Grace Notes 2021-11-03

I picked up a helpful principle from an author I enjoy reading. The author is Peter Kreeft. And if you are unfamiliar with him, he is a Professor of Philosophy at Boston College and The King’s College. He is a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. I encountered him because he often writes of my favorite literary mentor, C.S. Lewis. Kreeft has authored over 80 books on Christian Philosophy, theology, and apologetics.

Among his fascinating and imaginative books is one entitled “Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley”. I don’t know if you realize this, but the three all died on the same day, on November 22, 1963. Almost two decades later Kreeft published his book with a fictional, imaginative, and informative conversation taking place among the three. But I digress.

One of Kreeft’s important philosophical points he labels “The Principle of First and Second Things”. The principle goes something like this. Goods are in a hierarchy, and whenever a greater good, or "first thing", is sacrificed to a lesser good, or "second thing", not only is the "first thing" lost (willingly) but the "second thing" is also lost (unwillingly). This is the psychology of addiction: it spoils the very pleasure it was designed to deliver.

We encountered two such goods in our Gospel Lesson last Sunday. They were ‘truth’ and ‘freedom’. And our Lord Jesus makes it clear that truth is greater. But when the two are reversed, as when freedom is treated as the higher good, not only will truth be sacrificed, but freedom will prove elusive as well. It will end in bondage to sin. It is ‘the truth’ that sets us free.

There are so many Scriptural truths that can better be understood with this principle. Two examples will suffice. When we seek happiness ahead of serving God, and when we put ourselves before others. In both instances we forfeit the higher and lose the lesser as well.

Since You Asked…

What is the significance of All Saints’ Day? The significance is expressed in the hymn The Church’s One Foundation, the fifth stanza: “And mystic sweet communion / With those whose rest is won.” We certainly mourn in death the physical separation with our loved ones, but the Church affirms that the dead in Christ are very much alive and are present with our Lord. We further believe in the Resurrection of the dead on the last day, and our joyful reunion with the saints of all the ages in the eternal kingdom of our Lord. Therefore we can speak of our dearly departed as being a part of the Church Triumphant while we remain the Church Militant. On the festival of All Saints we direct our attention to the richness of Christian history, and the manifold workings of God’s grace through the lives of believers who have gone before us. It is also an appropriate time to honor the memory of those members of our congregation who have died.