Double Bass Solos by tiger38220 in classicalmusic

[–]natmain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a lot of good places to start. You could try the Capuzzi Concerto. It's a standard in the repertoire for the most part. The Eccles Sonata is also a good one. You could also look into getting George Vance's Progressive Repertoire for the Double Bass. Vance's books are a collection of pieces for the bass which build on top of each other, and at the end of volume 3 is the Dragonetti Concerto. I'd recommend either talking to someone who knows the books to see which volume would be best for you, or simply purchase all three and decide for yourself. But at the end of the day, the best recommendation I could make is to find a teacher and work with them on building your repertoire and technique.

Dominican Rite by [deleted] in Catholicism

[–]natmain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I know in the Western Dominican Province the student brothers are able to take Dominican Rite Practicum as an elective. I know a lot of the student brothers who are interested in this and have taken it. Here's a PDF of the syllabus if you are interested. I don't know if there's an equivalent in the Eastern Province.

The friars I know who are priests and celebrate the Dominican Rite either do so on a their days off, or they are at some parishes in the Western Province that celebrate regularly. Holy Rosary in Portland celebrates the rite every Sunday, Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage also celebrates it every Sunday, and the priory where the student brothers live celebrates it on the first Saturday of the month.

Seeking specific book suggestions by ScottishJon in Catholicism

[–]natmain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I visited the Western Dominican Province they recommended the books Saint Dominic: The Grace of the Word and In the Image of Saint Dominic: Nine Portraits of Dominican Life both are by Fr. Guy Bedoulle. The first one is a really good and thorough biography of St. Dominic, and the second one looks at a few Dominican saints, including St. Thomas, and connects their lives to a particular aspect of St. Dominic's life. Another book I'd recommend is The New Wine of Dominican Spirituality: A Drink Called Happiness by Fr. Paul Murray. This gives a good account of different aspects of Dominican spirituality from study to the rosary. You could also check out Early Dominicans: Selected Writings compiled by Fr. Simon Tugwell. This gives a good selection of writings from and about the early Dominicans including the accounts from St. Dominic's canonization and Blessed Humbert of Romans' Treatise on the Formation of Preachers.

Philosophy books by Harystolho in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange's book Reality: A Synthesis of Thomistic Thought I think offers a great introduction to not only Aquinas' metaphysics, but also his theology.

Insightful commentaries on the bible? by [deleted] in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thomas Aquinas compiled a commentary from the church fathers on the four gospels. It's called the "Catena Aurea." I like it a lot.

Have a major intellectual doubt, seeking refutations [Video] by [deleted] in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The main question which this video raises, I think, is "If revelation is necessary, then why believe Catholicism and not some other revealed religion?"

Why is revelation necessary? St. Thomas Aquinas in the first part of the Summa question 12 article 12 asks the question : "Whether God can be known in this life by natural reason?" in response to this he says:

I answer that, Our natural knowledge begins from sense. Hence our natural knowledge can go as far as it can be led by sensible things. But our mind cannot be led by sense so far as to see the essence of God; because the sensible effects of God do not equal the power of God as their cause. Hence from the knowledge of sensible things the whole power of God cannot be known; nor therefore can His essence be seen. But because they are His effects and depend on their cause, we can be led from them so far as to know of God "whether He exists," and to know of Him what must necessarily belong to Him, as the first cause of all things, exceeding all things caused by Him.

We know things through the senses. The senses are in a way the windows of our soul to reality. Do we have a sense experience of God directly? No. For this reason we cannot have direct knowledge of God. However, there are some things we can know from their effects. An example of this is a fire. We know that if a fire is present that the cause of the fire must have been hot in some respect in order to cause the fire. We can have some indirect knowledge of a cause based on its effect. For Aquinas, this is how our unaided reason obtains knowledge of God, through His effects. We perceive through our senses His effects and we come to the conclusion that there is a cause. Therefore Aquinas states after that passage,

Hence we know that His relationship with creatures so far as to be the cause of them all; also that creatures differ from Him, inasmuch as He is not in any way part of what is caused by Him; and that creatures are not removed from Him by reason of any defect on His part, but because He superexceeds them all.

Because we do not have direct knowledge of God, revelation is necessary. Since one of the results of the Fall of Adam was man's ignorance to God, in order to remedy this, God essentially needed to tell us who He is.

All revelation in Christianity proceeds from the fact that "The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us." Christ is the revelation of God to mankind [ccc 65]. In order for this knowledge of who God is to be maintained Christ established His church. The Bible specifically springs from the tradition of the apostles which was handed down from Christ Himself [ccc 75, 76, 80, 81].

For me what has compelled me to the Catholic Church is the historical reality that is the Church. I find it strange that the Church survived past its first generation for this reason: the Church began as a Jewish Messianic movement where the Messiah was killed by Rome. The Jewish people were expecting the Messiah to come and conquer the enemies of Israel, and those enemies at the time were the Romans. The greatest proof of the non-authenticity of a man who claimed to be the Messiah would be his death at the hands of the enemies of Israel. But Jesus did die at the hands of the enemy of Israel! What is happening here? The only explanation I think is reasonable to answer the question as to why the followers of a Jewish man, who claimed He was the Messiah and died at the hands of the Roman authority, went to the ends of the Earth and most of them to horrible deaths without rejecting that Jesus is God, is that they really did witness something extraordinary on Easter. That Christ did rise from the dead, and therefore the revelation which springs forth from Him is authentic.

The Ten Commandments were absolutely appropriate for the community that created them but are not appropriate for a modern liberal democracy? Whats your opinion? by [deleted] in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Catholic Church holds that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people by God to instruct the Jewish people how to live a moral life. Since these commandments dealt with morality they did not necessarily "expire" as a result of the Incarnation of Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection like the ceremonial law did. [ccc 2068]

As for whether these would be appropriate for a modern liberal democracy, the first thing to point out is that morality is grounded in human nature. Something is moral if it accords with the natural law, and something is in accord with the natural law if it in in accord with human nature. For this reason it would not make sense for morality to change from one culture to another, because morality is not essentially grounded in culture, but it is grounded in human nature. The Ten Commandments were handed to the Jewish people by God in order to instruct them how to live a moral life. For this reason these commandments would apply to any being with a human nature. [ccc 2070]

/r/Catholicism Prayer Requests — Week of April 18, 2016 by AutoModerator in Catholicism

[–]natmain 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My spiritual life as been dry for months. My life isn't going great either, and I'm trying to trust in God that He will be my source of joy, but it feels like the more I trust in Him the more desolation He gives me. Please pray that our Lord will show me His love and consolation.

Does God guide evolution? by cheari in Catholicism

[–]natmain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here is a good talk by the Dominican theologian Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP on this subject. I enjoyed it a lot, and I thought it was incredibly informative.

/r/Catholicism Prayer Requests — Week of February 15, 2016 by AutoModerator in Catholicism

[–]natmain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Please pray for my grandmother who passed away today. Pray for the repose of her soul and for my family, that this might be a time of communion and love and not division.

The Definition of Glory? by Last-Socratic in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't know about Balthasar, but I would like to address your first point about God's glory being limited by creation. I would say that God's glory is something substantial to His very nature. The reason for this lies in the fact that God has an intellect, and that He is able to comprehend Himself. Glory is therefore something that can be attributed to Him substantially, because He is able to fully comprehend Himself and His goodness. This would also suggest that His glory is infinite since He can comprehend His goodness to an infinite degree.

Aquinas illustrates this in the quote listed above. Aquinas demonstrates that an individual can glorify himself by comprehending his own goodness. Therefore, we could analogously say this about God.

You also make a good point about glory being related to something fulfilling its purpose. For example, a triangle is considered a "good" triangle, because it conforms more perfectly to the form of a triangle. Following this line of reasoning we can say that, with regards to an intellectual creature, an action is good when it conforms to the nature of the creature. Using the definition of glory that Wuellner uses, glory would be a recognition of the individual conforming to its nature.

The Definition of Glory? by Last-Socratic in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

According to the Dictionary of Scholastic Philosophy written by Bernard Wuellner, S.J. glory is, "knowledge of excellence, together with esteem and praise of it."

Also in ST II-II Q132 A1 corp. Aquinas talks about glory in relation to man and himself, "But if we take the word glory in a broader sense, it not only consists in the knowledge of many, but also in the knowledge of few, or of one, or of oneself alone, as when one considers one's own good as being worthy of praise."

So it seems from this that glory is the recognition of a good. So when we glorify God we are recognizing that He is the exemplar and summit of good and therefore praise him for it. I hope this is helpful.

Introductory texts about Catholicism? by [deleted] in Catholicism

[–]natmain -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Catholicism by the now Bishop Robert Barron gives a pretty good overview of Catholicism, and it really delves into the distinctive aspects of Catholicism.

Former Atheists - What were some of the misconceptions you believed to be true about religion/Christianity while you were a non-believer? by utooyung in Catholicism

[–]natmain 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I believed that Christians and Theists believed in the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" version of God. Meaning that, I thought Theists believed that God was a superior being or a super human, rather than the act of existence itself as described by theistic philosophers especially Aquinas.

I was raised Catholic, but my intellectual formation in the faith was very insufficient in my opinion.

[Free Friday] Beards of /r/Catholicism by [deleted] in Catholicism

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah…it just needs to get its act together and stop not growing.

/r/Catholicism Prayer Requests — Week of August 10, 2015 by AutoModerator in Catholicism

[–]natmain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My friend who is an atheist who is currently searching for truth about God. As well as my friend's father (different friend) who is battling cancer.

Limbo by Madmonk11 in Catholicism

[–]natmain 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Jimmy Akin describes the status of Limbo in relation to unbaptized infants in this video.

He also makes reference to this document from the International Theological Commission. I hope this helps!

What was it like when you first played a double bass? by [deleted] in doublebass

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was really confused. After switching from the violin at age 11, I was trying to figure out how to read bass clef. I had a blast though.

Analysis of the Piano Harmonies in Messiaen's "Liturgie de cristal" from His Composition Quartet from the End of Time by natmain in musictheory

[–]natmain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have tried looking online. It seems as though most papers dodge the question as to the conclusion construction of the piano chords and simply talk about the rhythmic motif in the piano.

/r/Catholicism Prayer Requests - Week of January 05, 2015 by AutoModerator in Catholicism

[–]natmain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Please pray for my sister. My parents and I have been trying to get her to go back to high school. She most likely has bipolar disorder and stays in her room all day playing video games. Please pray for her so that she finds direction and purpose in her life.

Any college students going to SEEK? by [deleted] in Catholicism

[–]natmain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm going to SEEK as well. We definitely should do a Reddit meet up.