The Way of the Lord Jesus, Volume Two: Living a Christian Life
Overview
This second volume in Germain Grisez’s monumental study treats the specific moral responsibilities common to lay people as well as those common to clerics and religious. Like volume one, Christian Moral Principles, the chapters in this work are divided into questions and answers based upon the conviction that the whole of the unique life to which God calls each Christian is his or her personal vocation. Each vocation embraces the whole of one’s life, not merely part of it, for God calls each believer—a calling not limited to the specific “vocations” to priesthood or religious life, marriage or the single state—to love and serve Him with the whole of his or her heart, mind, soul, and strength. Vatican II adopted this inclusive understanding of vocation because it is eminently conducive to the integration of faith and daily life. Christian morality goes beyond the concept of laws imposed by God to an approach that promotes the good to be found in this world without going to the extreme of secular humanism which offers redemption without the cross. Insofar as Christians who try to fulfill their personal vocations are cooperating with Jesus, they are not left to their own resources. They are bolstered by God’s grace. Hence, this volume deals with faith, hope, charity, justice, mercy and the other virtues, using them to illuminate and unify many specific norms of Christian morality.
Top Highlights
“When the unwillingness of others to cooperate prevents Christians from committing themselves to something to which they thought they were called, they should accept that outcome as an inarguable sign of God’s will. God calls no one to do what is impossible, and so in such a case it makes no difference to one’s vocation whether the other acted rightly or wrongly.” (Page 120)
“intended to bring about complete sexual satisfaction apart from marital intercourse” (Page 641)
“Assuming there is no special reason to prolong life—for example,” (Page 530)
“every attempt to obtain sexual satisfaction in a nonmarital act is wrong” (Page 642)
“Marriage remedies concupiscence, not merely by providing a legitimate opportunity for sexual gratification, but by making available the sacramental grace of the Holy Spirit so that spouses can integrate their sexual desire with the good of marriage (see 1.e, above). Constant prayer for the Spirit’s help, fidelity practiced from the beginning of marriage, and chaste marital intercourse, as well as other acts of good family life, strengthen both volitional and emotional love.” (Page 672)
- Title: The Way of the Lord Jesus, Volume Two: Living a Christian Life
- Author: Germain Grisez
- Series: The Way of the Lord Jesus
- Publisher: St. Paul’s
- Print Publication Date: 1997
- Logos Release Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Christian life
- ISBNs: 0819909610, 9780819909619
- Resource ID: LLS:WYLRDCHRSTNLF02
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:11:52Z