Lent VII

As then we must with the whole heart obey the Divine commands and sound doctrine, so we must use all foresight in abstaining from wicked imaginations. For the mind then only keeps holy and spiritual fast when it rejects the food of error and the poison of falsehood, which our crafty and wily foe plies us with more treacherously now, when by the very return of the venerable Festival, the whole church generally is admonished to understand the mysteries of its salvation. For he is the true confessor and worshipper of Christ's resurrection, who is not confused about His passion, nor deceived about His bodily nativity.

Leo the Great, Sermon VIII on Lent

Lent VI

[W]e shall be rightly attacked with rebukes, and through our fault ungodly tongues will arm themselves to do harm to religion, if the conduct of those that fast is at variance with the standard of perfect purity. For our fast does not consist chiefly of mere abstinence from food, nor are dainties withdrawn from our bodily appetites with profit, unless the mind is recalled from wrong-doing and the tongue restrained from slandering. This is a time of gentleness and long-suffering, of peace and tranquillity: when all the pollutions of vice are to be eradicated and continuance of virtue is to be attained by us. Now let godly minds boldly accustom themselves to forgive faults, to pass over insults, and to forget wrongs. Now let the faithful spirit train himself with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, that through honour and dishonour, through ill repute and good repute, the conscience may be undisturbed in unwavering uprightness, not puffed up by praise and not wearied out by revilings.

Leo the Great, Sermon IV on Lent, section II.

Hume's Uses of the Power/Exercise Distinction

In the Treatise of Human Nature 1.3.10, Hume rejects the idea that we can draw a principled rational distinction between causal power and causal act (i.e., exercise of that power). (This is, in fact, much of the source of his skepticism.) However, he is faced with an interesting problem: an adequate account of human passions and motivations seems to require something like such a distinction. He addresses this at some length in 2.2.5. He first notes the contrast (paragraph 4):

It has been observed in treating of the understanding, that the distinction, which we sometimes make betwixt a power and the exercise of it, is entirely frivolous, and that neither man nor any other being ought ever to be thought possest of any ability, unless it be exerted and put in action. But though this be strictly true in a just and philosophical way of thinking, it is certain it is not the philosophy of our passions; but that many things operate upon them by means of the idea and supposition of power, independent of its actual exercise. We are pleased when we acquire an ability of procuring pleasure, and are displeased when another acquires a power of giving pain. This is evident from experience; but in order to give a just explication of the matter, and account for this satisfaction and uneasiness, we must weigh the following reflections.

He then argues that this passional power/exercise distinction does not derive from philosophical accounts of free will (i.e., accounts that depend on a notion of power that can be contrasted with a general doctrine of necessity, which eliminates much of the need to talk about powers). Indeed, he thinks the common notion of power that's required for making sense of our passions is quite different: "according to common notions a man has no power, where very considerable motives lie betwixt him and the satisfaction of his desires, and determine him to forbear what he wishes to perform." As he notes, we don't think we are 'in someone's power' just because they happen to walk by with a sword; we know the magistrate would punish them for doing anything. But we do think we are in someone's power if they have power to reward and punish as they please.

On the basis of this, Hume draws from his discussion of causation and probability. In the first case, we expect on the basis of our past experience that he will not do anything to us; in the second case, we do not have this solid expectation, but find our expectations split among several ideas for what might come next, among which is the possibility that they might do something to us. He then concludes:

Since therefore we ascribe a power of performing an action to every one, who has no very powerful motive to forbear it, and refuse it to such as have; it may justly be concluded, that power has always a reference to its exercise, either actual or probable, and that we consider a person as endowed with any ability when we find from past experience, that it is probable, or at least possible he may exert it. And indeed, as our passions always regard the real existence of objects, and we always judge of this reality from past instances; nothing can be more likely of itself, without any farther reasoning, than that power consists in the possibility or probability of any action, as discovered by experience and the practice of the world.

Thus we get a deflation of the power/exercise distinction into a matter of uncertain expectation, and Hume can make use of it to handle the aspects of our passional life that seem to require a distinction between what we can do and what we do. It depends, of course, on Hume's account of causation. I'm still not sure that it's an adequate handling of the problem; there's no need to appeal to a full philosophical account of free will to suggest that something like it is at least a contributing factor, and we get cases like appealing to someone for mercy even when we don't expect it to be granted, for which a reduction to uncertain expectation alone would not be straightforward. But it is, in any case, an interesting example of how Hume's causal considerations affect his explanation of human life.

Bede's World

Bede's World is a museum in Jarrow, England, devoted to the life and times of the Venerable Bede. It seems to have been fairly highly regarded, and you can easily find good reviews of it, as well as people putting videos from their tour of the place on YouTube with laudatory comments. However, it had been having some difficulty with funds, and suddenly a few days ago they suddenly shut down for insolvency.

There's a fundraising endeavor going on trying to raise 10000 pounds to re-open the museum, which is fairly important to the community; and, of course, is a supplementary source of income for staff who were expecting at least to close out another season. So I give the link in case anyone's interested. They are already over a fifth of the way, in a matter of days.

The following is a tour of what they did at the museum that was put up on YouTube a couple of years ago:

Lent V

Therefore, dearly-beloved, seeing that, as we are taught by our Redeemer's precept, "man lives not in bread alone, but in every word of God," and it is right that Christian people, whatever the amount of their abstinence, should rather desire to satisfy themselves with the "Word of God" than with bodily food, let us with ready devotion and eager faith enter upon the celebration of the solemn fast, not with barren abstinence from food, which is often imposed on us by weakliness of body, or the disease of avarice, but in bountiful benevolence: that in truth we may be of those of whom the very Truth speaks, "blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Let works of piety, therefore, be our delight, and let us be filled with those kinds of food which feed us for eternity. Let us rejoice in the replenishment of the poor, whom our bounty has satisfied. Let us delight in the clothing of those whose nakedness we have covered with needful raiment. Let our humaneness be felt by the sick in their illnesses, by the weakly in their infirmities, by the exiles in their hardships, by the orphans in their destitution, and by solitary widows in their sadness: in the helping of whom there is no one that cannot carry out some amount of benevolence. For no one's income is small, whose heart is big: and the measure of one's mercy and goodness does not depend on the size of one's means.

Leo the Great, Sermon 40 (Sermon II on Lent)

Hume's Infinite Regress Arguments

Treatise 1.3.4.1:

Though the mind in its reasonings from causes or effects carries its view beyond those objects, which it sees or remembers, it must never lose sight of them entirely, nor reason merely upon its own ideas, without some mixture of impressions, or at least of ideas of the memory, which are equivalent to impressions. When we infer effects from causes, we must establish the existence of these causes; which we have only two ways of doing, either by an immediate perception of our memory or senses, or by an inference from other causes; which causes again we must ascertain in the same manner, either by a present impression, or by an inference from their causes, and so on, till we arrive at some object, which we see or remember. It is impossible for us to carry on our inferences IN INFINITUM; and the only thing, that can stop them, is an impression of the memory or senses, beyond which there is no room for doubt or enquiry.

Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Appendix 1:

It appears evident that—the ultimate ends of human actions can never, in any case, be accounted for by reason, but recommend themselves entirely to the sentiments and affections of mankind, without any dependance on the intellectual faculties. Ask a man WHY HE USES EXERCISE; he will answer, BECAUSE HE DESIRES TO KEEP HIS HEALTH. If you then enquire, WHY HE DESIRES HEALTH, he will readily reply, BECAUSE SICKNESS IS PAINFUL. If you push your enquiries farther, and desire a reason WHY HE HATES PAIN, it is impossible he can ever give any. This is an ultimate end, and is never referred to any other object.

Perhaps to your second question, WHY HE DESIRES HEALTH, he may also reply, that IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE EXERCISE OF HIS CALLING. If you ask, WHY HE IS ANXIOUS ON THAT HEAD, he will answer, BECAUSE HE DESIRES TO GET MONEY. If you demand WHY? IT IS THE INSTRUMENT OF PLEASURE, says he. And beyond this it is an absurdity to ask for a reason. It is impossible there can be a progress IN INFINITUM; and that one thing can always be a reason why another is desired. Something must be desirable on its own account, and because of its immediate accord or agreement with human sentiment and affection.

Hume has other arguments that appeal to infinite progressions -- infinite diminution arguments based on the idea that a finite is exhausted to nothing by infinite diminution, or arguments that justification will be inadequate even if it is carried on infinitely; but these are, as far as I am aware, his only explicitly espoused infinite regress arguments, taken in the proper sense.

Maronite Year XXIV

All the Sundays of Lent in the Maronite calendar are concerned with types and emblems of our salvation, and the readings for Sundays in Lent after Cana Sunday all concern restorations. We have two healings (the leper, the hemorrhaging woman), then the parable of the prodigal son, and then two more healings (the paralytic, the blind man). We begin with the cleansing of the leper.

Sunday of the Healing of the Leper
Romans 6:12-23; Mark 1:35-45

Christ our God! Physician of souls, of bodies,
with compassion turn Your gaze upon us;
heal us of the leprosy of wickedness,
strengthen us in the weakness of our flesh,
cleanse us from all stain in action or in thought.

By Your word, from Your grace, forgive us, heal us;
bring back in penitence the wanderers,
strengthen the weak and console the sorrowful;
feed the hungry, give aid to the needy,
Son of David, have mercy! Make our souls clean.

People of Christ! Your scarlet sins are washed white.
The law's burden Christ bore upon His cross.
Conform not to the world; be transformed by Christ.
Hate the evil and cling to what is good;
Do not let sin reign in your body's desires.

Let nothing in you be evil's instrument;
Offer yourself to God who gives you life.
Because of grace, sin is no more your master,
and you are raised to be children of God.
He has healed you; draw close to His majesty.

Cleanse your hands, O sinners, purify your hearts;
know that penitence may exalt your heart.
Those who are humble God will lift to heaven.
Repent, live in love, and do not be proud.
Son of David, have mercy! Make our souls clean.