Roman Catholic Reflections

Happy Pentecost! Today, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the other disciples as they awaited Him. When He arrived, He bestowed the gift of tongues upon them in the form of tongues of fire, and gave them the strength to go out and evangelize in the Name of Jesus Christ. (See Acts 2:1-4.) The gift of tongues, however, is not one of the…

The History of Moral Theology is Still Being Written

The following was a discussion post I wrote for the Fundamental Moral Theology 1 class I took this past fall at Holy Apostles College & Seminary. By the title of this discussion, I am not intending to get across that Catholic theology’s understanding of morality ever changes. It never changes, because morality itself—i.e., right living as it is communicated through divine Revelation 1 —is…

What are you doing for the Season of Advent, and should you be doing more?

Happy Third Week of Advent! While Advent is rightly considered a time of preparation for Christmas, I think that this is often taken in too materialistic of a sense. It should also and especially be considered a time of spiritual preparation for the coming of the Lord (both for His initial coming at His Nativity, but also of His eventual Second Coming), much as people often strive to prepare…

My analysis of St. Athanasius of Alexandria's 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑦, a bio of a truly amazing desert hermit. "[Don't] be incredulous at what you hear of him ... for these hardly gave full description of so much” (Athanasius).

Holy Apostles College & Seminary

Text Analysis Worksheet of St. Athanasius of Alexandria’s Life of Antony

by

Cameron Daly

Dr. Andrew Blaski

CHH 270: Patristics

27 March 2020

Who is the author of this text? Provide some basic details. St. Athanasius of Alexandria, a bishop in the fourth century, led a complicated life. He was ordained a bishop in 328 at the age of twenty-nine, putting him one year…

I've been meaning to post this for a while. It was a term paper I wrote for my Moral Theology class at Holy Apostles concerning Pope Francis's amendment to the Catechism regarding the death penalty.

Holy Apostles College & Seminary

Is the Opposition of some Catholics to the Catholic Church’s Opposition to the Death Penalty Legitimate?

by Cameron Daly

Prof. Jacob Torbeck MTH 300: Introduction to Moral Theology

19 April 2019

  Introduction and Objections In 2018, it appears to some that the Pope of the Catholic Church said something to change infallible Catholic teaching. He changed the text…

Here are two great tips/reminders for when you go to Mass this Sunday concerning proper reverence for the Real Presence of Our Lord and how to properly fulfill your Sunday obligation:

Silence

Many people view time after Mass as a good time to socialize with fellow Catholic Mass attendants. This in itself is true enough, but a Catholic Church is the House of God, not a social gathering place–so…

I think this reflection on the fourth Sorrowful Mystery of the rosary explains well how the sufferings of the Mystical Body of Christ (those of us who belong to the Catholic Church) can be united with those of Christ Himself. As His own Body, we bear His own cross, when we willingly allow ourselves to suffer as God asks of us in order to accomplish God’s will and man’s salvation:

“4. Jesus…

Ash Wednesday & Lent

Wishing you all a blessed Ash Wednesday and season of Lent!

Please remember that Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of required fasting and abstinence, and that all Lenten Fridays are days of required abstinence. To explain these concepts more in-depth, I will quote as follows from Colin B. Donovan at EWTN (and would recommend the rest of the article at https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/fas…

In my Natural Theology class last semester, I was blessed to get to read and reflect on an excerpt from St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Lifeconcerning God’s act of creation (included as a link). I have thought de Sales an excellent writer, and was not disappointed in reading this article prayerfully like he had described. I wish you a happy and blessed New Year, and I hope that…

What did you find around the foot of your Christmas tree this year?

I imagine you may have found any number of things. I found a robot called “Vector” that reminds me of the old Irish song “Marvelous Toy.” (https://youtu.be/047P7U5ev_E) My dad found (from me) a prank puzzle box claiming to boast a 12,000 1/4-inch-piece puzzle of the moon in an otherwise clear, blue sky.

Included is a picture of…

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2

What does it mean to entertain angels? Despite the title of this post, I cannot guarantee a satisfactory answer to this question. These next few paragraphs simply seek to provide brief glance into what can come about when one is open to the whisperings of the…

Grace Marie recently got back from a wonderful pilgrimage to Rome, where she posted a number of updates to the blog and Facebook page for the series “‘Roming’ Catholic Reflections”! Be sure to check out the beautiful places she went, and enjoy a virtual “pilgrimage” of your own!

https://camerondaly.wordpress.com/2018/09/04/going-to-rome/

https://www.facebook.com/102318393647091/posts/333791860499742/

When gossiping, rather than just saying "look how bad or stupid so-&-so is," I'm doing significantly more to show (and prove) "look how bad AND stupid I am!"

Though I can’t say for sure that this is accepted as definitive Church teaching,* St. Ignatius of Loyola gave us a very helpful way to consider the act of gossiping—i.e., one that may strongly discourage us from it:

“Nothing should be said to lessen the good name of another, or to complain about him. For if I reveal the hidden mortal sin of another, I sin mortally; if I reveal a hidden venial…

“[The religious] must realize that all who are in the convent are no more than workmen whom God has set there solely that they may fashion and polish him as regards mortification”—St. John of the Cross, “Counsels to a Religious for the Attainment of Perfection,” 3.

The following is taken from a class peer response I recently wrote for DTH 512: Spiritual Life in the Classics:The topic of the importance of our submissiveness helps to hit home what St. Paul wrote in his Letter to the Romans concerning authority: “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by…

Week 1 Discussion prompt for DTH 512: Spiritual Life in the Classics:

Numerous passages in Sacred Scripture highlight the necessity of changing our sinful ways. Name one of those passages, not spoken about in the lecture this week. Next, comment upon the place of gratitude in the spiritual life, particularly as it concerns the readiness to change in that Scripture passage. How does gratitude…

In honor of the month of May, the month of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pasted below* is a popular Litany to Our Lady, the “Litany of Loreto.” Please be sure to pray it, especially during the remainder of this month!

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.  Lord, have mercy on us. Christ hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us.  God, the Son, Redeemer of…