The Syllabus and EENS

(I've not had a great deal to say for a while, but I was mulling on this (as is my wont), and thought I'd wake the blog up...)

This is an error the Syllabus condemns:

"Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ."

Now, phrasing is important. Look at what is condemned and what is not condemned in that statement:

Condemned: "Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ."

Not condemned: "Faint hope may be entertained of the eternal salvation of some who are not explicitly in the true Church of Christ."

So it seems that the Syllabus of Errors does not rule out our holding out some hope for some of those apparently outside the Church. It just says we can't hold out good hope for all of them.

Perhaps we may hold out good hope for some of them, or some hope for all of them; just not good hope for all of them.

Surely, if we may not hold out any hope at all for any of them, the Error would say so. The words "good", "at least", "all", and "at all" would be redundant. The condemned proposition would be:  "Hope is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of those who are not in the true Church of Christ."

But it isn't. And surely there is a reason it isn't.

The Whole of the Moon

Apropos nothing topical:

You know that song, "The Whole of the Moon" by the Waterboys? Well, I had always thought it was saying something that G K Chesterton might have said (although I had read that it might have been inspired by C S Lewis).

Well, I've found the passage from GKC that I'd been looking for:

'The globe-trotter lives in a smaller world than the peasant. He is always breathing, an air of locality. London is a place, to be compared to Chicago; Chicago is a place, to be compared to Timbuctoo. But Timbuctoo is not a place, since there, at least, live men who regard it as the universe, and breathe, not an air of locality, but the winds of the world. The man in the saloon steamer has seen all the races of men, and he is thinking of the things that divide men—diet, dress, decorum, rings in the nose as in Africa, or in the ears as in Europe, blue paint among the ancients, or red paint among the modern Britons. The man in the cabbage field has seen nothing at all; but he is thinking of the things that unite men—hunger and babies, and the beauty of women, and the promise or menace of the sky. Mr. Kipling, with all his merits, is the globe-trotter; he has not the patience to become part of anything. So great and genuine a man is not to be accused of a merely cynical cosmopolitanism; still, his cosmopolitanism is his weakness. That weakness is splendidly expressed in one of his finest poems, "The Sestina of the Tramp Royal," in which a man declares that he can endure anything in the way of hunger or horror, but not permanent presence in one place. In this there is certainly danger. The more dead and dry and dusty a thing is the more it travels about; dust is like this and the thistle-down and the High Commissioner in South Africa. Fertile things are somewhat heavier, like the heavy fruit trees on the pregnant mud of the Nile. In the heated idleness of youth we were all rather inclined to quarrel with the implication of that proverb which says that a rolling stone gathers no moss. We were inclined to ask, "Who wants to gather moss, except silly old ladies?" But for all that we begin to perceive that the proverb is right. The rolling stone rolls echoing from rock to rock; but the rolling stone is dead. The moss is silent because the moss is alive.

The truth is that exploration and enlargement make the world smaller. The telegraph and the steamboat make the world smaller. The telescope makes the world smaller; it is only the microscope that makes it larger....'

Heretics, "On Mr Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small"

And, the Waterboys:

I wandered out in the world for years
while you just stayed in your room.
I saw the crescent.
You saw the whole of the moon.

Video

Christmas Anticipation Prayer

To be said fifteen times a day from St Andrew's feast day until Christmas Eve.

Having a humble opinion of self, Thomas a Kempis

Having a Humble Opinion of Self

Every man naturally desires knowledge; but what good is knowledge without fear of God? Indeed a humble rustic who serves God is better than a proud intellectual who neglects his soul to study the course of the stars. He who knows himself well becomes mean in his own eyes and is not happy when praised by men.

If I knew all things in the world and had not charity, what would it profit me before God Who will judge me by my deeds?

Shun too great a desire for knowledge, for in it there is much fretting and delusion. Intellectuals like to appear learned and to be called wise. Yet there are many things the knowledge of which does little or no good to the soul, and he who concerns himself about other things than those which lead to salvation is very unwise.

Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.

The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?

If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.

Imitation of Christ

St Philip Neri on forgiveness (2)

Sex-selective abortion vs gender fluidity

Professor Wendy Savage, of the British Medical Association, reckons that "... if a woman does not want to have a foetus who is one sex or the other, forcing her (to go through with the pregnancy) is not going to be good for the eventual child, and it's not going to be good for (the mother's) mental health." (Story here.)

What's this? "[O]ne sex or the other"? As we all know, there are many more than two sexes! And, furthermore, we now know that one's sex isn't settled until, well, ever.

And yet Professor Savage is angry that "... some places won't tell the woman the sex of the foetus, which is outrageous." 

Maybe they're unwilling to assign sexes to babies based on antediluvian pseudoscience about anatomy.

Prospective parents who still, in 2017, follow such outdated opinions, should realise that a baby's physical characteristics no longer have the last word on what it will be.

Only after the child has made its selection should the parents consider termination...

Seeing more good in others, Thomas a Kempis

"If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble. It does no harm to esteem yourself less than anyone else, but it is very harmful to think yourself better than even one."

Imitation of Christ