The Doctors of the Church agree — holiness is for all

The universal call to holiness is not an invention of Vatican II. It has deep roots in Catholic tradition. The great doctors and theologians of the Church consistently taught that all Christians are called to the heights of union with God. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) taught that "mental prayer is the door to the castle" — and every soul has a castle. John of the Cross (d. 1591) insisted that even advanced practitioners in the purgative way are still "beginners" — implying the full journey is normative. Francis de Sales (d. 1622) wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life specifically to show that devotion "is for everyone, in every state of life." Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, the great Dominican theologian, argued that the three ages of the interior life (purgative, illuminative, unitive) represent normal spiritual development, not extraordinary grace. Vatican II's Lumen Gentium Chapter 5 simply codified this consensus: "All the faithful, of every rank and status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity."

Catechism sources (PD) teaches:

"I congratulate you on the good which it is likely to do." Most Rev. William Henry Elder, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati: "I think the work will be a very serviceable one. I hope it will meet with great success."

(Source: baltimore_catechism.txt)

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches:

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article?

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

Doctrinal Foundation

T3.W.006 (De fide (defined dogma)): Christ's redemption is objectively sufficient for all human beings without exception. No one is excluded from the scope of His atoning sacrifice by any divine decree. The merits of His Passion are infinite and available to all.

• Scripture: He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
• Aquinas: Christ's Passion was a sufficient and even a superabundant satisfaction for the sins of the whole human race.
• Councils: Though He died for all, yet not all receive the benefit of His death, but only those to whom the merit of His Passion is communicated.

T3.W.009 (sententia_certa): Christ exercises a threefold office (munus triplex): He is Prophet (teacher of divine truth), Priest (sanctifier who offers sacrifice and intercedes), and King (ruler of the universal Kingdom of God). These three offices encompass the whole of His salvific mission.

• Scripture: The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear.
• Aquinas: Christ is called the Anointed, for He is the supreme Prophet, the supreme Priest, and the supreme King.

T4.Ch.022 (sententia_certa): Those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who seek God with a sincere heart and strive to do His will as known through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation. They are related to the Church in ways known to God.

• Scripture: For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these having not the law are a law to themselves: who shew the work of the law written in their hearts.

• Fathers: Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God.

From the Sources

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

But you say, the Father is called God with the addition of the article, the Son without it. What say you then, when the Apostle writes, The great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; and again, Who is over all, God; and Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father; without the article? Besides, too, it were superfluous here, to affix what had been affixed just before. So that it does not follow, though the article is not affixed to the Son, that He is therefore an inferior God.

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

As Esaias was sent on his commission, not from any place out of the world, but from where he saw the Lord sitting upon His high and lofty throne; in like manner John was sent from the desert to baptize; for he says, He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. AUG. What was he called? whose name was John?

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

Teresa. The seeds of discord are sown between the old friars and the reformed. In May S. John of the Cross made confessor to the nuns of the Incarnation. Great graces bestowed on the Saint while in the monastery of the Incarnation: the mystical betrothal : and the ecstasy in the parlour while speaking to S. John of the Cross. The spiritual challenge from the friars of Pastrana.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

It may be held for certain that everything will be truly told, without any exaggeration whatever, to the.

Additional Sources

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

How joy in them is to be directed unto God ., . .

CHAPTER XXX. The evils resulting from the will’s rejoicing in this kind of goods, - 334 CHAPTER XXXI. The benefits of self-denial in the joy of supernatural graces

• 329

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The sixth kind of goods in which the will ae Their nature. The first division ofthem . : . ee + 342 CHAPTER XXXIII. Of the spiritual goods distinctly cognisable by the understanding and the

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

The ‘Ascent’ deals with the active purgation of the senses, the intellect and the will, that is with the need for, and the manner of, the complete mortification of these, as far as under the grace of God it depends on the power of man. The ‘Obscure Night’ treats of the passive purgation of the same faculties, brought about by Divine intervention which steps in where human endeavours fail.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

The notes are the special feature, the special disgrace, of this edition.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

What he did for a part we have done, in an English version, for the whole.

xvi Translator s Preface.

printed and which had the grace to omit the Gallican notes, but otherwise the text remained the same as in the previous editions, no serious attempt apparently being made to follow up Blaise's discovery. Even

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do." May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with the desire of imitating St.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

Ignatius, as he lay wounded in his brother's house, read the lives of the saints to while away the time. Touched by grace, he cried, "What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do." May this little book, in like manner, inspire its readers with the desire of imitating St.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

To shake and rob this some of us wanton young fellows went, late one night (having, according to our disgraceful habit, prolonged our games in the streets until then), and carried away great loads, not to eat ourselves, but to fling to the very swine, having only eaten some of them; and to do this pleased us all the more because it was not permitted.

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

"I congratulate you on the good which it is likely to do." Most Rev. William Henry Elder, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati: "I think the work will be a very serviceable one. I hope it will meet with great success." Most Rev. Thomas L. Grace, D.D., Archbishop of Siunia: "Your book entitled An Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism supplies a want which is generally felt by the clergy and others engaged in teaching Catechism.

CONTENTS

PRAYERS

The Lord's Prayer The Angelical Salutation The Apostles' Creed The Confiteor An Act of Faith An Act of Hope An Act of Love An Act of Contrition The Blessing before Meals Grace after Meals The Manner in Which a Lay Person Is to Baptize in Case of Necessity

CATECHISM

Lesson 1--On the End of Man Lesson 2--On God and His Perfections Lesson 3--On the Unity and Trinity of God