BIG C CATHOLICS

In our last post on Genesis we talked about how the sin of Adam had thrown everything out of balance. The world was no longer a temple as it was before. Man had literally fallen out of God's grace. He was now estranged from God though not entirely. God promises to send a redeemer to save man and defeat evil once and for all. (More on this in a later post.) Last but not least, man's relationship with man and with woman was forever transformed. Brother would fight against and kill brother. Marriage would no longer be predicated on love. Instead, the battle of the sexes had begun. This was not part of God's original plan but a consequence of original sin. "In the beginning," Adam was charged with protecting the Garden and everything in it - including Eve. Man was supposed to tend the Garden, reap its fruits and defend it against the very evil he would succumb to. Adam was standing next to Eve as the snake tempted her. The idea that a "mere garden snake" t

The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It portrays the beginning of life on earth, indeed the start of everything that is. God, in a free act of love created the world. "In the beginning... " the world was far different from the one we know today. All of creation was in perfect harmony with the Lord. We don't often think of it this way, but before the first sin, the entire world was a temple in which mankind worshiped the one true God. Man fully possessed original goodness and original justice. Then Adam sinned and this was lost. For one thing, the world at large stopped being a temple. It became necessary to build a temple in which God could be worshiped. Furthermore, man had to sanctify or purify himself before entering this sacred space. This was not necessary before the Fall. More in our next Genesis post.

Thought of the Day As iron is fashioned by the fire on an anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive the form that our Lord desires for them to have. -- St. Madeleine Sophie Barat

What the Church Teaches About Sex- God's Plan for Human Happiness By Robert L. Fastiggi Ph.D. (reviewed by Matthew Coffin) Dr. Robert L. Fastiggi is professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In What the Church Teaches About Sex – God’s Plan for Human Happiness , he draws on his experience as a theologian and educator to explain the Catholic Church’s teaching about human sexuality. Fastiggi begins by looking at St. Augustine, an admitted adulterer and exploiter of women, before he allowed divine grace to transform his heart. With God’s help Augustine went from sinner to saint. Fastiggi uses Augustine’s struggle with chastity to show how openness to selfless love and prayer are powerful antidotes to sexual concupiscence. Our first parent’s original sin taints every human endeavor, but none more than conjugal love. Dr. Fastiggi argues the “sexual revolution,” far from liberating human beings, has left in its wake divided homes, broken families, and fract

Pope Pius XII Thought of the Day So then, the great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as he defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of Ages -- Pope Pius XII.

Pope Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body is comprised of 129 addresses he gave over the first five years of his pontificate during his weekly Wednesday audience. In Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body respected biblical scholar Michael Waldstein presents the Holy Father’s vision of the human person with meticulous scholarship and insight. George Weigel called the Theology of the Body, "one of the boldest reconfigurations of Catholic theology in centuries." Weigel observed that Saint John Paul’s thought is difficult to read and understand; hence, a secondary literature capable of translating John Paul's thought into accessible categories and vocabulary was needed. Waldstein’s contribution answers the concerns of Weigel and others. One shortcoming of prior English-language translations is that different translators were used at varying times over the duration of the audiences. Occasionally, the same term would be translated differently from on

Peter Kreeft (Dr. Peter Kreeft teaches philosophy at Boston College. He is a renowned Catholic apologists and unapologetic big C Catholic. This is an excerpt from his series Pillars of Unbelief. The fifth article considers the philosophy of Karl Marx. It can be read in its entirety here .) False Moses for the Masses Among the many opponents of the Christian faith, Marxism is certainly not the most important, imposing or impressive philosophy in history. But it has, until recently, clearly been the most influential. A comparison of 1917, 1947 and 1987 world maps will show how inexorably this system of thought flowed so as to inundate one-third of the world in just two generations-a feat rivaled only twice in history, by early Christianity and early Islam. Twenty years ago, every political and military conflict in the world, from Central America to the Middle East, turned on the axis of communism vs. anti-communism. Even fascism became popular in Europe, and is still a force to be reckon