The Arrow's Path

As I stated previously , Pope Leo XIV has released his first encyclical entitled Magnifica Humanitas . I opened with a reflection on the Introduction to this teaching document. The opening was concise but theologically solid, as it presented the core of Catholic Social Teaching from the 1890s onward. I am continued to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this encyclical chapter by chapter in real time. I have not read the entire document yet, but rather reading it privately in sections and then commenting on it before reading more. I find it helpful to engage in pieces and not read the entire thing and then start my analysis, as that tends to lead to a more broad overview and not looking at each section in it's unique own right.  Today, I read through Chapter 1 of the document. My initial reaction to the 1st chapter is not quite as positive as my enthusiasm for the opening introduction. It gets a little theological squishy in the early middle section (more on that in a moment), ...

I had an interesting question posed, that I would like to respond to:  I have a question...when in a public space and prayer is offered...do we make the sign of the cross if the person does not pray "in the name..." My response:  I think one way to look at this question is to start from the place of asking what is the making of the sign of the Cross? These actions are on one level what is known as a sacramental. We often think of sacramentals as physical objects (holy water, a wooden rosary, etc.,) but sacramentals can also be liturgical acts like the making of the Sign of the Cross. What is the purpose of a sacramental? A sacramental is, as the name suggests, something that points us to the Sacraments. More precisely, a sacramental is a sacred sign that signify spiritual effects and prepare us for the sacraments. For example, a rosary points us towards Christ, who is present in the sacraments like the Eucharist. Likewise, holy water points us towards the sacrame...

We have been hosting a foreign exchange student. A few weeks before she went back to France, we took her up to my old stomping grounds in a city I worked as an intern in the Episcopal church before going to seminary. We happened to drive by my old parish near a local Air Force base. I had a great experience there as a Episcopal Youth corps pre-seminary formation year, circa 2003-2004. The priest was amazing and theologically very solid, dare I say even conservative. The congregation was healthy and active. They had a great youth group and a women's group that met for a bible study every week. It was truly a great parish-not huge but healthy. There was a lot of Air Force base families and those in the local community who lived there permanently. I loved the parish so much, I specifically requested the bishop to allow my Diaconal ordination to happen there when I got out of seminary. In a lot of ways, it was my home parish that sponsored me to go to seminary and not my actual home pa...

 

As I alluded to in my previous post here , Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical last week . I was curious about it for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Pope Leo is an Augustinian priest. I have read some of his homilies from years past as well as his public pronouncements since he became Pope. Being firmly in the grip of St Augustine of Hippo myself, I was pleased an Augustinian became Pope. I was hoping the new pope would not try to divorce himself from his grounding in the theology of St. Augustine.  Secondly, to new Pope took Leo as his Papal name. There have been several popes of that name, going back to the first Leo (known as Leo the Great) in AD 440. Popes named Leo have had considerable influence in influencing world affairs and Christendom. Leo the Great bargained with Attila the Hun to not sack Rome. Leo II was a large player in the 6th Council of Constantinople. Sadly, Leo VII was complicit in allowing Jews to be violently expelled from Germany in the early 900s. Leo...

 I am going to start working my way through Pope Leo XIV's new encyclical, "MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS." I do recommend you read the full document here .   As with any primary document, do attempt to go into it with an open mind, and let the document speak for itself. I am already seeing all sorts of reactions and critiques starting to pop up online. As usual, such reactions range from the positive to the banal to the "the sky is falling, and we may die" spectrum. Do attempt to be objective and fair in your own reading. Try not to let the ballyhooers cloud your opinion before you even read the first paragraph.  It appears to be a 245 paragraph document (excluding citations and footnotes), containing 5 chapters with an intro and a conclusion. I will try to break this up into sections for digestibility (both yours and my own). I just read the first paragraph before writing this blog entry, and I am already intrigued, but let me read through it before I start launching of...