Catholic Fire

Alice von Hildebrand, a professor emerita of philosophy at Hunter College of the City University of New York and a renowned author ( The Privilege of Being a Woman , By Love Refined: Letters to a Young Bride The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich Von Hildebrand ) ,and speaker, has long been one of my favorite guests on EWTN. I would love to see her in person - better yet, I would love to be a student in one of her classes. She possesses such a wealth of knowledge about so many things and is definitely not an "ivory tower" professor, but lives in and reacts to the problems of the real world today. As a deeply spiritual woman, she manifests a strong sense of who she is and who God has created her to be. I particularly enjoy hearing her talk on the meaning of authentic femininity. She emphasizes that today's secular feminism's attempts to gain equality with men by imitation of men is unnatural, foolish, destructive, and self-defeating. She explains that the Blesse...

Alice von Hildebrand, the wife of the late Dietrich von Hildebrand, one of the finest Catholic philosophers of the past century, writing in the pages of Crisis magazine on true love: When in love, we experience a deep, profound joy—a joy that is both ardent and calm, like a burning bush; but this ardor is not destructive, and is marked by deep recollection. It springs from the very center of our being. How different from the loud excitement of those who experience violent emotions that do not come from their depths and, like a straw fire, shine brightly for a short while but are soon extinguished. The heart is not only on fire, but this fire has a melting effect. We feel as if a goodness that does not come from within has taken hold of us. Dietrich von Hildebrand speaks of “fluid goodness” of a loving heart. True love makes the lover more beautiful; he irradiates joy. If this is not the case, we can raise doubts as to whether he is truly in love. One says in French: “Un saint triste ...