Posts Tagged ‘grace’
Growing in the Theological Virtues – Trust Before Faith?
Just because the Hebrew people had grown in trust enough to know God more intimately through Moses, the lessons in growing in trust were far from over. In fact, one of the most noted parts of the Exodus story is how fickle the Hebrew people were. They whined in the desert after being rescued from…
Read MoreGrowing in the Theological Virtues – Hope: Avoiding Despair and Presumption
As we’ve seen in this series, spiritual growth requires us to grow in the theological virtues, including the theological virtue of hope, which means to trust God. The alternative to hope is to fall into either despair or presumption. Despair robs the joy out of life. Presumption turns our trust into exploitation. The Error of…
Read MoreSupernatural Moral Virtues: Fortitude
We saw how spiritual growth will require us to grow in the moral virtues, including the virtue of fortitude to tackle evil in the world. We also saw how the virtue of fortitude can help our spiritual growth by giving us the courage we need to look into our hearts and to change our lives.…
Read MoreSpiritual Gifts – the Priestly Charisms
Through our baptism, every Christian is called to participate in Jesus’ priestly mission – to sanctify the world through prayer and sacrifice. But some of us are especially equipped and empowered through specific charismatic graces to make this part of our Lord’s mission central to their lives. The priestly charisms are spiritual gifts and empowerments…
Read MoreCharity: the Core of Catholic Spirituality
Catholic spirituality, including our prayer life, is founded on charity. The goal of our spirituality is to help us grow in a personal relationship with God. At its heart, that means to live in charity. Let’s discuss what charity is, how it is formed in us, and how we can engage the power of charity…
Read MoreLiving the Theological Virtues: Vocation and Charity
Living the theological virtues – faith, hope and charity – would be impossible without grace. But even with grace the theological virtues are difficult. Hope fully lived is complete trust in God. Do you trust God completely? Faith fully lived is deep intimacy with God. How well do you know God’s mind and heart? Charity…
Read MoreHow the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Empower Our Adventure of Faith
God has created you for love. He wants you to be his child and his friend – to have a deep, intimate, loving relationship with him. But this relationship is going to be a real relationship – one where both parties are active in each other’s life. Now we stop and ask ourselves – how…
Read MoreLiving In Covenant
The natural moral law guides us to become more human and to attain the good, the true and the beautiful. The Divine Law builds on the natural moral law to bring us to our true destiny. The purpose of the Divine Moral Law is to guide us to living the loving covenantal relationship with God. …
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