Joseph M Tuttle

What the Church teaches about the Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Authorship of Sacred Scripture

“From thy boat I called thee,
Two natures do I see,
Peter the saint; Simon the sinner.
Ah, but which shall be the winner?
Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
Master, Thou shalt not go to the Cross,
I could not bear such a loss!
“Get thou, Satan, behind Me!
From My Father’s will I shall not flee,
My flesh must needs hang like dross.”
But mine are the keys!
I have the highest of authorities!
I can loose and bind,
A fisher of men with souls to find.
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than...

In a previous essay I dealt with the stages in St. Peter’s fall from grace. In this essay, I would like to examine his return to grace – for any treatment of the life of St. Peter would be incomplete without it. Again, Fulton Sheen will be our guide. He lists four steps in returning to the Faith:

First, Disillusionment.
Second, Response to grace.
Third, Amendment.
Fourth, Sorrow.[1]

In this essay, I will examine the relationship between the Liturgy and divinization (sometimes referred to as deification, participation, theosis, and divine sonship - what St. Peter calls “partaking” or “sharing” in the Divine Nature in 2 Peter 1:4). I will focus primarily on the writings of Joseph Ratzinger regarding divinization and the Liturgy, especially in his work The Spirit of the Liturgy.

As Jesus was being interrogated by the High Priest, His disciples had been scattered. Only two remained to follow Him. The first was St. John the Evangelist. The other was St. Peter. When they arrived at the High Priest’s house, St. John entered, while Peter waited outside by a fire. When pressured about his identity and status as a follower of Christ, he denied Him and fulfilled what the Savior had said earlier at the Last Supper: “Jesus said to him, ‘Amen, I say to you, this very night befo...

Brendan riding the back of a whale,
Over the Atlantic sea set sail,
Voyaged to the British Isles,
Over many long miles,
Our Lord Jesus Christ to hail!