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I have posted a new explanation and analysis of the Second Way for proving the existence of God from Summa Theologiae Ia, q. 2, a. 3, which Saint Thomas Aquinas rather cryptically says is based on the nature (ratio) of efficient causality. The greatest obstacle to understanding his Second Way, it has seemed to me,Continue reading “New Explanation and Analysis of Aquinas’s Second Way”

Every Good Friday, the question is raised again, “Why did Jesus have to die?” A common answer, though not really the Catholic answer, says that Jesus is a substitute victim, an innocent, and infinitely holy person, the Son of God, who suffers the punishment which sinners deserve in their place, and thereby frees them fromContinue reading “Why Jesus Died on the Cross”

Today, January 28, is the Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He is, of course, a great Doctor of the Church and perhaps her greatest theologian, certainly one her most influential thinkers. He is rightly commended for integrating natural reason (especially as exemplified in the thought of Aristotle) with the Christian faith, and so contemporary CatholicsContinue reading “Happy Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas”

His Bellows Will Resound throughout the World Today, November 15, is the Feast of Saint Albert the Great, or Saint Albert of Regensburg. He was a towering figure in medieval philosophy and theology and had such encyclopedic knowledge and an incisive mind that, even in his lifetime, he was called “the Great.” Ulrich of StrasbourgContinue reading “Happy Feast of Saint Albert the Great”

What Else Is There? I previously quoted approvingly Walker Percy when he posed to himself the option of holding to some worldview besides the Catholic faith, and queried himself the answer “what else is there?” Though himself a convert, I as a Cradle Catholic felt he summed up my experience of considering the various alternativesContinue reading “Scientific Materialism Is No Alternative to Catholic Faith”

That will settle the Manichees! There is an amusing story told about St. Thomas Aquinas I have always liked. Once, friar Thomas was invited to dine at the table of the King of France, Louis IX, who would eventually be canonized a saint, too. Brother Thomas, fell silent as the meal and conversation continued aroundContinue reading “Happy Feast of St. Louis IX of France”

Bad Catholics from the Past and Bad Philosophy In my previous post I related that when I began to investigate how I might explain and defend the Catholic faith, I found that sometimes I agreed with skeptical critiques of distinctively Protestant beliefs, yet I was very convinced of the inadequacy of physicalist explanations of natureContinue reading “Why Isn’t Everyone Catholic (part 2)?”

Bad Catholics If it is true, as I have claimed, that a compelling case can be made that you (or anyone) can find ultimate fulfillment in knowing and loving God, who is all good and deserving of all your love, by living your life as a committed Catholic, it may seem perplexing that anyone isContinue reading “Why Isn’t Everyone Catholic (part 1)?”

Explanations and defenses of the truth of the Catholic faith tend to be written by converts. Perhaps this is natural and to be expected: a convert, by definition, has changed his or her set or system of beliefs about God, Jesus, the Bible and the Church (among others) from alternative views, and has had toContinue reading “All Good and Deserving of All My Love”

June 14, 2020 – Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi (The Body and Blood of Christ) Saint Thomas Aquinas had a particular devotion to Jesus Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. He was serving in the papal court when it was in residence in Orvieto, Italy, when a remarkable EucharisticContinue reading “In festo Corpus Christi”