Hearts Ablaze

09/12/2025

Friends, here is my latest Substack article where I discuss the importance of the Council of Nicaea and the need for ontological clarity in our current discourse.

The Council of Nicaea and the Need for Ontological Clarity

18/10/2024

Friends, I warmly encourage you to read my latest article on my Substack, in which I explore what the 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘬𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 icon reveals about Jesus Christ - and us.

The icon of Kristos Pantokrator (Jesus Christ, Ruler of all) is possibly one of the best known icons in Christianity.

29/09/2024

Billie Eilish’s "What was I made for?" got me thinking about the deeper existential questions that the song raises. You can read more in my new article on Substack.

Vatican II's Answer to Billie Eilish's Existential Angst

07/09/2024

𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸
Life without God does not work; it lacks the essential; it lacks light, it lacks reason, it lacks the great sense of being human. We can only know God on the basis of His Word. (Pope Benedict XVI)

05/09/2024

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘂𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀
"Following Christ as His disciple is a life lived at the place where Jesus stands, and this place is the Passion. In it, and nowhere else, is his glory present." (Pope Benedict XVI)

05/09/2024

𝗬𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗡𝗼
If we believe that the thirst for the infinite is a fundamental aspect of human nature - the very essence of what it means to be human - then the question of God is unavoidable: even for agnostics and atheists.

04/09/2024

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲
"Our greatest need in the present historical moment is people who make God credible in this world by means of the enlightened faith they live … We need men who keep their eyes fixed on God, learning from him what true humanity means. We need men whose intellect is enlightened by the light of God, men whose hearts are opened by God, so that their intellect can speak to the intellect of others and their hearts can open the hearts of others. It is only by means of men who have been touched by God that God can return to be with mankind."
(Joseph Ratzinger, 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 52)

03/09/2024

𝗛𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄
When asked what he expected "eternal life" to be, Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the passage from the Psalms: "seek his face always." What does this mean? It means that "God is so great that we never finish our searching. He is always new. With God there is perpetual, unending encounter, with new discoveries and new joys." (Pope Benedict XVI, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵).

28/08/2024

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝘀
St Augustine understood that the desire for God is deep within us, as His call to be in communion with Him from the very moment of our existence. The theologian Henri De Lubac says that "the desire to see him is in us, it constitutes us, and yet it comes to us as a completely free gift."

23/08/2024

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲.

14/04/2022

𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴
Jesus enters into and shares the dysfunctional space of our sinfulness and woundedness. Why? So that even in this dreadful experience of being-far-from-the-Father, He transforms our suffering into paths to healing, reconciliation and redemption.