K
Karl_Keating
Guest
“All men by nature desire to know.”
That is the first line of Aristotle’s “Metaphysics.”
All men realize the truth of this sentence, but many choose not to act on it, fearful perhaps of what they might learn–fearful that they might feel compelled to change the way they live.
What is it that all men desire to know? The truth.
The only reason to adhere to the Catholic faith is that it is true. It is the one religion that makes an absolute claim, and it has made it for twenty centuries: This and none other is wholly true.
Most who have lived during those twenty centuries have not accepted that claim. Even most nominal Catholics have appreciated it only imperfectly. (Some Catholics would be shocked by it, if they understood its import.)
Still, that is the claim of the Church: This and none other is wholly true. Take it or leave it. Accept it or reject it. Acknowledge it or deny it. Live it or ignore it.
The good things you list in your life are all very good things, but they all are finite goods. The one thing that is not finite is your desire for a good that is more than finite. That very desire points to something beyond you.
You may choose to remain satisfied with the many goods you have, or you may choose to embrace the logic of Aristotle’s sentence and the consequences of living it.
That is the first line of Aristotle’s “Metaphysics.”
All men realize the truth of this sentence, but many choose not to act on it, fearful perhaps of what they might learn–fearful that they might feel compelled to change the way they live.
What is it that all men desire to know? The truth.
The only reason to adhere to the Catholic faith is that it is true. It is the one religion that makes an absolute claim, and it has made it for twenty centuries: This and none other is wholly true.
Most who have lived during those twenty centuries have not accepted that claim. Even most nominal Catholics have appreciated it only imperfectly. (Some Catholics would be shocked by it, if they understood its import.)
Still, that is the claim of the Church: This and none other is wholly true. Take it or leave it. Accept it or reject it. Acknowledge it or deny it. Live it or ignore it.
The good things you list in your life are all very good things, but they all are finite goods. The one thing that is not finite is your desire for a good that is more than finite. That very desire points to something beyond you.
You may choose to remain satisfied with the many goods you have, or you may choose to embrace the logic of Aristotle’s sentence and the consequences of living it.