El Filósofo

Notes from a Zenned-Out Catholic

Blog

  • Dulce et Decorum Est Mori

    As we come to the end of Allhallowtide, I’ve found the opportunity to reflect on why the Saints are important. The Saints are more than just good people: their sense of mission coupled with their holy mode of living ought to serve us as a source of inspiration. Of course, Jesus Christ is the moral… Keep reading

  • The Church’s Greatest Secret?

    For the first time, today I attended the Catholic Mass of St Thomas More Parish in Toronto, which is part of the “Anglican Patrimony within the Communion of the Catholic Church” (as it says on their website). The Anglican Ordinariate, as it’s commonly called, was established by Pope Benedict XVI in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum… Keep reading

  • Reason Enough (II)

    Continued from The Ouroboros & Philosophy (I) There is something awfully wrong in this train of thought, isn’t there? How could reason undermine itself with any integrity? It seems that it can’t: to reason that reason itself is unreasonable is absurd, thus we have no reason to believe it although reason itself may tell us… Keep reading

  • A Rich and Frantic Whirl

    People often speak of romantic relationships as having a “honeymoon phase”. In this phase, people are so enamoured with each other’s presence and don’t possess enough shared experience for that wonderful love to be tested. There is nothing quite like falling in love, but as anyone who has been married long enough will tell you,… Keep reading

  • The Ouroboros & Philosophy (I)

    There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped. GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy Why did I study philosophy? Many people have asked me this, usually accompanied with a follow-up question like, “What are you planning to do with that?” Usually when people ask me the latter, they do… Keep reading

  • Let your light shine forth

    There was a general theme running through today’s Mass readings about a Christian’s duty towards the less fortunate. Today we heard the prophet Amos warns those who “trample upon the needy” that “[the Lord] will never forget any of their deeds,” and heard the Psalmist tell of how the Lord “raises the poor from the… Keep reading

  • God’s Gift to Us

    Just before Mass the other day, I was sitting in the pew reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis when something struck me: Behold, Noah, that just man, laboured for a hundred years in building the ark, that he might be saved with the few; and I, how shall I be able in… Keep reading

  • Letting Yourself be Led

    The Agony of Choice Lately I’ve been wrestling with many of my own choices, fearing that perhaps I’d chosen wrongly or poorly, and wondering whether the path I’d chosen is the one God would have me take. I said to my spiritual director, “I don’t feel that I’ve thought this through enough.” With such an… Keep reading

  • On Life Changes

    It’s funny how once you feel settled and satisfied in a place or time, only then will something happen to disturb it, leaving you asking for more time. I know all I want is for my good times to go on indefinitely, but to what end? Is it not natural that in order to move… Keep reading

  • “Do not give it yet.”

    Today, to celebrate the Feast Day of St Augustine of Hippo (my confirmation saint), I thought I would reflect on his famous words: Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet. St Augustine of Hippo You see, I chose Augustine as my confirmation saint because I felt I could relate to him.… Keep reading