". . . research by myself and others has made me realise that the original book was coloured too much by the naive zeal of the new convert and was overly romantic and simplistic in some of what it said both about particular themes and also about the uniqueness and particularity of Celtic Christianity. I have also become more cautious about the use of this phrase and the concept that it denotes. . . .
"American sociology's sacred project nonetheless insists on the 'moral' affirmation of everyone's choices and lifestyle by everyone else in his or her society, an insistence that is mindless and impossible. Personalism distinguishes between those matters about which all humans must be affirmed—or, better, respected, loved, and treated with justice—and those that instead require their being challenged, debated, and sometimes even refused, precisely because they are loved."
"not many sociologists are as sociological about themselves as they are about the world around them. They can carefully train their sociological scopes on everyone and everything beyond themselves, yet fail to see and name the basic true character of the [sacred] project that animates and directs their own professional endeavors. . . . The only need . . . for any sociological analysis or debunking is to expose for transformation anything outside of sociology that gets in the way of realizing the sacred aspirations of that project. That and only that is what the critical sociological eye is meant for."
"Noi
viviamo sommersi nel fondo d’un pelago d’aria elementare. . . ."
"Moral virtue may be considered either as perfect or as imperfect. An imperfect moral virtue, temperance for instance, or fortitude, is nothing but an inclination in us to do some kind of good deed, whether such inclination be in us by nature or by habituation. If we take the moral virtues in this way, they are not connected: since we find men who, by natural temperament or by being accustomed, are prompt in doing deeds of liberality [(opera liberalitatis)], but are not prompt in doing deeds of chastity [(opera castitatis)]."for St. Thomas, charity (as a fledgling disposition [not yet a more or less established virtue confirmed in act]) neither guarantees its own full development or the connection of the other infused virtues nor guarantees a coherent psychological structure of the acquired virtues (as dispositions [not yet more or less established virtues confirmed in act]). Aquinas explains that in the exercise of infused moral virtues we can 'experience difficulty in their works, by reason of certain ordinary dispositions remaining from previous acts. This difficulty does not occur in respect of acquired moral virtue: because the repeated acts by which they are acquired remove also the contrary dispositions.'For Aquinas there can be "an imperfect connection of charity and the other infused virtues" (350), as well as "growth" in or a falling away on the level of the acquired virtues (351). "A static point does not exist. At any moment, either a person advances toward a more coherent connection of these dispositions [infused and acquired], or he regresses" (351). From p. 352:
Aquinas's approach. . . . construes moral development as a process of habitualizing, connaturalizing, and connecting the virtues, while not losing hope for any 'flawed saint,' a term that Aquinas would not use. In particular, God can revive the person—after a grave sin—to repent, to seek forgiveness, and to repair (when possible) the damage done. The person thus returns to the pathway of development with renewed charity and infused virtue, which includes the possibility of further connecting the virtues, sanctifying desire, and even being disposed to martyrdom in a state of grace.See also Eleanor Stump:
Considered in this way, courage can fail to be a moral disposition; and it can be had even by those who are not moral people.
Cf. St. John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on Matthew, as trans. NPNF: "there are many who show mercy, and who commit no rapine, nor are covetous, who yet are guilty of fornication and uncleanness [(πορνεύουσι δὲ και ἀσελγαίνουσι)] ; to signify that the former alone suffices not, He hath added this, much in the same sense as Paul, writing to the Corinthians, bore witness of the Macedonians, that they were rich not only in almsgiving, but also all other virtue" (Greek from Homiliae in Matthaevm, ed. Field (1836), vol. 1, p. 194).
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| Dieric Bouts I (c. 1415-1475), Ecce Agnus Dei (1464/66), Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
solusque omnium prophetarum redemptorem mundi quem praenuntiavit ostentit.
and alone of all the prophets pointed out the redeemer of the world whom he foretold.See Ward and Johnson, The prefaces of the Roman missal: a source compendium with concordances and indices (Rome: Congregation for Divine Worship, 1989): 420-421. See also Corpus praefationum no. 464, and especially on pp. 221-222 of the first volume of the Apparatus, where those earliest sacramentaries (and more) are referenced, but the profound enrichment this Preface has undergone since is noted: "the Leonine and Gelasian original has been here profoundly recast and enriched" (222).
