Samuel

I’m alive

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

I’ve just finished reading Gad Saad’s book Suicidal Empathy.

It ranks, along with Chris Rufo’s America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything and Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay’s Cynical Theories, as the best take-down of the lunacy at the heart of the wokeist philosophy.

For Saad, empathy—in itself a perfectly decent trait—has become so grossly exaggerated that it threatens truth, reality, and justice.

Cases in point abound: so they won’t feel bad about themselves, we’ll allow biological men to compete in women’s sports and crush the dreams of thousands of young women; so as not to undermine the self-esteem of minorities, we will permit unqualified candidates to have positions in universities and the corporate world; so that everyone might feel included, we will characterize the meritocracy as “white privilege,” etc.

As I was making my way through Saad’s book, I kept remarking the sharp distinction between empathy and love.

To empathize is to enter profoundly into the experience of another and to endeavor not to hurt that person’s feelings. But to love is, as Thomas Aquinas taught, “to will the good of the other.”

As I said, in itself and all things being equal, empathy is a good thing. But it is not the same as love, which, depending on circumstances, can very much involve hurting someone’s feelings.

When a professor gives a student a “C” as an honest reflection of his work, he might well be insulting him, but he’s also telling him the truth and perhaps even urging him to try harder.

When, in the Confessional, a priest tells a murderer to turn himself in to the police, he’s undoubtedly making that person’s life more uncomfortable, but he’s also willing the man’s good.

Any decent parent knows that showing real love for her children means engendering all kinds of bad feelings in them.

In light of this distinction, we can understand why Jesus didn’t say, “have empathy for one another,” but rather “love one another.” And why St. John the Evangelist didn’t say, “God is empathy,” but rather “God is love.”

It occurred to me as I was reading Saad’s book that one reason Wokeism has seized the consciousness of so many in the West is that Christianity has faded as a cultural force and Christians themselves have forgotten what stands at the heart of their faith.

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

There is a way past the absurd and deeply divisive “war” between the President and the Pope, which has been enthusiastically ginned up by the press. And it is indicated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2309 to be precise. After laying out the various criteria for determining a just war—proportionality, last resort, declaration by a competent authority, reasonable hope of success, etc.—the Catechism points out that “the evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.” The assumption is that the just war principles function, to use the technical term, as heuristic devices, designed to guide the practical decision-making of those civil authorities who have to adjudicate matters of war and peace.

The role of the Church, therefore, is to call for peace and to urge that any conflict be strictly circumscribed by the moral constraints of the just war criteria. But it is not the role of the Church to evaluate whether a particular war is just or unjust. That appraisal belongs to the civil authorities, who, one presumes, have requisite knowledge of conditions on the ground. So, is the war in question truly the last resort? Is there really a balance between the good to be attained and the destruction caused by the war? Are combatants and non-combatants being properly distinguished in the waging of the conflict? Do the belligerents have right intention? Is there a reasonable hope of success? The posing of those questions—indeed the insistence upon their moral relevance—belongs rightly to the Church, but the answering of them belongs to the civil authorities.

The Pope has said, on numerous occasions, that he is not a politician and that his role is not the determination of any nation's foreign policy. But he has just as clearly said that he will continue to speak for peace and for moral constraint. In making both of these claims, he is operating perfectly within the framework of paragraph 2309 of the Catechism. If we understand that the Pope and the President have qualitatively different roles to play in the determination of moral action in regard to war, we can, I hope, extricate ourselves from the completely unhelpful narrative of “Pope vs. President.”

[Samuel @SAM202055]

@BasedBandita Looking at this we lose sight that although different opinions, that was a child of God, created in his own image. What's tragic is that the world, the evil one, has control over so many in this world in which they lose sight of Jesus, leading to death because of our brokenness.

[Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec]

You need to be carrying prayer cards at all times. Rosaries, scapulars, holy items. You need to maintain your spiritual defenses for the fight at hand. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood

[Jeffery Mead @the_jefferymead]

Leftists storming churches in Minnesota and disrupting services is not the First Amendment.

Churches are private property. Worship isn’t a protest zone. This isn’t speech, it’s trespassing and harassment.

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

Friends, Christianity is different because it is news: Something happened, and the disciples want you to know about it!

[Cam Higby 🇺🇸 @camhigby]

Do not celebrate her death. It’s disgusting.

Was it justified? Most likely, yeah. Does that mean you should be happy she’s dead? Absolutely not.

Sincerely, consider the outlook Jesus would have on you celebrating her death.

We are not them. Stop acting like you are.

[AmericanPapaBear™ @AmericaPapaBear]

I will not apologize that I like pork. I like pork more than you.

I will not apologize that I like dogs. I like my dogs more than you.

My wife is beautiful and has beautiful eyes.

She does not have to cover up her face.

This is America!

We are a Christian nation, and we will never accept Islam!

[Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec]

Will Cain is a PRINCE

[End Wokeness @EndWokeness]

New York already forgot

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

They forgot.

[Jack Posobiec @JackPosobiec]

The perfect prayer for All Hallows Eve

[Carter Hughes @itscarterhughes]

🚨HOLY COW: This Mexican American has GONE VIRAL for calling out anti-ICE protesters.

"You're in a country you don't want to leave and waving the Mexico flag?"

Do you agree with his sentiment?

[Jeffery Mead @the_jefferymead]

Here @krassenstein is trying to get control of the narrative first. There was a shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas.

And he is already trying to make it about a white man who targeted immigrants..

He doesn’t even entertain the idea that this could be an attack on ICE operations.

He’s not worried about truth, he’s worried about narrative control...

[Real America's Voice (RAV) @RealAmVoice]

PRITZKER CAUGHT IN A LIE

“FUNNY LITTLE THING, YA KNOW, THE INTERNET.” - @ericbolling shows clips that prove Pritzker lied when he claimed he never called Republicans N*zis.

“Filthy liar.”

[Savanah Hernandez @Savsays]

Charlie Kirk was a mentor, a friend, a leader and an inspiration to all of us.

He believed in so many of us younger creators, reporters and students and actually invested in us.

He simply loved the country and every single American in it.

Thank you for everything Charlie.