Theology: October 2010 Archives

The liturgical year of the Church brings to the front burner of the spiritual life a number of things at this time of year: questions about salvation, death, hell, heaven, purgatory, Christ's kingship, conversion, and the like. In fact, a central piece of our spiritual work in the School of Community (of Communion and Liberation) right now is understanding what it means to convert, to live in spirit of conversion, to live as though we REALLY believe in Christ, turning away from sin, and turning toward the Lord. Father Julian Carron is hitting members of Communion and Liberation pretty hard with the call to conversion. However, if truth be told, Father Carron is taking his cue from Pope Benedict. Nevertheless, on the human level, for finite beings we have to be concerned with such things because we don't live forever, just in case you didn't know this fact; we are rightly concerned now because once we're dead, there is no way of making a conversion (sorry, there is no reincarnation).

A professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Theology of Shkodër (Albania), Jesuit Father Mario Imperatori, wrote an essay that caught my eye, "Eschatology and Resurrection of the Body in St. Thomas Aquinas," published in the current issue of La Civiltà Cattolica (issue # 3849; pp. 257-268). As you know, this periodical is reviewed by the Secretary of State of the Holy See prior to publication.

In the article, Father Imperatori argues, "St. Thomas's doctrine regarding glorified bodies is based on the resurrection of the flesh, interpreted in an anti-spiritualistic manner. For him, in fact, the intellectual soul is the unique and subsisting shape of the human being; after the resurrection carried out by God, the body too will share with the soul the same incorruptibility and bliss; it will be a spiritual body not because it becomes spirit, but because everything will be subjected to the spirit. Aquinas adds that the human body, because of its wholeness, will continue to be sexual, despite the absence of procreation. The Eschatology of St. Thomas has proven controversial, but it has the merit of asserting the bodily-spiritual reality of man as the ultimate purpose of creation."

So, the human body will relate as a sexual being in the eternal life. Interesting. Thanks for letting me know. What joy that will be, don't you think? I wonder what relating sexually means for a glorified body.

Good question. I am not always confident that the baptized ask this question enough in the lives as Christians. From what I can tell, there seems to be an easy dismissal of anything that requires assent and personal responsibility for our actions, words and thinking. Why? Do we admit there is a sin, that it's part of the human condition, that it's handed down from generation to generation? Are we no longer need of redemption? Is humanity's need for salvation a thing of the past, quaint?  Does the fear of God no longer have currency for a relationship with the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God, creator of heaven and earth?

Jesuit Father Donath Hercsik, a professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome), raises the question of relevance and Original Sin for those who are interested in a life with the Triune God from a some important points of interest. Father Hercsik's essay, "Original Sin, as a Doctrine, Is It Still Relevant Today?" should be of interest to all people of faith.

Hercsik asks the question: "Is there a need for a doctrine on original sin? This doctrine, interpreted according to the Catholic faith, offers an answer to at least four questions that are important to both believers and non-believers: anthropological, philosophical, liturgical, and dogmatic. The article goes on to examine the role of the Sacred Scripture, the position of Saint Augustine, of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and the outcomes of the Council of Trent. In contemporary theology, there exist various tendencies on this theme: original sin as sin of the world, original sin as psychological and/or social phenomena, and original sin and the supremacy of the grace of Christ. 

If you are interested in reading the entire essay, it can be can be read in the Vatican-vetted journal La Civiltà Cattolica 2010 IV, pp. 119-132; issue 3848, © copyright.
A new work has been published, albeit in Italian, on angels. Monsignor Marcello Stazione recently published The Angels: An Essential Guide. Rome Reports has a news video on the project.

...ask the angels for help...
A question was asked of me about the building blocks of the Catholic faith. Is there such a thing? Do Catholics actually have a structure of belief? Well, yes, there are 4 essential building blocks of our life of faith. These 4 areas are the very same areas by which the Catechism of the Catholic is structured.

The 4 Pillars of the Catholic Faith:

-Creed
-10 Commandments
-7 Sacraments
-The Lord's Prayer (Christian prayer)

Christ giving the keys to Peter.jpg
Catholics believe in revealed truth. Spirituality needs to be founded on truth otherwise you have nothing. Hence creed, code & cult are essential aspects of Catholic Faith.

The study of faith needs two distinctions to understand what's going with the army of words and ideas associated with theological reflection: fides quae and fides qua.  

Fides quae ("faith which") is the faith which is held by the Church through divine revelation or sacred tradition (it is what is considered to be objective, verifiable faith).

Fides qua ("faith by which") is the faith by which a person is moved to respond to God. A person's understanding of his or her personal relationship to God is spoken of here; here we usually filter what hear of divine revelation; in some instances personal revelation is located in this type of faith, e.g., the teachings of the saints would be a distinction of fides qua (we'll say this is subjective faith, a faith known through concrete experience).

Theologically speaking, a theologian be able to distinguish between fides quae and fides qua and to always maintain conformity in study and work with fides quae. Only a few theologian have held a personal faith that has been enlightened enough to illuminate fides quae. The task of theology is gain a deeper understanding of faith; it is, as St Anselm said: faith seeking understanding. Our study of theology is done on our knees; that is, we study the fact of God and the allied theological sciences from a posture of adoration of God first, in the sacred Liturgy and second, in personal prayer. 

The student of theology takes his or her first presupposition from the position of "faith." Faith is not a gift of God it is also the manner by which we look at reality, it's the "starting point for a new way -that is, a true way of becoming aware of reality itself." Through faith we have access to truth and through we live truth.  Without faith in the study of theology we have mere religious studies.

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

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This page is a archive of entries in the Theology category from October 2010.

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