CALL ME MR. CURIOUS

Daniel Lord, S.J. was much better known to a different generation. A recent article reminded me of him and caused me to seek out his last book, one that he wrote after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is not a sad book at all, and contains no mention of his condition.

Anyway, I came across this wonderful thought of his. I have spent some time thinking of eternity. It was heartening to me, and will be heartening to anyone who has concerns about what Heaven will be like, particularly the idea that it will be boring.

Heaven is the place where human curiosity will be eternally stimulated, always satisfied, and never satiated … [I]t gives me a thrill to know that what curiosity I have is hardly more than an appetizer for the eternity that lies ahead.

Daniel A. Lord, S.J. Letters to my lord (New York: herder and herder, 1969), 98, 102

It will be like roaming the most awesome library conceivable and having direct access to Truth when questions arise. As a book lover, and one with an unabated hunger for knowledge, that is certainly heavenly.

ST. BONAVENTURE

Today is the Memorial of St. Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (and cardinal). I recall reading some of his work in my Master’s program and being very impressed. I have a renewed interest now that I belong to St. Bonaventure parish. I recently picked up The Works of Bonaventure and am awaiting a biography (there don’t seem to be a lot of these, as I could only find the one). We do know he was a biographer of Francis of Assisi whose order Bonaventure joined. He also was a dear friend of Thomas Aquinas, whose order, the Dominicans, I hope to one day be fully professed in. Coincidentally, Bonaventure was born the year Dominic died: 1221.

St. Bonaventure, ora pro nobis!

ON EXTREMISM

I have been reading some comments on a conservative news/opinion website that I like. I have grown increasingly disturbed by so many folks speaking favorably about abortion there, some favoring restrictions and some opposed to any restrictions, but defenders of life from conception are hard to find. Particularly disturbing are those weighing in who speak of extremists on both sides. There is, essentially, no extreme pro-life position, save the possibility of those who believe that the pregnant mother’s life may not be saved for any reason (see this article for a proper Catholic perspective and go to NCBC regularly or subscribe to its newsletter for reliable information on Catholic moral teaching on all the challenging issues).

I know that any comparison with Naziism is fraught, but, considering the widespread acceptance of abortion today, is it so difficult to understand how so many Germans could go along with such a murderous regime knowing, or at least strongly suspecting, the killing of Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, and the physically and mentally handicapped?

Science, as well as Christianity, tells us that a unique human life is present at the moment of conception. Many Americans believe life in the womb, at least for some period of time, is Lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) — a Nazi designation for the segments of the populace which according to the Nazi regime had no right to live.

This is “progress”?

God bless.