Labels: Books

Okay, so you all have seen the Tim Tebow Superbowl Pro-Life advertisement? What did you think?

Personally, I was disappointed. The advertisement was hardly what I would consider "pro-life." I understand the need to be subtle, but it was a little too subtle. Ask yourself: "If you didn't know about the video and all the hype - would you have understood the ad or even known what it was about?"

I also don't understand why Tim tackled his mother. It's just sort of odd.

Seriously, with all the money that they spent on placing this ad in a Superbowl time slot, couldn't they have been a little more intentional and/or clever.

Those are just my thoughts. I'd love to hear your thoughts?

What did you think of the ad? Did you like it? Please leave a comment below and tell us.

Okay, so by now you've heard of Tim Tebow's amazing pro-life Superbowl ad...but have you heard about this new "pro-choice" advertisement being put out by Olympic Gold Medalist Al Joyner and former NFL football player Sean James on behalf of Planned Parenthood?

It seems that Planned Parenthood is striking back. Both Olympic Gold Medalist Al Joyner and former NFL player Sean James have performed for a Planned Parenthood video. Both men speak up for "women's choices," which is always code for "let the abortion of babies be legal." Remarkably, the video directly addresses Tebow's mother. The gist of this pro-abortion video is that everyone's decisions should be respected...

But doesn't that beg the question? If abortion kills another human being, how can we respect that?

I'll post more as I learn more.

Please watch video trailer for Taylor Marshall's The Crucified Rabbi:

Please also read:

• Planned Parenthood's "Black Genocide"
• Abortion, College Girls, and Christmas Vacation

Labels: Abortion, Pro-Life

I recently watched the film Frost/Nixon about the famous interview between David Frost and President Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal. It's true that movie about an interview sounds pretty lame, I know, but the acting was incredible. David Frost hopes that he can get Nixon to confess to crimes in a public interview while Nixon constantly outsmarts him along the way. It's like a game of chess. If you know your history, Frost finally catches him in a "check mate" moment.

Whoever played Nixon performed amazingly. I was very impressed. Very compelling.

There is some foul language, but the film is basically clean and very informative. It very much captures America's anger and disappointment regarding the Watergate fiasco. It also sheds light on Nixon's internal struggle as to whether to come clean or not. Five Stars.

Labels: Film

Today is the feast of the virgin martyr Saint Agatha, and of course she did not where cosmetics. However, there is a beautiful passage in Saint Methodius about the "cosmetics" of Christ in reference to the blood of Christ (taken from today's Office of Readings). Here it is:

The woman who invites us to this banquet is both a wife and virgin. To use the analogy of Paul, she is the bride who has been betrothed to one husband, Christ. A true virgin, she wore the glow of pure conscience and the crimson of the Lamb’s blood for her cosmetics. Again and again she meditated on the death of her eager lover. For her, Christ’s death was recent, his blood was still moist. Her robe is the mark of her faithful witness to Christ. It bears the indelible marks of his crimson blood and the shining threads of her eloquence. She offers to all who come after her these treasures of her eloquent confession.

Agatha, the name of our saint, means “good.” She was truly good, for she lived as a child of God. She was also given as the gift of God, the source of all goodness to her bridegroom, Christ, and to us. For she grants us a share in her goodness.

What can give greater good than the Sovereign Good? Whom could anyone find more worthy of celebration with hymns of praise than Agatha?

Agatha, her goodness coincides with her name and way of life. She won a good name by her noble deeds, and by her name she points to the nobility of those deeds. Agatha, her mere name wins all men over to her company. She teaches them by her example to hasten with her to the true Good. God alone.

Saint Methodius Analecta Bollandiana 68, 76-78

Labels: Saints

Tonight I'm finally allowing my oldest son to watch the first episode of The Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring. First half tonight. Second half tomorrow.

I feel a little bad about it, because he hasn't read the books first. Still I'm pretty pumped about watching it with him. It's going to be awesome.

Labels: Lord of the Rings.

Last night during a doctoral seminar, Father James Leherberger, O. Cist., Ph.D brought our attention to Saint Augustine's "Steps to Wisdom" in De doctrina christiana Book 2, Chapter 7. Father Lehrberger suggested that this course toward wisdom may appear elsewhere in Augustine's corpus (Confessions). As we spoke about it, we realized that these "steps" seems rather similar to the "Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit."

See for yourself:

Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2-3 (LXX):

1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Counsel
4. Fortitude
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord

Saint Augustine’s "Steps to Wisdom" in De Christiana Doctrina Book Two

1. Wisdom
2. *Purification* (different from the traditional Isaian list above)
3. Counsel
4. Fortitude
5. Knowledge
6. Piety
7. Fear of the Lord

Why then does Saint Augustine substitute “purification” for “understanding”?

Whenever I’m confused about something like this, I usually turn to Saint Thomas Aquinas. So I looked up what he said on the "gift of understanding" in Summa theologiae II-II q. 8, a. 7. Thomas cites Augustine where he writes elsewhere:

On the contrary, Augustine says (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4): “The sixth work of the Holy Ghost which is understanding, is applicable to the clean of heart, whose eye being purified, they can see what eye hath not seen.”

So then, Saint Augustine clearly understood the gift of "understanding" in terms of "becoming pure." This would explain why "step six" is listed as "purification" in Augustine's De doctrina christiana.

The conclusion then is that Saint Augustine's "Seven Steps" is simply a new expression of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Pretty nifty.

Biretta tip to Father James Lehrberger.

Labels: Augustine, Autobiographical, Holy Spirit

A kind Jewish gentleman who is reading my book The Crucified Rabbi, recently sent me a copy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (Roman Rite) in Hebrew.

As you may know, the rabbis said that the only sacrifice to be offered in the Messianic age would be the todah sacrifice. Todah is Hebrew for "thanksgiving," which translates into Greek as eucharistia. Hence, the true Messianic sacrifice is the Eucharist.

This Hebrew Mass is dated to 1967 and has an approval by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem on the front page. The gentleman who sent it to me tells me that the Mass is celebrated in Hebrew in Haifa and Jerusalem.

If I have some time, I'll upload some images of it.

Does anyone know more about this? Has anyone ever attended Holy Mass in Hebrew?

Labels: Ecclesiastical Customs, Hebrew, Judaism, Liturgy