Virtus In Medio Stat

The Stuff of Materialism “The man does not possess his estate; his estate possesses him.” ~Anonymous For years after my college and graduate education I found myself in a seemingly never-ending holding pattern in terms of my remunerated work situations. For a period my solution was to once again get more education. I was once told what Ph.D. stood for, “piled higher and deeper”, the humor of which was much more salient after I decided to leave that institution. It didn’t become clear to me until much later on, recently in fact, that I came away from my university years with more than just degrees. I came away with a sense of materialism that was so insidious that I didn’t even see it as such. Growing up in the family that I did, which perhaps by extension, comes from the culture and subcultures which shaped my family’s values, it just seemed natural to get into my various phases of acquiring material possessions. I had my clothing phase, then my comic book card phase, t...

The power of understanding compels me Laurence Gonzaga Very rarely do I have conversations on a truly theological or philosophical nature. I think in the last several years I can probably count on one hand how many times I have found myself in an intensely challenging discussion on some of the most troubling beliefs that I hold dear to my heart. One was with an agnostic, the other was with a former Protestant convert to Catholicism, and the third was just a few hours ago with an old friend whom I seldom converse with anymore. The predominant topics which I have engaged with them on are predictable, the existence of God and its implications, the theologically compelling superiority of the Catholic tradition over and above the Protestant tradition, and lastly how God accomplishes his plan throughout history. For my agnostic friend, and even though we have really only had a handful of real conversations, I consider him a true friend. He was in fact the first person to con...

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...