Theology

1 07, 2015

The End of the Mass

By Father David Nix|2015-07-02T08:39:05+00:00July 1st, 2015|Theology|

You might think that this is a grumpy-the-grump post on bad liturgy with a title like "the End of the Mass," but it is not. The "end" simply means the goal of something. The Greek word telos was appropriated into the English to mean "the end term of a goal-directed process." For philosophy students out there, it's the final cause. What is the telos or goal or end of a pencil? Writing. What is the goal or telos of the Mass? We will get to that, but—okay—permit me one grumpy-the-grump story in contrast. Last year, I was traveling across Florida. In Tampa, I stopped into a Church one afternoon. I kindly [...]

17 06, 2015

Sons of Thunder

By Father David Nix|2015-07-10T13:26:32+00:00June 17th, 2015|Theology|

By a strange turn of events, I have to spend a day in Istanbul while trying to get home from Spain—even though it's the opposite direction. The reason this is especially strange is because these two countries were evangelized by the brothers James and John, sons of a Galilean fisherman named Zebedee. These two men became first century Apostles of Jesus Christ. Jesus nicknamed them "Sons of Thunder" because of their attitude towards life. After His resurrection, Our Lord sent St. James to Spain and St. John to Turkey (with His own Blessed Mother.) I flew from James' land to John's land today, and I'm tryıng to navigate a keyboard set up for the Turkish language at 9pm here in the city [...]

13 06, 2015

Pilgrimage 5 of 5

By Father David Nix|2015-10-15T19:00:57+00:00June 13th, 2015|Theology|

When I lived in a hermitage in Arizona called Merciful Heart Hermitage I was befuddled about why my hermit buddy named it Merciful Heart and then spoke so much of the Heart of the Father. "We only know of the Sacred Heart, not of the heart of the Father," I silently thought. But one day, in this very hermitage, I was reading the Gospel of St. John, and I noticed that the chest of Jesus (upon which the Apostle John listened to the heartbeat of love at the last supper) was the same Greek word (κόλπον ) as found much, much earlier in John 1:18: No man hath seen God at [...]

6 06, 2015

Pilgrimage 4 of 5

By Father David Nix|2015-10-15T19:00:16+00:00June 6th, 2015|Theology|

When I think of angels in adoration of the Blessed Trinity, I think of how the angels´ adoration is: cosmic, undulating, unified to an inter-galatic degree of gyrating glory, power, light and effusion. Then I wonder: How could I praise God like that? Hands up? Sing louder? Better music? Everything except the Mass actually comes up short in reality, and even then the full glories of the Mass are not known except to a few saints, this side of the veil. Why exactly are we left in dust and ashes on earth while the angels know quite easily how to orbit God in weightless joy, combined with all the weight [...]

30 05, 2015

Pilgrimage 3 of 5

By Father David Nix|2015-10-15T18:58:05+00:00May 30th, 2015|Theology|

The Church Fathers compared the Jews´ time in the desert to a Christian's pilgrimage on earth. This is to ultimately lead them to the Promised Land. For us, earth is training ground to be able to enter the eternal Promised Land, but the Old Testament shows that the giants to be defeated are too great for natural powers to conquer. It takes supernatural power to enter the land of milk and honey...not because milk and honey are hard to obtain, but because of the enemies that block us. This is why sanctifying grace is so important to enter into heaven. Grace is not the "Price of admission," wrote Frank Sheed, [...]

21 05, 2015

Pilgrimage 2 of 5

By Father David Nix|2015-10-15T18:59:41+00:00May 21st, 2015|Theology|

Do we walk this Pilgrimage of life alone? Or perhaps alone with God? On the Camino in Spain, I frequently hear young and old people say "Well, everyone has his own Camino!" Indeed, St. John Paul II said that each person is a particular image and likeness of God. So, yes—that means everyone's pilgrimage through life is equally particularized and beautiful. But I think the phrase "Everyone has his own Camino" would have confused JPII a little since he came from a tight-knit Polish family and group of friends, seminarians...notwithstanding the tremendous loss he suffered. Furthermore, that phrase would have never been heard on this Spanish pilgrimage 800 years ago. Why? Because they always [...]

16 05, 2015

Pilgrimage 1 of 5

By Father David Nix|2015-08-31T19:16:36+00:00May 16th, 2015|Theology|

This is a series not on my current pilgrimage, but on the Theology of Pilgrimage. A priest-friend from Denver once said to me: "Pilgrimage isn't just another analogy for the Christian life. Pilgrimage is the reality of the Christian life." That may not sound too profound at first, but the more I meditated on the Old and New Testament, the more I realized that every book of the Bible fulfilled these words. It is no wonder that he had walked the Camino a few times. I'm in Spain now, but when I wrote this post, I was flying from India to Spain. Flying over the Red Sea, I look at the computer [...]

12 05, 2015

Mary and Pentecost part II

By Father David Nix|2015-05-14T17:05:13+00:00May 12th, 2015|Theology|

The unity between the Holy Spirt and Mary is so intimate that each one can be called the Immaculate Conception—one in eternity, and one in time. However, to understand the importance of Mary in our lives, we have to understand the basics of the Holy Spirit, as given to us by the earliest Christians. This post will be like a tornado hitting a junk pile and then organizing it into nice categories, so bear with the heavy theology at the beginning. Every earthly analogy to explain the Blessed Trinity eventually breaks down, but the least-failing analogy is the following: The Trinity is like a fire. There is a flame. There is a light. [...]

6 05, 2015

Mary and Pentecost part I

By Father David Nix|2015-05-07T06:45:30+00:00May 6th, 2015|Theology|

I suppose I wasn’t clear with my friends or family exactly what I’m doing in India this time either. The Missionaries of Charity at the Mother House in Kolkata wanted me to come back to do general confessions and deliverance prayers for two groups: 1) A youth group of Indian high school students run by four lay American missionaries. 2) University aged students of volunteers from around the world. It sounds like a glorious work, but I only have the energy for two of these sessions a day. This depresses me when I think of how St. Francis Xavier, at the height of his ministry, was baptizing between 300 and [...]

5 05, 2015

He’s got nothing on me

By Father David Nix|2015-05-05T02:38:09+00:00May 5th, 2015|Theology|

In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks to the Apostles before His death: "I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father." (John 14:30) I noticed that the Greek doesn't actually have the word power (dunamis) as the English translations do. So, I'm going to give you my literal translation of that line from today's Gospel: "The ruler of the world comes and he has nothing on me, but so that the world might know that I love the Father...(this I do.)" (John 14:30-31) Yes, Jesus literally says of [...]