Consenting To Grace

Set in the context of the author's own healing journey, this resource integrates healing prayer, spiritual companioning, and insights from Gestalt psychotherapy in the faith that God is already at work in each of these arenas to bring healing.

This last small group of Bernard's sermons to be published in translation by Cistercian Publications rightly goes by the title De varii in the critical edition. While most of them treat feasts on the church calendar, they do so in a somewhat hit-or-miss fashion. Three sermons also deal with God's will, God's mercies, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Two sermons for the feast of Saint Victor are a response to a request to Bernard from the monks of Montiéramey; the Bollandist Life of Saint Victor appears here as a complement to those sermons. Besides the nine sermons normally assigned to the De varii, this volume also includes a sermon on the feast of Saint Benedict that was recently added to the collection in Sources Chrétiennes. The survival of this loose assemblage of sermons outside of the organized collections of Bernard's sermons provides a reminder of Bernard as preacher and writer, able despite all his other activities to turn his hand to preaching when called upon. While they treat of disparate themes, they allow us to encounter the quintessential Bernard-speaking of the life of desire, the true meaning of holiness, and the awakening of the spiritual senses in the search for God.

Miikka Ruokanen reveals the powerfully Trinitarian and participatory nature of Martin Luther's conception of divine grace in his magnum opus The Bondage of the Will. The study establishes a genuinely new understanding of Luther's major treatise opening up its ecumenical potential. Luther's debate with Erasmus signifies not only a disagreement concerning free will, but the dispute reveals two contrasting understandings of the very core idea of the Christian faith. For Erasmus, the relationship of the human being with God is based on the rationally and morally acceptable principles of fair play. For Luther, the human being is captivated by the overwhelming power of unfaith and transcendental evil, Satan; only the monergistic grace of the Triune God and the power of the Holy Spirit can liberate him/her. Ruokanen verifies the Trinitarian vision of salvation “by grace alone” as the center of Luther's theology. This doctrine has three dimensions. Firstly, the conversion of the sinner and the birth of faith in Christ are effected by prevenient divine grace; justification “through faith alone,” is the sole work of God's Spirit, comparable to creation ex nihilo. Secondly, participation in the person, life, and divine properties of Christ, as well as participation in his salvific work, his cross and resurrection, are possible solely because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Justification means simultaneously the forensic declaration of the guilty non-guilty on the basis of the atonement by Jesus' cross, as well as a union with Christ in the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, sanctification means the gradual growth of love for God and neighbor enabled by the believer's participation in divine love in the Holy Spirit. Ruokanen's work offers a crucial modification and advance to the world-renowned Finnish school of Luther interpretation: Luther's classic use of Pneumatological language avoids the problems caused by using an ontological language.

THE SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES COLLECTION [15 BOOKS] SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES CATHOLIC WAY PUBLISHING — 15 Books: 10 by the Author, 5 About the Author — Over 1.45 Million Words, Over 2,000 Active Linked Endnotes — Includes an Active Index, Table of Contents for each book and Layered NCX Navigation — Includes Illustrations by Gustave Dore Saint Francis de Sales (21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622), Doctor of the Church, was a Bishop of Geneva. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR: INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD THE CATHOLIC CONTROVERSY THE SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES PRACTICAL PIETY THE CONSOLING THOUGHTS OF SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES THE SECRET OF SANCTITY LETTERS TO PERSONS IN THE WORLD LETTERS TO PERSONS IN RELIGION THE MYSTICAL EXPLANATION OF THE CANTICLE OF CANTICLES BOOKS ABOUT THE AUTHOR: THE SPIRIT OF SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES by Jean-Pierre Camus MONTH OF MARY: ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT OF SAINT DE SALES by Don Gaspar Gilli A MAN OF GOOD ZEAL: A BIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL BASED ON THE LIFE OF SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES by John Edward Beahn SAINT JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL’S DEPOSITIONS: IN THE CAUSE OF THE BEATIFICATION AND CANONISATION OF SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES by Saint Jane Frances de Chantal SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES by Various PUBLISHER: CATHOLIC WAY PUBLISHING

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

The Lettres provinciales (Provincial letters) are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal. Written amid the formulary controversy between the Jansenists and the Jesuits, they are a defense of the Jansenist Antoine Arnauld from Port-Royal-des-Champs, who was condemned to be heretical.