Deep Dives with Fr Sean: the Super Catholic Catechesis Podcast: Recent Episodes
Fr Sean OBrien
I want to have easy access to good stuff for good people, and so I bring you some simple yet deep insights here for people on the fly. I'm always open to requests for topics, so give me a holler!
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Sacraments are instruments, they do what they signify.
Sanctifying grace increases.
Sacramental graces are made available (constantly), though they might not be able to be fruitful because of mortal sin or lack of attentiveness to receiving it fruitfully.
**Through the sacrament of marriage, Jesus' love for the Church is MADE present!
There are helping graces for the natural ends of marriage that have now been supernaturalized: procreation/education of children, and to be helpmates to each other.
The other category of helping graces is to help re-order marriage, family life, and the world towards divine ends. Marriage, therefore, becomes a remedy for sin, it builds up the Church, and is an element of the substance of our divine worship.
We get into some stuff here:
A Sacrament is a sacred sign instituted by Christ to sanctify us and build up the Church.
It is a primordial sacrament from the beginning because it is a communion of persons that represents THE Communion of Persons, and because it foreshadows the love of Christ for His Church
The administrators are the couple themselves that exchange vows.
The sign is the consent of the couple, and the enduring part of the sacrament is the marriage bond.
This is awesome. This is an excellent candidate for wedding readings any day of the week!
Here, Jesus lays out his teaching on marriage by taking us back to Genesis.
He highlights the permanence of marriage.
He clarifies what constitutes adultery, in an external way and in an internal way.
He also talks about Himself as the Bridegroom. That's interesting!
The first two chapters of Genesis are excellent.
But I also take a birds eye view of key figures, the legislative texts, Wisdom literature, and the prophets.
Natural Law: God has an eternal, beautiful wise plan with which He created the universe. He placed this plan in our very being. We have the intellect to recognize it and the freedom to participate in it.
The ends of marriage are (1) the procreation and education of children, (2) the mutual help of the spouses
There are two properties of marriage: (1) exclusivity, and (2) permanence.
There are three goods of marriage: offspring, fidelity, and the sacrament.
Because marriages naturally result in children, which have an impact on the larger society, society has a right and duty to have reasonable policies and legislation protecting marriage and the family.
We start pretty fast!
It's clear that marriage is hurting as an institution: fewer marriages later in life with less children and more divorces... Tough times...
Why? In addition to the selfishness and weakness of the flesh of all times, there is the perceived increase in the expectation of the necessities of life, individualism with its inability to trust and fear of commitment, the objectification of women with pornography, technology that make the fruitfulness of option perceived as optional, and we don't prioritize sacrifice.
It comes from a dualism and a materialism.
And Pope St John Paul II shows up and brings the Theology of the Body in the nic of time!
1) Dignity of the human person
2) We are soul and body
3) There are two ways of being body--male and female
4) The sexual differences reveal the "spousal meaning of the body", that is, we are meant to be gift
5) The spousal meaning of the body is fulfilled with the mutual gift resulting in marriage, a communion of persons, which mirrors the Trinity
6) Sin ruins this plan, specifically lust which causes an alienation between man and woman.
7) But Jesus sets us free and restores what has been broken/wounded.
Rhetoric is the craft/art of Persuasion, persuading someone to adjust an attitude or behavior. It is made up of three elements:
Ethos--the credibility of the speaker
Pathos--the open frame of mind of the audience
Logos--the message that is clear, convincing and relevant
How can you be a good thinker? Well, it doesn't happen by accident.
You need to make an argument that is good, valid (following the rules of logic) and soun (with truthful premises).
You can do it starting with more specific thinks and work to general conclusions (inductive reasoning) or work from the general claims to the specific (deductive reasoning).
Be aware of fallacies! There are many fallacies that are spewed out by the world (and sometimes by our own lips, yikes).
Holy smokes, my friends, I wrote a book! "A Brave New Algorithm" by Sean O'Brien
You can find it on Amazon and Walmart's website. Give it a good rating!
In this episode, you'll hear the story behind it, the writing process, what challenged me and fascinated me, and why I think it is awesome!
See Bob Schuchts Book "Be Healed" for more.
An actual or perceived injustice can open the door for us to believe a lie. That bad belief can then lead to an inner vow, which then opens the door to a lot of hurts in life.
Healing happens through
1) Chooseing Jesus to be our security, so we can courageously look at the difficult parts of our life.
2) Allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten us through prayer and openness.
3) Healing advances by, again, more prayer, community life, unwinding perceptions to believe in the real and complete truth, charity therapy, and accepting our cross.
We're not individualist or communists. We've got to aim at the truth right down the middle. We have our unique, personal human dignity, and yet we rely on others.
This is how to do it:
--Solidarity
--Healthy opposition
--Dialogue
Education! Here's the name of the game.
There's a lot of goals for education, but let's be different and say that human flourishing is the top goal towards which all the other elements of education aim.
What is human flourishing? Doing what is unique to humans with excellence, aka, using our intellect and knowledge with excellent. Therefore, maximizing our wisdom and our moral character. That's the point, and then we spend the rest of the podcast flushing that out.
Integrating means two things:
a) recognizing dynamic elements
b) putting them in the right direction (which is towards human flourishing or divine charity)
The dynamic elements are:
1) The emotionalization of our experience
2) Relationality
3) Sexuality
4) Sensitivity
5) Biological Dynamism
This is all within the process of: self-knowledge, self-acceptance, and self-fulfillment
The ultimate solution to apply truth to these different dynamics, and then use our will to move it towards the goodness of that truth. You'll see what I mean!
We dive into this pretty dang deeply!
Big Conclusions:
--The received is in the receiver according to the mode of the receivers.
--All knowledge comes through the senses (unless infused by God)
--True knowledge is the real assent, higher than any notional assent.
Natural Law is great!
God's eternal law, that is, His wise plan of order and beauty for the universe, was placed into created beings by ordering them through tendency and inclination towards their proper end. The eternal law is placed into the nature of the being itself. The human being can participate in this rationally, and this is what we call the natural law.
We dive into this (after a problem with uploading).
This is a look at the structure of the human person, and while it's longer than I anticipated, I believe it is super important. I use the 4 causes of Aritotle to get into this:
The efficient cause: A human sperm and a human egg got our bodies started, but it needed an eternal influence to cause our immortal souls to start. Therefore, we must conclude that God infused the soul at the moment of conception.
The material cause: That's our body!
The formal cause: The soul is the form of the body, it organizes our material elements to be what it is: of human nature. We talked about the powers of the soul, the will, the intellect, the passions, etc.
The final cause: That's next time!
I love these kinds of teaching! Seeing how the Old Testament conceals the New Testament, which reveals the full purpose of the Old, and then to see how it is lifted up in our experience of the Resurrected Lord in the liturgy and in our life! This is pretty simple, but I believe profound in its simplicity.
We dive into the topic today, recognizing that with a proper understanding of causality in different ways helps to prepare the way for any argument for God's existence.
Newman's argument flows from conscience? Where does law come from? Where does that interior command to do the good and avoid evil come from? To whom are we accountable with the experience of responsibility? Well, it is most reasonable to propose there is a Lawgiver who commands us towards the good and holds us responsible. Him we call God.
Thomas Aquinas has his five ways:
1) Based on motion or change
2) Based on efficient causality
3) Based on contingency of all beings
4) Based on our experience of perfections in the world
5) Based on complex design in the universe
You might like this one--it was easy to include many examples!
Remeber, the Principle of Sufficient Reason: Everything must be its own sufficent reason for its existence or it must find it in another. Or, everything must either have a cause or be its own cause.
The types of causes:
Material cause
Formal Cause
Efficient Cause
Final Cause
We definitely take a deep dive, but the goal is that I teach with simple principles and sufficient examples. Please God!
This answers the great question of life: what is the basis of all existence? How are things related with each other? Where do I come from? What does it mean to exist?
Aristotle was a monster intellect with a raveningly hungry mind thirsty for wisdom. Some of his big contributions are to recognize that the material world is important, his thoughts on what happiness is, his focus on studying being, even political philosophy.
Plato is definitely a big dog. His most important ideas are the working up of the cardinal virtues, the proposal of spiritual realities (the realm of the forms), and the idea of participation.
Friends, we continue this podcast series on the Eucharist, getting deeper into Communion. The foundation of this is the following truth: Receiving Communion presumes communion with God and the Church of God.
Baptism gives birth to that Communion.
Reconciliation and Profession of Faith heals and restores that Communion.
Holy Communion nourishes that communion (it does not make or establish it).
I dive on in here. The big take away is that the greatest effect of the Eucharist is the Communion, which is our participation in the life of God. It has ramifications for our life with each other, most definitely, as well.
This is a gamechanger episode, specifically because it changed my game! After learning this, I was so much more able to pray the Mass.
Here are a few quotes:
a. Gregory of Nazianzen writing to another bishop: “Cease not both to pray and to plead for me when you draw down the Word by your word, when with a bloodless cutting you sever the body and blood of the Lord, using your voice for the sacrificial knife.”
b. CCC 1085: “All other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is—all that he did and suffered for all men—participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all time while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything towards life.”
c. Feingold: “The logic of sacrifice requires that each person makes his own interior act of self-offering and intend that it be represented by the external bodily sacrifice that is offered on the people’s behalf by the priest, who is their mediator before God.”
d. St Peter Chrysologus comments on this : When Paul says this, he “raised all men to priestly status….Each of us is called to be both a sacrifice to God and his priest. Do not forfeit what divine authority confers on you…keep burning continually the sweet smelling incense of prayer…Let your heart be an altar. Then which full confidence in God, present your body for sacrifice. God desires not death, but faith; God thirsts not for blood, but for self-surrender; God is appeased not by slaughter, but by the offering of your free will."
Here's the two big takeaways:
1) Jesus sacrifice to the Father was infinitely more pleasing than our sins against the Father were displeasing. Jesus wins the scales of justice to win the outpouring of mercy!
2) The sacrifice we offer in the Mass is the same sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. It is made sacramentally present (that is, made truly present mediated mysteriously through signs).
We dive right into sacrifice, the basics of sacrifice. It's kind of a big deal because we talk about the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrifice of Jesus. We have words like priest and offering and propitiation and oblation, etc. Why?
Well tune right on in!
Here we go!
First, we look at Berengarius' bad idea.
Then we look at the historical correction of this, ultimately with Thomas Aquinas, with some of his other important insights into the Eucharist.
Finally, we have a quick glimpse and some contemporary (bad) ideas of the Eucharist.
We start the second part in this series, now looking into the Eucharist as the Presence of Jesus Christ.
The first comment is based on the words of Jesus. If the God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, created the universe with a word, then why would we be surprised if with a word the Son changed a piece of bread into his body.
The second was about transubstantiation. Substance is what never can change as long as the thing/being/person remains. The accidents are the characteristics of the being that does indeed change. So, since "tran" means change across, transubstantiation describes the change of the eucharist, from the substance of bread to the substance of the flesh of Christ. The accidents remain the same, but the substance changes.
Here is another insight into the early church. We learn from him
1. The full goal of the Eucharist is for the members to be united in Christ in charity
2. The realism of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
3. The power of the word of Christ to make the substantial transformation
4. Some practical insights into the life of the early church: the daily Mass, the worship before receiving the Eucharist, the prayers for the deceased.
5. The sacrifice of the Mass is how we enter into the sacrifice of Jesus.
Here, we go through a bunch of insights from the early church fathers! They are great witnesses of what the early church believed and how they worshipped.
Brothers and sisters, this week, we have three principal parts:
1) John 6
2) The Institution Narrative
3) A quick survey of some other New Testament allusions to the Eucharist
We covered a lot of ground and some cool bits of Scripture. Here's some of those verses:
Part 1: Foreshadowings of the Eucharist as Presence
--The Shekinah:
Exodus 24
Hebrews 9:2-7
Exodus 25:8
Exodus 25:21-22
Exodus 29: 42-46
Exodus 40:34-38
2 Chronicles 7:1-2
John 2:19-21
Part 2: Foreshadowings of the Eucharist as Sacrifice (I guess I just summarized a bunch!)
Leviticus 16:21-22
Part 3: Foreshadowings of the Eucharist as Nourishment
Exodus 16
Wisdom 16:20-22
Matthew 12:1-6
Here we are! Starting up this new series. I'm super pumped so that this can participate in the National Eucharistic Revival. I said it will be a series of series, which means:
1) The first series will be about the sources of our theology (Scripture and Tradition)
2) The second series will be about the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
3) The third series will be about the Sacrifice of the Eucharist
4) The fourth series will be about Eucharist as Communinion.
And I might have a few "extras" a the end.
Today we talk about the greatest theologian possibly of all time. Could he really be the GOAT of theology? Probably.
First, I give a little background of his life and holiness.
Second, I describe his teaching about the only possible way to talk about God: through analogy.
Third, I share a story at the end of the life, lest we forget the fullness of the proclamation of who God is.
Modernism is that arch enemy that seeks to rob the world of the simplicity of God's truth pervading everything. May we have the resilience to do the very opposite, not subjugating the truths of faith to a separate category, but to allow it to be the lens through which we come to the fullness of truth as He revealed.
Man! We cover some serious ground! We go through various heresies and the first five ecumenical councils of the Church. We hear of the saints and heroes, but also of big time losers.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things came to be through Him."
Some practical takeways are:
1) Since the "Word" was spoke to us, we are at the core of our being "Hearers of the Word."
2) We are created with an order leading to our max goodness, so we should follow that order (ethics/morality) and arrive at our fulfillment: Jesus. (note: we are not saved by our own acting good, though Christ will use that to help deepen that salvation)
3) Jesus is the shortcut to knowing the meaning of life.
4) We are open to all that is true, that is sharing in some way with the Truth, the Word.
5) We can have peace in not knowing all the ins and outs of the mysteries of God and the universe. There is an answer, and it is totally intelligible.
6) The "Word" is loveable. We pursue the "Word" in love with our minds, and this is called theology: faith seeking understanding.
Jesus is the Eternal Son of God, and this is clearly the best way to understand Him. The relationship between the Father and Son is precious and beautiful. The Son is Pure Mission of the Father. Listen to the end to hear how this affect my life!
Here we dive in to some of the Scriptural Background of the teaching about the Trinity. Obviously, the unity of God must be firmly established first, and then we look for the clues to highlight that in His Oneness, He is an eternal community of love of three Divine Persons. There are certainly figures in the Old Testament that give witness to this, but it becomes all the more clear in the New Testament.
A key thing we need to do as we look to learn about God from the created world is believe that what we create resemble us in some way. If God creates, His creation will reflect Him. This belief and perspective is called a sacramental worldview, where the world is a sign that points to an invisible reality: God.
We learn that God is
1) More than the Creator
2) God is rational
3) God is good
4) God is intimate and personal
5) God is community and relationship
This is a re-do of one of the original teachings I have done, but now with improved sound and a more crisp intro (rather than the choppy intro where I did it on facebook live talking with the people listening).
The big themes are:
1. God takes the initiative with us
2. He reveals Himself out of love
3. He comes down to our level to prepare us for the full revelation.
4. God's revelation of Himself is gradual, step-by-step.
5. Jesus is the full revelation.
This is a reality that bludgeon's the poor Spouse of Christ, the Church. It is super ruinous of so many poor souls, and it will be a lesson for future generations. It may not be ravaging larger cities, but it is destroying the smaller ones. Please God save us, just as you saved one particular man.
We've been getting deep into what it means for us to be Priest, Prophet, and King, though we haven't yet talked about the kingship! Here we go!
Again, another great Episode, I love this stuff! Jesus is the new and better Moses, and fulfills all that came from beore. A prophet speaks the truth based on the strength of his relationship with God, and that's exactly what Jesus does, and what we should do too!
This is such good stuff! We go deep into Scripture, and that takes a while. But the beauty of seeing the Old Testament be fulfilled in the New Testament is worth it! Then we see how it is lived out by the church in her liturgical prayer and the sacraments, and then how it affects all believers.
Here's what we covered! (I didn't mention it, but Bible in a Year has been a game changer for many)
Lectio Divina:
1) Reading
2) Meditation
3) Prayer
4) Contemplation
5) Action/Resolution
You can also read through Scripture and pause when your heart is warmed.
You can pray as a group, reading it aloud, meditating in silence, and sharing anything that jumps out to you.
It's good for discernment as well, inviting the Holy Spirit to direct you to any Scripture verses.
We start a new series here. This I think will be super helpful for a lot of people.
The Bible was written with a lot of genres and by a lot of people, but it was 100% and 100% divine. It has it's historical reasons of being written, but it also has the ultimate purpose of having eternal life through faith in Jesus.
The Old Testament was written in a complex way that is hard for us to get at these days. The New Testament is easier to acknowledge in the sense that first there was the oral tradition, the verbal message that was communicated. Secondly, there was the written record of what was being passed down orally. Voila! That's the Scripture as we know it!
Next time we'll look at the formation of the Bible into the form it currently is in today.
This Podcast dives into the message of the principle Marian apparitions. We look at Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Fatima. Each one of these is unique, but they share a common destination for the message: the whole world. Mary is sent to us with her maternal concern for her children, to win them back to a loving Father.
Here we talk about some things about Marian Apparitions:
1) They're usually addressed to God's littlest people.
2) Bishop and/or Vatican approval is significant.
3) There is usually persecution involved.
4) Some of the key ones are
-Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin
-Our Lady of Fatima
-Our Lady of Lourdes
I dive in quickly here to address some challenges:
The big moral challenge: acedia
Some cultural challenges that are in our minds:
1) "Only Jesus matters"
2) Mixed up role of the sacraments
3) "Everyone goes to heaven."
Hello everyone! I've got some of my pastoral theory lined up here, some of my plans for the future for my pastoral leadership. I have three categories:
1) Proclaiming the Basic Gospel Message: part of this is establishing a solid landing pad of beautiful church's worthy of God, hospitable people and a community devoted to fellowship. Then, we train people to give the Gospel proclamation in every corner of our lives!
2) Catechesis: I find the best way to do this is with online resources.
3) Evangelization training. The ways that I'm investing in is with workshops for specific groups, inviting people to Cursillo, advocating some key people to be trained spiritual directors so they can continue the process independently of the pastor (though in cooperation with him).
The Church was founded upon the apostles and continues to be supported by the successors of the apostles. Discover the biblical support for these claims.
The Church is Catholic, which means:
1) universally spread through the whole globe.
2) It is teaches the whole of what teach taught and gave us
3) It is for the healing of all spiritual ills universally.
4) It calls together all classes of people
5) It spreads out through all time
Check this out. Read the catechism for more sweet information on the holiness of the Church. Remember, the holiness comes from God. Us members may or may not be such great representatives of the Church, especially in its holiness.
Check out what we mean by the unity of the Church? Do you wish the church was more united? Me too. That's why this episode is for you!
We talk about the Trinitarian foundations of the Unity
We talk about the dangers of unity: sins against charity which wound it and violations of its structure which break it.
We talk about how we related with other non-Catholic churches, also called ecclesial communities.
We talk about Church renewal.
We talk about how we experience the unity of the Church.
Here we take a systematic approach
Some initial reflections from St. John Henry Newman open our minds to the human necessity for some authoritative source outside of the self.
Then we look at the Old Testament. When we look at the NT, we take a few clear steps
1) Jesus is the one with absolute authority
2) Yet he recognizes the authenticity of man-made religious authority and respects it.
3) He gives authority to men.
4) St. Paul expresses boldly his authority, and says that it is communicated in the written and verbal form.
This is good stuff. Check out Lumen Gentium for more info. You can just google it and find it at the vatican website!
We talk about the Church comes from the unity of God and is a sign and instrument of that unity in the world. Therefore we call the church a "sacrament," a sign and instrument.
The church of Christ, both the invisible and the visible part, subsists (or exists or continues) in the Catholic Church, while some of her elements exist outside of her.
The Church is necessary for salvation, but you'll have to listen or read the text (paragraph 14-17) for all the nuances about other Christians and non-believers.
The part on the laity I think could be transformative people. Read it! Paragraphs 30--38
Here we go! We dive right in.
Vatican I finds its context in the supposed Era of "Enlightenment" when reason was separated from faith, leading to all the "isms": materialism, liberalism, communism, etc. It can be summarized in calling it modernism. The Church was put on defense and condemned these ideas. In Vatican I, papal infallability was clarified to give more teeth to the defense of the Truth and the rejection of the lies of the age.
Theology developed in different ways. The 20th century hit with all its unique issues: communism, fascism, terrible wars, worldwide discouragement and "nihilism", communication, medial, travel, technology. There were more martyrs in this century than all the other centuries combined.
Pope St. John XXIII was elected to the papacy and three months later announced the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which would be more pastoral, finding new ways to present the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the contemporary world in which we find ourselves.
The media caused difficulty in the interpretation, since many people were informed about the council through the lens of the world's media, not the actual texts. Then, there was a group that wanted to go beyond the council, beyond continuity with what was before. However, that did not win the day. Instead, the Church wants us to be guided by a biblical and theological theology centered on Christ and filled with His holiness so that we can be encouraged and courageous in bringing the Gospel to all corners of society.
Our series shifts to a more historical lends, just so we can get a bit of the flavor of the Church as she actually is. There are some great, heroic stories from these early days!
We hit on a ton of themes here, but it's all very important stuff. It's definitely not systematic, but I think you'll see the beauty in how they understand the Church and see some of the images and examples they utilize.
A little long, sorry! But perhaps even better than the previous one. We walk through the Gospel, Acts of the Apostles, and St. Paul. This is good theological stuff.
This is a big deal. Catechesis comes after someone has heard the proclamation of the Gospel and responded in faith. Catechesis brings about the full life in Christ. Families should absolutely be involved because God gave kids to parents, not to priests and catechists. Truth!
Are you tempted? Is the pope Catholic?
We all have temptation. We do so much better when we learn from the wisdom of the Bible and rely on the grace the the Lord gives to us. Let us fight the good fight!
"Whoever does not seek the Cross of Christ does not seek the glory of Christ." -St. John of the Cross
We see a three-fold structure of the Christian spiritual life.
1) God so loved the world that He gave his only son
2) So that whoever believes in Him
3) May not perish but have eternal life
Or the same thing but looked through the model disciple, Mary:
1) The invitation of the Holy Spirit's overshadowing
2) The acceptance in faith (Be it done to me according to thy word)
3) The Word became flesh
In simple terms:
1) God's love invites
2) We accept in faith
3) God brings about his fruit
Our role is to accept in faith with DESIRE!!!! A desire that seeks to imitate the Lord, and this imitation requires us to study who He is and what He teaches.
What the heck is the point of the Christian Life? "I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance!" Alleluia! It is the life of God, and when it is perfected, we can say with Saint Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me."
And what is God's life? "God is love, and he who lives in love lives in God and God in him.
It's a big deal to have a true understanding of God. We have ask God to clarify this in our hearts and cast out any false notions of God (God as cop-looking-over-the-shoulder, God as distant dad, and God as the Great Big Buddy)
Some scripture was
--Genesis 1
--Exodus 3
--Isaiah 6
--John 3:16
--1 John 4
--Philippians 2
--Psalm 139
--Matthew 6
Another Bible Study, this time (as requested by someone) on Spiritual Warfare. We have no need to fear because the Lord is the Undisputed Champion of the World. He beat Satan when He died on the Cross, and we need to simply cling to Him in faith.
Especially, check out Ephesians chapter 6. It's the best!
I love this stuff. Jesus is anointed in the Holy Spirit from His Baptism, and so are we! He is Priest, Prophet and King...and so are we! If we have been baptized into His Body, and His Body was anointed, then we receive and live in that same anointing. Alleluia!
-Acts 10:38
-Lk 4:16-30 (fulfilling Isaiah 61)
-2 Corinthians 1:21
We took a super deep dive into the scriptural roots of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Super cool stuff! Here are our passages we looked at.
Old Testament:
1) Genesis 22: 1-19
2) Exodus 12: 3-13, 46
3) Leviticus 16: 4-10; 20-23
4) Isaiah 53: 4-7
New Testament:
1) The Last Supper and Passion narratives
2) 1 Cor 5:7-8
3) Revelation 5:5-10; 19:6-9; 22:1-5
And the bonus for checking out Abraham and Isaac and how that foreshadows Jesus: https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/abrahams-sacrifice-of-isaac-origen/
Here's some great stuff. These Road to Emmaus Teachings have four layers: OT figures and prophesies, New Testament fulfillment in Jesus, Jesus in the living prayer of the Church today, and what it means in our life.
The biblical citations are:
Gen 1:1-5
Exodus 13:21-22
Isaiah 49:6 (also 42:6 and 60:1 are relevant)
John 1:1-9
Luke 2:29-32
John 8:12 (and John 9)
Revelation 21:22-25
Are they necessary? Absolutely!
There are three kinds of necessity:
1) Absolute
2) Relative
3) By Precept
Enjoy!
Howdy ya'll! I talk about the Sacraments of Initiation today (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion). There is some basic theology here, along with some pastoral experiences. With the question of restored order (putting Confirmation before First Holy Communion), the fact that Confirmation provides the basic capacity for perfect spiritual activity leads me to like the idea of doing Confirmation before the most perfect spiritual activity (reception of Holy Communion). I don't think it's a complicated argument, and certainly we have many cultural complications.
I dive into what is authority and what is trust. Authority is something that comes from God and is part of being human...in the home...in the community...in the Church. But what happens when we can't trust those people that are there? There are no simple solutions, but maybe this can help us take some solid steps forward.
The sacraments are done by the doing (ex opere operato), but that doesn't mean you're going to experience the change. We must dispose ourselves. We should (1) have faith, (2) repent, and (3) be filled with eager desire. And the more intensity we bring to that, the great will be our disposition be. The sneaky bit is that any intensity that we can must up is already a gift from the Lord! Therefore, we would do good to ask for that gift.
I had the marvelous opportunity to visit the Holy Land recently, and I want to share it! I think this can transform your prayers this week by making it seem all the more tangible. May we more deeply enter into the liturgies of Holy Week in order to be united in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ, that is, His Death and Resurrection.
We firmly believe that Jesus instituted and promulgated the seven sacraments. We have the witness of Sacred Scripture that I highlight, and this can give us great confidence. We receive this also unabashedly from Sacred Tradition.
There's too much detail for each of the seven sacraments to give a summary.
...with the exception of the distinction between form and matter. Matter is the physical stuff of anything, and form is the shape in which it is. A statue has the matter of clay or marble, while the form is that of a human body. The sacraments have something like that in each case. There is the tangible thing that is brought to the sacramental ceremony (water, oil, bread, wine), and then there are the words of the minister by which Jesus actuates the sacrament.
We look at the definition of a sacrament: (1) a sacred sign (2) instituted by Christ (3) to efficaciously give grace (4) and so build up the Church. Each dimension is essential.
There are three parts of all the sacraments: the "sacrramentum" (the visible sacrament that the Church celebrates), the "res" (the inner grace that is put into the soul), and the "res et sacramentum" (the enduring element of the sacrament that allows the grace to be accessed in the future).
The sacraments are fitting because of two primary reason (among others):
1) God has always reached out to us through physical signs (notable the humanity of Jesus Christ). Why should we expect to see a radical shift of the divine strategy, especially after he doubled down on it in the humanity of Jesus Christ? It's fitting we have tangible access points to contact God.
2) We're sensible, physical beings. Everything that we know and love first comes to us through the senses. God can do what He wants, but it is fitting that He loves His human creatures in a way proper to how we are created: physical, tangible, sensible, corporal.
This is kind of where we're at, as we hope that we can be peacemakers at home and abroad.
Here I share my own testimony, and then breakdown what Lent is Scripturally and how to dive into it.
So I cheated a little. It's not so much as a commentary on all these chapters (primarily since they are a smattering of many moral nuggets). Instead, I focused in on TWO verses!
Romans 12:1-2
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,"
We dive into what St. Paul talks about regarding the Jewish people and the coming of Jesus Christ. The covenant and the promises, etc. were given to the Jews to prepare them for Jesus, but what if they miss Jesus? St. Paul writes in his sorrow that they still have a special place in salvation history and all they have to do is be received by the Lord.
Howdy ya'll. We dive into chapters 6-8. Chapter 6 talks about our entrance into Christ's death and resurrection through Baptism. Chapter 7 address our fight for the fulfillment of our sanctification (flesh vs spirit, the power of sin, Paul's own battle). Chapter 8 gets into the fulfillment of all this in glorification, in our sonship, in reception of the Holy Spirit...our glorification even through suffering!
Some people use the end of chapter 8 to claim "once saved, always saved." This attitude takes it out of context, simply because we know of the real fight there is, as was clarified in the preceding chapter. St. Paul himself says "work out your salvation in fear in trembling" (Phil 2:12), presumably because you can lose it. In 2 Peter 2:20, we learn that people who enter into the life of Christ and then depart from it end up worse than how they started. The only purpose of saying this is if it was possible. I didn't mention in the podcast, but we could also note that St. John says that "some sin is mortal" (or deadly, depending on the translation).
I love this stuff. Here, we take a deeper look at chapters 4 and 5. St. Paul unwinds what is meant by justification and discusses the importance of faith for justification. It's important to look at his example of our Father in Faith, Abraham, as well as the parallel between the Old Adam and the New Adam, who is Jesus Christ. By justification, we pass from the slavery, sin, and death of the Old Adam to the freedom, grace, and life of Jesus Christ. I love this stuff.
Here we take a deep dive into Romans 3:21-26. In many way, this is the everything. It is beautiful in its simplicity (we are justified in Jesus redemption by faith) and really awesome in its theological exploration of what is meant by redemption, expiation, justification, faith, etc.
Here, we walk through the next chunk of St. Paul (1:18-3:20). Both gentiles and Jews are equally accountable for their lack of covenantal fidelity, gentiles in accord with the revelation of God's presence and decrees as observable in nature, Jews in accordance with the Law received by Moses. In the face of God's righteousness (covenantal fidelity), our infidelity is not negligible. God help us! And indeed He does. We'll get into that in #3.
We are starting a new commentary! The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. With some introductory comments, I then get into Paul's zeal for his Gospel mission. I define the righteousness of God as His covenantal fidelity. I explain more about the definition of the Gospel, as well. God bless!
I love this stuff. It's all about love! And charity is the chief of the virtues. I walk through defining charity, and then I do a step by step commentary on "Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. That is love God with all your intentions, with your passions, with your mind, and with all your outward actions.
In honor of the year dedicated to Saint joseph, I give a reflection on his point of view of the mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ and some of the things we can do to imitate his virtues that he expressed at that time. Many blessings to each of you and may Saint Joseph intercede on our behalf!
Here in this episode of hope, I address hope as desire for the Kingdom of God and a reliance on God's help. That means we have to lean away from presumption, pelagianism, and despair. It's easy to think "I'm a good person. I don't need God." But it's wrong. We need God's help, and he's very ready to provide it!
Here we dive into faith and reflect on Abraham our Father in Faith who exemplified "the obedience of faith" that St. Paul talked about. In our crisis of faith, we must hold fast to these two dimensions: trust and obedience.
Wokeism is a bad word for some; for others, it's salvation. What about for Christians. We need to use our brains to see how the God-given worldview helps us to interpret this new, secular movement.
We talk about temperance, the habitual disposition to moderate our passions and impulses. The fruit of temperance is serenity. We have so many impulses that we need to control: food, sex, domineering attitudes, shopping, rest, work, social media...not to mention any addictions.
We dive into justice today. Justice is the firm disposition to give to God or someone their due. It can be either the justice of exchange (the swapping of goods or services), distributive justice (the sharing of the community goods with the individual), or the justice that "gives back" (when we give our duty to the whole--I called this retributive just...but it's not! Sorry!).
We dive into a little catechesis on fortitude! Fortitude is the habitual disposition to withstand any obstacles. It must be done prudently recognizing any fear but not being a slave to it. It can be expressed either as patience, as someone just has to withstand the obstacles that are coming at the person, or as courage, we someone walks forward in the good despite the obstacles that it will entail.
Prudence is the use of right reason to direct our actions. It identifies the way to get there. It identifies the golden mean between extremes. It commands virtuous actions like a charioteer. It includes deliberation (not acting rashly), judgment (not waiting for ever or using the wisdom of the world), and execution of the decision (which is aided by the other virtues, otherwise it's just a pretty intention).
We get there by:
1) Seeking advice
2) Knowing the purpose of life and how to get there
3) Deliberating decisions
4) Waiting for disruptive passions to subside.
We walk through the Nichomachean Ethics of Aristotle and look step by step at his thought process of noting that (1) each craft has an end, (2) there are minor crafts that serve greater crafts, (3) there is a craft, an art, a "know-how" above all things to which all other crafts are directed, (4) this is called happiness, or human flourishing, (5) to understand it better, we need to know what is unique about human beings, (6) human beings have parts of the soul that are shared by plants and animals, but the rational part highlights our unique human functioning, (7) we live in accordance with this by acting in according with right reason, that is, by a) being virtuous and b) contemplating/cherishing the highest of truths, the highest of goods.
For a Christian, this all unites in friendship with God. It is being virtuous with a focus on the highest virtues (charity), and to contemplate and appreciate the highest of truths/goods (the Holy Trinity). These unite in what we understand to be friendship. Charity is friendship, and in friendship there is the deepest form of knowing.
It's relevant here. Check this out for clear thinking based on Gospel values regarding our current national situation.
We dive in again for a discussion on these two capital sins, which I believe are both leveraged by consumerism. Buy more! Do more! Consume more! Eat more! And so on. But let us prepare ourselves to be victors on Earth so that we may arrive in Heaven! We'll look at the background for these sins and also some tips to avoid them.
Thanks for tuning in again. We shift gears to address how we can bolster up our defenses against the wickedness and snares of the devil, and work for a deeper victory for Christ allowing is Kingdom to take deeper root.
In this episode, I talk about anger and envy. We don't spend as much time with these sins, but these sins are much more the cause of division and injury so often. Let's look into these so that we can conquer them with the help of God.
Thanks for tuning in again. We shift gears to address how we can bolster up our defenses against the wickedness and snares of the devil, and work for a deeper victory for Christ allowing is Kingdom to take deeper root.
In this episode, I address two of the greatest sins in our contemporary world. Lust seems to be the greatest manifestation of sin, while sloth seems to be the basic handle hold that Satan used to get a hold of us in our modern culture. Let us pursue chastity and diligence/devotion!
Thanks for tuning in again. We shift gears to address how we can bolster up our defenses against the wickedness and snares of the devil, and work for a deeper victory for Christ allowing is Kingdom to take deeper root.
In this episode, I introduce the topic by talking about what sin is and how helpful it is to identify our predominant fault. Then I address what pride is. It's much easy to pursue virtue with we are not clueless with how we might fail to get there!
St. John Paul II--the great promoter of the New Evangelization. He spoke of this new oomph in the church as evangelization as it continues to do what the Church has always done, but describes it as new because of new methods, new ardor, and expression. He lived this in beautiful ways, as well as established a solid intellectual backing for this from his position as a priest/bishop in Poland as well as from his position as the bishop of Rome. St. John Paul II, we love you! Pray for us!
We have another round of Saints for the New Evangelization! I'm a big fan of St. Therese of Lisieux. She reminds us of the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and confidence in the God of love who only asks our love in return. She happens to be the co-patron of missions along with St. Francis Xavier. May we all share in her warmth, love, suffering, and grace which she re-invests in her love for the Lord.
Saint Philip Neri is the bomb. I love his oratory. I love how God put him at the center of the Church so God could work out a deeper reform. I love his depth of pastoral wisdom and guidance of souls. I love how he made himself radically available to people. Praise the Lord for him!
Three Saint Francis's, but for a good reason! They have a significant share in the charism of evangelization, and that's something we can all share in and adopt. St. Francis Xavier can inspire us to works of mercy, to prayer, to kindness, to apostolic zeal, and to poverty.
We continue the series on St. Francis of Assis. He's so dang good! His conversion story is wonderful, and the inspiration that flows from his life is transformative: his poverty, his simplicity, his apostolic zeal, his rooting in the Church, his penitence, his prayer, his suffering, his happiness. May God raise up more like him!
We start a new series on saints that can inspire us and guide to enter into the New Evangelization. We've been given a great inheritance, and it's our task to soak it up and share it with others! St. Francis de Sales can inspire us to under the truth of the Catholic faith in relationship with our separated Protestant brothers and sisters, show us the importance of living holiness in our daily life, and highlight the absolute need for a heroic kindness and gentleness.
I love this stuff. John 6 was soooo good. This draws on Moses' prophecy that there will be a prophet like him, and this chapter highlights that Jesus is precisely that profit.
Hello everyone,
Today, all is revealed. I don't have too much secret, but I don't have too many opportunities to share what might be very interesting to many people. Please say a little prayer for me!
Fr. Sean
For 22 years of my life I went to Mass every Sunday and even daily Mass for a number of those years, but it didn't do anything for my spiritual life. The Mass wasn't the problem, my disposition was the problem. Listen to this episode to find out what totally changed it for me, and what I TRULY BELIEVE will change it for you and for the Church.
We dive into some of the great stories of Abram, of his sleazy sin, of his heroism for his nephew, for his generosity with God, and for the reception of the most important covenant. The covenant that was established is a particular favorite theme for me because it gives us the context and language to understand the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross and helps us to enter into the New Covenant with joyful sobriety.
We dive into the story of the Tower of Babel where God leads people away from our pride and our tendencies towards uniformity. We also start to look at the story of Abram and we get into the three key dramas of the story of Abram and his family. They are the three promises of (1) land, (2) descendants, and (3) blessing.
Again, we dive deep into Genesis, this time looking into the epic story of Noah and the flood. Trivia question that might not be as easy as it looks: How many of each type of animal did Noah take on the ark?
Here, we dive deep into the story of Cain and Abel, and talk about some practical conclusions from the genealogies that we here after their story.
This episode is more of a theological reflection of some of the major questions that arise from the account of Adam and Eve's sin. I dive into what is Original Sin and some basic approaches to address what is commonly called "the Problem of Evil."
As a good father disciplines his children to keep them on the path of goodness, so we read how the Eternal Father disciplined Adam and Eve after their fall from original harmony. We see great signs of hope here, that God did not curse them, but gave them a path of return to right relationship with God.
Here, we dive into the primordial sin of Adam and Eve. There is some good stuff that offers us some insights into temptation, to why we like to be tempted, and the immediate result of that sin.
This week we begin with the question of how do we interpret the Bible when it contradicts itself, as it does here in the very first two chapters of Bible. Then, I have a little discussion on evolution and the Church's relationship to that. The latter half is comments on the creation of human beings in this second chapter. It's super good stuff. I love it all.
We have a new series! I begin a commentary on Genesis since there is so much fundamental goodness and essential truth.
The order of creation, the Word by which it was created, the goodness of all existence, and the consecration of time are all themes that we will take up.
We honor this great and heroic man, who laid down his life in absolute discipleship for his son, not biological but more than foster son. Let us do him honor by imitating his virtue and calling upon his intercession.
The Equality Act is knocking at the door step of the United States, and this will have a profound effect on the US and on those who agree. It may be well intentioned, but it will be the most significant violation of religious freedom in recent memory.
1) We have universal human right because of our dignity that arises from our spiritual nature. Our spiritual nature puts us in relation with God, so we owe him our mind and will, our belief and our choices. Rights are what defend this primordial responsibility, the right of religious freedom.
2) As we owe God our understanding, it's important to see what he has revealed about human sexuality. "God created man in his image, male and female he created them." "Go forth and multiply...a man shall leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife." These verses offer clarity to our understanding. God revealed this, and we must believe it. In fact, we have the duty to disagree with anything that is not compatible with it, namely, gender ideology.
3) The Equality Act codifies gender ideology, constructing the law of the land on a lie. The lie is that gender identity is not biologically rooted, that one's sexual identity is based on preference. Their human rights should be maintained, but it would also require peope, in many ways, to serve the choices of those of gender ideology even when those choices are viewed as immoral. There would be punishment should that not happen. This is a violation of religious freedom.
This was the most influential thing for me in learning how to pray. A priest in seminary gave us seminarians the script of what I read here today, and it totally blew me away. Catalina Rivas recounts how Jesus and Mary walked with her through the Mass and allowed her to see and hear the things that are generally beyond the veil. It was super beautiful and it has guided my prayer through the Mass for years. I can't confirm the veracity of the vision, but it's at least good and vibrant theology! Seems real to me!
So I read it today.
For the script, please check out: https://www.michaeljournal.org/articles/roman-catholic-church/item/the-holy-mass
This is my favorite in the series: how to pray at the Mass! Ready to have your life transformed? Well, tune in. This is something that totally rocked my world, but it wasn't part of my catechesis as a kid--nor in my bachelor's degree in theology! But it's super relevant so that when we're at Mass, we're giving God our best.
Why do we have to go to Mass on Sunday? Well, it's so good, and shouldn't we do good things? A deeper answer looks at our duties and responsibilities towards God: just as we owe our parents care and support for their care and support for us when we were most vulnerable, so we owe God our everything (thanks, praise, etc.) since without Him, we're jack squat. We have a duty to return to Him a sacrifice of thanks and praise. Not to mention, it is the universal experience of the early Church. We probably should not omit that!
We are hoping the pandemic is nearing its conclusion with the vaccine rolling out in force, so it is fitting to ask a few questions. Why do have the Mass at all? Well, Jesus said "Do this in remembrance of me." But it is also fitting for God to give it to us as a continuation of His Presence, of His Sacrifice, and of His Communion with us. Plus, it's fitting for us because we are physical and social creatures, and that's how we do important things: in a physical and social way.
Welcome to the podcast! Last time I talked specifically about the ethics of the vaccines, commenting on the general ethics of it and then regarding the Coronavirus vaccine. Now I will address the challenge of receiving truthful, reliable, and honest information about anything, but specifically regarding making a rational decision to get or not to get the coronavirus vaccine. I'm not a scientist so I will not be talking about scientific material. Enjoy!
Welcome to the podcast! Here I simply offer the teaching of the church, describing the general ethics of vaccines. And then I InInspecifically about the vaccines against covid-19. In a nutshell, you may receive the vaccines that are currently available, but please know of the moral complication involved. In the second part that will come out next week, I talk about how to make sense of information that is out there when it is difficult to trust the different news sources.
Have a merry Christmas everyone! As a little gift to you all, here is a reflection of what Mary's Advent would have looked like and how we can learn from it. Blessings!
It turns out we have more parallels to the ancient Mexicans than anyone would be inclined to think! If she healed them of their societal ills and brought forth massive conversions, why do we doubt she can do that today?! Let's have a great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe!
Spiritual Mentorship is important, but it has limits. We must attend to the core of personal contact, which is none other than the core (corazon!) of the person. St John Henry Newman chose as his motto, cor ad cor loquitor, heart s peaks to hear. He draws on St Paul and St Philip Neri (see biography of Bacci), as well as his own experience as an oratorian, the spiritual descendants of St Philip Neri. We must communicate with hearts of humans before we communicate with humanity.
Last time, I spoke about the importance of spiritual mentorship, and now I talk about some of the basics. I have four points: care for the person, having an organic relationship, sparking their imagination, and drawing them forward.
Howdy y'all! Anyone want a spiri'tual guide, a spiritual mentor? Anybody want to be one? This was Jesus' plan! I talk about the desire, the biblical roots, my own experience, and what you need to do. Enjoy
My brothers and sisters! I proclaim to you that I am adding here and now THE Gospel Message! The proclamation! It's uber important, and any kid after 3rd grade should be able to tell it to you. Yet, can we put it into words? I break it down into 4 parts: 1) goodness of creation, 2) reality of sin, 3) Jesus and His Cross, and 4) repentance and living in his Church.
Welcome to the bonus episode for our series on the faith and the election. I read "Immigration and the Next America" by Archbishop Jose Gomez, and wanted to share some of his Christian-based, experienced-based, and reason-based thoughts on immigration. I really respect his thoughts on this. I have a little clarification from the previous episode and just a little thought on where the US is at currently, too!
hello everyone! Here I talk about the importance of cultivating a firm and true relationship with Jesus Christ for our own personal vocations. We need Jesus to be at the heart of our hearts in order to share this great love with others. May your and my ministries be fruitful (even if you're not an employed minister!)
Thanks for joining us! In this episode I get very practical about forming our consciences. With a little review and some introductory comments, I then dive into some practical and real commentary on issues to help us all be formed by true values in accordance with the hierarchy of those values.
America is a capitalist country! But what about the up and coming new socialists? What should we think? This is part 2 of 3! In this episode I define what capitalism and communism is and then recognize that in our modern world in the United States we are not really dealing with the pure form of either. I talk about the church's role in making distinctions and encouraging and discouraging different realities in the political world, and then I address some of the things that the church actively encourages and discourages.
Welcome to the relaunch of Fr Sean's Podcast! Here, I walk through the reasons why we have both Church and State from the perspective of the created order, and then look at what is the distinct role they each play. I then highlight what their relation might look like, as they are obviously separate, but not necessarily enemies of each other. We talk about some examples through history.
The guys with the Catholic Man Show invited me to their show and I talked about tattoos, I'm a bit of an expert, oddly enough, at least with the ethical side. I think this is super helpful to have a balanced attitude for the modern use of tattoos, for people in the middle or in either extreme. Plus, this was just super fun.
I talk about what is fascinating about life itself. If we don't know what's important about life, it is difficult to cherish, protect, and love life! This was a talk given at Theology on Tap in the Diocese of Tulsa in 2017. Thanks to the guys with the Catholic Man Show who recorded this and shared it with me.
I've studied a lot of Spanish this summer, and praise God, it's been going great! But I've learned other things too, and I thought it might be interesting to share.
I'm begin with a thorough review of what we have covered in this series, and then conclude with a discussion on how we can accurately speak of God through analogical speech. Yet how could I omit the great conclusion of the great teacher of church teaching, St Thomas Aquinas! His story is the best conclusion I could think of!
We begin by recapping last week's episode on the journey through the early Church councils, leading to the great dogmatic definition at the council of Chalcedon. now we look at more contemporary questions about the identity of Jesus, namely Jansenism and Modernism.
The Church is summoned to stand up and defend her Spouse and Saviour! However, not having great clarity on the truth of who Jesus is, many got false ideas of the Lord. And so, God raised up saints to bring forth the splendor of Truth. In the early Church councils, we will slowly learn the importance of distinctions of who Jesus Christ is. He is the eternal Divine Logos in which his perfect Divinity and perfect humanity are united with no mixing or separation.
In this sixth part of the series, I look at who Jesus is as the Logos of God from all eternity. He is God and with God, and all things came to be through Him. We even bear the mark of this rational and ordered divine nature in our own human nature.
In this episode we look at the relationship of the eternal Father and of the eternal Son, particularly as it is seen and given witness to in Scripture, with an emphasis on the words of Jesus Christ about Himself and the Father.
In this podcast I look back into the Old Testament to see traces and hints of the most Holy Trinity, and then I draw on the more explicit teachings found in the New Testament. It wasn't until the year 200 that we have the word Trinity, but still we have the foundations of Trinitarian faith from the beginning!
God created the world and left his stamp in this world! That's a good thing, because it helps everyone come to God in some capacity. God is transcendent and above creation. He is rational, good, intimate, and community.
Who is God? God is the transcendent lover, condescending love, condescending transcendence. That is to say, the two big points of who God says he is is (1) the Almighty Other, and (2) the one who draws close to us.
I begin this series by considering what this revelation is? Who is doing this revealing? God chooses to reveal Himself freely for love, and simply for our good. As it is addressed to us by God Almighty, we have a real responsibility to the great Gift, which is Himself! We also humble ourselves to interpret it on accordance with the means God provides, through grace, through prayer, and through the Church.