Veritatis Splendor Research Articles

Why is Veritatis Splendor a controversial encyclical?

This article seeks to answer essentially one question: why and in what sense is Veritatis Splendor a controversial encyclical? Applying the hermeneutic method, which attempts to read the text in light of the tradition in which it is embedded and its subsequent reception, the paper provides three answers. The fi rst reason why Veritatis Splendor is controversial is that it is part of a history of strong moral-theological controversies. The second answer concerns its reception: on the one hand, it provoked reactions of strong criticism in various ecclesial circles; on the other, the relationship with the subsequent Magisterium (especially Amoris laetitia) must be correctly interpreted. The third answer is no longer located outside the encyclical but within it. In fact, in chapter two, the encyclical becomes intentionally controversial because it confronts, in its work of discernment, certain tendencies in moral theology today. The conclusion attempts to interpret Veritatis Splendor more broadly. Its profound intention is to be grasped in proposing a broad and liberating vision of morality, at once Christological and rational, in obedience to the conciliar legacy and mandate.

When the Morally "Right" Thing to Do Is Difficult: Reflections on a True "Pastoral" Approach in John Paul II's Veritatis Splendor

When the Morally "Right" Thing to Do Is Difficult: Reflections on a True "Pastoral" Approach in John Paul II's Veritatis Splendor

Kebebasan Sejati sebagai Dasar Kekudusan

True freedom is an important foundation for the Church's call to holiness. True freedom is the fruit of a person's lived experience of knowing God as the highest truth and desiring God as the highest good. Veritatis Splendor, an encyclical by Pope John Paul II on truth and freedom, emphasizes that human freedom does not have an end in itself but is always dependent on divine truth. This is shown in the attitude of obedience to the law of God, which is a manifestation of God's love and wisdom. Conscience plays an important role in human obedience to God because it is there that a person meets God personally. True freedom is then revealed in moral actions in everyday life where each person is called to imitate the act of martyrdom as moral perfection. The encyclical itself states that martyrdomis a prominent example of the Church's holiness.

The Identity of Fate and the Identity of Choice: Between the Routine of Continuation and the Ordinariness of Rejection

Culture and religion still interrelate with one another. The presence of religious values in social life depends, above all, on the processes of constructing cultural identities in the course of socialization and education, which warrant the experience of the ontological realness of the social world. In the encyclical Veritatis splendor, John Paul II highlights the issue of culture, whose essence is “the moral sense, and which is in turn rooted and fulfilled in the religious sense.”[1] However, in the contemporary culture, there are strong tendencies to separate truth from freedom and faith from morality. As a result, “the moral sense” becomes dissociated from “the religious sense.”
 In this article, I introduce the category of fate which emphasizes reproducibility, the inter-generational reproduction of patterns of religious stances and practices, confessional affiliations on the level of obviousness of the profiles of social personality, and the natural character of the structures of the social world in which Christianity is “like the air” we breathe, indispensable to preserve our existence.
 In opposition to the culture of fate there is the culture of choice, described with the category of prefiguration which sets our imagination free from the obligatory character of the cultural and religious model of the past. The problem hinted at in the title of this article, is illustrated by the results of sociological research, which demonstrates attitudes of selective acceptance/rejection of the Decalogue and which becomes “the inverse Decalogue”,as such fitting into the liquid reality. Its sign is the imperative of choice which contributes to the deconstruction of the axiological invariants which are the basis of Christian civilization.

Veritatis Splendor at Thirty

Ecclesial commentators often describe the corrective function Pope St. John Paul’s 1993 encyclical letter Veritatis splendor exercised at the end of the twentieth century. Dissenting theological opinions, both from revisionist theologians of the immediate post-conciliar period and dissenting authors today, can find magisterial clarity in the encyclical. The document’s importance for an adequate understanding of the subsequent moral magisterium has received less fulsome treatment. With this essay, we examine five important and challenging teachings of the moral magisterium since the publication of Veritatis splendor that rely on the wisdom of the encyclical. In fact, a proper conception of each of these teachings will require adherence to the truths expressed in the 1993 document.

Veritatis Splendor and the Crisis in Human Rights

The engagement of the Catholic Church with the post-World War II international human rights project has been marked from the beginning by strong support coupled with pointed reminders of larger issues left unaddressed. In the 1990s, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights came under assault from many directions, the Catholic Church was the strongest institutional defender of the entire body of principles in that historic document. Today, with the human rights project in crisis, its future may well hinge on how its defenders deal with problems to which Church leaders have repeatedly called attention. Prominent among these is the question of what happens to freedom when man “goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself ”(John Paul II, Veritatis splendor, n. 1).

Conscience and the Moral Law

The concept of an intrinsically immoral act is unattractive and widely rejected in modern moral theory, with some even going so far as to suggest that no such thing can exist. Such thinkers insist that two distinct realms exist: the moral law and the individual conscience. However, Veritatis splendor expressly rejects this stance and accurately foresees its incoherence and the threat accepting it poses to the credibility of Catholic moral teaching. This article examines the writings of Thomas Aquinas as well as several other important church documents to show that personal conscience cannot be separated from the objective moral law.

St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law

The object of the moral act is a subject of some controversy in modern discussions of Christian ethics. Pope St. John Paul II, in the encyclical Veritatis splendor, speaks to the nature of the moral act with reference to Thomistic philosophy. This article discusses the foundational elements of Thomas Aquinas’s account of natural law and provides some important clarification of the nature of the moral act as addressed in the encyclical.

Christian Martyrdom Never Expires: Some Theological and Ethical Aspects of Obedience usque ad sanguinem

Both in the past and today an act of bearing witness to faith in God through martyrdom has been a unique sign and testimony of love for Christ who himself was obedient to the Father usque ad mortem. It is at the same time a clear judgment against those cultures, which acknowledge odium fidei. In his moral encyclical Veritatis Splendor John Paul II points to several arguments in order to emphasize that the way of martyrdom has lost none of its relevance and significance for Christians nowadays. The Pope’s claim is grounded on the fact that “faith possesses a moral content” and so it is false to separate faith (credenda) from moral life (agenda) of those who believe. Consequently, in particular circumstances Christians are called to be ready to lay their lives both for love of God and acceptance of his commandments. Through imitating their Lord usque ad sanguinem his disciples demonstrate and defend their human dignity received from the Creator, the holiness of God’s law as well as the holiness of the Church.

Aplikácia tomistického princípu dvojitého účinku na hraničné bioetické situácie

Catholic moral argumentation in favour of absolute prohibition of all types of direct (intentional) abortions is vulnerable in one point, i.e. in case of therapeutic abortions. It is based on the identification of all direct abortions with a direct killing, which the author deems a wrong presupposition based on faulty analysis of an intention of action and distinction between the intention and the side-effect. Following the line of argumentation of New Natural Law Theory, this paper tries to propose modified conservative natural law position in which not all direct abortions are automatically identified with direct killing (although it admits the majority of non-therapeutic abortions involve direct killing). It criticizes the G. E. M. Anscombe?s (and D. Černý?s) objection of closeness of result or immediate result as unsound and her analysis of an example of stuck pot-holer as analogy to craniotomy. The paper presents the author?s own analysis of the stuck pot-holer example and craniotomy based on the argumentation of New Natural Lawyers, particularly of G. Grisez, J. Finnis and J. Boyle (with conviction the analysis is formally in line with conception of intention and doube-effect of Catholic moral tradition including Aquinas and encyclical Veritatis Splendor). Subsequently after the consultation with specialist, gynecologist-obstetrician, it generalizes the conclusion to all therapeutic abortions of vital-conflict type.

The Consumer Ideology and the Truth about Man

The formation of the human conscience is a controverted question in both philosophical ethics and moral philosophy. Conscience refers to one’s conception and understanding of the moral good. An especially significant manifestation of the problem of conscience in the 20th and 21st centuries is the impact of ideology on the individual person’s moral sense. This article considers the impact of two 19th century philosophies―Mill’s utilitarianism and Marxism―on contemporary moral thought insofar as the interaction of these two produce a powerful materialist ideology to determine the modern European and American conscience. We then turn to the thought of Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła), who in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor and in his earlier philosophical writings developed an account of moral truth by which the dangers of materialistic ideology can be overcome. It is argued, with John Paul II, that only in the context of truth can a coherent account of freedom of conscience under the moral law be developed.

For the Life of the World: Some Reflections

As its title would suggest, For the Life of the World: Towards a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church offers a comprehensive statement of the ideals and principles that should guide Orthodox Christians, and the church itself, in the effort to live a Christlike life in today's pluralistic society. The expression “social ethos” might suggest that this document limits itself to social questions as these are commonly understood, offering a kind of Orthodox equivalent of Roman Catholic social encyclicals. On examination, it is clear that this document goes beyond the standard topics pursued under the rubric of social ethics. It includes an extended discussion of marriage and family life, addressing questions of marital relations and family dynamics as well as the social dimension of marriage; a comparably extended discussion of medical ethics; extended comments on ecumenical and interfaith relations; and reflections on the liturgy as the ultimate context for the moral life. We even find brief but perceptive remarks on our treatment of animals. This document is not so much a presentation of social ethics as a treatise on moral theology comprehensively considered. The nearest Roman Catholic parallel would be Veritatis Splendor, rather than one of the social encyclicals.

Magisterial Teaching on the Foundation of Sexual Ethics

This article seeks to demonstrate that the perverted faculty argument is at the foundation of magisterial teaching in sexual ethics. Yet new natural law (NNL) theorists have consistently condemned this argument for decades despite their claim that they support the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. This situation is incongruous. Current scholarship indicates that NNL theorists do not accept the rationale for magisterial teaching in sexual ethics because, despite their opposition to proportionalism, they still hold in common its most critical error—an error that Pope St. John Paul II was at pains to condemn in Veritatis splendor

Saint Thomas and Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI on the Body and Adoration

Saint Thomas and Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI on the Body and Adoration Kevin E. O'Reilly O.P. The argument put forward in this brief article is straightforward. In brief, both Saint Thomas and Joseph Ratzinger / Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI espouse the logic of hylomorphic anthropology, that is to say, the understanding that we are body–soul unities, as well as a participatory metaphysics. With regard to their respective views on the role of the body in adoration, therefore, there is a striking similarity. For both theologians, human worship of God is necessarily embodied worship. This view, moreover, extends to the role of the cosmos in worship, since the cosmos assumes a symbolic significance precisely on account of the fact that embodied existence is spatially and temporally determined by it. The hylomorphic liturgical anthropology of both theologians stands in stark contrast to the dualistic liturgical anthropology that has become dominant in the West in our own time. Ratzinger/Benedict of course offers a critique of these contemporary liturgical trends. If Thomas were alive today, his critique would arguably be substantially the same as that of the Pope Emeritus. Since what is at stake in the case of the celebration of the Mass is the penetration and shaping of the soul by the Word, there is good reason for attempts at renewal to range Thomas and Benedict side by side against those forces that undermine the majesty and mystery of Catholic liturgical worship. In order to make this argument, however, a brief account of hylomorphic anthropology is in order. This account is drawn from the teaching of Saint Thomas, since Ratzinger/Benedict, to my knowledge, offers no systematic treatment of this subject. While hylomorphic anthropology is a philosophical construal of human nature, Aristotelian-Thomistic in its provenance, it has [End Page 613] nevertheless been adopted by the Church's magisterium. Most recently John Paul II, in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor, emphasized this point, referring to "the Church's teachings on the unity of the human person, whose rational soul is per se et essentialiter the form of his body."1 "The spiritual and immortal soul," John Paul II continues, "is the principle of unity of the human being, whereby it exists as a whole—corpore et anima unus—as a person."2 Having clarified the concept of hylomorphic anthropology, the article will then turn to an exposition of the thought both of Saint Thomas and of Ratzinger/Benedict on adoration. Both theologians consider bodily gestures to be a physical manifestation of an internal attitude. By the same token, bodily gestures such as prostration and kneeling for their part cultivate a spirit of adoration. Both Thomas and Benedict deal with the issue of orientation in the liturgy. Their agreement in this regard, which is grounded in the Church's ancient Tradition, is the fruit of an understanding that we are psychosomatically constituted. Our worship can therefore never be purely spiritual and thus prescind from space and time. A brief account of the contemporary liturgical situation, however, shows it to be Cartesian in its dynamics. In other words, it cultivates a kind of liturgical practice that is disembodied (inasmuch as this is possible for human beings). The overwhelming creativity that one encounters at times in the liturgy and which constitutes a break with Tradition is the fruit of this philosophy. There is therefore good reason to engage with the reflections of Thomas and Benedict concerning the body and adoration. Saint Thomas's Hylomorphic Anthropology3 [End Page 614] Thomas's understanding of the human body is inseparable from his teaching concerning the intellectual soul as man's sole substantial form.4 "The soul is the very nature of the body,"5 he proclaims provocatively in his commentary on the Sentences, thereby emphasizing the intrinsic and intimate connection that obtains between soul and body. We can well assert that the body's actuality derives from the intellectual soul, an assertion that is in accord with Thomas's metaphysical teaching to the effect that matter "has actual existence by the substantial form, which makes it to exist absolutely."6 Completely ruled out in this view is the possibility of experiencing one's body...

A Tale of Two Women. Reflections on Two Types of Morality , One Hundred Years after the Birth of St. John Paul II

On the centenary of the birth of St. John Paul II, this article reflects on his legacy for moral theology by examining the enduring relevance of his 1993 Encyclical Veritatis Splendor. Against what some authors call the new morality, this papal document holds up the classical notion of morality as a realm in which we encounter the absolute, to the point that one may even be called upon to lay down one’s life in martyrdom. As a figure of classical morality, the essay presents Antigone, who risked her life to honor her dead brother’s body. A different woman serves as a figure of the new morality: Mrs. Bergmeier, who is praised by some of the proponents of this approach for having committed “sacrificial” adultery in order to be reunited with her family. Examining the differences between these two accounts, the paper recalls the classical distinction between choice and intention. It is argued that the new morality has forgotten about the moment of choice, subsuming it entirely under the intention. In its teaching on the moral object and intrinsically evil acts, Veritatis Splendor defends the basic moral experience that we have a choice and that our choices matter.

Świadectwo jako kategoria moralna – droga naśladowania Chrystusa w życiu i męczeństwie bł. biskupa Michała Kozala

In the encyclical letter Veritatis splendor St. John Paul II stated that “Through the moral life, faith becomes "confession", not only before God but also before men: it becomes witness”. Referring to the testimony of love Jesus gave while dying on the cross, the Pope further explained that it is "model and means for the witness of his disciples, who are called to walk on the same road (…) Charity, in conformity with the radical demands of the Gospel, can lead the believer to the supreme witness of martyrdom” (VS 89). He adds that “martyrdom is an outstanding sign of the holiness of the Church” (VS 93). The testimony given by a disciple of Christ appears here as a moral category describing and characterizing the life of a Christian. Calling a believer to imitate Christ, becoming his disciple, realizing the call to holiness means calling to testimony through moral life. His most radical manifestation is martyrdom. This relationship is perfectly visible and has been confirmed by the example of life and the martyr's path, which Blessed Bishop Michał Kozal went through prisons and camps, to the concentration one in Dachau, where he suffered a martyr's death. The likeness to Jesus, which is an internal requirement of the Lord's disciple, is normative: it becomes the principle of the moral life of Christ's witness. His faith, his stand for Jesus is to become a testimony.

The Splendor of Transfiguration at the Heart of the Christian Life: The Influence of Pope Saint Paul VI on Veritatis Splendor

The Splendor of Transfiguration at the Heart of the Christian Life:The Influence of Pope Saint Paul VI on Veritatis Splendor Renée Köhler-Ryan On the sixth of August, 1993, Pope Saint John Paul II signed Veritatis Splendor.1 That date, the liturgical feast day of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, is significant for several reasons, each of which reveals a dimension of the "splendor" of truth about which he writes. The point most focused on here is that John Paul II's identification of Paul VI as the "Pope of the Transfiguration" may be an influence on the document. His admiration of his predecessor's encyclicals, particularly those that highlight the moral life and the importance of the Church in the world, offer various dimensions to consider about the splendor of truth about which he speaks.2 This comes to the fore with a close reading of the homilies and addresses that John Paul gave on the feast of the Transfiguration throughout his pontificate. Thereby, the thesis emerges that Veritatis Splendor may be an extension, a response, and even an homage to Paul's Ecclesiam Suam (1964).3 Paul's encyclical, also issued on the feast of the Transfiguration, argues that the Church acts as Christ's source of illumination at the heart of the world. John Paul seems to consider this further evidence of Paul's [End Page 255] deeply personal love of the Church. Such illumination is due to the way that Christians lead their daily lives, in the light of Christ's law of love. Paul VI says in Ecclesiam Suam that he does not have the space to articulate exactly how the moral life and action work. Yet, he emphasizes how important daily life is for this essential work of the Church. The argument here is that Veritatis Splendor seems to pick up the task of articulating just how such a moral life develops. In John Paul's chosen title, "splendor" illuminates how the transcendental of goodness is inseparable from both truth (veritas) and beauty. To lead a good life, in charity, is to live in truth and to become beautiful—by imitating Christ and reflecting the light of divine life. Thus God, the true beauty, is known as Creator and exemplar: he reveals the inner form of the Christian life, which constantly in turn announces itself in morally good actions in the world. To see Christ in unveiled glory is to glimpse the contours of divine activity, which human life can reflect when it strives toward the truth. Fittingly then, from the initial statement of the text onward, a major theme in Veritatis Splendor is that humans are made in God's image; and that this image is most clearly known by contemplating the Son of God, incarnate and glorious on Mount Tabor.4 The encyclical adverts to the revelation that humans may be made to reflect God's glory, but that their capacity to fully be his image has become corrupted through sin.5 Only when humans freely choose to live the moral law in charity can they become once more untarnished, and radiate the life of Christ: this is the possibility of human transfiguration that is particularly evident in the lives and deaths of the martyrs and saints.6 This link between the Transfiguration and splendor has already been articulated by J. A. DiNoia, O.P., who argues that "the date upon which this great encyclical was signed provides a key to unlocking its meaning, that transfiguration and communion are at its heart."7 DiNoia is far [End Page 256] from alone in arguing that these themes signify the way that the encyclical fundamentally reorients moral theology toward the heart of why Christians live according to the divinely revealed moral law. This article discusses him more overtly than others because he makes the direct link between the encyclical and the mystery of the Transfiguration.8 John Paul II states his intentions in writing the encyclical, which are mainly to address certain defects at play in his time in the realm of moral theology. He really goes further than this, though, to emphasize the importance of orthodox moral teaching...

Catholic or Utopian? Two Irreconcilable Views about Moral "Ideals" in Veritatis Splendor

Catholic or Utopian?Two Irreconcilable Views about Moral "Ideals" in Veritatis Splendor Christian Stephens The post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia sparked criticism that some language used in chapter 8 could lead the reader to arrive at the view that the moral good, generally understood as at least requiring adherence to the commandments, is an ideal.1 While this essay was instigated by such concerns, it is not its goal to assess their veracity. Rather, this essay will show that there is a history of describing the moral good as an ideal in papal teaching since at least Leo XIII, but that these Popes at the same time flag an illegitimate use of the term "ideal" to describe the moral good. It will then be claimed that Saint John Paul II's encyclical Veritatis Splendor gives a sufficient outline of both the way in which the moral good can be referred to as an ideal, and the way in which it cannot. Finally, these two senses of "ideal" will be contrasted with each other, focusing especially on the capacity of the false understanding to rationalize sin. Magisterial Usage of "Ideal" Since at least the time of Pope Leo XIII, the popes have been using the word "ideal" in a positive sense to refer to what is desirable, normative, and [End Page 295] objectively fulfilling for Christians.2 These three properties (desirability, normativity, and objective fulfilment) can be taken to be properties of the moral good itself. In all the papal documents analyzed where the moral good is referred to as an ideal, even though the language may emphasize the desirability or difficulty of the good, it never implies a separation from what is normative for the individual. If the magisterium does wish to use "ideal" in a different sense, and one in which it is not referring to the true moral good, it is generally accompanied by an adjective such as "pagan,"3 "Communist,"4 "pseudo,"5 "earthly,"6 "simple,"7 "selfish,"8 "mere,"9 "abstract," or "false utopian."10 While references to a true or false sense of "ideal" are not uncommon in magisterial documents, there has been no attempt to define the distinctions and implications of the two senses of the term. Since Veritatis Splendor intentionally sets out to explore and state the foundations of the moral life, it is not surprising to find that we are provided with the tools to draw out this distinction between a legitimate and illegitimate description of the moral good as an ideal.11 While these are not defined in one place in the encyclical, one could suggest that the entire encyclical unpacks what are two irreconcilable views, each hinging on a particular description of the moral good as an ideal. These clashing views will be called the "Catholic" and the "utopian." The Catholic Sense of "Ideal" Commenting on Jesus's encounter with the rich young man, Saint John Paul II states that, "even though he has followed the moral ideal seriously [End Page 296] and generously from childhood, the rich young man knows that he is still far from the goal."12 I will be referring to this usage of "ideal" as the Catholic sense, and suggest that it is simply synonymous with the moral good itself. In that sentence one is able to exchange the word "ideal" for "good," "law," "rule," or "norm" and its meaning would be essentially the same. Therefore the following section will now attempt to present a synthesis of the notion of the good as found in Veritatis Splendor, intending it to be simultaneously an explanation of the Catholic sense of the word "ideal." By stating that "only God is good" (Mark 10:18), Jesus himself indicated to the rich young man that it is he who is "the absolute Good which attracts us and beckons us."13 It is the divine nature which is the source and model of the moral law and virtue.14 The goodness of the creature, whether it be in the order of nature, grace, or glory, is always a participation in the one, eternal, perfect goodness of God.15 These metaphysical roots of the good (or ideal) which Jesus...

Veritatis Splendor and the Rupture between Faith and Morals

Veritatis Splendor and the Rupture between Faith and Morals

Veritatis Splendor and the Universal Call to Holiness

Veritatis Splendor and the Universal Call to Holiness Mariusz Biliniewicz The aim of this essay is to examine how the Second Vatican Council's teaching about the universal call to holiness is contained in Saint John Paul II's encyclical letter Veritatis Splendor [VS].1 The paper will be divided in three parts. First, the idea of the universal call to holiness—that is, its basic tenets, its recent history, and its exposition in the documents of the Vatican II, especially in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium [LG]—will be examined. Second, the presence of the idea of the universal call to holiness in VS will be discussed. Third, a question about the state of the universal call to holiness today, fifty years after Vatican II and twenty-five years after VS will be asked. It will be argued that the conciliar teaching that every Catholic is called to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of charity is needed today as much as it was at the time of the Council. What Is the "Universal Call to Holiness"? Lumen Gentium was officially promulgated on November 21, 1964, and devotes the entirety of chapter V to the universal call to holiness.2 The [End Page 237] placement of this chapter, before the chapter on the religious and after the chapter on the laity, is significant, and could be compared to the decision of placing the chapter on the Church's hierarchy (ch. III) after the chapter on the "People of God" (ch. II). With regard to the hierarchical order of the Church, the fathers of the Council sought to overcome a certain theological and pastoral dualism that divided the pastors and the faithful into two separate groups in too sharp a manner. In the context of the theological emphasis on the importance of the distinction between the teaching Church (ecclesia docens) and the listening Church (ecclesia discens), or the active element of the Church (hierarchy) and the passive element (the laity), the fathers of Vatican II wanted to clarify that, ultimately, the pastors are also members of the "People of God" and that the sacrament of baptism is more primordial and fundamental for the Christian identity than the sacrament of holy orders. Similarly, with regard to the chapters on the call to holiness and on religious life, it is sometimes argued that by placing it as a bridge between the chapters on the laity and on the religious, the fathers of the Council wanted to stress that, while religious life is a special and unique way in which the call to holiness is lived, the call to holiness itself is not limited to those who have the vocation to religious life, but extends to all Christians by the virtue of their baptism. Lumen Gentium uses this universalist language frequently in this chapter on holiness, which runs for four paragraphs (LG §§39–42): "Everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness" (LG §39); "Lord Jesus … preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition" (LG §40); "He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God" (LG §40); and "all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (LG §40). The Council teaches that "the classes and duties of life are many, but holiness is one—that sanctity which is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God, and who obey the voice of the Father and worship God the Father in spirit and in truth" (LG §41); therefore, "every person must walk unhesitatingly according to his own personal gifts and duties in the path of living faith" (LG §41). Further, "all Christ's faithful, whatever [End Page 238] be the conditions, duties and circumstances of their lives—and indeed through all these, will daily increase in holiness, if they receive all things with faith from the hand of their heavenly Father and if they cooperate with the divine will" (LG §41). "Each one of...