Coffee Bowl Browsing

NPR exec caught on video admitting that public broadcasting would be better off w/o your tax dollars.  Oh, he also calls Republicans racist and xenophobic.  NB.  He thinks he's meeting with potential donors from a Muslim Brotherhood front group.

Meanwhile, another NPR exec denies accusations that NPR has a leftist bias.  Apparently, she didn't get the memo.  

The One. . .and the not so many:  paltry number of high schools invite B.O. to give their graduation speech.  They should just invite his teleprompter. . .it does all the work anyway.

The Fleebaggers' Head Flee wants to meet with the GOP at that WI-IL border.  The GOP responds.  Hilarious.

". . .many of the smartest and best educated people in this country are so blinkered and blinded by the assumptions and values of the blue social model that they simply cannot think outside the box."  

Georgetown University Medical Center (a "Catholic" hospital) starves a woman to death while her family watches.   Um, does Cardinal Wuerl know about this?

Is it legal for a church/parish to impose a mandatory monthly donation in exchange for access to that parish's liturgies?  I'm have no idea whether or not this is legal under secular law. . .I'm absolutely sure that it would never be legal under RC canon law.

The LA Times drops a bomb on the Archdiocese of L.A. on the first day of the new archbishop's administration.    One wonders why the lefty LAT waited until yesterday to drop this bomb.  It couldn't be b/c Archbishop Gomez is considered too conservative for L.A. 

The inevitable demise of Anglicanism:  communion for the unbaptized.  Why not?  They've pretty much abandoned every other apostolic teaching.

The Duck watches you. . .oh, yes, he does.

And so do all of his feline co-conspirators.

And the dog is just. . .well, the dog is the dog.

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What difference does it make?

Ss. Perpetua and Felicity

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Jesus publicly humiliates the priests and scribes by demanding that they either accept or reject that he is the Son of the Father, a revelation announced by the Holy Spirit when John baptized him in the Jordan. Afraid that they will lose their own authority or anger the crowd that follows Jesus, the elders calculate a cowardly response to his challenge and answer, “We don't know.” Because of their cowardice, Jesus refuses to reveal to them that he is the Messiah. Instead, he tells them a parable meant to unsettle their comfortable assumptions about how the Father works among His people. The Parable of the Tenants is a retelling of the history of the Jewish people and their relationship with God. Unflattering in its details, the parable exposes the infidelity of God's chosen people to the covenant. It concludes with the death of those who murder the owner's son and the vineyard going to others as their inheritance. Jesus quotes Psalm 118, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The priests and scribes know that the parable is addressed to them. Fearing that the crowd might realize this as well, “they left him and went away.” Thinking back to the gospel reading from yesterday—a wise man builds his house on solid rock not sand—what can we make of the notion that Jesus is the cornerstone that the builders rejected?

The other gospel writers and the tradition of the Church understand the cornerstone to be Christ, and more specifically, his resurrection. Rejecting the truth of the resurrection cuts a well-woven thread in the whole clothe of the gospel. Denial of the resurrection is a denial of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Denial of his sacrificial death is a denial of the efficacy of his suffering. Denial of his efficacious suffering is a denial of his birth to the virgin, Mary. His incarnation as the Son of God. His promised advent. And on back to his presence at the moment of creation and his divinity as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. To paraphrase Paul, “If Christ did not rise from the dead, then all we believe and do in his name is worthless.” The Parable of the Tenants is both a history of God's people rejecting the cornerstone of Christ's resurrection and a warning to those of us who do believe but do so at a nervous distance from the consequences of believing.

Let's cut the point as sharp as we can: if you believe the resurrection of Christ to be true, what difference does this belief make in your life? How do you behave differently? Think differently? Can others watch you and see that you have accepted Christ's resurrection as the cornerstone for building your house in the faith? The gospels repeatedly describe those who do not acknowledge the Sonship of Jesus as afraid, scared, anxious. They are very, very nervous about his claims to be the Son of God, b/c believing such a reckless claim would mean throwing themselves into a radical revolution that will change absolutely everything. Believing that Jesus is the Messiah will mark them as heretics in the temple, rebels against the Empire, and strangers in their own families. The sword Christ wields severs all bonds. His resurrection from the tomb remakes those bonds with the blood of a new covenant and a command to love that fulfills the whole of the Law. 

If you believe that Christ rose from the dead, what difference does this belief make in your life? Can you point to this difference and give it a name? There's nothing to fear. Nothing to hide. You will lose everything for his sake and gain eternal life.

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A Shocking Declaration

9th Sunday OT

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

You have spent all your years in the Church. You sang in the choir. Served on the parish council. Usher, communion minister, Monday morning collection counter. Worked every year at the capital fund-raising fair. Once a week at confession, daily Mass. Never missed an Ash Wednesday and said your rosary even before the first cup of coffee. Fasted, abstained, and always did your penance. You were absolutely faithful in your marriage, raised the kids in the Church, sent them to good Catholic grade schools and then to a faithful Catholic university. You volunteered for every mission trip that came around. Exhausted yourself helping with LifeTeen. Now, here you are, at the edge of death. Everyone knows that you are the best Catholic, the most sincere Christian, and that you will go straight to the throne of God. And this is very likely exactly what will happen. But we have one caution from Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven. . .Many will say to me on that day. . .'Lord, did we not do mighty deeds in your name? [Did I not help at the homeless shelter, protest at the abortion clinic, donate to Catholic Charities, pray novenas to St Jude, visit the grieving, give lots of money to the Dominicans!?] Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’” Never knew me!? Evildoer!? Is Jesus trying to give us a heart attack? Why does he make such a shocking declaration? He is doing nothing more than telling us the truth.

Moses is telling us the truth as well when he says, “Take these words of mine into your heart and soul. Bind them at your wrist as a sign, and let them be a pendant on your forehead. I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of the Lord. . .a curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord.” If you place God’s wisdom in your heart and in your soul, you become wise; that is, just being here is an act of wisdom. If you bind your hands and your mind with God’s wisdom, then every act, every job, every thought, your imagination itself is a sign of God’s presence, a flag marking you as His. This is what Jesus teaches us in Matthew’s gospel this morning/evening: it is not enough to think good thoughts about the Lord; it is not enough to do good deeds in his name. We must obey: listen and act in one move—hearing the Word/doing the Word, hearing God’s wisdom/doing God’s wisdom. If we want to be faithful, then we must place His wisdom in our hearts, our minds, and we must bind our hands and bind our minds to His will. Under the Old Covenant established between God and Moses, this feat of obedience was accomplished by following the rules and regulations of the Law—dietary restrictions, ritual sacrifices, etc. You showed your faithfulness by behaving within the precepts of the Law. Ideally, strictly following the Law would lead you to an internal conversion, what God Himself calls “the sacrifice of a contrite heart.” All too often, however, you ended up scrupulously obsessing over legal technicalities. So, how do we faithfully obey God's commandments and find ourselves counted among the blessed?

Paul helps us out. He writes to the Romans, “Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Let me break that down a bit: in the older covenant, as we've already noted, God’s righteousness—His rightness, His justice—were made known to us primarily through the Law and the prophets. Obey the Law, heed the prophets and God's justice is done. What Paul is saying here is that the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ now manifests God’s righteousness apart from the Law and prophets, meaning that we now have access to the fullness of God’s righteousness through Christ “apart from the Law.” Remember: Christ came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, to make the Law and the witness of the prophets complete. The Law and the prophets are witnesses to the Law—they are legitimate testimonies to His commandments. However, Christ is God Himself. God reveals Himself in the person of Christ. Christ's revelation is not a second-hand account of who and what God is, but rather a perfect and unique unveiling of God to us. So, Paul teaches us that we come to the righteousness of God Himself when we believe in Christ b/c believing in Christ is believing in God. 

What does it mean to believe in Christ? Believing is a human act. But believing is not merely human. By the gift of the Father we are made to desire Him, made to want Him, created in His likeness and image to be seduced by His love for us! In other words, we are able to believe in Christ precisely because God engineered us—genetically programmed us—to seek Him out. Even when we are lost in sin we yearn for His perfection. Paul writes, “[All] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. . .” We are made just because Christ freely gave his life for us. Fully God, fully Man, Jesus bridged the gap between the human and the divine, and in dying sacrificially, made it possible for us to become God with God's help. We believe because it is our deepest need, our most profound urge. Greater than hunger, thirst, the drive to reproduce, greater even than the will to live, the imperative to partake in God's goodness comes first. When we mistake the temporary goodness of food, drink, sex, and wealth for the eternal goodness of God, we set our sights too low, aiming for the passing things of this world rather than the life of the world to come. Our target is the Beatific Vision, seeing God face to face. How we live our lives daily is exactly how we take aim at the target. When we pray fervently and do good works we believe that we are aiming true. . .but are we?

Jesus surprises his disciples and us when he declares, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. . .” The logical question arises: who will enter the kingdom of heaven? Jesus answers: “. . .only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” But aren't we doing the will of the Father when we pray and do good works? Yes and no. Certainly, it is God's will that we pray and do good works, but praying and doing good works is not all that the Father wills us to do or to be. Christ—who reveals God Himself to us—died for us so that we might become Christ for others. This same Christ says to his disciples (and us), “Everyone who listens [obeys] to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” No rain or wind or quake will shake the foundations of house constructed on the rock of the God’s will. No pain or turmoil or doubt can threaten the integrity of a life built on hearing and doing the will of the Father in heaven. However, a house built on sand, a life constructed on the vagaries of human wisdom, human intelligence, human will will collapse and be completely ruined. It is not enough that we cry out “Lord, Lord!” It is not enough to manage an occasional good deed. It is not enough that we live our gifted lives as lukewarm but inactive believers, as tepid but untrusting doers. God's love and wisdom must be the foundation of our lives—not just the interior decoration or the pretty landscape—but the immovable rock upon which all else is built. 

On the last day, when God looks into your face, will he see a long, honorable tradition of good works? Will he see a fervent prayer life, a life faithful to the sacraments and scripture. Will he look into your face and see there reflected his own face: a life strengthened by the Spirit, rooted and grounded in love, a life of length, height and depth, measured on all sides by the immeasurable fullness of God who dwells within you? Will our God Who Is Love on the last day see the face of Christ in you, a single will to will just one thing? His Love. If so, you will enter kingdom on the last day. And you will feel perfectly at home because you have been there all along.

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Sorry, Romania. . .I was wrong.

Last week I noted that the second largest H.A. audience was located in Romania.  This fact was strange enough to send me digging into the Blogger stats.  Turns out I was only looking at the monthly numbers rather than the "All Time" numbers.  "All Time" only includes site visits beginning in May 2010.  So, since May 2010, the top ten audiences are:

United States         120,565

United Kingdom       7,973

Canada                      7,910

Australia                    2,831

Italy                           2,522

Germany                   2,096

Netherlands               1,451

Brazil                            870

Ireland                         822

France                          689

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New American Bible: Revised Edition to be released

The USCCB website is announcing the release of their New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) on March 9, 2011.

You can click here to preview the Penitential Psalms and learn a bit more about the differences between the NAB (used in our lectionaries) and the NABRE.  Only the Old Testament has been revised.

I'm not a fan of the NAB, so I hope that the RE is an improvement.

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"Maybe" = Darkness

8th Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

Jesus enters Jerusalem. He goes to the temple and drives out the moneychangers. The chief priests and scribes get wind of this and decide that Jesus must be executed for blasphemy. They are outraged at his violent expulsion of the moneychangers from the temple area, and they fear “him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.” When they find Jesus, they ask him, "By what authority are you doing these things?" In more colloquial terms, they are asking Jesus, “Just who do you think you are?!” Rather than answer their challenge directly, Jesus put them to a test: “Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me." What is this question meant to test? Jesus wants the priests and scribes to either publicly accept his Sonship or reject it. Remember what happened when John baptized Jesus. A dove descended on Jesus and a heavenly voice rang out, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Jesus' authority to teach, to perform miracles, to chase off the moneychangers derives from his relationship to the Father. The priests and scribes cannot accept or reject this authority without risking their own authority or riling up the crowd. Seeing into their calculating hearts, Jesus refuses to answer their challenge. In other words, he refuses to reveal to them that he is the Messiah. When it comes to accepting or rejecting the Sonship of Jesus, there is no middle-ground, no negotiated answer. There is “yes” or there is “no.” 

Not unlike the priests and scribes who challenge Jesus' authority, we like our options kept open. “Yes” or “no” is too black and white, too either/or. What about the gray areas? The both/and? What about our freedom to explore, to experiment, to “grow into” an answer to God's call to holiness? Jesus is being a bit unreasonable here. Different people at different points on their journey have different spiritual needs. There's a variety of responses possible. Shouldn't we celebrate the diversity that we find among God's creatures as they stoke the divine spark within them? Well, yes, we should. Each of us responds to God's call to holiness differently, and we do have different spiritual needs along the Way. But before we can respond to God's call to holiness and before our spiritual needs can be met, we must say “Yes” to the question: is Jesus the Messiah? We must accept or reject the revelation that came with Jesus' baptism at the hands of John. “Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin?” Is Jesus the Messiah or not?

The priests and scribes calculate an answer to this challenge. Rather than boldly accepting or rejecting the revelation of Jesus' Sonship, they plot an answer that they believe will preserve their power and calm the crowd. What did they come up with? “We don't know.” Jesus could've enlightened them, but he chooses instead to leave them in their make-believe ignorance. He leaves them in the darkness they have created for themselves. Not unlike the priests and scribes, we too can choose to live in a self-created darkness. We too can calculate a response to God's call to holiness that leaves us with an imaginary sense of freedom, with the illusion that we are at liberty in the world. We can wander aimlessly, fooling ourselves into believing that we are masters of our own destiny, captains of our own ship. But darkness is darkness, chosen or not. We either accept the Sonship of Jesus, or we reject it. If we accept, we join his procession to Jerusalem and the cross and on to the brightness of our Father's house. There is “yes” and there is “no.” “Maybe” will only keep us in darkness.

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A surprising #2 for H.A.'s audience

Lots of excellent guesses. . .the U.K., Canada, and India are in the top five audiences for HancAquam.

But HancAquam's second largest audience can be found in. . .

[Drum roll]

Romania!

I have no idea why.  The google stat counter for blogger indicates that about 25% of HA's audience is in Romania.  

Go figure.

Vă mulţumesc pentru cititorii mei din România!

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Dominican Student Brothers Preaching

These Southern Province student brothers are studying in St Louis, MO at the Aquinas Institute of Theology.  These guys were all novices in Irving, TX while I was a member of the senior community. 

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HancAquam's Second Largest Audience?

HancAquam's audience is largely located in the U.S.  No surprise there.

What is surprising is the location of HA's second largest audience. . .

Any guesses?

UPDATE @ 2.36pm CST:  Nobody's guessed the right answer yet!

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Coffee Cup Browsing

Madison mayor caught trying to conspire with WI's Sec. of State to stall the governor's budget until city employees got a new sweetheart contract signed. 

The difference btw collective bargaining in the public and private sectors.  Private sector unions don't get to elect who sits on the other side of the table in negotiations.

Wow. . .a WI elementary school teacher has an interesting post on his school blog. 

Political artist is punished for his outrageous stances on current issues.

The FL federal judge who declared ObamaCare unconstitutional orders B.O. to appeal his ruling in seven days.  B.O. should've listened to the ageless wisdom of the Greek,s "Be careful what you ask of the gods.  You might get it."

The World's Top Ten Gaddafi Toads.  I think he forgot one.  A big One.

Liturgical abuse weakens the faith. . .I couldn't agree more!  We believe what we pray and pray what we believe.

The lovely and talented Anna Arco of the UK's Catholic Herald urges readers not to wipe off the Ash Wednesday smudge.  Long-time HA readers know my stance on this issue.  Jesus said, "Wash your face!"  However, this ain't a hill I'm willing to die on.

Why do we need a new translation of the Missal?  Hint:  it's the difference btw formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence (i.e., paraphrasing).

A new and improved NAB?  If I could change one thing about our liturgical practice it would be to replace the NAB Lectionary with the Revised Standard Version published by Ignatius Press.

U.S. Marines are always polite.

I can fix that!  Redneck solutions for everyday problems.

Husband down! Husband down!

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Ah, you noticed. . .

Regular HancAquam readers have noted and commented upon the subtle changes I've made in my preaching style lately.  (Not subtle enough, apparently!)

Preaching to a "regular parish" (i.e., not a university parish, or a studium congregation) required that changes be made.   I also have the privilege of regularly preaching to our K-8th students at St Joseph's School.  Finding the appropriate props for the readings ain't easy (sesame seeds, red food coloring, and a picture of a mustard tree. . .)

Frankly, the new style--a little more linear, somewhat more practical--is much more difficult to produce than my natural style--convoluted and impractical?  But I am spending a lot more time with the readings and a lot more time studying in preparation for writing the homily.

Clunkers still find their way into the pulpit. . .but that will always be the case. 

Many thanks for the comments and prayers!  God bless, Fr. Philip

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Hey! I think he's calling you. . .

8th Week OT (Th)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

In the Southern Baptist tradition, Sunday morning and Wednesday night services always end with an “altar call.” While the pianist softly plays “The Old Rugged Cross” in the background, the preacher exhorts sinners to come forward and take Jesus into their hearts, “Dontcha hear Jesus calling you, brothers and sisters?! Callin' you to his cross!” Some will come forward to meet the deacon at the rail and leave the church “saved.” They answered the call, and they were healed. True to their tradition, this particular Baptist liturgical practice is deeply rooted in scripture. The blind man, Bartimaeus, hears that Jesus is near. He begins to call out to Jesus, “Son of David, have pity on me!” The crowd tries to shush him, but Bartimaeus continues to cry out. Finally, Jesus says, “Call him,” and those nearest the blind man, say to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” Bartimaeus obeys, telling Jesus that he wants to see again. The man's sight is restored, and Jesus goes on to Jerusalem. Let's not get sidetracked by the healing miracle in this story. Without a doubt it is an important element, but Jesus himself doesn't make much of a fuss about the healing itself. No prayers, no gestures, no exclamations of astonishment from the crowd. Just the faith of a blind man and his cry for compassion. If there's a fuss made in the story, it happens when the crowd tries to silence Bartimaeus and Jesus' call gives him the courage to ask for healing. “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” 

You may have never had an actual crowd rushing around you, or a horde of people yelling at you to shut up, but you have probably felt at times that the people and circumstances in your life were trying to choke you into silence, trying to strangle your pleas for divine help. So much busyness, so much worry, so many problems with no relief in sight. Everyone clamoring for attention: family and friends in need; co-workers demanding your time and energy; sick and dying relatives; bill-collectors, banks, the IRS, and a whole gang of others grasping at you to notice them, care for them, give them what they want. In the middle of this small chaos, there you are—exhausted; your mind addled; your spirit on the verge of collapse; no where to hide. Like Bartimaeus, you need to be healed, so you cry out, “Son of David, have pity on me!” And all those nagging, clamoring voice say, “Be quiet! You're embarrassing us and yourself. Just shut up and deal with it! We were here first.” Hearing your plea above the racket of the crowd, Christ says, “Call him. Call her.” The voices change. Now they say, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” 

Courage is the good habit of doing the right thing even when you are scared witless. Or even when you are exhausted—physically, mentally, spiritually. Or even when you think the right thing to do is foolish, dangerous, or just plain dumb. Bartimaeus cries out for Christ's compassion while being rebuked by a mob. He cries out twice for pity, and Jesus responds by crying out for him. The man's courageous pleas are heard and answered, and his public expressions of faith restore his sight. He is healed and he does the only thing he can to express his gratitude: he follows Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. Bartimaeus doesn't know what waits of our Lord in the Holy City. Jesus knows and we know. To follow him all the way to the cross is foolish, dangerous, exhausting, and probably just plain dumb. But we've been called by Christ himself to follow. So, “take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Humor Edition)

Nazi break dancing. . .they even have parachute pants.

Fear the green gelatinous invader from space. . .fear it, I say!

Face swap pics. . .these things are beyond creepy.

Sadly, this is probably true. . .the part about the coffee, I mean. . .not that other part.  Ahem.

Top jokes from around the world. . .my fav is from Belgium.  Says a lot, uh?

What love means, according to 4-8 y.o.'s.  Ahhhhhhhh. . .

A new and improved traffic light.  This is a fantastic idea.

A closer (much closer) look at everyday objects. . .freaky, dude.

Great quotes. . ."Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps."  Emo Phillips

Goat says, "Hi."

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Heroes or slaves?

8th Week OT (W)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

St. Joseph Church, Ponchatula

In the ancient Greek epics, heroes usually fall from the grace of the gods because they suffer from some deadly character flaw, typically pride. When the hero falls, we say that he has suffered a great tragedy. What at first appears to be his primary strength, say, confidence or fortitude, turns out to be hubris that leads him to challenge the gods, or simple stubbornness that causes him to ignore wise counsel. The moral lesson from the epics is that there is a very fine line between virtue and vice, between that good habits that make a man a hero and the bad habits that turn him into a tragic figure. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, ask Jesus to be honored in his glory with places at his right and left. They make this request immediately after Jesus describes what will happen to him in Jerusalem—arrest, ridicule, torture, and death. Jesus warns them, “You do not know what you are asking.” In their ignorance, James and John make a request that others might see as virtuous, “Lord, we want to be with you in heaven.” However, they have yet to realize what asking to be honored in heaven—honored above the other disciples—really means. So that James and John may not fall b/c of their fatal flaw, Jesus tells them that they must follow him to Jerusalem and the cross. But even if they manage this, only the Father can assign places of honor in heaven. So that their lives in Christ might not end in tragedy—a defeat caused by a fatal character flaw—Jesus says to the disciples (and us), “. . .whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant.” To be heroes in heaven, we must first be slaves on earth.

When the Zebedee brothers ask Jesus for places of honor in heaven, he tests them with a question, “Can you drink the chalice that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They answer, perhaps a little too quickly, “We can.” But we have to wonder if they really understand what this means. The chalice that Jesus drinks is the chalice of the Suffering Servant, the cup of sacrifice. His baptism is the baptism of repentance of sin. Jesus is asking the brothers if they willing to suffer as he will suffer; if they are willing to be perfect as he himself is perfect. They accept the challenge, and when the other disciples hear about the brothers' request for special treatment, they become indignant. Apparently, the other ten disciples don't really understand exactly what it is that the brothers have agreed to. Jesus seems to calm their indignation by saying, “. . .whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” And just in case he's not being clear enough, Jesus adds, “. . .the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” If the disciples believe that being in the Inner Circle is a privilege or a mark of worldly status, this revelation should set them straight. They've not attached themselves to a powerful prince or a military leader. They are tied to a slave, a man who will die so that all others might live. His death will be a ransom, a sum paid to free prisoners. Therefore, the mark of leadership in the Body of Christ is never to be worldly glory or honor or prestige but sacrificial service. 

Never have we been promised a place of honor in heaven for following Christ. We have not been promised prosperity, health, recognition, or even holiness. If we drink his chalice and take his baptism, we have been promised nothing more than what he himself has already received: persecution, ridicule, torture, death, and resurrection and life in the world to come. Our Greek heroes have taught us that there is a fine line btw virtue and vice. Jesus teaches us that there is a fine line btw seeking the glory of this world and the glory of heaven. Will you follow Christ? Then give your life as a ransom for all those enslaved to sin.

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What is grace? Five Explanations

1.  from the Catechism (nos. 1997 & 1999)

Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.

The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification. . .

2. from The Catholic Encyclopedia ("sanctifying grace")

Grace, in general, is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness. Eternal salvation itself consists in heavenly bliss resulting from the intuitive knowledge of the Triune God, who to the one not endowed with grace "inhabiteth light inaccessible" (1 Timothy 6:16). . .sanctifying grace imparts to the soul a participation in the Divine spirituality, which no rational creature can by its own unaided powers penetrate or comprehend. It is, therefore, the office of grace to impart to the soul, in a supernatural way, that degree of spirituality which is absolutely necessary to give us an idea of God and His spirit, either here below in the shadows of earthly existence, or there above in the unveiled splendour of Heaven. If we were asked to condense all that we have thus far been considering into a definition, we would formulate the following: Sanctifying grace is "a quality strictly supernatural, inherent in the soul as a habitus, by which we are made to participate in the divine nature."

3. from The Catholic Encyclopedia ("Teaching of St Augustine of Hippo")

. . .Augustine distinguishes very explicitly two orders of grace: the grace of natural virtues (the simple gift of Providence, which prepares efficacious motives for the will); and grace for salutary and supernatural acts, given with the first preludes of faith. The latter is the grace of the sons; the former is the grace of all men, a grace which even strangers and infidels can receive (De Patientiâ, xxvii, n. 28).

4.  from St Augustine ("On Rebuke and Grace")

For the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord must be apprehended—as that by which alone men are delivered from evil, and without which they do absolutely no good thing, whether in thought, or will and affection, or in action; not only in order that they may know, by the manifestation of that grace, what should be done, but moreover in order that, by its enabling, they may do with love what they know.

5.   from Pope Benedict XVI (Spe salvi, nos. 44 & 47)

God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace. This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ. Both these things—justice and grace—must be seen in their correct inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of equal value. . .the judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

Nos. 1-4 were taken from New Advent.  No. 5 was taken from The Vatican.

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