BIG C CATHOLICS

Matthew Coffin The Exchange of Persons in the Trinity The three-leaf clover used in religion classes to explain the mystery of three Divine Persons in one God does not begin to penetrate the incomparable majesty, boundless love, and total communion, which the Church in her Tradition and creeds ascribes to the Godhead. To the early Church Fathers the idea of perichoresis (the exchange of Persons in the Trinity), was indispensable to understanding God. This sublime, metaphysical concept is central to John Paul’s Theology of the Body. The inner life of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Divine Love Itself, is dimly but unmistakably reflected in the beauty of the conjugal embrace, the nuptial meaning of our bodies, and the echo of original innocence that resides in the human heart. Before continuing, the term "person" should be defined. A person has an intellect, with which to know and a will, with which to choose. As a result, a person is always a "someone," never a

Men were made to love women just as women were made to love men. We were all made to love as God loves. To love the way God loves is to love completely, holding nothing back. Adam and Eve knew this immediately upon seeing each other for the first time. It is inscribed in our bodies; their very physicality speaks this truth. Sex is sacred. It must be protected and revered as a holy and mysterious union. Women express the unrepeatable feminine incarnations of the human person that they are when they love their husbands. In so doing they honor and love God. Men express the unrepeatable masculine incarnations of the human person that they are when they love their wives. In so doing they also love God. The celibate is called to love by offering up their masculinity or femininity to God and by serving others. Nuns live a beautiful vocation by being spouses to Christ. This is not a sexual union but a profound spiritual union. Likewise, priests and religious brothers offer up their mas

Carl Anderson NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, MARCH 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Having served for nearly a decade as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, I know that there are few subjects as controversial in American society as those issues touching race relations. Nonetheless, an article appearing this weekend in the New York Times -- titled "To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case" -- is worth considering. Without getting into the controversy concerning the well-documented eugenic philosophy of Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood), or the debate over whether or not African Americans are actually deliberately targeted by abortion providers today, several disturbing facts remain. For one, as the New York Times pointed out, black women account for almost 40% of the abortions in the United States, though they make up only 13% of the population. Regardless of the cause for that high rate, abortion is an especially large-scale tragedy for African Americans. T

There are two excellent video resources for those studying the theology of the body. One is a series of six talks on TOB by Father Samuel Medley S.O.L.T. available here . The other is a series of eight talks by Father Roger J. Landry available here .His website with additional resources is here . A website featuring the theology of the body online along with related essays and articles is available at Theological Clowning . There is a worthwhile summary of TOB here , by Christopher West available through the CERC.

John Bergsma From the Sacred Page website: The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is the temptation of Christ in the desert according to Luke. Christ is tempted in three ways: through his physical desires (hunger for food), through his eyes (being shown all the glory of the kingdoms of the world), and through the temptation to pride (to stage a magnificent stunt that would win him fame throughout the nation). This threefold temptation of Christ corresponds to St. John’s warning about the “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” in 1 John 2:15. This threefold categorization has been known in the Church as the “threefold concupiscence,” the unholy Trinity of temptation. Eve was tempted in the same way. She saw that the fruit was “good for food, pleasing to the eye, and to be desired to make one wise.” “Good for food” is lust of the flesh. “Pleasing to the eye” is lust of the eye. “Desired to make one wise” is a temptation to pride—Eve wants to be wise like G

A few years ago, someone made a movie called Super Size Me. It featured a man who ate nothing but McDonald's fast food for an entire month. Someone should make a movie called Objectify Me about how young people in particular are subjected to overtly sexualized images in our culture. We live in a time where men and women are shamelessly objectified in the media, in art, and in society at large. This, of course, is nothing new. The human body has been objectified for thousands of years in thousands of ways. What makes today's objectification so egregious is the ubiquitousness of the "new media" that promulgates such images. Movies, DVDs, cell phones, web cams, blogs, television and so on, have all been used to advance a sexualized culture to sell everything from cars to video games. Before continuing, let's define our terms. To objectify a human person is to focus exclusively on his or her sexual value. In other words, to objectify someone is to focus on the body o

Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD, a university professor and expert on Divine Mercy, addresses questions such as: What exactly is God’s mercy? Where do we find it in Sacred Scripture? What is the basis for it in the life of the Church? He takes the reader on a tour of God’s mercy in Scripture and Church history. In Divine Mercy: A Guide from Genesis to Pope Benedict XVI, journey from the Garden of Eden to the Hill of Calvary. Discover God’s mercy in the writings of the Church’s great theologians, as well as in the life and teaching of many of its most preeminent saints. Learn of St. Faustina’s call to spread The Divine Mercy message in our time and Pope John Paul II’s legacy of mercy, which has influenced Pope Benedict XVI. The Divine Mercy is more than a devotion. It is a veritable attribute of God. Dr. Stackpole has included study questions and a discussion starter at the end of each section in his chapters. I found this volume enlightening and would recommend it for individuals, small grou