God & Hell: The “Limits” of God’s Power

Pope Francis talks about how “Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite love.” But if we freely reject God’s infinite love, we’re left only with our own infinite sadness. Here’s how to harmonize the idea of hell – an eternity of suffering apart from God – with the idea of an all-good and loving God.

God & Hell: The Infinite Good

Are we like the tortured “hungry ghosts” of mythology, constantly craving and never satisfied? Or are there good reasons to believe God is capable of TOTALLY satisfying the infinite chasm in our hearts? A brief overview of the philosophical, Scriptural, and Patristic evidence.

The Worship of Beauty, and the Beauty of Worship

Johann Jakob Zeiller, Saint Benedict in Glory (1748)

A frequent source of in-fighting amongst Christians involves beauty. How beautiful should our churches be? How beautiful should our Liturgies be? And why? In these discussions, there are two points that often go overlooked:
1. We Worship Beauty.
2. Created Beauty Points towards Divine, Uncreated Beauty.
If you want to understand the Mass, and why there’s such an emphasis on beauty (instead of the stripped-down worship services and whitewashed churches of some Protestant denominations), consider these two points, and how they play out in the life of Israel, the Church on earth, and in Heavenly glory.

What Eye Has Not Seen: Divinization and the Saints

There’s a promise in the Bible so shocking that most modern preachers and homilists steer clear of it, for fear of sounding like they’re blaspheming: it’s the promise that we will be divinized. Because of our squeamishness about speaking openly and honestly about divinization, we settle for a shallow, lame view of Heaven. So first, let’s… Continue reading What Eye Has Not Seen: Divinization and the Saints