Garrigou on how, by revelation, man is conformed to God, not God to man. When revealing, God remains the origin, measure, and end of his revelation.

"God demands that we grow. When he reveals himself to us, he seeks, in a way, to divinize us and not to be annihilated within us." "When he gives himself, he is not content with providing for our needs: with assuring our moral life, with satisfying our religious sentiment, with suggesting new results to our intellect, with aiding us in developing our own personality."

We don't often think of #StRoseofLima as a Counter-Reformation saint, but her life witnesses to Catholic truth against the errors of Protestantism--especially Calvinism--as much as do the lives of Sts. Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Pius V, and Charles Borromeo. Rose knew that the quality of penance is not in its ugliness. To the contrary, austerity reveals its truth in beauty. The disciplined soul is elevated and reordered--recreated--by grace, and thus remade the soul cannot but radiate divine beauty even in its austerity.

This paragraph from Garrigou-Lagrange's "Le sens commun" reads like a manifesto for the renewal of university philosophy faculties, Catholic and otherwise. "The philosophy of being, like common sense itself, is at once clear and obscure: clear by the place that it gives to act, obscure by the place that it gives to potency: 'Each thing is known inasmuch as it is in act, however, not inasmuch as it is in potency.'"

"The physical sciences are not truly fruitful in a society that loses its attachment to the moral order." "Today's savants cannot excel except by sequestering themselves within a narrow specialty. Consequently, in the use of their faculties there follows a phenomenon analogous to that which results for artisans from the extreme division of the manufacturing art."

"The formidable vice that heralds the fall of empires is the antagonism that divides our society into different enemy camps." "The struggle to which I refer is not the one that arises from personal questions or incidental quarrels between a few great persons disputing for influence and power. Rather, it exists in the smallest subdivisions of the social body, in the village, workshop, and family."

“God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun.” “Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds.”

"If a young priest takes hold of St. Augustine and, in the space of two decades, reads all of his major writings and studies secondary works that explain his doctrine and, then, consequently, if all his sermons retreats, catechesis, and articles . . ." ". . . are based on the teaching of the bishop of Hippo, the young priest will not be confused. Such a priest will deal not only with current themes raised by the vociferous media. He will respond not only to those questions, usually simple ones, that people raise."

"In the spiritual life, the habit of persisting in union with God, of remembering Him and doing everything for His pleasure has to be developed. When some action is undertaken, either at the initial state of intention, or in the deliberation about its appropriateness . . ." ". . . or in the decision itself, or in the final execution, or else in the struggling against difficulties or laziness, divine light and assistance may be repeatedly invited in faith. In this it is important that one's own projects not be stubbornly forced upon God . . ."

Too quick a reading of "Samaritanus bonus," released yesterday by the CDF, will focus only on the guidelines for the pastoral care of the sick and dying outlined at the end of the letter. That's where the "juicy" parts of the text are found, after all. But this facile reading misses the letter's core concern, which is to offer pastors and faithful a theological and spiritual lens through which to understand the mystery of death and dying.

Earlier today, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a letter on "the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life." I'm sitting down now to read it. Excerpts and comments incoming. #LivetweetingTheMagisterium The first thing to notice is the letter's title: "Samaritanus bonus," or "The Good Samaritan." It signals that the letter focuses on the main character of Christ's famous parable (Lk 10:30-37), reflecting on how his example should be followed today by those who care for the sick.

“This is the highest, all-embracing benefit that Christ has bestowed on us. This is the revelation of the mystery, this is the emptying out of the divine nature, the union of God and man, and the deification of the manhood that was assumed.” “This radiant and manifest coming of God to men most certainly needed a joyful prelude to introduce the great gift of salvation to us. The present festival, the birth of the Mother of God, is the prelude, while the final act is the fore-ordained union of the Word with flesh.”

"The august Mother of God, mysteriously united from all eternity with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a virgin inviolate in her divine motherhood..." "...the wholehearted companion of the divine Redeemer who won complete victory over sin and its consequences..."

“There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek to save others.” “Do not insult God. If you say that the sun cannot shine, you have insulted Him. If you say that a Christian cannot help others, you have insulted God and called Him a liar.”

Saturdays are for contemplating the mysteries of Our Lady. "A virgin, a tree, and a death were the symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve: she had not yet known man; the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the death was Adam’s penalty."

“The image I present to you is the image of Jesus Christ. As Christians you share his name; he has already made most of you his own. So once again I repeat his name to you Christians and I proclaim to all men:” “Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, Lord of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it. He is the mediator—the bridge, if you will—between heaven and earth.”

“Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversion, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord...” “...loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name...”

"The question which divides men in our day is no longer a question of political forms, it is a social question, that of deciding whether the spirit of egotism or the spirit of sacrifice is to carry the day . . ." ". . . whether society is to be a huge traffic for the benefit of the strongest, or the consecration of each for the benefit of all, and above all, for the protection of the weak."

COVID or no COVID, Lent and Easter remain what they are: seasons of penance and rejoicing defined by their graces. Earthly time and human temperament do not change Lent and Easter, therefore. To the contrary, these seasons change earthly time and human temperament. “Because there are these two periods of time—the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy—we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after.”

“Lord my God, tell my soul that so longs for you what else you are besides what it has already understood, so that it may see you clearly. It stands on tiptoe to see more, but apart from what it has seen already, it sees nothing but darkness.” “Of course it does not really see darkness, because there is no darkness in you, but it sees that it can see no further because of the darkness in itself.”

You challenge the 3rd-Grade quality of an atheist's questions about God's sperm and our lack of invisibility, and you get blocked. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. @ForumAtheist The whole exchange confirmed that these types don't know what they don't know. They imagine themselves to be swashbuckling bravely against the errors of theism, but they haven't the slightest idea what they're swinging at. They mock their own silly fantasies.

“When righteousness and love for God had passed into oblivion and had been extinguished in Egypt, God had necessarily to reveal himself through his own voice, out of his great love for men.” “He led the people out of Egypt in power, so that man might once again become God’s disciple and follower. He made them afraid as they listened, to warn them not to hold their Creator in contempt.”