Living a Christian Life (Vol II)

This second volume in Germain Grisez'a monumental study treats the specific moral responsibilities common to all or most lay people as well as those common to clerics and religious. Like Volume One, Christian Moral Principles, the chapters in this work are divided into questions and answers based upon the conviction that the whole of the unique life to which God calls each Christian is his or her personal vocation. Each vocation embraces the whole of one's life, not merely part of it, for God calls each believer -- a calling not limited to the specific "vocations" to priesthood or religious life, marriage or the single state -- to love and serve Him with the whole of his or her heart, mind, soul, and strength. Vatican II adopted this inclusive understanding of vocation because it is eminently conducive to the integration of faith and daily life. Christian morality goes beyond the concept of laws imposed by God to an approach that promotes the good to be found in this world without going to the extreme of secular humanism which offers redemption without the cross. Insofar as Christians who try to fulfill their personal vocations are cooperating with Jesus, they are not left to their own resources. They are bolstered by God's grace. Hence, this volume deals with faith, hope, charity, justice, mercy and the other virtues, using them to illuminate and unify many specific norms of Christian morality. Volume Three, Difficult Moral Questions addresses 200 plus matters confronting the world today that have no easy answers.