Virtus In Medio Stat

Facebook Thread There's so much to learn and so little time to learn it. There's also so much to share, and so little time to do it. My various work commitments have been preventing me over the years from devoting much time to writing as much as I used to in my mid- to late 20's. Just as well, I've lost the luster of youth anyway. I recently sat down with an old friend at lunch. A former seminarian, and by all measures that I could think of, he was a well-formed son of the Catholic Church. We don't have much opportunity to chat as much as we used to. I do recall a chat we had at lunch about a year ago where he asked me about my religious status, for lack of a better description. My response was to simply say that I believe there is a God, and His nature is understood best and taught best by the Catholic Church. In other words, I told him I am what I called "philosophically Catholic" . There's a whole story behind what likely brought that about b...

Crossing the Christian’s Boundaries By Laurence Gonzaga Hi Laurence - Had a question for you--- I have been reading a book on dealing with a loved with a mental health condition, and one of the things it talks about is the importance of boundaries -- to my uneducated mind on matters of psychology, i see there being a conflict with setting boundaries and that of basically Christ's all and totally giving example -- giving to the point of death. Do you have insights on how one may and must set appropriate boundaries on their relationships with people that does not necessarily set aside the example of Christ, or efforts to say, heroic virtue of serving another. [My only guess is that, when dealing with some people, by giving so much of oneself that it enables a person, and in no way helps them with their redemption or self improvement, etc...]. Appreciate if you can offer a few words of insight, I know you've studied psychology and theology so you could help me understand how t...

By Laurence Gonzaga Introduction As a former atheist, it has become an area of interest for me to present simple presentations of some of the arguments which I fell in love with that brought me out of atheism. I don’t claim that these arguments have no responses or criticisms. They do, and they are good ones. I believe that those who are formally trained in philosophy would take more absolute positions on these arguments, but I look at it in more practical terms. Ultimately, for me, I approach my life with the goal of discerning its purpose and meaning. As an atheist I had taken moral stances and I behaved in certain ways, which had to be rooted in some kind of consistent moral framework, but I had none. That is not to say atheists cannot have one, but I have found that many of those whom I had encountered, never took the time to develop one. I heard much about “rights” and “freedom”, but when asked about what those words mean and who or what determines what they are and why...

nolite iugum ducere cum infidelibus quae enim participatio iustitiae cum iniquitate aut quae societas luci ad tenebras – II Cor 6.14 This is something I have been struggling with for some time. In the height of my traditionalism I had avoided watching all television, stopped wearing jeans and t-shirts, and stopped listening to popular music. When I began to reject some social aspects of traditionalism I started watching television, popular movies and music again. The jeans and t-shirts came back and a lot of the rest. But, I have noticed since then that when I do encounter some of the more worldly and perverse aspects of the popular media and culture, I still have this disturbing response to them. The first obvious response I noticed was when I had watched the film SAW III. I remember I was not a believer when the first film came out. I was not disgusted by the scenes of torturous murder in there. I later figured it out; I was so desensitized from years of violence in popular films....

This was an impressive dialogue with a person who is pro-choice. Notice that the evangelist never lost his cool. he didn't yell at him, and he didn't make him feel stupid. St. Augustine once said, "When shooting the arrow of truth, dip it first in honey." Prima caritas, charity and love always must come first. God Bless, Laurence