Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. Justin (the) Martyr. St. Justin was a classically educated man who lived in the 2nd century of the Christian era – the generation after the Apostles. He converted to Christianity and put his classical learning to work for the defense of the Catholic faith. He wrote two famous “apologies” or defenses of the Catholic faith, one addressed to the Roman emperor and the other to the Roman Senate. He wrote a “hortatory address” to the Greeks, urging them to convert to Christianity. Lastly, and most importantly (I think), he wrote a work titled … Continue

It’s common in modern circles to find Catholics talking and writing a great deal about Plato’s dialogues and the “Socratic Method”. The people doing are usually also promoting the “Great Books”–which is always a red flag. For some reason, modern Christian teachers and parents, try to promote “reading” as some kind of intrinsic good. The “love of reading” is seen as some kind of intellectual achievement, but this is like celebrating that a child “loves listening to others talk” or “loves watching videos”. The content of the media being consumed is, apparently, not as important as the fact of reading. … Continue

In the Baltimore Catechism, we learn this helpful lesson: In speaking of worship, theologians generally distinguish three kinds, namely: latria, or that supreme worship due to God alone, which cannot be transferred to any creature without committing the sin of idolatry; dulia, or that secondary veneration we give to saints and angels as the special friends of God; hyperdulia, or that higher veneration which we give to the Blessed Virgin as the most exalted of all God’s creatures. Baltimore Catechism, Book IV, Question 9 In modern circles, Protestants don’t make these distinctions and falsely accuse Catholics of “worshipping Mary” or … Continue

Many attempt to define amd describe modesty in an effort to enforce personal convictions about clothing and behavior. These efforts are usually lazy and shallow. A sound definition for modesty, drawn from the moral philosophy of Aristotle, would be: Modesty is the fear of infamy. Infamy is the evil of being known for bad quality or deed. Aristotle explains that having no fear of infamy is “impudence”, which is a vice. A good man, on the other hand, fears infamy, and this is the virtue of “modesty”. A good man, then, seeks to avoid infamy by avoiding the appearance of … Continue