Fr. Barron comments on Misreading Genesis

Art of War Meets Genesis: Know Yourself and Enemy

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,
you will succumb in every battle” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Special Edition


The truths and strategies presented in The Art of War  hold true for the spiritual warfare that the Church Militant now faces.  To know who we are we need the data from Divine revelation.  The book on Genesis starts to answer the question of who we are, our place in the universe, where we came from, and it points to where we are going.

God created mankind in his image;

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)

To be made in the image of God means that we have intrinsic worth and dignity.  Practically speaking it means that like God we have an intellect.  We can know reality but in a limited way.  It also means that like God we have free will.  It means that like God we can create.  Putting all these things together it means that like God we can love.  God is love (1 John 4:8).  Love in this context is not fundamentally an emotion.  It is possible to love and not have good feelings.  Love means to want what is best for the other and to do it.   To win the war we need to be about love.   

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest. It becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings,
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute to God himself.

(William Shakespeare)

Comments to a Follower of Ayn Rand: Selfishness and Sacrifice

• passdanoose 1 day ago

  This lecture has a lot of false dichotomies: Bill Gates vs. Mother Teresa, selfishness vs sacrifice, feelings vs. reason. The tension of both extremes is required for a good life.

  Is prostitution with its win/win exchange superior to marriage with it’s mutual sacrifice?

  Is it ever rational to die for country, friend, spouse, son or daughter?

   · 
•  
  The 21 Convention 20 hours ago

  Hey

  I don't think you understand the ideas being presented clearly. Ayn Rand wrote a lot of non-fiction books that would clear up most of your questions for you.

  In addition, saying tensions of both good and evil are required for a good life is a glaring, bizarre contradiction. True sacrifice is destructive to all human life. There is no upside. It is destroying a higher value for a lower value; a loss 100% of the time. Also, marriage is absolutely not a mutual "sacrifice". A disturbing idea.passdanoose 15 hours ago

  
  

  passdanoose 15 hours agoChanging the definition of commonly used words do not amount to some great insight. When people use the word selfish they don’t use it to mean rational self interest that betters the world but self interest at the expense of others. And when someone tells a Marine, “Thank you for your sacrifice” she doesn't mean thanks for making the world worse off. Someone in the game of chess and baseball do not mean that they are purposefully trying to lose when making a sacrifice play.
   ·  in reply to The 21 Convention (Show the comment)

  
  

Fempocalypse!!

Some really good videos on feminism:

What is it to be a man?

The great changes to our society lead by feminism has produced widespread confusion about what it means to be a man.  It is a sign of our times that there are websites about how to be a man that provide quotes about what it is to be a man.  Here is a quote that I think is spot on with what it means to be a man with one change:

“As I've mentioned, a large part of my father's legacy is the lesson he taught his sons. He brought us together and said, 'The measure of a man is how well he provides for his children.”

― Sidney Poitier, The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

The thing that I would change about the quote is the word provides.  In modern culture, it is not difficult to provide for the physical needs of one’s children.  What is hard is making the personal sacrifices as a man that is necessary for what is best for one's children.  

Man is perfected in Christ.  The simultaneous priest and victim that Christ personifies.  As a father, it is a daily event of being a priest and sacrificing and become a victim for the sake of my marriage and my children.  It is like Abraham going off to sacrifice his son with faith in God’s promise that if I sacrifice my childish self, like a grain of wheat, it will produce much fruit and fulfill what God is calling me to do.