Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

WE think of the Hudson River as a dividing barrier, cutting off Manhattan Island from the mainland, and separating the states of New York and New Jersey. Religion has always been a divisive factor, compelling believers to draw sharp lines. Their faith enjoins certain things and forbids others. It presents them with alternatives of righteousness […]

THE Hudson River adds incalculably to the beauty of the whole valley through which it flows. When a New Yorker wishes to give a visitor to his city an impression of its fine situation, he takes him to the Riverside Drive, where the broad band of blue water glints in the sunlight or provides a […]

THE Hudson River is part of New York harbor, or T perhaps we should say that New York Bay is part of the Hudson River, for geologists tell us that at one time the Atlantic Coast Plain stretched much farther out towards the East, and the ancient bed of the Hudson can still be traced […]

UPON the waters of the Hudson tons of freight are carried in vessels and in long tows of canal-barges, and thousands of passengers are trans-ported up and down stream in steamers and across the river on ferries. The Hudson is a bearer of burdens; and that generations of believers discover in the living God. The […]

Each one of us will be judged immediately after death. This judgment is called the Particular Judgment. Those who are free from mortal sin, at death, will be saved. They will go either to purgatory or to heaven. Those who die in mortal sin will be condemned to hell. At the end of the world […]

Our Lord gave us the Sacrament of Extreme Unction to prepare us for death. It is intended for those alone who are in danger of death from sickness or injury. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction gives us grace to meet death with courage and strength. Holy Orders is the Sacrament which gives a priesthood to […]

IN the valley through which the Hudson River flows the countryside is more fertile—meadows are richer, foliage more luxuriant, orchards more fruitful, crops more abundant-because of the presence of this body of running water with its unfailing supply of moisture. There is a like result in human life from the stream of inspirations in man’s […]

The Sacrament of Penance takes away our sins. Our Lord gave us the Sacrament of Penance. Mortal sin takes away God’s grace from the soul. The Sacrament of Penance restores God’s grace to the soul. The priest forgives our sins in the Sacrament of Penance by the power of Christ. We tell all our sins […]

We receive the Holy Eucharist when we go to Holy Communion. When we receive Holy Communion, our Lord really and truly enters into our soul and body. Our Lord domes to us in Holy Communion under the form of bread. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, we receive more of God’s grace. Our soul must […]

Our Lord is present in the Holy Eucharist both as God and as man. There His Godhead, His soul, and His body are present. He lives in the Blessed Sacrament out of love for us. Hence God the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, really and truly dwells upon our altars under the […]