Good Distinctions

Introduction Welcome back to the fifth and final session of Praying the Mass! If you have not yet read parts 1 - 4 of this series, I highly recommend starting there ! The Fourth Cup I want to pick up from last week’s conversation on the Liturgy of the Eucharist with a discussion of the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, particularly the Passover.  On the night before He was to suffer, our Lord Jesus c...

Introduction Welcome back to session 4 of “Praying the Mass.” I am thrilled to share with you today the Liturgy of the Eucharist. With the Prayers of the Faithful completed, the Offertory begins.  Presentation of the Gifts Gifts Bread and wine are brought to the altar and prayers of offering and blessing are made. This presentation of the gifts, the bread and wine, and the preparation of the altar...

Introduction Welcome back to Praying the Mass! Over the last couple of weeks, we have learned what the Sacred Liturgy is, what it’s for, and we looked a bit more intently at Sacred Music and the Introductory Rites of the Mass. Today, we are looking at the Liturgy of the Word, but I want to begin with “part two” of our exploration of Sacred Music. As we looked at last week, music is integral to the...

Introduction Last week, we looked at the etymology of the word liturgy, a public service. We talked about the liturgical diversity in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. We learned that the Holy Mass is for the glorification of God and the sanctification of man. We looked at the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, made present once again by the Holy Mass. And we discussed how...

First of five sessions on the Holy Mass: Introduction What is the Mass? Most practicing Catholics understand that Mass is important. It is something they should go to. But the opinions about Mass are all over the ideological spectrum. For this series, my hope is to share what the Mass is from the Mind and Heart of the Church. I have my opinions about liturgical aesthetics, architecture, art, and t...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com If you missed Part 1, please check that out first HERE ! Part II: The Practice of Love by the Church as a “Community of Love” (19 - 39) Now that the exploration of the concept of love is finished, Pope Benedict turns his attention to the concrete. We have answered what love is, now we see how lov...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Outline of Deus Caritas Est by Pope Benedict XVI: * Introduction (1) * Part I: The Unity of Love in Creation and in Salvation History (2 - 18) * A problem of language (2) * “Eros” and “Agape” - Difference in Unity (3 - 8) * The newness of biblical faith (9 - 11) * Jesus Christ - the incarnate lov...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Nota bene: the quote above, though attributed to MLK, is not sourced to him. It is likely something said by those who came after him. But it, nonetheless, captures his approach. Introduction With Martin Luther King day approaching, it struck me that a great number of Americans have no idea who Ma...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Introduction Today, we are diving deeper into the miracle of the Incarnation. What were the effects of the Incarnation on Christ and on us? How did the world fundamentally shift 2,000 years ago?! If you have not yet listened to part 1 of this two-parter, I highly recommend beginning there. I went...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Introduction Today we are exploring one of the most important topics in human history: the Incarnation of the Word of God. What we celebrate on the Solemnity of the Annunciation and then nine months later on December 25th is the most marvelous of mysterious miracles. What does the Church definiti...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com What is Marriage?  “The Sacrament of Marriage does not involve two persons, but three.” But like Dr. Fagerberg of Notre Dame quips: “by Trinitarian arithmetic, that means there are five persons involved in each marriage.” Marriage is a mystery and a sacrament, just as the Holy Eucharist is a myst...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com A Subversion of Expectations There is a well-known quote from the 1995 movie Usual Suspects . Perhaps you’ve heard it: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Isn’t this true? And we could take it a step further to say that Satan has not created anythi...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com It’s Time to Address the Papal Elephant in the Room Pope Francis is the 266th Pope of the Holy Catholic Church, having been elected to the papacy following the vacancy left by Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. I will be the first to admit that I was beyond upset when Benedict announced his resigna...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Are Faith and Reason at Odds? Materialist atheists view the world as being composed of matter, its movements, and modifications, and nothing else. Religious fundamentalists and literalists see the world in a monochromatic view based on the biblical texts (i.e. - seeing Genesis as a literal scient...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Universal Call to Holiness Each person is created in the image and likeness of God and he or she is of inestimable worth. Human dignity is the greatest equality in our world. People may come from different cultures, times, places, and creeds, but they all have human dignity in common. This worth...

Thank you for listening to Will Wright Catholic. Please share it by clicking the blue button below! NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com The Nature of Human Beings Let’s start with… well… everything! Reality exists: both natural and supernatural. The natural realm is everything that we can detect, observe, or measure. This part of t...

Thanks for listening to Will Wright Catholic Podcast. If you’ve appreciated this podcast episode, please share it by clicking the blue button below! NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Logic and Feelings Logic seems to be far less important to most people than their feelings and comfort. Emotional reasoning has supplanted logical r...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com What are the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching? Human beings are social, by nature; we do not live in isolation. The teachings of the Church regarding good social ordering springs from the heart of Christ. We are called to holiness, but this call requires cooperation with those around us t...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com The Last Two Weeks Over the last two weeks, we have explored two distinct but related topics: first: judging actions, not people, and second: how ideology can come at the expense of charity and kindness. Those topics are foundational for any conversation on forgiveness. So, if you have not read o...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Last Week In last week’s episode/article, we took a deep dive into the distinction between judging people and judging actions. If you have not yet read that , I suggest doing that first! Next week, we will be rounding off this trilogy of articles/episodes with an exploration of the call to forgiv...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com “Stop Being So Judgemental!” One of the most quoted verses in the Bible today is some iteration of the following: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is i...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com The Loss of Wonder and Awe Wonder and awe at the glory of the natural order is lost. In no small measure, this has caused our culture to cave in on itself in black holes of immeasurable self-aggrandizement. Function, utility, and efficiency have become the unholy trinity that beat the drums of pr...

Patriotism is, in Fact, a Virtue A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to the good. Our rights from and responsibilities to our country derive from the virtue of piety. The virtue of piety pertains to the broader virtue of justice. Patriotism is the balanced application of piety, and therefore justice, in a habitual and firm way to the good of the country. Therefore, patriotism is a virtue....

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com The Perfect As the Enemy of the Good The French philosopher Voltaire famously quipped "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" which means "the perfect is the enemy of the good." It would seem that the great American author John Steinbeck agrees. He wrote: "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you c...

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com Does the First Amendment of the Constitution Cover Freedom of Speech? The United States of America is the freest nation on Earth, for the time being. The Supreme Law of the land continues to be the Constitution. The founding document of our great nation on its own is the crowning achievement of t...