Humble Confidence Quotes

“Once again, the experience of self is the experience of God. All things are potentially revelatory. Everything that constitutes our human existence can speak to us of God.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“Rahner’s theology of grace helps fill out his doctrine of God by insisting that the ultimate Goal of human aspiration is not remote but draws near as the loving Source of our spiritual dynamism. The presence of the Holy Spirit within us grounds the spiritual imperative to stay alert for clues to divine grace sustaining and guiding our everyday lives.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“As Rahner puts it: “We are saved because this man who is one of us has been saved by God and God has thereby made his salvific will present in the world historically, really and irrevocably.” 3 This soteriology, or theology of salvation, puts the emphasis on God’s ongoing and ultimately triumphant love for all human beings; on the perfect obedience of the man Jesus who is like us in all things but sin; and on the resurrection that vindicates the life and death of Jesus and plants the seeds of the final victory over sin.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“For Christians uncomfortable with the notion of Jesus as the victim of divine displeasure, Rahner offers a theology that stresses God’s abiding love and Christ’s free commitment to the cause of God and humanity. As Christians, we commit ourselves to Jesus not as a passive victim of divine wrath but as the faithful one freely accepting death on a cross as a passage to risen life.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“Rahner was critical of certain developments in the theology of grace in Western Christianity. Contrary to Augustine’s salvation pessimism that spoke of large numbers who are damned, Rahner emphasized a salvation optimism based on the power and omnipresence of uncreated grace. He insisted that just because grace is a free gift does not mean it is rare.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“Applying the example of Jesus to our own “Gethsemane-existence,” Rahner repeats the good news: “there is no darkness in which God does not live,” and “no abyss greater than the abyss of divine love and mercy.” Jesus, who suffered such emotional torment in the garden, remains for us a sign of hope, especially when we meet defeat and failure on the spiritual journey. The darkest moments cannot finally prevail over the light of divine love.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“silence.” At the same time, his death is “the deepest and most personal act of his life.” It is the hour of his glorification, the reason he came into the world. All of his life Jesus was obedient to the will of his Father. This submissive obedience to God has, as Rahner puts it, a “certain mystical sense” about it that defies our usual categories. By his obedience, Jesus absorbs “that which is totally foreign to him, the sinfulness of the world,” and transforms it into the power of God’s love. The obedience of Jesus is “the silent Yes” to his excruciating death, intensified by his sense of abandonment. According to Rahner, the death of Jesus was not only an act of acceptance of suffering but also a loving “Yes” to “the incomprehensibility of God.” It is only through love that human beings can express their essence and escape the prison of selfishness.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“Rahner sees the story as a commentary on the common human temptation to want more, despite already having enough. He thinks this tendency is intensified in our technological age, which makes so many goods readily available.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“I must stop the busy routine for a moment and address words of praise to You, Holy Spirit, living within me. I adore You as the Light that illumines my dark moments, the Compass who guides me along the path of moral decisions, the Hope that sustains me when stalked by despair, the Love that propels me out of selfishness into life-giving relationships, and the Power that enables all my prayers. Help me recognize and praise You as the Gift of my life and the Source of my being.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“We are interdependent creatures who need others so that we can break out of the prison of selfishness and experience the liberation of caring for others. In turn we perform an important service for others by being receptive to their love.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“Freedom is not merely a neutral capacity to choose among alternatives, nor is it simply the power to revise or reverse decisions. It is rather the capacity for the infinite, the power to do something of permanent validity, to make ourselves to be what we will be forever.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner

“As Rahner puts it, “freedom is the capacity for the eternal,” the root power to make ourselves to be what we will be forever. Our task is to get our desires in proper order, to direct our decisions to what is truly good, and to orient our will to God.”
― James Bacik, Humble Confidence: Spiritual and Pastoral Guidance from Karl Rahner