Where on your personal bucket list is the Kingdom of Heaven? Can you claim with perfect candor and complete honesty that spending eternity with God in Heaven is even on your list? If not, then why not? We know that the measure of our lives is brief and fleeting, yet we are want to dismiss any thought of what awaits beyond the sunset and the dark of death, now unknowable and thus too disconcerting, too discomfiting to seriously consider.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a prolific writer, commentator, moral theologian, and philosopher as well as a bona fide television star. His weekly television show Life is Worth Living was amazing not only for being carried on ABC from 1952 until 1957 and on other networks under different titles until 1968 but for being the most widely-viewed religious series in television history, averaging over ten-million viewers every week. All this despite the fact that the show, shown only in black and white and hosted by Bishop Sheen, consisted mainly of he in his clerics speaking to the camera discussing moral issues of the day from an clearly Catholic perspective.
Agood friend voiced an objection over last week’s article, stating that he was certain that his children would themselves resolutely object to my disparagement of the young, casting them as ill-informed entitled sycophants who knew nothing of any consequence. While disparagement and ridicule were neither my intent nor the direct object of my concern I certainly understand how anyone could have come away with that interpretation.
Reflection in a way is a uniquely human endeavor for only we are capable of giving serious thought or consideration to any matter, to spend ample amounts of time in contemplation thoughtfully examining and assessing a thing with fresh eyes and an open mind. It is a talent of the mind, a most useful and beneficial asset yet like so many other useful things all too seldom exercised. Critical thinking is fast going the way of the dodo and the dinosaur much as has rational, objective, and civil discourse and debate. Matters worthy of serious reflection and thoughtful consideration are dismissed as if one’s hand had come into contact with an open flame or worse avoided as if the mere mention of it evoked a foul stench.
Optimism is often in short supply these days; it is just so much easier to be pessimistic, to see our world and all its wonders in shades of dull depressing grayness rather than bright vivid colors. It is a simple thing to find fault in almost anything or anyone, for nothing and no one is perfect and yet we find it so difficult, often impossible to see all the goodness that surrounds us in abundant measure. It is as if we relish any opportunity to sit alone in the darkness, wallowing in self-pity and despair: the light is too bright, it hurts the eyes; laughter and joy irritate and distract; there can be no hope for all is lost; nothing good will come of whatever.
Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza was a seventeenth century Dutch philosopher of Sephardic Jewish descent who developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. Jewish authorities issued a cherem [1] against him, excluding him from Jewish society and the Catholic Church placed his books on the Index of Forbidden Books. Despite, or perhaps because of the concerted Judeo-Christian objections to his ideas, he achieved significant renown [2] and long-lasting influence on the rapid growth and dominance of secular societies.
There is pernicious malady, pernicious malady, uniquely common to the human species—arguably it has been present since the very beginning—for which there has yet been found any hope or possibility of a cure. For the vast majority, there has never been any serious inclination or desire for a cure to be found for they are perfectly happy living with this particular condition.
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Secular liberalism is a religion with a vision that demands superseding all other religions whereby its enlightened members can use the power of the state to create heaven on earth. As there is no God, no soul, no eternal life beyond the grave, they argue that it is up to those so enlightened to create and lead mankind into a utopian earthly paradise here and now.
Freedom is never free no matter how stridently one might assert that it absolutely must be so, for there is no such thing as absolute, unfettered freedom. All freedoms are bounded by restrictive covenants, limited by how far one can go in exercising one’s power to act upon one’s personal desires.
