I have been notified by Amazon that my book is sold out and tempoarily out of stock. Anyone who wishes in the interim to purchase Got Grace? can contact me directly and I will arrange for autographed copies before Christmas. Anyone interested can e-mail me at Kaiser3111@honorofgod.org
Thanks,
Brian Schuettler
Saved In Hope will be coming very shortly, in fact tomorrow, the second encyclical of Benedict XVI’s pontificate. Benedict presented a beautiful reflection on God is Love in his first opus (Deus Caritas Est) and now will presumably continue and synthesize the theme of hope and love, two of the three Theological Virtues. Is Benedict writing in a descending order? Stay tuned.
In the interim, a very good introduction and source of context to the pending encyclical can be found at Catholic Answers entitled “An Apologetics of Hope” written by Carl E. Olson, author and editor of Ignatius Insight. Carl is a very gifted writer and has an engaging style that nudges difficult and complex ideas into an understandable format, thus encouraging the timid and less stouthearted to attempt the audacious.
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http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0610fea2.asp
Love, as St. Paul explained in 1 Corinthians, is the greatest of the three theological virtues. Faith is the theological virtue most commonly debated and pondered by theologians and apologists. Hope, on the other hand, has among many Christians a status similar to the Holy Spirit: vague in character, forgotten in conversation, and an enigma in everyday life.
Human and Theological Virtues
A virtue is a habit, or a consistent and “firm disposition to do the good” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1803). The human virtues are the attitudes that control man’s actions and passions according to reason and faith. They include the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. They prepare man for communion with God, which ultimately comes through the divine gift of the theological virtues, which in turn “dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity” and “adapt man’s faculties for participation in the divine nature” (CCC 1812). The origin and object of the theological virtues are one: the Triune God. They direct man to God, they are infused into man by God alone, and they are made known to man by divine revelation.
The Catechism defines hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC 1817). The German Thomist Josef Pieper wrote in his classic work On Hope (in the volume Faith Hope Love) that “in the virtue of hope more than any other, man understands and affirms that he is a creature, that he has been created by God.” Philosophers, he went on, would not describe hope as a virtue unless they were also Christian theologians. Pieper means that hope—the desire for fulfillment beyond what is found in time and history as opposed to the hope we have for good health or a long life—makes no sense unless there is a personal and loving God.
St. Thomas Aquinas explains in the Summa Theologiae that “man’s happiness is twofold.” The first happiness belongs to human nature and can be obtained by man’s natural efforts. The other, he writes, “is a happiness surpassing man’s nature and man can obtain by the power of God alone, by a kind of participation of the Godhead, about which it is written that by Christ we are made ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4)” (ST I-II.62.1). Because this supernatural happiness surpasses what man is naturally capable of, he is reliant on God to provide the ability to achieve it.
Continue reading at Catholic Answers >>>>> http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2006/0610fea2.asp
| Justin F. Cardinal Rigali Archbishop of Philadelphia Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap. Most Rev. George H. Niederauer |
Most Rev. Kevin J. Farrell Bishop of Dallas Most Rev. Ronald P. Herzog Most Rev. Octavio Cisneros [Final Member To Be Determined] |
Some men rushed into the upper chamber of Daniel’s home
and found him praying and pleading before his God.
Then they went to remind the king about the prohibition:
“Did you not decree, O king,
that no one is to address a petition to god or man
for thirty days, except to you, O king;
otherwise he shall be cast into a den of lions?”
The king answered them, “The decree is absolute,
irrevocable under the Mede and Persian law.”
To this they replied, “Daniel, the Jewish exile,
has paid no attention to you, O king,
or to the decree you issued;
three times a day he offers his prayer.”
The king was deeply grieved at this news
and he made up his mind to save Daniel;
he worked till sunset to rescue him.
But these men insisted.
They said, “Keep in mind, O king,
that under the Mede and Persian law
every royal prohibition or decree is irrevocable.”
So the king ordered Daniel to be brought and cast into the lions’ den.
To Daniel he said,
“May your God, whom you serve so constantly, save you.”
To forestall any tampering,
the king sealed with his own ring and the rings of the lords
the stone that had been brought to block the opening of the den.
Then the king returned to his palace for the night;
he refused to eat and he dismissed the entertainers.
Since sleep was impossible for him,
the king rose very early the next morning
and hastened to the lions’ den.
As he drew near, he cried out to Daniel sorrowfully,
“O Daniel, servant of the living God,
has the God whom you serve so constantly
been able to save you from the lions?”
Daniel answered the king: “O king, live forever!
My God has sent his angel and closed the lions’ mouths
so that they have not hurt me.
For I have been found innocent before him;
neither to you have I done any harm, O king!”
This gave the king great joy.
At his order Daniel was removed from the den,
unhurt because he trusted in his God.
The king then ordered the men who had accused Daniel,
along with their children and their wives,
to be cast into the lions’ den.
Before they reached the bottom of the den,
the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
Then King Darius wrote to the nations and peoples of every language,
wherever they dwell on the earth: “All peace to you!
I decree that throughout my royal domain
the God of Daniel is to be reverenced and feared:
“For he is the living God, enduring forever;
his Kingdom shall not be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be without end.
He is a deliverer and savior,
working signs and wonders in heaven and on earth,
and he delivered Daniel from the lions’ power.”
Responsorial Psalm
Daniel 3:68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74
R. (59b) Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Dew and rain, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Frost and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Ice and snow, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Nights and days, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Light and darkness, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
“Let the earth bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”
R. Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.
Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days,
for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people.
They will fall by the edge of the sword
and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles;
and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.”
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