Fr. Hermann Geissler FSO
One of the most important studies from the pen of blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) is the essay, “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine.” The publication of the article sparked fierce debate and is still considered controversial today.
Fr. Hermann Geissler FSO
John Henry Newman’s statements about conscience are among the most beautiful and relevant texts which he left to us. Not by coincidence, he is sometimes called Doctor conscientiae – teacher of conscience.
In the context of a symposium in 1990, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – Pope Benedict XVI – told the audience how in his early years at Freising Major Seminary he became familiar with Newman through the Prefect Alfred Läpple. Among other things he said, “For us at that time, Newman’s teaching on conscience became an important foundation for theological personalism,
Most Rev. Philip Boyce OCD, Bishop of Raphoe
There has been a continuous ebb and flow of interest in Newman down through the last hundred years. At times the Cause of his Beatification and Canonisation was not considered in any serious way by most people, while at other times it was to the forefront and was worked upon assiduously.
This is one of the titles of the Blessed Virgin, which is especially hers from the time of her Assumption and glorious Coronation at the right hand of her Divine Son. How it belongs to her will be plain by considering some of those other instances in which faithfulness is spoken of in Holy Scripture.
Thomas says to Him, “My Lord and my God.”
1. I adore Thee, O my God, with Thomas; and if I have, like him, sinned through unbelief, I adore Thee the more. I adore Thee as the One Adorable, I adore Thee as more glorious in Thy humiliation, when men despised Thee, than when Angels worshipped Thee. Deus meus et omnia-“My God and my all.” To have Thee is to have everything I can have. O my Eternal Father, give me Thyself. I dared not have made so bold a request, it would have been presumption, unless Thou hadst encouraged me. Thou hast put it into my mouth, Thou hast clothed Thyself in my nature, Thou hast become my Brother,
Quo ego vado, non potes Me modo sequi, sequeris autem postea.
Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow hereafter.
1. Thou alone, O my God, art what Thou ever hast been! Man changes. Thou art unchangeable; nay, even as man Thou hast ever been unchangeable, for Jesus is yesterday and today Himself, and for ever.
“Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.” Luke 24:5, 6.
Such is the triumphant question with which the Holy Angels put to flight the sadness of the women on the morning of Christ’s resurrection. “O ye of little faith,” less faith than love, more dutiful than understanding, why come ye to anoint His Body on the third day? Why seek ye the Living Saviour in the tomb?
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He came on earth in our flesh, made a perfect atonement, “sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” He was born of a woman, He wrought miracles, He fasted and was tempted in the desert, He suffered and was crucified,
St Paul is engaged, in the chapter from which these words are taken, in humbling the self-conceit of the Corinthians. They had had gifts given them; they did not forget they had them; they used, they abused them; they forgot, not that they were theirs, but that they were given them. They seem to have thought that those gifts
And this anticipation is confirmed by the history of our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness. It began, you will observe, with an attempt on the part of the evil one to make Him break His fast improperly. It began, but it did not end there.
