William Hemsworth's Blog, page 16

UPDATE: Church Militant shuts down, OR MAYBE NOT?

UPDATE: Story developing An email went out to Church Militant subscribers at 2:26 PM Eastern US Time this afternoon with the subject “Final Correspondence.” The message, signed by “St. Michael’s Media” announced, “After 17+ years of teaching the Faith, it is with heavy hearts we must now announce the closure of our Church Militant website. […]

UPDATE: Church Militant shuts down, OR MAYBE NOT?

The Day that Simon of Cyrene Met Jesus

Tom Medlar meditates on what the encounter was like between Simon of Cyrene and Jesus, when they met on the road to Calvary.

The Day that Simon of Cyrene Met Jesus

Word on Fire to launch master’s degree program in evangelization with St. Thomas-Houston

Petrusek said that one pillar of Word on Fire that’s “especially important” for this initiative is “looking for the ‘seeds of the word’ in the culture.”  “Now, this is something that goes back to the very beginning of the Church,” he said. “It’s speaking in ways that are intelligible to people wherever they are, across […]

Word on Fire to launch master’s degree program in evangelization with St. Thomas-Houston 

Spiritual Warfare: Victory Over Vice by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen

This is no ordinary talk / book (perfectly narrated here). It is extraordinary even by Fulton J. Sheen’s standard. Lay persons and clergy both need to hear its message in our troublesome time. A time which assaults our very souls: “Day after day, Christians struggle to do good, to avoid evil, and to take up […]

Spiritual Warfare: Victory Over Vice by Archbishop Fulton J Sheen

Registration Open for Saint John XXIII Foundation 2024 Patrons Reception

WASHINGTON, DC — Registration is now open for the 2024 Patrons Reception for the Saint John XXIII Foundation.  Proceeds will support the Foundation’s General Endowed Fund. Endowed gifts help underwrite the various ministries of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (AMS), including the education and formation of seminarians who will serve as Catholic military chaplains.

The 2024 Patrons Reception will be held on Thursday, May 2, in San Antonio, TX. The evening will commence at 5:15 p.m. CDT with the celebration of Mass at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s St., followed by the Reception at the Hotel Valencia Riverwalk, 150 E. Houston St. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, J.C.D., Archbishop for the Military Services, will be the principal celebrant and homilist.

During the Patrons Reception, the Foundation will honor Archbishop Broglio as its Founding Patron and will officially welcome and recognize its new Patrons. To learn more about the event and to register, visit the News & Events Page of the Foundation’s website.

Attire is business dress. Tickets are $250 for singles, $400 for couples. Sponsorship levels are as follows:

Friend: $1,000 (includes two tickets);Bronze: $2,500 (includes four tickets);Silver: $5,000 (includes six tickets);Gold: $10,000 (includes 10 tickets);New Patron: $25,000 (gift or pledge).

The Saint John XXIII Foundation was established on May 6, 2022, with the mission “to establish, receive, and maintain a fund or funds for the pastoral support of Catholics in the Armed Forces, patients in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, and United States government personnel serving outside of the United States.”

To learn more about the Patrons and the Saint John XXIII Foundation, visit the Foundation’s website at https://www.stjohnxxiiifoundation.org/patrons/.

Church groups, monks rescue displaced people in Myanmar

Church groups and Buddhist monks have joined local charity workers to evacuate a thousand civilians following intense fighting in northern Kachin state where a large number of Christians live. “With the help of Church and Buddhist groups, we could evacuate the trapped civilians and send them to Church-run camps and monasteries,” Church social worker Vincent, […]

Church groups, monks rescue displaced people in Myanmar

Three monks killed at Coptic Orthodox Church monastery in South Africa

By CNA Staff CNA Newsroom, Mar 13, 2024 / 14:30 pm The Coptic Orthodox Church announced that three monks were attacked and murdered Tuesday in the Coptic monastery of St. Mark and St. Bishop Samuel the Confessor in Cullinan, South Africa, 18 miles east of the country’s capital, Pretoria. In an official statement, the church […]

Three monks killed at Coptic Orthodox Church monastery in South Africa

St. Thomas Aquinas On The Incarnation

Thomas Aquinas is known as one of the greatest thinkers in the history of the Church. He was a prolific writer, and those writings are still widely read today. When it comes to Christology, Aquinas had a lot to say, and his writings on Christology can be read in the third part of his Summa Theologiae and his Commentary on Matthew.

His view on the Incarnation is interesting to theologians because he assumed its necessity was hypothetical. This does not mean that it was a theory and that it did not happen, but it was only a necessity if it was something that God had planned from the beginning. Like Anselm and many others before him, Aquinas believed that nothing can coerce God. In simpler terms, did God only ordain the Incarnation as a result of the fall? Or was the Incarnation already put in place because God knew the fall would take place?

Through the fall, man became separated from God, but through the Incarnation this was remedied. It was remedied because God sought to unite humanity to himself. Though dawning a human body was below God, he loved us so much that Christ did it so we may be united with him.

Aquinas delves into two kinds of necessity. The first necessity in one in which there is no way we can achieve the end. There is nothing, as humans, that we can do to satisfy the due penalty for sin. This is not possible because Original Sin has corrupted our very nature. The second necessity spoken of is that of man being sufficient because of the actions of another. In this case it is Christ who sustains us.

Aquinas goes on to say much more about the Incarnation is section three of the Summa. He answers the question of whether the Incarnation should have happened at the beginning of time, or at the end. His answer is masterful, but simple at the same time. He quotes scripture to say that in the “fullness of time” Christ came to save sinners. If this happened at the beginning of the world there would have been no sinners as the fall had not taken place. If it happened at the end of the world then it would have been too late for those sinners scripture says he came to save.

In conclusion, Aquinas takes the best of those before him to assist in his Christology. He is very proud to quote from Augustine, Anselm, John Chrysostom, and many others in support of his position. His affirmed the necessity of the Hypostatic Union and thinks that it is necessary for one to believe. The unity of man and God was the work of the Incarnation. In the Incarnation we find the love and forgiveness of God. It was the decision of God, long before time began, that the suffering of Christ would be the material element of his love for humanity.

Pope’s March prayer intention: For the martyrs of our day

Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for March, asking for prayers for the martyrs of our day, and recalling a story he was told by a widowed Muslim man who recounted the martyrdom of his Christian wife as she defied terrorists. “For the martyrs of our day, witnesses to Christ”. In the new release…

Pope’s March prayer intention: For the martyrs of our day

James White vs. Trent Horn Purgatory Debate (Review)

James White vs. Trent Horn Purgatory Debate (Review)

James White vs. Trent Horn Purgatory Debate (Review)