I saw this blog on SD and it really caused me to stop and contemplate how I gave responded to people, even in my own family. As is always the case with Aquinas, he causes you to truly look at yourself . Even in suffering reviling, we can put ourselves in a dangerous place in how we respond. http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2015/02/trasancos-reviling/
Miker, Thanks for the link. I must admit there are times I revile against certain political figures. Do I know their hearts? No! Certainly there are groups such as Freemasons and globalists that have an anti-God agenda. I think it would be alright to mention them critically in light of that agenda without naming individuals, but I know it is wrong to publicly lambast/judge an individual by name. Speaking in terms of issues is the prudent path. Proverbs 13:3 The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
The basis of our understanding of mortal sin lies I think in St James who talks of a sin that is mortal or causes death to the soul. I think in the old days we as Catholics were far, far too quick to talk of , 'Mortal Sin'. Mortal Sin , killing the life of the Spirit in the Soul is no small or trivial matter. I remember an old priest a Doctor of Canon Law telling me that under the old Code of Canon Law he could have itemised 60 ways of committing 'serious sin' just by dressing wrong in the Sacristy before mass. Imagine the scruples that caused. I heard of priests leaving the priesthood simply because they were terrified of saying mass; poor souls. Goodness knows how much harm the highly legalistic approach to our understanding of sin did in its day. I always feel a certain sadness at mass when I see so many people of my generation not going up to receive the Eucharist because of a misundestanding of the full nature of the sin that causes death to the soul...(that is mortal). For instance the idea that you might commit mortal sin again and again as you attend confession regularly is not really realistic I think. It is kind of the Spiritual equivalent of shooting Jesus in the face with a Remington shotgun. It is not a small matter . I think in my generation we sometimes made small sins Mortal too readily.
YUP! As I look back on my early (1950s) formative years in Catholic school, I can see why & how some were misguided in their understanding of sin ... and that misunderstanding caused them heartache in life as what they were taught/thought was right-n-true was, in fact, nothing less than a perversion of what/how God made us ... Human! I have come to believe that Jesus' Ministry was, in large measure, a "Sign" that being Human was OK, do your best and when the inevitable stumbles occur get up ... and continue to do your best .... even when that Best ain't very good! From what I can glean from the New Testament, it seems to me that The Lord spent very little time hangin' out with Psalm Singers, Pharisees, Scribes and what I call Goody Two Shoe Types. GOD SAVE ALL HERE!
Crewdog and Padraig, What you two describe are the remnants of the Jansenist heresy, where the broken sinful side of our human nature was exaggerated to the point where our baptismal election as God's children was virtually blotted out! What a difference two generations make! The pendulum has indeed swung to the other extreme. Safe in the Father's Arms! Galatians 4: 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Ireland was very badly effected by the New World, Terry as many of our priests at the time went to France to be educated, the Faith being outlawed in Ireland. From Ireland it was carried by our priests, laypeople and religious to the New World. Only Devotion to the Sacred Heart helped quench it. I would say I still have strands of it clinging to me. A lot of folks do. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansenism
