Here is an outline of how we came to this conclusion:

• Why Are We Rebranding?

• What Pious Reflections Will Look Like

• How You Can Support Us

Why Are We Rebranding?

Too Much To Do

When we initially started Solomon’s Corner (SC), it seemed like online content creators were just spontaneously turning on their cameras and hitting record. This is half true. Plenty of podcasts have the “candid” style that has become the hallmark of the industry. However, what’s not spontaneous is the post-production efforts that small and big channels put into their content.

The audio and video format is a lot of work. My best episode was Episode 48 - Dawkins, Tom Holland, and Jordan Peterson Walk into a Church. To do this episode, I spent all weekend pulling clips, editing those clips, recording, and then publishing. This video would have done even better had it received post-production edits, but I didn’t have the time. Outside of some divine calling on my life to this kind of thing full time, my content is not likely to become the kind of content that attracts a lot of eyeballs.

These givens and the analytics around them, make writing a more suitable place for my efforts. It is the foundational medium for all forms of content on the internet. If I master my writing, then audio and video become a more realistic option later.

Too Much 💰💰💰

Having audio and video requires technology, and technology requires money. Our current computer used for the podcast is outdated. The software requirements for our podcast have surpassed our current chip-set on our computer. Furthermore, our storage is beginning to hit its limit. All of this costs money and competes with our most popular form of content, writing.

Combine these factors with the fact that my wife and I are too small of a team to do audio, video, and writing and it’s obvious that we need to get back to the basics and do something different. That “something different” is going to be Pious Reflections.

The Catholic Factor

As I have mentioned to many of you, “business is rough, but my faith has never been stronger.” After our confirmation and first reception of Christ in the Eucharist, I knew that Solomon’s Corner could no longer remain what it is. Either it was going to become a Catholic site, or it was going to cease to exist. It’s hard to explain, but I will do my best.

I’m indebted to Christ for the graces I’ve received in his Church. In serving his Church, we ultimately serve him. That is what I intend do with : serve the Church by presenting and defending its claims. This means that the content will become increasingly more Catholic, and by virtue of this fact, an implicit denial of Protestantism, and in some cases, an explicit challenge to it and its various forms.

It is my hope that others outside the Church will experience the grace I have within the Church. In short, this site sought to emphasize unity through “mere Christianity”, but it will increasingly emphasize unity through Christ and his Church.

Had I remained protestant, I would not have experienced the love of God the way that I have in his Church. Some may take issue with this statement, but if I were to continue in indifference it would be to deny the change many of you have observed. To continue to write and commentate as if I had merely joined another denomination would be a sin, a denial of the power of Christ in the sacraments, and the teachings of the Church.

This is not because I desire to offend anyone or foment division. In fact, these days I’m finding conservative Catholics and Protestants have a lot more in common than they used to. I’m taking this approach because I know that whatever grace a Protestant receives outside the Church becomes infinitely greater within it. If I did not desire this for you, I would not be able to say truthfully that I love you all. So, while you may disagree with much of the theological content on the new site, there will still be plenty of “food for thought” on a wide variety of issues that Catholics and Protestants can agree on, but for different reasons (e.g., contraception and abortion). It’s just that this “food for thought” will be coming from a distinctly Catholic worldview, rather than a “merely Christian” or speculative view.

Here is Your Off Ramp

I could speculate on how this news will make people feel, but that would waste my time and yours. If you no longer feel you can support my content with your subscription, feel free to remove yourself from our list by unsubscribing. If you want to stay around for any reason whatsoever, subscribe to now.

We will also be purging the list of dormant subscribers. On May 31st, we will be pruning the subscriber list based on “subscriber activity”. If you’re not sure whether you will be purged, the best way to secure your subscription is to just subscribe to before we clean the list.

What Pious Reflections Will Look Like

More Writing / Less Production

Our plan is to write a lot more and do a lot less audio and video. I want to hone this skill, and so I will be writing more and also submitting my writing other publications prior to it going live on . My goal is to increase the number of outlets on which my writing appears while simultaneously increasing my overall output.

Presuming writing yields some fruit, then I will re-up the Audio ONLY podcast. This is much easier to produce than video. If we gain more traction on the audio form of the podcast, then we will consider bringing back Audio and Video. All this depends ultimately on our ability to provide you with engaging content that leads you to like, share, comment, and buy.

All Content Will Be Free

There will still be a Paid option to support the writing that I produce, but there will no longer be any paywalls on the content. Down the road, we will revisit premium content. But there is no need to get ahead of ourselves, especially when there is plenty of other premium content that, frankly, we cannot compete with at this time. So the phases we have are as follows:

• P1 - Writing Only

• P2 - Writing + Audio Podcast ONLY

• P3 - Writing + Audio + Video Podcast

How You Can Support Us

Free Subscribers

Free subscribers really do help! Many people think that it doesn’t matter, but anytime you are trying to partner with other groups or individuals, your subscriber count inevitably comes up in conversation. This becomes especially important if you are going to interview people or get their referral on Substack. Furthermore, an active free subscriber is just as valuable, and in some cases more so, than a paid subscriber who remains anonymous. Subscribe at .

Subscribe to Pious Reflections

Purchase a mug from SaintsAndThinkers.com.

We started SaintsAndThinkers.com as a way to provide you with encouragement and create additional revenue streams for our publication. We don’t make much money on these mugs, but its an incredible encouragement when our friends and family decide to purchase a mug. Thank you for those who have already done so. We love you all.

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Become a Paid Subscriber

As mentioned above, all the content will be free. If my writing has helped you in any way, then please consider becoming a paid subscriber on our new site. This goes a long way to help us continue making content.

God Bless You All

Thank you to all of you who started with us on this journey. God used you to bless us beyond anything we could have predicted when we started this little side-hustle.

Solomon’s Corner was God’s way of bringing us into his Church. While it’s possible that God could have used something else to bring us to this point, we must recognize his divine wisdom and avoid the temptation to allow the hypothetical to diminish the actual.

I would have preferred to have “read my way” into the Church, the way Dr. Anders or Joshua Charles did, but that’s not how God worked in our life. Instead, God made it abundantly clear that we were supposed to be Catholic, and that if we said no, we would be turning our back on him, not just another denomination.

To those who no longer feel they can journey with us, thank you for loving us enough to challenge us in our investigation of Catholicism. I’m sorry to see you go, but I hope our paths will align again in the Lord’s time.

Thank you again, for all your love, support, and prayers. I look forward to seeing the rest of you on our new adventure, .

“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”- Saint Catherine of Siena

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There are a variety of ways to suffer, but the man who spoke these words did so while in immense pain. So much pain in fact, that his eyes were closed the entire time that he preached, while the occasional tear fell from his eye, and down his cheek.

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He told us before he started that, “The message he was about to preach wouldn’t preach well in church”, but that “we seminarians needed to know what God was going to do to prepare us for ministry.” Nothing was off limits to the depth that God would strike us down in order to make us ready for ministry. Not exactly a great marketing strategy, which this sermon was preached in chapel and not at the open house for prospective students.

Seminary was one of the most difficult experiences in my adult life. We moved 12 times in five years, dealt with shady landlords, struggled financially, discovered our duplex neighbor was trafficking drugs by way of a raid on his unit, totaled our car, and at one point found myself living in the basement of the seminary with a wife pregnant with twins and a 12 month old sleeping at the foot of our bed, looking up at the ceiling wondering “What is going on?”

This passage is in the context of divine judgment. The author is saying you should not think that your sins go unnoticed by God simply because you believe you are small and insignificant compared to God. Similarly, when we go through difficult times we should not believe that because we are insignificant by comparison to God that he does not see us striving and seeking after Him. He sees us when we fall, and when we pick ourselves back up.

Suffering is God’s “winnowing fork”. With it he removes sin in our lives, but this description only captures part of the Christian life. What about the times, when suffering is permitted because God desires to wean us off off of spiritual milk and desires that instead of crawling, we need to walk with him? Those initial steps are uncertain and difficult. But we must keep the faith. Stand up, and reach for our Father’s hand. When he pulls it back, we must not pout for long, but trust that the he is trying to teach us something that will grow us into spiritual adults.

St. John of the Cross has helped me realize that God is near in these times of “aridity” and “insipidity”. God’s word, per Ben-Sira, reveals that it is foolish to believe that our actions go unnoticed by God. Christ re-affirms this in the Gospels as he reminds us that God has numbered the hairs on our head. Nothing we experience goes unnoticed by our heavenly Father. But in times when nothing seems to go right, everyone else is getting the promotions, and every plow you set your hand to either breaks or turns a crop of weeds, what are you going to believe? Do you throw in the towel? You must be careful in such challenges. The time you are in may be a time of winnowing, a time of purging what is keeping your soul from a deeper and more abiding relationship with God.

The Dark Night of the Soul is a book that tackles these spiritual mysteries and attempts to help Christians discern when their spiritual droughts are the result God drawing them close or their being far from him. Is it the result of some failure on their part, a lukewarm spirit, or is God actually meeting their desire for a pure heart by leading them through the desserts of their soul the same way he did with the Israelites in dessert?

What shall we eat? Should we go back to our old ways?

“…Together with with the aridity and emptiness…it gives the soul an inclination and desire to be alone and in quietness, without being able to think of any particular thing or having the desire to do so. If those souls to whom this comes to pass knew how to be quiet at this time, and troubled not about performing any kind of action, whether inward or outward, neither had any anxiety about doing anything, then they would delicately experience this inward refreshment in that ease and freedom from care.”

— St. John of the Cross

It was only in Adoration that I discovered what it means to “be quiet” in these difficulties, something with which an IT professional with ADD finds extremely challenging. This happened when I went to Adoration for the first time.

As I tried to meditate on Christ’s nature and acts in human history, I found myself getting distracted with issues in my life. Every time I would begin to reflect on his goodness, sacrifice, or beauty, I would immediately find myself petitioning him for some physical need or desire: better pay, a struggle in my life, desire for purpose, etc. After about 15 minutes of this, I heard what Christians describe as a “still small voice”, not audible, but very distinct: “How long have you believed that your relationship with God was all about you?”

It was a moment of spiritual aridity, a punch to the soul that leads the heart to say, “Who is this King of Glory?” I prayed a bit longer and then left the Adoration chapel and planned to go to confession. I had exchanged my love for God for love of self for a loooong time. It was a powerful moment. A moment that was preceded by spiritual drought, illuminated by the presence of the Lord, renewed by the forgiveness of sins, and nourished later by Christ’s desire to unite me to himself in the Eucharist.

Our spiritual droughts may be the result of sin in our lives, this is true. But as St. Paul says, the “spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Our desires are conflicted, both spiritually and physically, because we are ultimately divided between the lusts of the flesh and the desire for Heaven. But in these moments of difficulty, we must never believe that God does not see us, or is not using these challenges for our good. We Christians must remember, that no matter what degree of suffering we may endure in this life or the next, that it is ultimately God preparing us for his Kingdom where we will see him as he truly is, and he will see us as he made us to be.

Keep thinking…

— DR

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Help me decide the next Catholic book I will read. I’ve provided descriptions and images of the books below in the order they appear. If you order through the images below, we will get a little kickback from Amazon. Thanks again for supporting our efforts!

Introduction to The Devout Life by St. Francis De Sales

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Chiara Corbella Petrillo - A Witness to Joy

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Deadly Indifference by Eric Sammons

I discovered recently that this author lives close to me, and I could possibly get an interview with him to discuss this topic with him and take questions from subscribers.

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Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre

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Thank you again for all your prayers and support. God bless you all!

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“If it’s a symbol, to hell with it”, said Flannery O’Connor in response to a friend who said the Eucharist was, “A pretty good symbol.” Her quote is appropriate as her response and her friends perspective highlights a divide, not just between Protestants and Catholics, but the divide in our hearts.

Today we discuss the following questions:

• Do we have a …

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The Christian community is growing. Earlier this month, Nala Ray came forward to discuss her recent conversion and her walking away from her life as an OnlyFans creator. But some in the Christian community seem to think she's too far gone for God. Is God's forgiveness great enough for Nala Ray? Is it great enough for sinners like Rudolph Höss ?

Among the atrocities of WWII Germany, there are two stories that emerge. With recent conversations around the limits of mercy, forgiveness, and true repentance two men are worthy of our consideration. Ultimately, our question is this: If one man’s sin is another man’s blessing, is revival possible?

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe. Don’t forget to support us on the Solomon’s Corner

Keep thinking!

— DR

Thank you for reading Solomon's Corner. This post is public so feel free to share it.

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For example, CenterStreet publishing is an imprint (i.e., a division) of HachetteUS. When you go to Center Street's page on Hachette's website, you see a lot of authors most of us would support. You may not like all of them, but by and large the ideas they argue against (e.g., communism and men in women’s sports) you would support:

But if you go to Hachette's main page, you find a link to a page dedicated to banned books. Many these books have been demonstrated by Moms4Liberty and RonDeSantis to be mature in their content and not suitable for the classroom. In the banned books section of Hachette's site, we find LGBTQ+ propaganda for kids, as well as books like Lawn Boy, which contains explicit content and is advertised as a "coming of age" story. Here is a link to a review of Lawn Boy, but be WARNED. It’s content is explicit.

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But the section that is particularly disturbing is their young-adult section. Here we find the book, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel. It describes a young Iranian American girl struggling with same-sex attraction.

Here is how Hachette’s product page describes the content:

"As an Iranian American, she’s different enough; if word got out that Leila liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when beautiful new girl Saskia shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would."

Now, regardless of your view on LGBT issues. One thing is an objective fact, the LGBTQ agenda seeks to change moral teaching for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. In other words, their position is no longer “don’t ask, don’t tell.” It’s “our way, or the highway.” Is this because Hachette desires to help young Iranian American Lesbians? Maybe, but based on their conservative division’s content, it’s more likely that publishing opposing moralities grows the pie for everyone, except those with principles.

That said, I also recognize that you must pick your battles. Maybe your book will help change the company for the better as your writing begins to gain influence and become more prescient. Perhaps, as your book brings in more money, the publisher takes a closer look at your writing and becomes convinced that the profits from woke books aren’t worth it. Who knows?

What do you think? Should conservative authors write for publishers knowing their book's sales will go towards the very causes they are writing against? I understand getting your book out there, at the same time, if my first book's profits were actively supporting dangerous ideas, I'm not sure I could accept the offer, but if I ever get that opportunity, maybe it will become clearer why these authors do what they do.

Finally, this discovery also confirms in my mind that there are real incentives in the economy that reward media companies, publishers, and non-profits for fighting about problems rather than solving them. When people agree on their what the common good is, incentivizing the fight over the solution is a good thing. However, in our current situation, the market has incentivized disagreement over the common good, and should the divisions over it widen, we will learn first hand the meaning of Jesus Christ’s words, “A house divided cannot stand.”

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Keep Thinking!

— DR Links to videos:

— Dawkins Short:

— Justin Brierley and Tom Holland Interview:

— EWTN Full Interview w/ Jordan Peterson:

Solomon's Corner

A place for thinkers.

By Daniel J. Roberts

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Books Referenced in Show: Democracy in America and Two Essays on America (Penguin Classics): https://amzn.to/3Tz0BcP

He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Cisek, S.J. : https://amzn.to/3TxJTdT

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Introduction

What is the purpose of miracles? Why does God move? Why are the results consistent, but the means by which they happen so different? Do miracles have any relationship to doctrine, or are they merely “graceful accidents”? What about the reality that our faith is based on the testimony of miracles, and not on the miracles we experienced ourselves?

Take Tammy Peterson’s most recent miraculous healing after learning to pray the Rosary, what are we to make of it? As a former protestant, I know what I would have said:

“Where’s that in the Bible?”

“Well what’s the other side of the story?”

“Just because she’s better now, doesn’t mean that she won’t die later.”

“She won’t stay Catholic. She’ll eventually leave for Protestantism.”

The problem with miracles is not that they happen. The problem with miracles is that if we grant them as true, then our whole worldview has to change.

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Tammy Peterson’s Testimony

Tammy Peterson is the wife of famed author, psychologist, and dare I say, philosopher, Dr. Jordan Peterson. Those who have followed Dr. Jordan Peterson’s work know that the public knowledge of Tammy’s diagnosis and prognosis only came through tidbits of information at his speaking events and on his YouTube channel. The details were often very generalized and her outcome ambiguous. Other than these sorts of updates, Tammy was, for the most part, a woman who played a significant role in her husband’s success, but was mostly behind the scenes. Then she almost died.

Her doctor had discovered what appeared to be an easily treatable cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma.1 She received word of her diagnosis while she was accompanying Dr. Peterson on his book tour. The doctor said there was no need to rush back for treatment and that she could do it after the tour. The surgery seemed to have gone well. Then one day, she felt a pain in her side. During her routine post-op visit, she would learn that this was no minor post-operative pain. It would be the first sign of a death sentence.

The doctor came in with a look on his face that Tammy described as “completely ashen.” The doctor was “…shaking and could barely get words out as he was speaking to me”, she recalls. The doctor informed her that she had a Bellini tumor on her kidney. In her own words she said, “It was a 100% terminal, 100% fatal.” Her doctor said “There is no treatment. We can only do surgery, and you only have about…10 months to live.”

I’ll highlight more details of her healing below, but in short, after learning to pray the Rosary she was miraculously healed, not just bodily, but spiritually.

Given that I began this Substack as a Protestant, I’m sure most of you will object to the veracity of this miracle as Jordan Peterson does, “It could have been the radiation…I mean we had really good surgeons.” The clip below should start at the 9 minute mark, which is when Tammy reveals how she was healed followed by Jordan’s rationalization of the event. Spoiler alert, he’s not swimming the Tiber yet.

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How Then Should We Think?

Every time God moves, it is accompanied by a wide array of interpretations and denunciations. At first glance you may think I’m referring to the interpretations of individuals, but I’m not. I’m referring to the institutional and doctrinal interpretations of Catholic miracles vs Protestant miracles. As far as I know, there is no Protestant institution that would be able to affirm Tammy’s miracle without compromising some aspect of their Protestant identity.

If we consider individuals’ interpretations, they may interpret her healing as conferring only God’s love for her, nothing doctrinal. Some anti-Catholics may even argue that the miracle is a deception by the Devil to lead her into a false church. Others may take the side of her husband Jordan and say it was the radiation treatments and incredible doctors that are the simplest explanation. But the problem is that all of these all fail to take into account the whole miracle. Mainly that it is a Catholic Miracle, and not a Protestant one:

1. She is diagnosed with a cancer that has a 100% fatality rate.

2. She is given a Rosary from a devout Catholic friend and taught to pray the Rosary.

3. She is advised by a Catholic priest to pray a Novena for the sick.

4. She is healed miraculously, as she predicted, on her wedding anniversary.

5. She is the only known survivor of this form of cancer.

6. She joins the Roman Catholic Initiation for Adults (RCIA)

7. She is scheduled to join the Catholic church this Easter.

How should we interpret this? Would we believe her story if she walked into a Presbyterian or Southern Baptist Church with her Rosary and requested to become a member, after which she throws the Rosary into the trash as part of her membership requirement? No, because anyone who recognizes that God decides when he moves, how he moves, and how he leads someone, is leading Tammy to the Catholic Church. If you saw this happen to your spouse, could you stay in the denomination you’re currently in?

Doctrine and Miracles

These questions also highlight why a miracle like Tammy’s causes so much polarization between Catholics and Protestants. It affirms many truth claims of the Catholic Church, which if true, necessarily proves Protestantism false since their claims are more “negative” than they are “positive”. I’ll give an example.

Suppose two Christians are terminally sick, one Catholic and the other Protestant. Both of them are being prayed for faithfully. The Protestant prays to God for healing, and the Catholic priest administers holy oil for the Sacrament known as the Anointing of the Sick. Both are healed. The Protestant’s miracle affirmed that which the Catholics agree with, mainly that God exists, he loves us, and that he hears our prayers. But the Catholic miracle demonstrates not only God’s existence, but also a teaching of the Church: that God uses the sacraments, specifically the Sacrament for the Sick.

Neither Catholics nor Protestants can deny that either miracle has occurred. But if Protestants piecemeal the Catholic miracle by saying, “Well, it had nothing to do with the oil or the prayer the priest prayed.” They imply that God is deceiving this person to join the Catholic Church.

The purpose of miracles is shared by both Catholics and Protestants. Mainly, that they serve to confirm the doctrines of Christianity.

Miracles in the Bible are connected directly or indirectly with “truth claims,” meaning that there is a message in the miracle…A miracle is the sign that confirms the sermon; new revelation and divine confirmation go hand-in-hand (cf. John 3:2).

— Geisler, N. (2021). Systematic Theology. 39

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this,

The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God. But his miracles can also be occasions for "offence"; they are not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic. Despite his evident miracles some people reject Jesus; he is even accused of acting by the power of demons.

— Catholic Church. (1995). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). Doubleday. par. 548.

For those that like scriptural references, Nicodemus visits Jesus and tells him that the reason he knows Jesus has “come from God” is because of the miracles/signs that Jesus is doing:

[Nicodemus] came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” — Jn. 3:2 (NIV).

In other words, miracles change or affirm your doctrinal commitments. For example, if you’re a cessationist (someone who believes miracles have ceased) and then you’re miraculously healed, you’re not going to remain a cessationist. Similarly, as we see in Tammy’s story, if you’re not a Catholic and then are healed after praying a Rosary, it would be surprising if you remained an atheist, agnostic, or a protestant.

The Church

What is the purpose of the Church? Some might say to love people, others might say to spread the Gospel, another might say to warn people of the coming judgment. But all of these answers beg the question doctrinally: What do you mean by love? What is the Gospel? What judgment are you talking about, and why should I listen to you?

These questions are all determined by doctrine, and doctrine is defined by an institution’s religious leaders, full stop. St. Peter says that Christians are not permitted to private interpretation. Regardless of which denomination you’re in, whether that be the SBC or the denomination of “Jesus, my Bible, and me”, you don’t define the doctrine your church teaches, you submit to it. When you no longer submit, you leave. For Catholics, they must wait for the doctrinal storms to pass and see God as faithful.

Tammy’s healing and its implications are obvious: that the Catholic Church might be what it claims to be: The one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church. In many ways, the Church mirrors C.S. Lewis’ trilemma: Christ is either a liar, a lunatic, or the savior. Similarly, the Catholic Church is either a liar, a lunatic, or where Christ is present, and thus salvation is found. This makes the miracle of Tammy Peterson very difficult for Protestant institutions, not persons, to parse.

Doctrines and miracles go hand-in-hand. If there is a Church out their that claims to be the one true Church, founded by Jesus, then it better have some miracles surrounding its claims. One example outside the Rosary is the Eucharistic miracles. This is called the “summit of the faith” in Catholicism, and these miracles testify to the claims of transubstantiation. These miracles occur when the bread miraculously becomes visible blood or heart tissue. Here is a website dedicated to them by the Diocese of Charleston.

What is the purpose of the Church? It is to be God’s representative on earth. It is a heavenly outpost that reflects the glory of the Son to pilgrims weakened by sin and despair. Its purpose is to nourish us on our pilgrimage with the body and blood of Christ, to reveal the nature of God, and the moral laws that signal man’s opportunity to cooperate with divine grace.

But how does one come to know this truth, that Christ did in fact establish a church, where he does nourish the believers with his body and blood, and that Mary is the mother to whom he entrusted them? God does it one miracle at a time.

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The Prayer to St. Joseph

Joseph is the patron saint for, as is the case for most saints, many things: the dying, the universal church, travelers, immigrants, and for our purposes, fathers.

Today is his feast day and my birthday. I didn’t want St. Joseph as my patron, but as they say in the Catholic Church, “It’s not you who pick the saint, but the saint that picks you.” But that’s a story for another time. If you want to hear about that, let me know in the comments.

Today, I want to talk about a question my son asked during our morning devotions. After we prayed our Rosary, my son inquired about this passage from a prayer to St. Joseph.

This is paragraph from the “Prayer to St. Joseph” on the United States Council of Bishops’ (USCCB) website. Given that it was St. Joseph’s feast day, I decided that we should include this prayer at the end of our family Rosary. This prompted my son to ask his question: “Dad, why does the Church call Joseph the protector?” The answer that came to me encouraged me as a father, and I thought that it might encourage you as well.

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St. Joseph, The Protector?

If you want the answer I gave to my son, skip this section. But for some, they may feel that prayer to the saints is irrational or a sin. I don’t intend to do a deep dive on intercession to the saints, but I think that some may find what follows helpful in their understanding of why modern Christians may find the practice praying to the saints offensive.

In the book, General Principles of Sacramental Theology, Roger W. Nutt summarizes our tendency to look at God through our hypothetical conceptions of His omnipotence (fancy word for All-Powerful), rather than His revelation. The God of the Philosophers is merely the word recognized by reason, but the God of the Bible is the Word made flesh. It’s not that these descriptions contradict each other, but if they are divorced from each other, they leave our understanding of God wanting.

“‘Why go to Church on Sunday — God is everywhere, right?’ ‘Why go to confession — at all! — let alone to a priest? God hears me when I ask for forgiveness, right?’ Such questions, while quite understandable, do not proceed from a docility to the promptings of God’s wisdom. The real question for all Christians ought to be, not what, hypothetically, the omnipotent God can do, but rather, what is the actual path that he calls his disciples to follow?

— Nutt, R. W. (2017). General Principles of Sacramental Theology. The Catholic University Of America Press. 17.

(This is a quote for the book we will be reading for April’s bookclub. I hope you’ll join us!)

While the topic he is exploring is the role of the Sacraments, Nutt’s observation on why we struggle with doctrines is succinct and relevant to other teachings of the Church, like the intercession of saints.

God does not, logically speaking, need Joseph or any other saint for anything in his plan. God is omnipotent, say the philosophers, and the Bible reveals in several places that there is nothing that God needs.

The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything. — Acts 17:24-25.

Just as God had no need for creation, meaning He did not create out of a desire for something He lacked, so also He has no dependency on human agency. Yet, God uses us anyway. God entrusted His one and only Son to a carpenter named Joseph. Did God have to do that? No. But did God do this? Yes.

When we think to ourselves, “Why do that silly religious practice?” it is often due to an implicit presumption we have about God’s omnipotence as hypothetical, rather than as revealed. If God uses saints even if he doesn’t have to, we must contend and ask what that means for us in our Christian walk and our churches. So, we turn to St. Joseph as the example of God’s wisdom and power working out all things together for our good and the good of His Church.

St. Joseph Encourages Fathers

The hiddenness of Joseph’s life is odd. How can a man, who we know was crucial to the protection and guidance of the Christ child and His mother, be so pivotal and yet so obscured? For a moment as I answered my son’s question, a bit of the veil on Joseph’s life began to part and the teaching of the Church began to shine through: “Joseph is the protector, because he protected Jesus. Isn’t that amazing, that the King of the Universe, God [the Father’s] only Son was entrusted to a humble carpenter.”

Children are a gift from God, just as Christ was a gift to the World, entrusted to Joseph and Mary for his protection and nurturing. In the same way Christ grew up and was the Gospel himself, so our children will one day, Lord willing, grow up to carry that Gospel and teachings to the world as Christ’s disciples.

For many of us, our toil does not yield the fruits like that of other men. This can be frustrating, tiresome, and disheartening. It can also lead to sins of envy and anger. At times we will find ourselves exhausted, tired, and hidden from the world in our struggle to provide for our kids and love our wives.

For many of us fathers, we know that spiritually the harvest is plenty, but physically we find it is lacking. Yet, how did St. Joseph respond? The text does not tell us he complained, that he lost faith, or that he thought of abandoning the Son of God and the Blessed Mother. The textual silence leads us to presume, that he remained faithful, humble, and obedient to God. He did as God commanded him, despite the odds.

We know little about Joseph, yet any father can feel a connection to him as they read the life of Jesus. Fathers who have to move their families because of their work can relate to Joseph’s constant travel in the early days of Christ’s birth. Those who work a toilsome job that yields little fruit and minimal recognition can find solace in the fact that Joseph’s life is a hidden life with significant purpose.

When St. Joseph carried Mary and Jesus to Egypt, did he recall the Psalm, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”? On that road to Egypt, who is doing the comforting? Is it Joseph or is it the Son of God? Could it be both?

The paradox that Emmanuel, “God with Us”, is now being guided by a righteous yet fallible man is not some theological puzzle for Joseph to solve. It is reality that can only be understood by him faithfully taking the next step. It is the same with our families as well.

We may see our children primarily as something to care for, but we must also remember that they represent God’s blessing on our lives. As we guide them through this world, we must remember that God is also guiding our families, especially when we can’t see the road ahead.

St. Joseph and the cloud of witnesses eagerly and gracefully await our arrival. They pray for us and, with God’s grace, participate in God’s providential plan in our lives. When we go to Heaven, sin will no longer taint our work or callous our hands, break our backs or exhaust our bodies. St. Joseph’s life on earth is a reminder that God still uses broken, yet righteous vessels to do great things in the salvation of the world and the lives of sinners. He is also a reminder that “to whom much is given, much is expected.” As fathers, we can look to St. Joseph’s life, hidden but not unknown, and recognize that while our lives are not known God is still using us and directing us according to his purpose.

St. Joseph is a reminder that despite our poverty and our weakness, God will still entrust us with treasures from heaven to steward here on earth for the salvation of many people, even if we never meet any them.

If you’re a dad, tired and beat down by the world, the flesh, and the devil, I would encourage you to seek the intercession of St. Joseph, our protector and assistance in the struggle against the darkness.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Keep Thinking!

— DR

Good morning, I hope you are well. I’m excited to announce our first book for our first Book Club: General Principles of Sacramental Theology. I had originally planned to do either Mao’s America or Hitler’s Religion, but after reading the first 20 pages of this book, I felt it was more relevant for our time and the spiritual needs everyone is expressing, online and offline. It outlines the influence of modern philosophy on the theology of the sacraments, explains the reasoning behind Protestant and modern Catholic questions, and is a great book to help Christians understand the difference between the God of the Philosophers and the God of Christianity. I know this will be a great book for my own spiritual growth, and I look forward to sharing that journey with all of you in the coming weeks.

More details to follow.

— Keep Thinking —

Subscribe and join us as we journey together on the path to a more fulfilling Intellectual Life.

Today we talk about the Tammy Peterson conversion story and the role miracles play in our doctrinal positions. Also, Matt Walsh angers the gaming community and the gamers get very frustrated. Finally, we react to Michael Knowles comments on IVF, and close out the episode with a discussion on Mary the Mother of God and feminism. #KeepThinking!

Mao’s America or Hitler’s Religion?

There are three saints that were a significant part of my conversion: St. Joseph, St. Maximillian Kolbe, and St. Thomas Aquinas. On March 7th, I was fortunate to attend a celebration of the life of St. Thomas at our Dominican parish. The day marked the 750th anniversary of his death. It still amazes me that my introduction to Catholic thought began with St. Thomas, a Dominican, and that my life as a Catholic began by being confirmed by a priest in the Dominican order. At some point I intend to do a series where we go into all the providential moments in our conversion, but right now I only have time for abstracted pieces of the story.

There are two things that St. Thomas showed me: first, that no matter what denomination, all theological systems have at their core a philosophical system upon which they set their theological beliefs. It is impossible to do one without the other. Second, I learned that while we may be able to separate St. Thomas’ philosophical thought from his theological thought, we cannot separate his holiness from the Catholic faith.

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Encountering St. Thomas Aquinas The Philosopher

As I have said before, my parents are some of the most godly people you will meet. When I tell Catholics about our family traditions and the spiritual investments my parents made in us, their eyes get wide and questions about what inspired them fill the rest of the conversation. If it weren’t for them, not only would I have not stood strong for my faith in many high-pressure secular contexts, but I would have never considered seminary as a call on my life.

I attended Southern Evangelical Seminary and received an M.A. in Philosophy. As I entered my first class, I had no formal philosophical training. My analogies were from video games, and my books were highlighted not because of the profound meaning of the author but because I had no idea what they were talking about. Had it not been for my parents daily teaching from the Scriptures and challenging our presuppositions, I’m not sure I would have made it through. They were never content with what I call “bumper sticker” Christianity: words that sound good on the bumper sticker of a car but never stick to the soul.

This was not because my parents are scholars and theologians, but because they believed that our faith, should be woven throughout our lives. Whether it was breakfast and Bible reading before school or traveling home from a track meet, my parents were always ready for a discussion about our faith. When I heard someone say “Devil’s Advocate” I didn’t think of the Catholic Church, I thought of my dad and his usual precursor to a tough question, “Let me play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, and ask you this question…”

In seminary we studied Thomas the philosopher, not Thomas the saint. We treated Thomas the way Thomas treated Aristotle. For our purposes, Thomas Aquinas provided us with the proper philosophy (metaphysics and epistemology) to defend a common sense view of the world and present protestant faith as reasonable. We justified this by citing St. Thomas’ acknowledgment that one does not need to be Catholic in order to benefit from his philosophical categories. Some Catholics may object to this and claim the school was being intellectually dishonest, but I don’t think this is fair. If you’re evangelical and you want to provide a good education, you have to prepare people for evangelical work while simultaneously engaging students on subjects that are true but outside their tradition. In other words, if you’re not going to read the greatest thinkers because they believe stuff you don’t, then you’re seminary is not giving you an education, they are selling you a participation trophy. Furthermore, our approach imitated St. Thomas himself and his interactions Aristotle, aka “The Philosopher.”

Thomas frequently refers to Aristotle as “The Philosopher” throughout his writings, a title that clearly reveals the saint’s high regard for Aristotle’s intellectual thought and its forming of Thomas’ own thought. Despite this profound respect, St. Thomas never left the faith for the false gods of Aristotle. For us evangelical Thomists, Thomas was first a philosopher who happened to be Catholic. Some even speculated that had he lived during the Reformation, he would have been a protestant. Technically speaking, this is logically possible but in reality completely absurd. But this is not something we will tackle today. In summary, while it was never explicitly stated, the implication throughout our education was that Thomas was gifted intellectually, not because of his Catholic faith, but because he was just smart. f

Many protestants will argue that studying Thomas is what leads people to the Catholic Church. This is a silly argument because you can find both those who read Thomas and convert and those who do and never consider crossing the Tiber. It’s like saying that if a Christian reads the Old Testament he will convert to Judaism. Of course some might do just that, but we also have plenty of people who read the Old Testament and see it rightly as the precursor to the New Testament. Furthermore, if what we read necessarily leads us to leave our traditions behind, then St. Thomas, after studying Aristotle should have become a pagan that sought to worship the pantheon of Greek gods.

I don’t think it’s a fair claim that those evangelicals that study Thomas are are on their way to Rome anymore than they are if they read St. Augustine. When evangelicals study Thomism, they are really studying a form of medieval philosophy known as Scholasticism and formulating their own modern take on the Scholastic Tradition. This is a good thing, and I think its better if more people, whether they convert or not read St. Thomas. However, if a protestant begins to consider St. Thomas’ intellectual accomplishments alongside the virtues of his life, it is completely reasonable for them to ask the following questions:

“Why did St. Thomas stay Catholic?”,

“If Catholicism is evil, then why is St. Thomas a man we should emulate in word and deed?”

“Why would such a great thinker end his life subjecting all of his writings to the authority of Rome?”

These questions, I think, are the starting point for any protestant to begin to see the light of the Catholic Church. It’s just a fact that Catholic saints have a holiness that is itself evidence that the Church is who she claims to be, and that God prefers the Catholic Church as the means to make us into saints.

Encountering St. Thomas The Catholic

As I approached my confirmation, I had received a book from a parish in Indian Land, South Carolina called Our Lady of Grace. Fr. Kirby was the priest there, and he was passionate about the Church’s call to Eucharistic Revival. He had given out copies of the book This Is My Body, by one of the most popular Bishops in the country, Bishop Barron. Within it, Barron writes about the importance of the Eucharist in the spiritual life of St. Thomas.

The Eucharist was, for Aquinas, much more than merely a topic of academic interest; it was the center of his spiritual life…One of the most mysterious events in Aquinas’ life centered around the Eucharist. After he had completed his lengthy treatment of the Eucharist in the Summa theologiae, Thomas, still unsure whether he had spoken correctly or even adequately of the sacrament, placed the text at the foot of the crucifix and commenced to pray. According to the well-known legend, a voice came from the cross, “You have written well of me, Thomas. What would you have as a reward?” To which Aquinas responded, “Non nisi te, Domine” (Nothing but you, Lord).

— Bishop Robert Barron, This Is My Body: A Call to Eucharistic Revival. 89-90

It was in this moment that I was affirmed in my later understanding that one could divorce St. Thomas’ philosophy from his theology, but they could not divorce the saint from the Church. Who he was, his accomplishments, but more importantly, his virtue was an example of what the Church could do with dust. God is the sculptor, we are the marble, but the Church and her sacraments are the chisels.

As I reflected on Thomas as a Catholic, and not merely a philosopher, I had to ask: is he just an undiagnosed case of mild autism, or was he an example of the work Christ does through The Church, not to be confused with a Church? After reflecting on my bookshelf of dead thinkers, who at this point were mostly Catholic, I had to reconcile the fact that maybe the Church really is the matter or the “stuff” that God uses to conform us to Christ. Maybe it wasn’t the case the Thomas and others were just smart. Maybe it was that by submitting to the Church, they became supernaturally mailable. Another way of saying this is, “those who lose their lives will find it.” This is experienced when we submit to another. Whether its the military, the church, a marriage, submission is us essentially saying “My will is no longer mine, but yours.”

St. Thomas’ Last Words

For those that don’t know, St. Thomas was a member of the Dominicans. Known as the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans are a religious order within the Catholic Church. My wife and I were confirmed on December 31st, 2023 by a priest within that same order. As we reflected St. Thomas’ life this week, it was incredible to see how God had used a Dominican to introduce us to the Church and then used the Dominicans to confirm us into the Church.

The day after we were confirmed, January 1, 2024, The Thomistic Institute released an episode dedicated to the saint titled, Dumb Ox to Angelic Doctor. The lecture is led by Fr. McDonough. In it he gives a brief overview of the saint’s life and recounts St. Thomas’ final days. He also lists some interesting facts. For example, one is that St. Thomas had written approximately 10 million words throughout his life (#Goals). Fr. McDonough also gets into St. Thomas’ spiritual life and challenges. Apparently, St. Thomas expressed reservation about his abilities. Early on in his life he admitted that the tasks the Church had presented him with were “beyond his powers.” But as Fr. McDonough says, “[St. Thomas] did it anyway.”

Most people familiar with St. Thomas know that he had a vision at the end of his life that caused him to say of his writings, “I can write no more. I have seen things that make my writings like straw.” This is sometimes used by anti-Catholics to show that St. Thomas’ writings and thoughts should not be held in high regard. The argument goes like this: If St. Thomas regarded them as straw, why should we consider them higher than he did? To the flames with them!

The quick answer is that seeing is believing. If I were to ask you, which do you want your Bible or to be in Heaven with God? What would you say? The answer should be obvious. Relative to being in the presence of God, no word can compare, not even St. Thomas’ or the Bibles’. To see God, is to have eternal life. So we take the grace that God deems sufficient.

But a better answer to this is what St. Thomas said in his final hours. As his departure from this life neared, he did not condemn his writings further or reject them; he submitted them to Christ and the Church. As death approached, St. Thomas readied himself to receive Christ in the Eucharist one last time, he said the following1:

The Communion of the Saints was an obstacle for me during my discernment process, but now I’m convinced that St. Thomas was one of those heavenly heroes praying me into the Church. After my first confession, I found myself kneeling in front of the altar thanking, God yes, but also St. Thomas for praying for me and being an example of a superior intellect that became supernaturally mailable the grace of God and the grace found in the Church.

Anyone can read lots of books, but there is a difference between the intellectual and the saint. An intellectual submits his ideas to journals and the world, and the saint submits his ideas to God and the Church. St. Thomas, yet again, leaves us with an example of how to offer our gifts back to God:

Did you enjoy this interview? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Keep Thinking

- DR