Grace

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our dependence upon God and His supernatural communication affects every aspect of our being. Through sanctifying grace we are given a new life that raises us to the divine family and makes us partakers in the very nature of God. This corresponds to the vital principle in the physical […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. God’s loving care extends to all His creatures, with a special predilection for man. In keeping with His providence, which is the world-plan in the mind of God, we believe He is directing us at every moment to our ultimate destiny in the possession of him for eternity. But […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. In order to appreciate the meaning and importance of the celebrated controversy about efficacious grace, we must see its beginnings in their historical work. Apart from the circumstances to which it gave rise, the centuries-old discussion between two major religious orders in the Church might well seem to be […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. One of the best examples of how a basic concept in revelation has been clarified by Christian reflection is the idea of merit. The word itself occurs nowhere in Scripture, yet the inner meaning we commonly associate with the term reaches into the dawn of God’s supernatural relations with […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. In The Clerk’s Tale by Chaucer, we are told that “natural goodness comes of God, no strain of blood can give it, no, nor ancestor.” [1] This was a poetic way of saying that so-called virtue is not born of nature but comes as a gift of God, who […]

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The most fundamental need of human beings is to know the truth. Unless they know the truth, they cannot choose what is truly good. What is truly good is that which leads us to eternal life. The focus of the present issue of The Catholic Faith is on our […]