Unearned Luck

Photo by Julien Lanoy on Unsplash A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 One of the most important aspects of the Catholic understanding of the human person is God's gift to Man of free will. How are we to understand will and free will. The will is that power within the soul, which “must of necessity adhere to the last end, which is happiness…” (S Th, I, q. 82, a. 1). This direction of the will to its last end is “voluntary because it is according to the inclination of the will” (S Th, I, q. 82, a. 1). Although the will is inclined to happiness by necessity as its last end, “we are masters of our own actions by reason of our being able to choose this or that.…choice regards, not the end, but the means to the end…” (S Th, I q. 82, a. 1, r. 3). The individual, furthermore, has free will, because “…man acts from judgement, because because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought…therefore he acts from...

Photo by Zhifei Zhou on Unsplash Wisdom was created before all things,  and prudent understanding from eternity. Sirach 1:4 How important is an understanding of metaphysics for Catholics, but especially catechists? Here is one example. The problem with the materialist world view is that it does not comport with our experiences. A theory asserting that a clump of atoms randomly assorted themselves into Socrates does not account for the individual and personal memories of Socrates. Neither does it account for personal responsibility, since atoms have neither conscience nor a system of morality. Finally, the materialist view cannot account for the unity of the individual across numerous changes, since each new assortment of atoms would be a completely new being. It would be impossible, then, for societies to form and associations to be made. Quantity as an accident inhering in substances can be seen in the various quantities in a human being. For example, there...

Photo by  Daniel von Appen  on  Unsplash For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.                      Romans 15:4-6 The problem of modernism , especially in light of the methodology employed in the Thomistic metaphysics employed in the Catholic Church, is modernism's representation of the internal experience of the individual as the foundation of reality, raising the practical sciences above the speculative sciences or doing away with the speculative sciences all together, denying anything other than the "knowable" as relevant for study, and claiming the material wor...