Saturday, February 03, 2007

Catholic==Mormon???

I previously said that I needed to study, meditate, and pray about what is sometimes call deification, or being made like Christ. We who are Catholics recognize implicitly that we do not believe we will become Gods, as held by the LDS, but it can be hard to make the distinction, such that a Mormon would not accuse us of holding their belief.

Simon-Peter suggested I purchase a book, which just arrived; in it I found the following, which seems to explain it rather well.

Christ the Life of the Soul,
by Dom Columba Marmion, OSB
Chapter I, sec IV

God gives us a mysterious share in His Nature which we call "grace": Efficiamini divinae consortes naturae[40]

According to St. Thomas, this grace is a "particiapted similitude" of the Divine nature. Participata similitude divinae naturae.[41]

40, II Pet 1:4 St. Peter does not say that we become participants of the Divine Essence, but of the Divine nature, that is to say, of that activity which constitutes the life of God, and consists in the knowledge and the fruitful, beatifying love of the Divine Persons.
41. St. Thom. III, q. lxii, a. I. This is why it is said in theology that grace is deiform, in order to denote the Divine resemblance it produces in us.

Ps 141 in Evening Prayer I, Week 1, Liturgy of the Hours, reminded me that I needed to post this.

6 comments:

  1. If we become God, then there's no sense in which we owe obedience to God, since God is then no greater than we are -- not even by virtue of His having created us.

    Hence the following kookburgery from womensordination.org:

    "Prophetic obedience leads us towards the recognition of equality: a "discipleship of equals", rather than the older 'family' model (Father, Mother, superior-subject) still often found in the Church. In prophetic obedience, we are moving away from this older model towards co-authority, co-obedience and interdependence."

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  2. Tbat is a wonderful book and so is his Union with God.

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  3. You got it then. Good. The other book I mentioned "Spiritual Secrets" actually does a better job of explaining "divinization". I really recommend you get that one too.

    Isn't it wonderful? Not of essence (and who wants to be anyway? I am happy not being Daddy), but of nature (perfect).

    BTW I see you are reading Divine Intimacy.

    Like I said, inside every OP is an OCDS just trying to get out ;-).

    Ugh! Davros! I used to watch Dr. Who Who growing up. Poor old Daleks, I used to feel sorry for them.

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  4. Well, darn. I liked it so much better when I was entitled to be genuflected at by deacons (who, to my face, would tell me to shut up).

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  5. Simon-Peter wrote:

    Like I said, inside every OP is an OCDS just trying to get out ;-).

    The Order has as a motto:
    Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere (contemplate and to give to others the fruits of contemplation)

    My paraphrase is "we're noisy contemplatives" :)

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  6. Well, I actually think the OP and OCDS are complimentary orders...

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