John Paul II to Aristotle and Back Again

But when we see our lives as part of the great story of salvation—begun in the Garden and continuing way beyond the death of the last Apostle—our lives are then seen in light of the great tapestry of divine providence; a story in which we all have our own part to play—young or old—and a part that perhaps won’t be played unless we answer the call

All truth is anchored in the real and all reality participates in God, because God is the One who gives it being; and God has revealed in the fullness of time that his Son is the Logos, the Word, and so all truth takes on a Christo-centric dimension, whether natural or revealed

This is why martyrdom has been seen by the Christian tradition as the completion of discipleship—imitation of Christ has always been the first principle of Christian spirituality.120 But for most of us, this “martyrdom” likely won’t entail blood; however, it will entail the daily death to ourselves—to our desires/wants, to the “me-centered” part of us all—that part of us so often preoccupied by the seven deadly sins.

For John Paul II, NFP is superior to artificial contraception, both in respect to the natural order and the personal order. For starters, NFP works with the natural order, not against it. The natural order is such that each and every sexual act does not result in procreation; accordingly, NFP simply works with the Creator’s natural order

Now, the timing of the act (say, if it’s engaged in during an infertile time of the month), or the particular individuals involved (say, if one or other is infertile) does not change the essential nature of the act; here the sexual act is still the same in kind, regardless of whether or not some circumstantial accidents render it infertile. As long as the act is the kind of act that could, in principle, result in procreation—even if such a result is unlikely (given the particular persons involved, or the particular temporal circumstances surrounding the act)—it still conforms to the natural ordering of the sexual act to the end of reproduction

Happiness is not something that simply happens to me; it’s the fruit of our character, of a life well-lived

Morality is not simply about external actions and rules; it’s not simply about “doing the right thing.” Rather, it’s transforming ourselves into the kind of people who do the right thing consistently, effortlessly, and with joy

Interestingly, the word “Satan” in Hebrew means “to accuse.” Satan is the accuser, always pointing out to us and to God that we are not “good enough.”66 His lie is to say that “we are too far gone—that we are beyond the reach of God’s mercy.” We must remember that “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and that we love God “because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19)

The lie of the Devil is that you need to heal yourself first, and then approach God’s throne of mercy; this is backwards: it’s the sick that need the doctor and they need to go to him precisely when they’re sick

We can see here in envy a principle true of all of the deadly sins: they corrode the joy in our hearts; they lead to misery, not happiness