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You are currently browsing the archives for the The Golden Thread category.
In today’s culture, the question continues to be ask regarding the condition of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Fr Peter Damian Fehlner answers this question from the mind of the Church. Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Fr. Peter continues his discourse on the thought of Bl. John Duns Scotus. Scotus’ thoughts on the freedom of the will aren’t as shaky as some contemporary theologians would have us believe. He did not follow the heretical teachings of William of Occum. Scotus distinguished between the perfect will of God and the imperfect will of man, and we must be aware of this distinction when we attempt to compare God to ourselves. The basis of our personhood, our freedom, and our dignity lies in our will, and freedom itself is not license: it is the ability to guard and foster virtue, and it was never accomplished so perfectly in a human being as it was accomplished in Mary. Listen to this fascinating talk given by the master of Scotus and the Mother of God. Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Is the world our friend or enemy? In this 6th show in his series, The Golden Thread, Fr. Peter Mary Fehlner discusses the Church’s relation to the world in the light of the Second Vatican Council. He points out that the source of much of the widely varying interpretations of the Council which have caused so much confusion to the faithful is the multitude of different meanings of the word “world.” Fr. Peter clarifies these meanings and in this way helps us to see that Vatican II did not represent a break with past teaching. He also talks about the relative and absolute meanings of the words “autonomous” and “secular” and whether our dependence on God is predicamental or transcendent. All in the light of the theology of the Marian Doctor, Bl. John Duns Scotus. Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Update: Notes and Explanations have been added. See the viewing page. Using Christmas and the adoration of the magi and shepherds as a starting point, Fr. Peter outlines the key to Christian thinking according to John Duns Scotus, that is, contemplation of Truth. This is opposed to the modern mentality that says ‘I can’t believe unless I can analyze it.’ It is Mary who makes it possible for finite creatures like us to see the infinite God, for in the person of Jesus, Truth is made flesh. And in adoring our Lord, Mary and St. Joseph teach us to think like Christians and so enable us to be happy. Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Using the ever-present highway signs, “Buckle-up, Its The Law,” Fr. Peter Fehlner, F.I. springs into the subject of obligation and freedom according to the teaching of Bl. John Duns Scotus. These signs demonstrate the paradox that the more independent we get from God, the more arbitrary law becomes, the more buckling-up we must do and so the very freedom we seek is lost and along with it our very personhood. Freedom, in the sense of autonomy from God, is not what makes us true persons, but rather love, and love is never more pure than when loving God. And loving God involves being thankful to God for creating us and redeeming us on the Cross. Using the old version of “thank you,” which is, “much obliged,” he makes the connection between love and obligation and thus between obligation and being a true person. He covers law, obligation, freedom, secularity, communes, license, conscience, synderisis, pragmatism, the difference between contentment and happiness. Whew! all in less than ten minutes. So buckle-up! You’ll need it with this one… Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner continues his series The Golden Thread on the theology of John Duns Scotus. Here he gives a broad introductory view of the difference between religion and secularity. He explains how Scotus affirms the capacity to perform secular acts, which are morally neutral, and thus simple pleasures are not a sin. Most people would then say, “let’s live our whole life this way.” But Scotus also says such a life cannot lead to happiness. He then discusses why God enables us to do secular acts and how this sheds new light on the famous moral tests in the Bible, Adam and Eve in the Garden and The Rich Young Man in the New Testament. He addresses, concupiscence, original sin, the difference between the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil vs. the Tree of Life, between contentment and happiness, between living to do God’s will vs. striving for new experiences and between human autonomy vs. obligation and so the true meaning of freedom. Ave Maria! |
Ave Maria! Watch this video by Fr. Peter Damian Fehlner, FI, STD as he gives a short biography of Mother Mary of Agreda and how her marian theology, which is so often portrayed as being opposed to Vatican II, is actually very much in line with it, anticipating the Council by 300 years. Fr. Peter highlights a new book on this subject, Venerable Mother Agreda and the Mariology of Vatican II by Enrique Llamas, OCD, STD of the International Pontifical Marian Academy, which has been published by the Academy of the Immaculate. A heated discussion on this topic is being carried on at Mark Shea’s blog under the post “… skeptical that … ‘Mary suffered no birth pains’”. A comment by Sandra Miesel of Crisis Magazine about halfway down the comment stack started it off. PDF samples of our new book are available online: the Table of Contents and Foreward (pp i-xii) and the first two sections of the Introduction (pp 1-15) English translations of Mother Mary of Agreda’s works can be purchased from Tan Books, both full version and abridged. Ave Maria! |
[Update: After having a broken link here for the video for the past year, we finally found the video file to this our very first video on AirMaria. Deo Gratias!]
Fr. Peter gives an introduction to his theological series on the John Duns Scotus in the context of a remedy for the modern crisis of faith, philosophy and culture in the world and in the Church. Outline of Script Scotus on Wikipedia, New Advent Duns Scotus’s Oxford by Gerard M. Hopkin’s |
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