#bishop robert barron

[angeltreasure]

Shia LaBeouf Becomes Catholic!!

🙏🏻 welcome home

#Shia LaBeouf #prayer request #faith #Christianity #Catholic #Catholicism #Word on Fire #Bishop Robert Barron #Capuchin friars

[apenitentialprayer]

So true, Bishop Barron

#Christianity #Bishop Robert Barron

[apesoformythoughts]

24 hours after the video where Bishop Robert Barron interviews actor Shia LaBeouf about his conversion to Catholicism was released on YouTube (watch it, here: https://bit.ly/3wz98Sq) it has accumulated more than 300, 000 views.

The video appears to have been the main source for the news and thus has been inserted in articles about it by many major news outlets, including those whose headlines or contents mock Mr. LaBeouf's conversion or express cynicism and pessimism about it, given the actor's life trajectory until now.

While even we Catholics should keep in mind LaBeof's previously volatile life, and thus pray for him, for his perseverance in the newly-gained faith, we should do that without forgetting that we ourselves are sinners in frequent need of penance and confession and that we *all* are on a never-ending process of conversion. About the mocking, well, remember Our Lord Himself was both mocked and tortured before he was killed.

We should also rejoice in Christ's Resurrection, in the redemption he brings us, in conversions to Christ and His Church, and in videos about said conversions apparently on their way to half a million views. Never forget that stories of conversions may lead yet others to convert too.

#shia labeouf #bishop robert barron #catholicism #conversion

[tabernacleheart]

Behind so much of the language of tolerance, acceptance, and non-judgmentalism in regard to religion is the profound [yet false] conviction that religious truth is unavailable to us and that it finally doesn’t matter what one believes as long as one subscribes to certain ethical principles. Provided one is a decent person, [many claim,] who cares if he or she is a devout Christian, Buddhist, Jew, or Muslim— or nonbeliever? And if that is the case, then why wouldn’t we see the variety of religions as a positive, one more expression of the diversity that so beguiles the contemporary culture? And given this epistemological indifferentism, wouldn’t any attempt at “conversion” be nothing more than arrogant aggression? [The reality is that] the Catholic Church places an enormous emphasis on doctrinal correctness. It most assuredly thinks that religious truth is available to us and that having it (or not having it) matters immensely. It does not hold that “being a nice person” is somehow sufficient, either intellectually or morally; otherwise, it would never have spent centuries hammering out its creedal statements with technical precision. And it most certainly does maintain that evangelization is its central, pivotal, most defining work. St. Paul himself said, “Woe to me if I do not evangelize” (1 Cor. 9:16); and Pope St. Paul VI declared that the Church is nothing but a mission to spread the Gospel. Neither the first-century St. Paul nor the twentieth-century St. Paul thought for a moment that evangelizing is tantamount to imperialism or that religious “diversity” is somehow an end in itself. Rather, both wanted the whole world to be brought under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is precisely why every institution, every activity, every program of the Church is dedicated, finally, to announcing Jesus... When any Catholic institution, ministry, or outreach forgets its evangelical purpose, it has lost its soul. 

Bishop Robert Barron

#Bishop Robert Barron #evangelization #World youth day #conversion #preach the gospel #jesus christ #Tolerance #religious diversity #epistemology #Religious truth #We need to remember this

[soiledlight]

"Therefore, we can say the universe...has been loved into existence by a joyous God and is marked, at every level and in every dimension, by a coinherence, a connectedness and mutuality." -Bishop Robert Barron

#bishop robert barron #god #creation #love

[eternal-echoes]

“The power of Satan has been broken through the Holy Spirit. And the Church is the great sign of it, the great witness to it - and, at its best, the instrument by which Satan’s kingdom continues to be broken and despoiled.”

- Bishop Robert Barron

#Catholic #Christianity #quotes #Bishop Robert Barron #Holy Spirit

[jesusjay-blog]

Después de leer o escuchar esta reflexión del Obispo Robert Barron, realmente no hay más nada que añadir. Feliz Sábado Santo!

#soundcloud #the spiritual journalist #bishop robert barron

[famousharmonyluminary]

Inkarnacja czyli verbum caro factum est

Wcielenie zmienia nawet niewierzących Jeśli usłyszysz historię dziecka, które jest Bogiem, nie będziesz już tą samą osobą, co wcześniej – pisze biskup Robert Barron w najnowszej refleksji publikowanej w Wall Street Journal z 4 stycznia 2024 roku w dziale opinie. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-incarnation-changes-even-nonbelievers-epiphany-christmas-magi-transfiguration-1802e3bf Co to znaczy,…

View On WordPress

#Bishop Robert Barron #Boże Narodzenie w sztuce Europy #Robert Barron Vibrant Paradoxes #Wall Street Journal #Wcielenie Chrystusa

[headlinehorizon]

Bishop Robert Barron: A Vision for a Loving Church

Discover the latest news on the Synod on Synodality and Bishop Robert Barron's inspiring vision for a Catholic Church rooted in truth, love, and compassion amidst cultural transformation.

#headline horizon #news #latest news #Synod on Synodality #Bishop Robert Barron #loving Church

[locustheologicus]

The Hubris of our Technology and a Semi-Pelagian Hero

I enjoyed Bishop Barron’s analysis of a show that I just started watching. I enjoyed his insights because it spoke on two themes that I considered and posted on recently.

The concern that I share with regards to Artificial Intelligence

The fruits and benefits of a Monastic (ascetic) lifestyle 

I have only recently just started watching this series as a result of Bishop Barron’s reflection above. His description of the plot had me greatly intrigued. The series start with the historical burning of the Templar’s in 1307 and the legend of the Holy Grail, it then slowly introduces us to the socially domineering algorithm, Ms. Davis, and the contemplative heroine Sr. Simone. I was sold to this series right then and there. Bishop Barron brings together two great points here. First, technology, social media and even artificial intelligence are a part of our lives and they certainly can be helpful and perhaps even essential. But we need to keep this Holy Grail ethically regulated so that it serves humanity rather than being served by humanity. Second, the monastic ascetic lifestyle, that has been part of our Christian tradition, centers our humanity to the source of all being. Through ascetic discipline from worldly idols we find our freedom in God. This series teaches us that being centered in God we can be free from potential idols that trap us into serving their goals. 

Idols control and manipulate us. Faith teaches us that our ultimate meaning, our pursuit of eudaimonia (happiness), is found when we find ourselves centered to the divine purpose of creation. As Augustine says, “My heart is restless until it rests in you.” Finding ourselves is no easy task, it requires much introspection and soul-searching that opens us up to our sins, our guilts and vulnerabilities. Instead many of us get lost along the way finding idols that offer temporary happiness that brings false joy (like the virtual wings that Ms. Davis grants those who serve her). Ms. Davis is the idol of artificial intelligence controlling our humanity.   

Back when I was a kid the message that is drawn out in this series was captured succinctly in an original Star Trek episode. It was called, “The Apple.” Kirk and Spoke find an entire civilization that has been raised by a technological device know as Val. Val actually looks like an idol and it needs to be served by the population that it claims to protect.    

The title for this episode is a reminder of the fruit that gave Adam and Eve knowledge, the freedom to discern good and evil. At the end of this episode Bones, Spock and Kirk reflect on liberating these individuals from their technologically controlled lives.

Spock: Captain, I'm not at all certain we did the correct thing on Gamma Trianguli Six. Bones: We put those people back on a normal course of social evolution. I see nothing wrong in that. Kirk: Well, that's a good object lesson, Mister Spock. It's an example of what can happen when a machine becomes too efficient, does too much work for you. Spock: Captain, you are aware of the biblical story of Genesis. Kirk: Yes, of course I'm aware of it. Adam and Eve tasted the apple and as a result were driven out of paradise. Spock: Precisely, Captain, and in a manner of speaking, we have given the people of Vaal the apple, the knowledge of good and evil if you will, as a result of which they too have been driven out of paradise. Kirk: Doctor, do I understand him correctly? Are you casting me in the role of Satan?

This dialogue demonstrates the conundrum that the Enterprise crew faced. The innocent and naïve people served a machine that took care of their every needs including their reproductive necessities (which is bizarre). The sacrifice for this comfort was the absolute lack of freedom, the knowledge of good and evil. Our Catholic tradition recognizes our free will as a gift from God. We believe that God wants us to freely choose to exist for others. But for this choice to be free we need to be able to know and choose both good and evil. 

Pelagius, an early 5th Century English monk, recognized this perhaps more than others. While he got into trouble for not take into consideration the need for God’s grace, he did see the absolute importance for humanity to experience free will and make a free choice. You can find this position laid out in his letter to Demetrias.

God decided to give rational creatures the gift of good will and the power of free choice. By making a person naturally capable of good and evil, so that he could do both and would direct his own will to either, God arranged that what an individual actually chose would be properly his own. The good could be done voluntarily only by a creature which was also capable of evil. Therefore the most excellent creator decided to make us capable of both.

Now this part is controversial, but even so, it is worthy of some consideration.

Actually, of course, he intended and commanded that we should do what is good. His only purpose in giving the capacity for evil was that we accomplish his will by our own will. Our ability to do evil is, therefore, itself a good. I claim it is a good because it makes its counterpart, the capacity for doing good, better. It removes the bonds of necessity and makes the person free to decide, makes the will voluntary in its own right.      

Pelagius fiercely debated Augustine on this issue. The big difference is that Augustine was centered on the role of God’s grace, unlike Vaal or Ms. Davis the people would not serve a mechanical idol but they would still be spiritually dependent on God’s grace. This is fine except that it completely downplays one’s agency and the role that free will has in making an actual decision. We certainly recognize the need for God’s grace, which is achieved in humility through prayer and spiritual exercises, but we must be able to freely participate in our own pursuit of meaning and holiness. Like Spock, Augustine did not see “the Fall” as a positive development for humanity (and for the aliens of Gamma Trianguli Six). Kirk and Bones hold on to Pelagius’ belief that free will and the ability to make a free choice offered a more authentic lifestyle. 

Sr. Simone can perhaps be seen as a modern day semi-Pelagian (she does center herself in God and has vivid grace-filled experiences along the way) who struggles to free humanity from an emerging idol that certainly does exist in our own world today.

#youtube #Pelagius #star trek #Mrs. Davis #bishop robert barron

[angeltreasure]

I finished reading a new one!

This Is My Body by Bishop Robert Barron

#books #This Is My Body #Bishop Robert Barron #Word on Fire #Catholic #Catholicism #Jesus #God #Eucharist #Eucharistic Revival #personal

[apenitentialprayer]

Acting once more in the very person of [YHWH], Jesus fed his friends with his very substance, effecting the very deepest kind of coinherence among them because of the radicality of his coinherence with them. [...] We must never keep the fall far from our minds when we consider these events. If our trouble began with a bad meal (seizing at godliness on our own terms), then our salvation commences with a rightly structured meal (God offering us his life as a free gift).

- Bishop Barron (This is My Body: A Call to Eucharistic Revival, pages 19, 19-20). Italics original.

#Catholicism #Christianity #Jesus Christ #Eucharist #Last Supper #Original Sin #sin #YHWH #grace #redemption #salvation #Bishop Robert Barron

[apesoformythoughts]

“Hans Urs von Balthasar has noticed that, in the biblical context, mission and identity are tightly bound together. The heroes of Scripture don’t really know who they are until they have received a commission from God. Thus Saul of Tarsus, when he is radically reoriented as the Apostle to the Gentiles, is given the name ‘Paul.’ Being sent, he knows who he is. Paul is not pursuing his own happiness; rather, he is like a letter, written and posted by another.”

— Bp. Robert Barron

#bishop robert barron #mission #identity #catholic #the romance of orthodoxy

[thesteveyates]

Randomly euthanized.

Random Wednesdays, April …..the problems of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia and end of life ethics. Warning to readers ; this isn’t going to be a cheerful post but we all get to die and some of us get to do it badly, in pain, fear and distress while others make the terrible decision to take the end of their life into their own hands, often with the assistance of a medical…

View On WordPress

#Bishop Robert Barron #Euthanasia #Medically assisted suicide #Suicide statistics

[jesusjay-blog]

Buena reflexión. No te quejes cuando tengas una persona desagradable, amargada, tóxica o conflictiva. Utiliza tus dones para transformarla, o al menos, intentarlo.

#bishop robert barron #soundcloud #la palabra de dios #el periodista espiritual #SoundCloud

[martianmuckraker]

Beautiful 3.30.2024

Lead Article – Watching Kong on Holy Saturday I think the 2005 King Kong has just become one of my top-10 movies. The cinematography is gorgeous – which is a must for a movie about beauty in a savage world. The movie’s power is in three savage worlds clashing into each other – one a world of tribal brutality and human sacrifice, a story that played out on every continent, one the “civilized”…

View On WordPress

#2005 King Kong #adventure #Beauty #Ben Shapiro #Bible #Bishop Barron #Catholicism #cinema #Daily Wire #dinosaurs #disabilities #Easter #faith #God #Godzilla #Good Friday #Goodness #Gorilla #Greed #Holy Saturday #Jesus #Judaism #Kaiju #King Kong #movies #Peter Jackson #religion #Robert Barron #science fiction #shadiversity