thoughtfully catholic

Scottish, Catholic (Roman), vegetarian, mystic, occasional poet. Preferred future pronouns: Venerable, Blessed and (ultimately) Saint.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

On The Most Holy Rosary of the Virgin Mary

"The aim is to direct the attention of the mind (and heart) to a series of discrete topics, called Mysteries, which are either episodes from the life of Jesus or from the post-dormition glorification of Mary.."

https://t.co/ngzeHubonv

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

@seatrout Depends on how allegorically or literally you wish to understand them. The patristic commentaries read more kinds of meaning into them, as types or shadowings of Jesus and the Gospel, than you might guess.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"What page, what passage of the inspired books of the Old and New Testaments is not the truest of guides for human life?"
(Rule of Benedict, 73)

Those who argue that the Catholic Church devalues the Bible should reflect on why St Benedict decided in about 530AD to write this

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

O quam suávis est, Dómine, spíritus tuus, qui, ut dulcédinem tuam in fílios demonstráres, pane suavíssimo de cælo prǽstito, esuriéntes reples bonis, fastidiósos dívites dimíttens inánes.

Corpus Christi

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

O how sweet,
O Lord,
Is Thy Spirit,
Who,
To show Thy tenderness to Thy children,
Feedest them with Thy sweetest
Bread from Heaven.

Magnificat Antiphon, First Vespers of Corpus Christi.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

“The love of our neighbour in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: “What are you going through?” It is a recognition that the sufferer exists, not only as a unit..but as a man, exactly like us"
Simone Weil
Only people pay attention to other people. Not phones

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation. If we look closely at other kinds of poverty, including material forms, we see that they are born from isolation, from not being loved or from difficulties in being able to love."

Pope Benedict XVI

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

Think about this in relationship to young people who are spending less and less time interacting with real people in the real world, and more and more time interacting with their smartphone. This doesn't represent a growth in connectivity so much as an emergency of isolation.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"Art Thou the King of the Jews?
..Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of Me?"
(cf John 18:33-34)

Worth asking ourselves what grounds we have for believing in the Christ? Do we know Him, or do we just know about Him based on reports which we have heard?

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

Genuine silence by contrast stills both the outside and the inside of the mind. But especially the inside. And, yes, one of the antidotes to our current malaise is for young people to speak more often face-to-face with real humans. But another is to sit quietly not doing anything

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

The phenomenon of people totally absorbed with their smartphones does not create a 'silent society', it creates a society where people have their minds totally filled with noise and distraction, even if their ears are not.

[Valerie Stivers @valerie_reads]

Hello. Here's an idea on how to seize the human back from the digital sphere. @unherd.

https://t.co/mTIdIPwWBX

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"I learned without guile and I impart without grudging."

(Wisdom 7:13)

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"How is it that thou canst see the speck of dust which is in thy brother’s eye, and art not aware of the beam which is in thy own?"
(Luke 6:41)

It is possible that your eyesight has been so distorted by the beam in your own eye that the speck of dust doesn't actually exist.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

If you are wondering whether the end of all things is at hand you might try "The Lord of the World" by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson.
Or, for something more spine-chilling you could try his "The Necromancers".

[Judge Creed🇻🇦✝️ @CredoMilesX]

Any good Catholic novels besides Lord of The Rings?

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"..But now another sound intruded on Bruno’s worship—an inner voice that said, “Maybe God is as pleased with the croaking of that frog as with the chanting of your psalms...”"

Anthony de Mello: The Prayer of the Frog.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"When Brother Bruno was at prayer one night he was disturbed by the croaking of a bullfrog. All his attempts to disregard the sound were unsuccessful so he shouted from his window, “Quiet! I’m at my prayers.”

Now Brother Bruno was a saint so his command was instantly obeyed..."

[James @Jamesjonesik8]

🚨A barking dog to some people is just background noise.

To others, especially during prayer or moments of worship, it can feel disrespectful or disruptive.

That raises a broader question:

Should society make more accommodations for religious practices, or should religious practices adapt to the realities of public life?

🤔 Where do you stand on the balance between religious freedom and everyday public life?

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"We experience the Church less as a voice crying in the wilderness than as a purveyor of messages from the comms team."

Bearing in mind that unless there are exceptional circumstances we almost always ignore messages from the comms team.

[The Critic @TheCriticMag]

Why does the Church of England now sound like an HR department? @jmc_fire deplores clerical managerialism
https://t.co/tdcnSEkIbo

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

Basically, if you are using, AI whether you are a tech bro or just a tech user, then think about what you are going to do before you do it, taking as the first principle for your thought the infinite value and mysterious nature of the human person expressed to perfection in Jesus

[Jacob Phillips @Counteredlogos]

If anyone isn't yet worn down with Magnifica Humanitas fatigue:

https://t.co/KqStK8nn85

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"And yet we must remember that humanity flourishes not *despite* limitations, but often *through* them"

It is not triumph but adversity that tends to bring people closer together. And only one of those two, triumph and adversity, is a true test of true love. And perseverance.

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

"Everything that appears as a “limit” — incapacity, illness, old age, suffering, vulnerability — tends to be seen primarily as a defect to be corrected, rather than as a reality through which our humanity matures and opens itself to relationship.."

Pope Leo XIV

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

@andrewklavan It's not just the Joyful Mysteries that are everyday events-

"..the experience of Mary is a template of universal human experience. We go through what she went through, save that..it was linked through her to the Logos of God."

https://t.co/a1PBdEx5tB

[thoughtfully catholic @stevhep]

When Saul was rebuked by Samuel he blame-shifted but did not repent. When David was rebuked by Nathan he immediately repented from the heart.

[Ihunanya Chi ❤️ @Ihunanya_chi]

As a Christian, how would you explain this: why did God reject Saul as king but restore David after both committed serious sins? Let’s discuss….