction that it is blowing, and are disposed to act accordingly. Although the source of the ideas may be something written half a century or far earlier (one thinks of the obscure scribblings of economists referenced by Keynes), they eventually result in policy.

But that last jump an idea takes to reach the politicians comes about only when a certain course of events commands their attention—a crisis, a disaster. As the crisis focuses the attention of the politician, he then looks up desperately to find a political solution acceptable to the prevailing winds. The potato famine, in the case of Adam Smith, did a wonderful job of focusing the minds of politicians who made speedy application of Smith’s ideas in a time of need. In a moment of crisis, politicians are open to seeking ideas outside the little box they brought with them into office.

To return to the purpose of our discussion, I see a real lack of focus at the first point of this progression, the seminal thinkers who form the intellectual climate. The political application is far down the food chain, a derivative of ideas. Part of the poverty of the conservative intellectual movement is the scarcity of deep thinkers today who can formulate a compelling vision of important ideas. The giants on whose shoulders we stand are no longer with us. I was privileged to know a number of them, and I mourn their passing. The torch has been passed to the living now, and it is now with our generation(s). A number of individuals who have the capacity for greatness have been invited to be a part of this discussion, and I have great hope for your lasting contributions to Western civilization.

In his essay “Is Life Worth Living?”, Kirk tells us he set out to defend the Permanent Things, while rowing against a strong tide. He sought to “conserve a patrimony of order, justice, and freedom; a tolerable moral order; and an inheritance of culture.” That is precisely what we must do. The tide has only gotten stronger and there is less of a consensus on what a tolerable moral order might look like today. The polarization in the country has grown, as Gerhart Niemeyer told me years ago that it would.

But I have hope. In the past 14 years that I have worked at the street level with people of faith who are serving the least among us, I have discovered a vibrant and courageous group of people who are renewing our country from the grassroots up. They are walking into prisons to change the hearts of prisoners to never to commit crimes again. They are going into elementary schools to mentor children of drug addicts and immigrants, and giving them the assurance that they are valuable and that they can learn. They are coming up with social entrepreneurial solutions to deep-seated social problems. These people are knitting up civil society, one relationship at a time. They are doing it because of their faith, not because the government ordered them to. These people are rowing against the tide with their actions. And they are throwing a life raft to those whose lives have capsized.

I have found that many of these people may have begun with political leanings to the left, but they have a great deal in common with us. At some point they realized that the government can’t do these things well, because it cannot love. Only individual people can. And to transform lives, we need the freedom to share the source of Love. There are many more people than you might guess who share a hope for more perfect justice, more humane solutions, and a better life that contains the things we value. They hoped the government could provide these things, but are learning that at the street level, their little platoon is doing a better job.

If we are ever going to be able to cast a vision forward, not backward, I believe it will be in articulating the vision and finding the language to appeal to people like this across this country and perhaps even others, whose first loyalty is the Kingdom of God. If the people who profess belief in Him were to actually live with intentionality—in their business decisions, in their classrooms, in their television broadcasts and movie scripts, in their community organizations and in their art—together we would transform the culture. And ultimately, as John Paul II knew and demonstrated in Poland, changing the culture is the pre-eminent task. The rest follows.

Becoming an intentional disciple is crucial. Living faith with vibrancy and authenticity is necessary. Relying on the Holy Spirit for inspiration and guidance is of utmost importance. We, like Kirk, are called to take up the sword of imagination and stand. Not with our eyes on the capitol, but the Kingdom—the Kingdom among us.

I know that important battles are being fought in the political fray. So many others have already rallied to that realm. Let them do it, and Godspeed. But the deeper work at the starting point of Boyson’s model can only be done by a few, and I have great hope for what this group could do. “Redeeming the time” is the phrase that comes to mind.

__________

The featured image is “At the Monastery Gate” (1846) by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ Monday After Trinity Sunday

ON THE FIGURES OF THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. AND FIRST, OF THE PASCHAL LAMB.

Consider first, that the Old Testament was a figure of the New; and that all the most remarkable events that are there recorded by the Spirit of God, have relation, in the way of prophetic figures, to Christ and his church of the New Testament. Thus the redemption or deliverance of the children of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, was a figure of the redemption of man by Christ from the bondage of Satan and sin; and the means that were then ordered and appointed to be used as a preparation for their deliverance, were a figure of what was to be afterwards done by our redeemer for the deliverance of all mankind from a far worse slavery. Now it was appointed, Exod. xii., ‘That the children of Israel, the night before their going out of Egypt, should in all their families offer up an unspotted lamb in sacrifice, and that they should sprinkle their door-posts with the blood of the victim, as a sign for the destroying angel, who slew that night all the first-born of Egypt, to pass over their houses: and that they should eat the flesh of the lamb that same night, roasted at the fire, with unleavened bread, and wild lettuce; having their loins grit, their shoes on their feet and their staves in their hands, in readiness to take the journey which they were immediately to begin, in consequence of the deliverance of that night.’ See here, my soul, this illustrious figure - but now let us come to the application of it.

Consider therefore 2ndly, that this unspotted lamb, first offered in sacrifice, and then eaten in a sacred and mysterious sign or sacrament, was a lively figure of Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God, offered up in sacrifice for our redemption from sin and hell with the sprinkling of whose blood our souls are rescued from the power of Satan, and from the second death, and whose sacred flesh we are commanded to eat in the divine mysteries, as an earnest of the share we have in him and his sacrifice; as a sovereign means of communicating to our souls the fruit of our redemption, and all the graces purchased by our redeemer; as a pledge of our eternal happiness, and as a preparation and a viaticum for the great journey we are to make out of this Egypt of the world, to the true land of promise, the land of the living. O my soul, let us adore, praise, and give thanks to our Lord for these wonders he has wrought in our favour, in these heavenly mysteries. Let us embrace with all affection this Lamb of God, immolated for our sins; this Christian Pasch; this victim of our redemption this new sacrifice of the new covenant, the covenant of life and love. Let us frequently approach these mysteries, but see it be with due dispositions.

Consider 3rdly, that the paschal lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread and wild lettuce, to signify the dispositions of soul with which we ought to come to the Christian passover. Christ is now our Paschal Lamb. ‘Therefore,’ says the apostle, 1 Cor. v. 8, ‘let us feast not with the old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’ So that a purity of intention, uprightness and simplicity of heart, and the sincere dispositions of a soul which desires to give herself up without reserve to her redeemer, are signified by the unleavened bread with which the pasch was to be eaten; as the wholesome bitterness of true repentance and contrition for our sins is signified by the bitter taste of the wild lettuce. And whereas it was also ordered, that in eating the paschal lamb they should have their loins girt up, their shoes on their feet, and their staves in their hands; we are to learn from these ceremonies, that if we would worthily approach the Lamb of God in the sacred mysteries, we must gird up the joins of our soul, by a resolute restraint on our passions and lusts; and have our feet, that is, the affections of the soul, ‘Shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,’ Eph. vi. 15, that is, with a readiness of heart to follow in all things the rules of the gospel, as the only way to true peace; and hold our staves in our hands, as pilgrims and travellers, not having any property or lasting dwelling here, but wholly bent on making the best of our way to our true country.

Conclude to frequent henceforward the great Christian passover of the most blessed Eucharist, with the dispositions of true Israelites leaving Egypt, and marching towards the land of promise. Ever consider it is the sacrifice and sacrament of your deliverance and redemption, and approach it with the devotion which this consideration requires; as the Israelites were commanded to solemnize by the annual devotion of the sacrifice and sacrament of the paschal lamb, the memory of their redemption from the Egyptian bondage.

1 June, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

1. All devotions which have been approved by the Church are valuable because they are acts of religion which have as their object the author of all holiness and source of all goodness. By these acts God is adored, thanked and supplicated by His children who have been redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to the Saints is also directed ultimately towards God, Who has endowed His faithful servants, especially the Mother of Jesus, with His gifts and graces and has established them as mediators by His throne. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, however, is not one of the many pious practices merely permitted or recommended by the Church. Fundamentally, it is a devotion which is essential for any Christian in so far as it is the cult of the love of God made man for our sakes.

We know that Christianity is the religion of love. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) Everything flows from God's love for mankind—both the Creation and the Redemption, for God created us out of love and redeemed us with the love of His only-begotten Son Who became man and died for us; and both the Old and the New Law, for the basis of the Old Law was “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,” (Deut. 6:4) and the commandment of charity was called by Jesus His own commandment, on which His entire teaching was based. The Sacraments, especially the Blessed Eucharist, have their origin in the same infinite love. So have the graces which God gives us, our justification through the merits of our Redeemer, and the final reward for which we hope in Heaven. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is the worship of this infinite love, of which it is a living symbol.

2. When we consider it under its fundamental aspect as the cult of the love of God rather than of the Incarnate Word, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is as old as Christianity, even though it is only in recent centuries that it has assumed its present symbolism. “He who does not love does not know God,” says St. John, “for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) “And we have come to know,” he continues, “and have believed, the love that God has in our behalf. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) This cult of the love of God, particularly of the love of God made man, vibrates throughout the pages of the Gospel and of the writings of the Apostles, especially of St. John and of St. Paul. In the works of the Fathers there are references to the Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, from which flowed all the infinite graces of the Church for our redemption. We are reminded of this in the Encyclical published by Pope Pius XII in the year 1956. But the specific cult of the love of God as symbolised by the Heart of Jesus was explicitly approved by the Church after Jesus Himself appeared in the year 1674 to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and showed her His Heart on fire with love for men.

3. We should have a very high regard, therefore, for this devotion to the Sacred Heart. We should excite in our hearts acts of love which will compensate in some way for the infinite love which Jesus has for us. Finally, we should try and make our lives correspond with our love by emulating as far as possible the holy and immaculate life of Jesus Christ.

Ejaculation: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere known and loved.

Eastern Rite ~ Feasts of 1 June AM 7534

Today is the Feast of the Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher and Those with Him.

✠✠✠✠✠

The Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher was born around 114 at Sychem, an ancient city of Samaria. Justin’s parents were pagan Greeks. From his childhood, the saint displayed intelligence, a love for knowledge and a fervent devotion to the knowledge of Truth. When he came of age he studied the various schools of Greek philosophy: the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, and the Platonists, and he concluded that none of these pagan teachings revealed the way to knowledge of the true God.

Once, when he was strolling in a solitary place beyond the city and pondering about where to seek the way to the knowledge of Truth, he met an old man. In the ensuing conversation, he revealed to Justin the essential nature of the Christian teaching and advised him to seek the answers to all the questions of life in the books of Holy Scripture. “But before anything else,” said the holy Elder, “pray diligently to God, so that He might open to you the doors of Light. No one is able to comprehend Truth, unless he is granted understanding from God Himself, Who reveals it to each one who seeks Him in prayer and in love.”

In his thirtieth year, Justin accepted holy Baptism (between the years 133 and 137). From this time Saint Justin devoted his talents and vast philosophical knowledge to preaching the Gospel among the pagans. He began to journey throughout the Roman Empire, sowing the seeds of faith. “Whosoever is able to proclaim Truth and does not proclaim it will be condemned by God,” he wrote.

Justin opened a school of Christian philosophy. Saint Justin subsequently defended the truth of Christian teaching, persuasively confuting pagan sophistry (in a debate with the Cynic philosopher Crescentius) and heretical distortions of Christianity. He also spoke out against the teachings of the Gnostic Marcian.

In the year 155, when the emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) started a persecution against Christians, Saint Justin personally gave him an Apology in defence of two Christians innocently condemned to execution, Ptolemy and Lucias. The name of the third remains unknown.

In the Apology, he demonstrated the falseness of the slander against Christians accused unjustly for merely having the name of Christians. The Apology had such a favourable effect upon the emperor that he ceased the persecution. Saint Justin journeyed, by decision of the emperor, to Asia Minor where they were persecuting Christians with particular severity. He proclaimed the joyous message of the imperial edict throughout the surrounding cities and countryside.

The debate of Saint Justin with Rabbi Trypho took place at Ephesus. The Catholic philosopher demonstrated the truth of the Christian teaching of faith on the basis of the Old Testament prophetic writings. Saint Justin gave an account of this debate in his work Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.

A second Apology of Saint Justin was addressed to the Roman Senate. It was written in the year 161, soon after Marcus Aurelius (161-180) ascended the throne.

When he returned to Italy, Saint Justin, like the Apostles, preached the Gospel everywhere, converting many to the Christian Faith. When the saint arrived in Rome, the envious Crescentius, whom Justin always defeated in debate, brought many false accusations against him before the Roman court. Saint Justin was put under guard, subjected to torture and suffered martyrdom in 165. The relics of Saint Justin the Philosopher rest in Rome.

In addition to the above-mentioned works, the following are also attributed to the holy martyr Justin the Philosopher:

1) An Address to the Greeks

2) A Hortatory Address to the Greeks

3) On the Sole Government of God

Saint John of Damascus preserved a significant part of Saint Justin’s On the Resurrection, which has not survived. The church historian Eusebius asserts that Saint Justin wrote books entitled

The Singer

Denunciation of all Existing Heresies and

Against Marcian

In the Russian Church, the memory of the martyr is particularly glorified in temples of his name. He is invoked by those who seek help in their studies.

The holy martyrs Justin, Chariton, Euelpistus, Hierax, Peonus, Valerian, Justus and the martyr Charito suffered with Saint Justin the Philosopher in the year 166. They were brought to Rome and thrown into prison. The saints bravely confessed their faith in Christ before the court of the prefect Rusticus. Rusticus asked Saint Justin, whether he really thought that after undergoing torture he would go to heaven and receive a reward from God. Saint Justin answered, “Not only do I think this, but I know and am fully assured of it.”

The prefect proposed to all the Christian prisoners that they offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. When they refused he issued a sentence of death, and the saints were beheaded.

Troparion — Tone 4

O Justin, teacher of divine knowledge, / you shone with the radiance of true philosophy. / You were wisely armed against the enemy. / Confessing the truth you contended alongside the martyrs, / with them, ever entreat Christ our God to save our souls!

Kontakion — Tone 2

The whole Church of God is adorned with the wisdom of your divine words, O Justin; / the world is enlightened by the radiance of your life. / By the shedding of your blood, you have received a crown. / As you stand before Christ with the angels, pray unceasingly for us all!

Byzantine Saints: Martyr Justin the Philosopher and Those With Him at Rome

IN LUMINE FIDEI: JUNE – THE MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS

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1 June, The Chesterton Calendar

JUNE 1st

The great lords will refuse the English peasant his three acres and a cow on advanced grounds, if they cannot refuse it longer on reactionary grounds. They will deny him the three acres on grounds of State Ownership. They will forbid him the cow on grounds of humanitarianism.

'What's Wrong with the World.'

1 June, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monasticism

CHAPTER VII. Of Humility

31 Jan. 1 June. 1 Oct.

The third degree of humility is, that a man for the love of God submit himself to his superior in all obedience; imitating the Lord, of Whom the apostle saith: “He was made obedient even unto death.”

2 June, The Roman Martyrology

Quarto Nonas Iúnii Luna sexta décima Anno Dómini 2026
June 2nd 2026, the 16th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:

At Rome, the holy martyrs Marcellinus the priest, and Peter the Exorcist.
They were teaching the faith to many in prison in the time of Diocletian, when Serenus the judge, after putting them to terrible bonds and many torments, caused them to be beheaded at the place which was then called the Black Wood, but the name of which was afterwards changed in honor of the Saints, and called the White Wood.
Their bodies were buried in the crypt, hard by the body of holy Tibertius, and holy Pope Damasus in after-days decorated their grave with a set of verses.
In Campania, the holy martyr Elmo, Patriarch [of Antioch.] Under the Emperor Diocletian he was first hided with scourges laden with lead, then heavily beaten with cudgels, after which resin, sulphur, lead, pitch, wax, and oil were poured over him, but he still appeared unharmed.
Thereafter at Formi, under Maximian, he was tortured again with diverse and most cruel sufferings but God preserved him to strengthen others, until at length, famous for his testimony, he fell asleep in a holy death at the call of the Lord. His body was afterwards taken to Gaeta.
At Lyon, the holy martyrs Photinus the Bishop, Sanctus the Deacon, Vetius, Epagathus, Maturus, Ponticus, Biblides, Attalus, Alexander, and Blandina, with many others, whose mighty and constant contendings, in the time of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Verus, are written in the Epistle of the Church of Lyon to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia; among these the holy Blandina, weaker by sex, frailer in body, lower in social position, underwent contendings more long and more sharp, and remaining still inflexible, was slain by the sword, and so followed the others whom she had exhorted to victory.
At Rome, [in the year 657,] the holy Confessor Pope Eugenius I.
At Trani, in Apulia, [in the year 1094,] the holy Confessor Nicholas Peregrini, whose wonderful works were published in a Council at Rome under Pope Urban II.
℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Meme of the Moment

Today is her Feast Day.

Traditional Catholic Evening Prayers in English | May

Traditional Catholic evening devotional prayers to close your day with your mind, heart, tongue, and soul on our Lord! The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Begin and end each day with prayer. This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office evening prayers.

Compline

From St Thomas Aquinas Seminary. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.

Byzantine Saints: Martyr Hermias at Comana

St Felix of Nicosia: Butler's Lives of the Saints

2nd Vespers of Trinity Sunday

From the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem. You may follow the Office at Divinum Officium.

How Catholics Are Using Artificial Intelligence for Good

From EWTN News

Roselle Reyes spotlights how Build with Christ AI brings people together to create values-aligned AI tools to help bless ministries and non-profits, so that artificial intelligence technology can ultimately better serve mankind.

Summa Contra Gentiles Book I: God Wills Even the Things That Are Not Yet

From Contemplating History

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 7 March 1274), was a Doctor of the Church, Philosopher, Theologian, Jurist, Dominican Friar, and Priest. Known as Doctor Angelicus "Angelic Doctor," and the Doctor Communis "Universal Doctor" his writings serve as a defense and proof of the validity of Christ's authority over all. The Summa contra Gentiles (also known as Liber de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores infidelium, "Book on the truth of the Catholic faith against the errors of the unbelievers"). The Summa contra Gentiles consists of four books. The structure of Saint Thomas's work is designed to proceed from general philosophical arguments for monotheism, to which Muslims and Jews are likely to consent even within their own respective religious traditions, before progressing to the discussion of specifically Christian doctrine. Book I begins with general questions of truth and natural reason, and from chapter 10 investigates the concept of a monotheistic God. Chapters 10 to 13 are concerned with the existence of God, followed by a detailed investigation of God's properties (chapters 14 to 102). When demonstrating a Truth about God which can be known through reason, St. Thomas gives multiple arguments, each proving the same Truth in a different way. Whether you are a history enthusiast, a student of religion, or simply curious about the impact of the Roman Catholic Church on the world, this playlist is designed to provide an informative and engaging journey through its captivating past. Subscribe to the Contemplating History channel for more educational content and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of history.

The Holy Rosary

Sunday, the Glorious Mysteries, in Latin with Cardinal Burke.

The Short Life of Prince Henry Tudor Duke of Cornwall | Son of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

From History Calling

He was the BOY WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN KING Henry IX, but tragically it wasn’t to be. This is the story of the short life of Prince Henry Tudor, Duke of Cornwall, firstborn son of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, whose death changed history. This New Year’s Day Prince was born on 1 January 1511 at Richmond Palace much to the delight of his parents, who had already lost one child the year before. With his arrival, the position of his mother, the Spanish Princess, Catherine of Aragon, as Queen of England should have been secure and like his uncle, Arthur Tudor, over thirty years earlier, this boy seemed to represent stability for the Tudor dynasty. It now had that all important male heir to the throne and with King Henry VIII still only a teenager himself, it seemed certain there would be time for little Prince Henry to grow up before becoming King. The baby was of course given a christening fit for royalty, with William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Louis XII of France and Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy as his godparents. He was then quickly set up with his own household numbering over forty people. There was also a lavish tournament to mark his birth and this was commemorated in the Westminster Roll. Yet just seven and a half weeks after his arrival, on 22 February, the little Tudor prince was dead. There hadn’t even been time to make him Prince of Wales. He was buried in Westminster Abbey after a grand funeral and ever since he has represented to history what might have been for the Tudors. In this Tudor history documentary from History Calling we look at the brief life of Prince Henry, one of the shortest-lived Tudors and at how, despite his short time here on earth, he has nevertheless made his mark.

Aquinas & AI: Defining Terms: Personhood

With Fr James Brent, OP, PhD, STL, Asst Professor of Philosophy, Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC.

Tempted With Atheism, St Thérèse Wrote This Poem About Joan of Arc

St Joan of Arc's Feast Day was yesterday. As a patriotic French girl, St Thérèse had a great devotion to St Joan, who would be Beatified in 1909 by Pope St Pius X.

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

During her final months on earth, St. Thérèse was plunged into the darkness of unbelief.

In May 1897, St. Thérèse of Lisieux was only a few short months away from dying. Her tuberculosis gave her significant bodily pain, but above all, God allowed her to be plunged into a spiritual darkness, something that God has permitted particular saints to experience

She wrote about it in her autobiography, Story of a Soul:

[God] allowed my soul to be overwhelmed with darkness, and the thought of Heaven, which had consoled me from my earliest childhood, now became a subject of conflict and torture. This trial did not last merely for days or weeks; I have been suffering for months, and I still await deliverance. I wish I could express what I feel, but it is beyond me. One must have passed through this dark tunnel to understand its blackness ... When I sing of the happiness of Heaven and the eternal possession of God, I do not feel any joy therein, for I sing only of what I wish to believe. Sometimes, I confess, a little ray of sunshine illumines my dark night, and I enjoy peace for an instant, but later, the remembrance of this ray of light, instead of consoling me, makes the blackness thicker still.

It was a very difficult time for St. Thérèse and she expressed this darkness in a poem she wrote, titled "To Joan of Arc."

A companion in her darkness: Joan of Arc

Thérèse had had a deep devotion to St. Joan of Arc since her childhood and wrote many poems and plays about her beloved patron. During her trial of faith, Thérèse felt united to Joan of Arc, especially as Joan waited in the dungeon before being led out to her cruel martyrdom.

At the bottom of a black dungeon, laden with heavy chains,
The cruel foreigner filled you with grief.
Not one of your friends took part in your pain.
Not one came forward to wipe your tears.

Joan, in your dark prison you seem to me
More radiant, more beautiful than at your King's coronation.
This heavenly reflection of eternal glory,
Who then brought it upon you? It was betrayal.

Ah! If the God of love in this valley of tears
Had not come to seek betrayal and death,
Suffering would hold no attraction for us.
Now we love it; it is our treasure.

In this way St. Thérèse experienced a spiritual darkness that many atheists feel, not knowing if there is a God or an afterlife. Yet, even in the midst of such doubts, Thérèse continued to make acts of faith with her mouth, willing that her heart would follow after.

This "dark night of the soul" eventually cleared by the time of her death through the grace of God, and she left this world with the words, "My God, I love You!"

Pictured: St Thérèse dressed s St Joan of Arc for a play in the Convent on 21 January 1895