{"id":112158,"date":"2019-06-10T00:38:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T07:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=112158"},"modified":"2019-06-10T08:53:36","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T15:53:36","slug":"the-excellent-where-peter-is-in-the-grace-and-mercy-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/06\/the-excellent-where-peter-is-in-the-grace-and-mercy-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"The excellent Where Peter Is<\/i> on the Grace and Mercy of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Daniel Amiri writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

What is grace, and how exactly does grace \u201cwork\u201d? I don\u2019t want to suggest to anyone that I have the full answer, but over the last few years, Pope Francis\u2019 theology has reminded the Church, in important ways, about what grace actually is and what it is not. When I say, \u201cPope Francis\u2019 theology,\u201d I am primarily referring to the way Pope Francis prioritizes Mercy, the essential, most foundational proclamation of the Christian faith. Pope Francis writes in\u00a0Misericordia et misera<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Mercy cannot become a mere parenthesis in the life of the Church; it constitutes her very existence, through which the profound truths of the Gospel are made manifest and tangible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Francis\u2019 teachings have made clear that whatever we think about the relationship between our good actions and the work of God, God\u2019s grace always come first. \u00a0In\u00a0Gaudete et Exsultate<\/em>, Pope Francis insists many times that grace is indeed \u201cfirst\u201d: God \u201calways takes the initiative.\u201d Quoting St. John Chrysostom, he writes, \u201cGod pours into us the very source of all his gifts even before we enter into battle.\u201d Later, he says:<\/p>\n

The Second Synod of Orange taught with firm authority that nothing human can demand, merit or buy the gift of divine grace, and that all cooperation with it is a prior gift of that same grace: \u201cEven the desire to be cleansed comes about in us through the outpouring and working of the Holy Spirit\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pope Francis often refers to a quote from Pope Benedict\u2019s first encyclical,\u00a0Deus Caritas Est<\/em>. There, Benedict wrote:<\/p>\n

Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, grace exists prior to any \u201cchoice\u201d or \u201cidea.\u201d Our faith is the result, first and foremost, of meeting the crucified Christ, discovering him, or encountering him already present in our lives. Francis also writes in\u00a0Misericordia et misera<\/em>, \u201cLove is the first act whereby God makes himself known to us and comes to meet us.\u201d Before we can even think of it or choose to accept it, God, through his abundant mercy, has given his adopted children his grace which exists in us as a \u201cparticipation in the Divine Nature,\u201d according to St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas does not mean this to say that we choose to participate in the Divinity, but rather our human nature participates in the divine nature, through a \u201ccertain regeneration or re-creation,\u201d and this is grace. God chooses us, re-creates us in the image of his Son, and makes this grace efficacious in our lives.<\/p>\n

Despite the lofty language, this has remarkably practical ramifications. If grace is a \u201cparticipation in the Divine Nature,\u201d then in important ways, everything we need to be holy is already present, if at first only in seed form. The life of holiness is not about searching out material things for a way to be happy and fulfilled, but rather turning to God in the depths of our heart in prayer. It means stripping away all that we build up in ourselves, be it our ego or pride or vanity, to find the only sure foundation, Jesus Christ. St. Paul\u2019s formulation in Galatians 2:20 is best: \u201cI have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his systematic theology, Aquinas continues to discuss grace by writing, \u201cGrace is the principle of meritorious works through the medium of virtues.\u201d On this basis, we can say that grace makes possible a life of holiness that was not possible before. But \u201cmakes possible\u201d is not strong enough. We might say \u201cenables\u201d or \u201cempowers,\u201d but these words are too anthropocentric. If grace is a participation in the nature of God, then it\u2019s best to say that God is actively drawing us into the fullness of his divine life. God does so by moving us, by his grace, to love.<\/p>\n

Another way of getting at Aquinas\u2019 insight is asking, \u201cWhy do we do what we do?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Much more where that came from.\u00a0 Read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m currently working on \u201cHe will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead\u201d for my book on the creed.\u00a0 \u00a0What sticks out for me as I write is that on the occasions where somebody comes to Jesus and asks him to judge somebody, they always mean \u201ccondemn\u201d and he never complies with their demand.\u00a0 He does indeed judge.\u00a0 But his judgment is either mercy or something like, \u201cAre you serious, dude?\u201d<\/p>\n

So with the woman taken in adultery, he offers judgment alright.\u00a0 But that judgment is mercy for the women\u2013and self-condemnation for her judges.<\/p>\n

Likewise,when the Sons of Thunder helpfully suggest he call down fire on the Samaritans who rejected him, the judgment he offers is a rebuke\u2013to the Sons of Thunder.<\/p>\n

And when some guy shows up to demand he arbitrate some stupid inheritance quarrel with his brother, he just cocks an eyebrow and says, startlingly, \u201cWho made me judge over you?\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a startling thing for the man who claims he is judge over all mankind to say.\u00a0 Apparently judgement is not what we think it is.<\/p>\n

Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, taught me (following JPII) that God\u2019s judgment is not the opposite of his mercy.\u00a0 Rather, his judgment is<\/em> his mercy.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say I am a universalist.\u00a0 I take very seriously Christ\u2019s warnings about the danger of hell for each of us.\u00a0 But I think hell (assuming anybody goes there) is nothing more or other than the experience of the love of God for somebody who hates the love of God.\u00a0 My hope is that nobody, in the end, makes that choice.\u00a0 But I am not at all confident that nobody can ever make that choice.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, what the gospel shows me is that God wills, always, to give mercy.\u00a0 Even his punishments are his mercies and ordered always to our\u00a0 redemption and final happiness.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Amiri writes: What is grace, and how exactly does grace \u201cwork\u201d? I don\u2019t want to suggest to anyone that I have the full answer, but over the last few years, Pope Francis\u2019 theology has reminded the Church, in important ways, about what grace actually is and what it is not. When I say, \u201cPope […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[858],"class_list":["post-112158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-his-mercy-endures-forever"],"yoast_head":"\nThe excellent Where Peter Is on the Grace and Mercy of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Daniel Amiri writes: What is grace, and how exactly does grace \u201cwork\u201d? 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