Ethics

Burning of Sodomites for Homosexuality (Photo credit: Jesus In Love)

Ethics is a branch of knowledge and philosophical inquiry concerned with moral ideals, choices and the good or bad actions which may or may not follow from those choices.

Ethics may focus on personal, social and spiritual issues, separately but often in relation to one another.

Within world religions, ethical decrees might seem fixed within a given faith tradition. But various schools of interpretation usually coexist, usually with some degree of tension—e.g. the Protestant acceptance of female and in some instances homosexual ministers vs. the Catholic rule of an exclusively male priesthood and homosexual acts being specified in the catechism as “intrinsically disordered.”¹

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¹ See http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2357.htm

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Elohim

Adam, Eve, and extraterrestrial Elohim (according to Raëlism) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Elohim is a modern and ancient Hebrew word that denotes god or gods, making it grammatically singular or plural.

According to Catholic teaching, the fact that Elohim has a plural form doesn’t mean that it points to polytheistic understanding of God. It occurs over 2,500 times in the Old Testament.

Elohim is also used to refer to angels, heathen gods or representatives of God. Jesus‘ human side cried an Aramaic variant  – “Eloi, Eloi” – while feeling forsaken by God on the cross.

The term Elohim is also used by Raelians to depict apparently all-wise, loving aliens whom adherents believe created mankind.

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Fatima(h)

Portugal Fatima by Fr Antunes via Flickr

1.  Fatimah is the daughter of Mohammed who, among certain Shi’ite Muslim groups, has become an object of veneration, arguably with some similarities to the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) in Catholicism.
2. In Portugal Fatima is a town with a shrine of the BVM where it’s believed that Mary appeared to three young children in 1917, a claim apparently supported by countless miracle stories.

Faith

Faith by hannahclark via Flickr

In secular usage “faith” [Latin fidere = trust] refers to believing in something or someone. “I have faith in the system” the man or woman on the street might say when asked about societal problems.

In a non-denominational, spiritual sense it refers to believing in a loving, supernatural power or God and that things will eventually work out. That is, it’s a view of optimism.

In the general religious sense, faith in part refers to believing in a fixed set of teachings.

The Hebrew term for faith (emunah) originally meant trust in God but in the Middle Ages it came to mean believing that God exists and that the Jewish dogmas were correct.

In Hinduism faith generally means a belief that things will eventually work out and that justice will be served – for the good and the bad – as a result of the law of karma.

In Christianity, faith generally refers to the belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—a perfectly loving and good, omnipotent, omniscient eternal Being belonging to the Holy Trinity.

In Catholicism faith is understood as both an objective truth and a subjective virtue. The Catholic Encyclopedia says:

Objectively, it [faith] stands for the sum of truths revealed by God in Scripture and tradition and which the Church…presents to us in a brief form in her creeds, subjectively, faith stands for the habit or virtue by which we assent to those truths.¹

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¹ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm

Related Posts » Aquinas (St. Thomas), Duns Scotus, Faith and Action, Faith and Morals, Faith and Reason, Justification, Luther (Martin)

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Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel, German postcard 1900 via Wikipedia

The term guardian angel refers to the Catholic belief that we are guided from birth to death by an angel, assigned by God to each particular individual.

Similar ideas are found in the ancient world. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Socrates speaks of some kind of otherworldly agency that tells him what not to do but never what to do.

The Old Testament also speaks of angels that intercede for mankind, the most famous example being that of Moses leading the people through the wilderness. Here God tells Moses that an angel will lead him. And many Muslims believe that they are guided by two angels.

In Shamanistic and Amerindian belief, the guardian and guide may be in the form of an animal spirit.

Today, the belief in guardian angels is quite widespread and does not pertain to any single religious group or denomination.

Historically speaking, it’s long been believed that dark or evil angels can confuse people and compel them to sin, even to suicide. No doubt as a product of mankind’s sexist history, women, especially, were thought to be driven to the point of madness by evil spirits posing as loving presences.

Contemporary psychiatry generally downplays or ignores the possibility that evil spirits could influence a person’s behavior. Psychiatry does recognize the phenomenon of “magical thinking” but usually within the interpretive framework of a cognitive error or mental illness.

Many exhibiting so-called magical thinking probably do make all sorts of interpretive errors. But the issue here is the underlying cause. The medical psychiatrist looks to inherited, (apparently) abnormal predispositions and adverse environmental conditions which may, indeed, be present. However, psychiatry tends to overlook the possibility that these contributing factors could be part of a much larger dynamic, a dynamic that might involve evil spiritual influences.

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Holy Rosary

Azzano San Paolo, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy - procession on the Feast of the Holy Rosary by Luigi Chiesa via Wikipedia

The Holy Rosary is a Catholic devotion usually prayed on a circle of beads, with a short row of five beads and crucifix attached at the bottom.

One prays the rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary, not only to venerate her and glorify the Lord, but also to implore the saint to pray to God on one’s behalf. This request for intercession can be for oneself, others, the whole world, and for all souls who ever existed and will exist.

A distinction can be made between the instrument itself (the loop of beads), and the type of prayer performed with them. For instance, Catholics often pray a special prayer called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, apparently given to St. Faustina, using rosary beads.

Before 2002, the full rosary consisted of 15 decades (ten beads per decade). A Hail Mary Prayer is said on each bead, with two extra prayers at the end of each decade. The first prayer is The Our Father, which is repeated on each large bead dividing the decades.

A sterling silver Catholic rosary via Wikipedia

Each decade celebrates a holy “mystery.” A mystery is a particular event in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The first group of mysteries involves the Joyful Mysteries (5 decades), dealing with the events leading to Jesus’ birth and growth to maturity.

The next group of mysteries are the Sorrowful Mysteries (5 decades), focussing on the period from Jesus’ arrest to crucifixion.

The third group is the Glorious Mysteries (5 decades), dealing with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, as well as Mary’s assumption into heaven.

To these three mysteries, Pope John-Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries in October 2002. So the former group of three mysteries (Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious) officially became four.

No one really knows for sure how the Holy Rosary came into existence. Some believe that it was adapted from earlier Muslim prayer beads, introduced through the Crusades.

Sandro Botticelli, Magnificat, 1480-81, tempera on panel, Uffizi Gallery, Florence via Wikipedia

Others believe that the Catholic rosary existed prior to the Crusades.

Catholic tradition, itself, says the Holy Rosary originated with St. Dominic (1170-1221 CE).

Not a few non-Catholics liken different goddesses to the Virgin Mary, and in a similar way, not a few people say that different types of prayer beads found around the world – such as Tibetan and Islamic forms – are equivalent to the Holy Rosary.

But this claim seems superficial because world religions are so different from one another.

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Infused Knowledge

John the Baptist baptizing Christ via Wikipedia

Infused knowledge is a form of knowledge proposed mostly by theologians. It often refers to the direct or imprinted knowledge that Jesus Christ possessed, but the term may apply to anyone. King Solomon, for example, apparently had infused knowledge.

However, most Christians believe that people other than Christ possess far less infused knowledge than that which their savior enjoyed. Even a great herald like John the Baptist, for example, proclaims that “the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal” (John 1:27).

The outstanding Catholic scholar, Fr. John Hardon, defines infused knowledge this way:

The gift of natural (secular) and supernatural (spiritual) knowledge miraculously conferred by God. Thought by some to have been possessed by Adam and Eve, who came into existence in an adult state and were to be the first teachers of the human race.¹

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¹ Source: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34207

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Intercession

Intercession by Caleb Kay via Flickr

In several religious traditions, saints and holy persons are said to mediate God‘s graces to other living people and to souls in the afterlife. This is called intercession, and those mediating God’s graces may, themselves, intercede in this life or in the afterlife.

In Catholicism, intercession takes the form of vocal or contemplative prayer, although the latter is often seen as deeper and more effective.

Contemplative prayer is classified as a type of mental prayer. The word mental doesn’t mean “nuts” or “flaky,” as in everyday English usage. Instead, it signifies a quiet inward prayer that benefits self and others.

This type of contemplation benefits self because the person praying relates with God in an extremely personal, intimate and heartfelt manner. And it benefits others because purifying graces from God mystically pass through the mediator toward others in need of divine assistance.

According to this belief, the unifying factor among intercessor and the recipients of grace is that which Catholics call the mystical body of Christ.

Contemplative intercessors are usually believed to be more spiritually aware and pure than intercessees. To borrow from Plato‘s cave analogy, the dynamic could roughly be viewed as follows: One who’s dug their way out of a deep, dark cave shines a light down from above to try to help those still lost and struggling in the underground depths.

As with this analogy, many lost in the depths don’t know their lost. So a recipient of graces from the prayer of intercession may be totally unaware that another person intercedes for them. Moreover, if the intercessor is still living in this world and the person being assisted has a dark or unsettled soul, the latter may despise and even become aggressive or abusive toward the former.¹

Taking all this popular wisdom at face value, it seems likely that intercession isn’t  just a one way street. Most of us probably intercede for one another, and at different times throughout the day. This dynamic relationship arguably involves a complex interplay of higher and lower personality traits and influences that are activated in daily life and throughout human history.

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¹ In some instances it’s conceivable that the abuse may become systemic, where a potential saint is psychologically and physically harmed by any paradigmatic practice which has little or no appreciation for the subtle – but arguably no less essential – dynamics of the spiritual life.

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St. Joseph

Joseph marries Mary by Niall McAuley via Flickr

St. Joseph (1^st century BCE) According to the Bible, particularly the Catholic interpretation, Joseph is the chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus Christ.

A simple carpenter in the town of Nazareth, Joseph is last mentioned in the Bible when Christ is aged 12 years.

Many believe that Joseph, being much older than Mary, died by the time Christ began his public ministry.

Some feminists and Christians in general believe that Joseph and Mary had sex to produce the Christ child. Theological dogmas and arguments that preserve Mary’s virginity are often seen as patriarchal ploys to subjugate women, devalue sex and define the human body as a sinful object.

Others believe that Christ was fathered by God but Joseph and Mary possibly had another child (James) through intercourse.

Catholic prayer, however, usually describes Joseph as a “most chaste spouse” of the Virgin Mary. And James, Jesus’ alleged brother is regarded as a relative but not an actual brother. This is based on other parts of the New Testament that clearly state that Mary is a Virgin, and an informed understanding of the Greek term for “brother” (adelphos) as it appears in the historical context of the New Testament, along with the Catholic teaching tradition, held to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.¹

Joseph’s feast day is 19 March.

¹ To get a sense for the controversy around the word “brother,” see:

• http://www.catholic.com/library/Bad_Aramaic_Made_Easy.asp
• http://www.searchgodsword.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=80

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Mortal Sin

Table of the Mortal Sins Invidia (envy) via Wikipedia

According to Catholic teaching, mortal in is a grave rebellion against the Laws of God, made with full knowledge and consent, and which cuts the soul off from sanctifying grace.

The official Catholic teaching is that unforgiven mortal sins condemn a person to hell. But there’s much debate among lay Catholics as to whether this really is true or not.¹

Biological, psychological and societal factors can lessen the seriousness of otherwise mortal sins if full knowledge and consent is not present.

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¹ See, for instance http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=493159

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• “What is a Mortal Sin” by S. M. Miranda http://www.saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html

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