Posts Tagged ‘religion’

The sin of Covetousness: a primer

Posted: April 14, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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Inside Catholic has a first rate article on the 10th commandment and the sin of covetousness, an excerpt:

In a world filled with tremendous greed and the celebration of wealth amassed by wicked people using unscrupulous means, it becomes extremely easy to justify covetousness. But covetousness is perhaps the most fruitless form of sin there is. With greed, you at least experience possession (though not real enjoyment) of the thing you own. With lust, you at least get sexual pleasure now and then, though not love. With gluttony, you get the taste of food, though not the satisfaction. But with covetousness, you get only the raw envy of the other, with no compensation at all. A jealous man can at least use his jealousy to go out, work hard, and get the same car his neighbor has. An envious man sits there doing nothing, waits till it is night, and then slashes the tires on his neighbor’s car instead of lifting a finger to accomplish any good at all. Jealousy can be redeemed. Envy must simply be destroyed.

Hell is an equal opportunity landlord. As the article says:

The sin of covetousness is typically the sin of the poor and weak, just as the sin of greed is typically the sin of the rich and powerful.

Both are wanted down below. The good move is to decline the invitation.

Notre Dame continues to brew

Posted: April 9, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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I think that Notre Dame’s administration might be praying (assuming they actually pray) for something to come up to get them out of this mess.

Even MSNBC covered the 10 priests of of the CSC objecting. Fr. Jenkins leaked statement suggesting that because President Obama is not Catholic these rules don’t apply is only going to make things worse. (Then again he hasn’t found a church yet has he, maybe he is Catholic and we just don’t know it?). This is going to keep producing pixels till it is resolved one way or the other.

At the Palm Sunday Mass Today…

Posted: April 5, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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…as always the Passion of Christ is read as the primary Gospel reading. Today it was from Mark. If you aren’t Catholic you might not be aware that when the passion is read on Palm Sunday and Good Friday the Gospel is divided into parts. The priest reads Christ, There is a Nariator who reads the linking text, a 2nd reader (in our case a deacon) who reads various parts and the specific parts such as crowd reaction and the taunting of Christ are read by the people.

You would think after decades of this I would have noticed it but until I remembered this post based on Diane Korzeniewski excellent post that it hit me how proper it was that the public reads all of the condemnation of Christ. If was due to fear of public opinion the Pilate did what he knew and his wife knew wasn’t right.

Is that a metaphor on what is happening at Notre Dame? That’s for other people to say.

A great explaination

Posted: April 4, 2009 by datechguy in catholic
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There are 150,000 people joining the Catholic Church this week in the US. We’ve already mentioned Newt Gingrich, but the Curt Jester points to another one that is worth noticing:

The Scharbachs, practicing Anglicans for the last several years, believe they have found that sense of belonging in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Roman Catholic Church, which the family hopes to join during Easter Vigil at next-door Holy Cross parish.

“We’ve always thought that this is the only church that has remained steadfast on moral issues and has a worldwide witness to that,” Mrs. Scharbach said. “It’s a worldwide voice saying, ‘This is wrong.’ ”

Asked why this is the time for him and his family to convert, Mr. Scharbach offered a simple answer: “The magisterium – to be in communion with the Holy See.”

Just months ago, Mr. Scharbach was a promising Anglican priest at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, near Philadelphia.

His bottom line is however the most significant:

“I realized I can live without being Roman Catholic, but I couldn’t die without being Roman Catholic,” Mr. Scharbach said.

That’s what it all comes down to. And if the Anchoress is right we will need people of strength for what is coming:

Just be ready, is all I am saying. And practice prayer – which is the most subversive of liberties; it can never be taken from you, and is a source of power and strength. Train yourself in prayer. Begin now, so that you are a fit, skilled practitioner when the need arises.

You never know the day or hour.

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