Waclaw Hryniewicz

[akimel]

On doing a search of the forum, I discovered that no one has commented on the universalist writings of the Catholic theologian Waclaw Hryniewicz. Some of these writings, included in his book The Challenge of Our Hope, are in fact available on the internet:

“Universal Salvation: Questions on Soteriological Universalism”

“Universal Salvation: St Isaac the Syrian”

“Western Mystics and the Hope of Universal Salvation: Julian of Norwich and Thomas Merton”

Enjoy.

[SLJ]

Thank you!

Sonia

[WE_ARE_ALL_BROTHERS]

Thomas Merton was a universalist? I haven’t read anything from Merton before (though he is a very familiar name) but I had no idea he leaned towards universalism. Thanks.

[akimel]

I am particularly appreciative of Hryniewicz’s insistence that creaturely libertarian freedom down not limit God’s ability to save his creatures, even when they seem to reject him:

In defending human freedom traditional theology assumes that we are able to reject God ultimately and irreversibly. This assumption is one of the foundations of the doctrine on the actual possibility of eternal damnation and the real existence of hell. But the question arises whether human freedom can indeed persist in an everlasting state of separation from God. Can a decision to reject Him be truly ultimate and irrevocable? It is God himself who knows and defines the mystery of created freedom. He is its ultimate horizon and goal. It is in Him that it can attain to the ultimate purpose for which it has been created. Creating humans and calling them to participation in his eternal life, God wanted to have free and creative beings rather than slaves. The human being able to shape his or her own fate and history is a person longed for and beloved, given the admirable ability to take free decisions. The gift of freedom is a gift for eternity in order to achieve the ultimate fulfillment of the whole of existence. One must not forget this positive and ultimate purpose of freedom, this dramatic but wonderful gift.

There is something astonishing in the mystery of freedom: the ability to reject God comes from His own gift! Many things seem to indicate that the Creator is not afraid of granting this dramatic and dangerous gift to His rational creatures. He behaves as if He were sure that He will be able to save this gift and rescue it from the most dangerous and harmful situation of being lost. Freedom may be ill and blind but it never ceases to be God’s gift. It carries in itself a promise and hope for achieving its ultimate goal because it does not cease to be, even in case of wrong and sinful decisions, an ability given by God himself. There is always hope that every freedom will finally prove to be what God wanted, namely, freedom to the right decision. He alone can save the created freedom in a truly divine manner without destroying His own gift.

A deeper understanding of the gift of freedom is able to open new perspectives of universalist eschatological thinking. One can then perceive that God is always present in the very depths of His creatures. A created being is unable to free itself entirely from this immanent presence of the Creator. It may ignore or reject it, but it cannot change the very fact of being created and its dependence in existence on the all-embracing reality of God. This fact already implies a mysterious promise stemming from the indestructible bond between God and each creature. No fault, nor the state of getting completely lost, can destroy this ontological bond. The human being is and will always remain an icon of God, a being who with the help of the Creator is able to overcome all resistance and make the ultimate and irreversible choice of the Infinite Goodness. …

God himself is the greatest hope for all His creatures. He penetrates even the infernal depths of the human heart. He can lead out of the depths of Gehenna. He does not destroy the freedom of rational beings, but respects human choice. However, he has his truly divine way of persuading the freedom of the beings most in revolt. He attracts and transforms them from the inside through His goodness, beauty and boundless love manifested above all in the voluntary kenosis of Christ. The existential inner state of being lost is constantly visited by Christ. He does not leave anyone on his or her own. To persist in sinful resistance to God is the worst illness of freedom. I believe that Christ is forever the Good Shepherd of all those who got lost. Not to leave, to return again and again, to persuade and attract - this is the most divine feature of God.

Typical reflection on the relationship of divine and creaturely agency often seems to place God and humanity on the same level. Only two choices are given: God either respects human choice and leaves us alone with our choices, no matter how disastrous, or God violates the integrity of our personhood and coerces us to love and obey him. But surely this cannot be right, precisely because our freedom is a gift from our transcendent creator that is perpetually given and sustained by him in the depths of our being. Though truly and genuinely freed, we are not autonomous, independent beings. God is not just not “outside” of us, knocking on the door; he is also “inside” of us, gently invoking us to heed his summons of love.

At least this is something along the lines we need to think about the relationship between divine freedom and creaturely freedom.

Clearly this is not just a theoretical question for me. I do not know the spiritual state of my departed son. But even if he thought he had rejected God by his adoption of atheism, even if he thought he was rejecting God by his decision to commit suicide, I must believe that the holy God is free to reach down into Aaron’s subjective depths and persuade him to open his heart to the healing and converting power of the Spirit. I must believe this for my Aaron. I must believe this for myself. If I could not believe this, surely I would go mad.

[AllanS]

I think it’s all about resonance.

When I blow into a trumpet, my lips make random vibrations of many frequencies. Of these, a few resonate in the trumpet and are amplified, a bright, clear note. The other vibrations, the ones which do not fit the trumpet, simply die away.

By analogy, there are many things vibrating in my heart, desires both good and evil. When I meet God face to face, the good things will resonate in his presence and be amplified. The evil things will simply die away.

We all know people who can find the good in those they meet and blow it into flame. God will do precisely the same.

“Arise O Sleeper from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

[Matt_Wiley]

I am particularly appreciative of Hryniewicz’s insistence that creaturely libertarian freedom down not limit God’s ability to save his creatures, even when they seem to reject him:

In defending human freedom traditional theology assumes that we are able to reject God ultimately and irreversibly. This assumption is one of the foundations of the doctrine on the actual possibility of eternal damnation and the real existence of hell. But the question arises whether human freedom can indeed persist in an everlasting state of separation from God. Can a decision to reject Him be truly ultimate and irrevocable? It is God himself who knows and defines the mystery of created freedom. He is its ultimate horizon and goal. It is in Him that it can attain to the ultimate purpose for which it has been created. Creating humans and calling them to participation in his eternal life, God wanted to have free and creative beings rather than slaves. The human being able to shape his or her own fate and history is a person longed for and beloved, given the admirable ability to take free decisions. The gift of freedom is a gift for eternity in order to achieve the ultimate fulfillment of the whole of existence. One must not forget this positive and ultimate purpose of freedom, this dramatic but wonderful gift.

There is something astonishing in the mystery of freedom: the ability to reject God comes from His own gift! Many things seem to indicate that the Creator is not afraid of granting this dramatic and dangerous gift to His rational creatures. He behaves as if He were sure that He will be able to save this gift and rescue it from the most dangerous and harmful situation of being lost. Freedom may be ill and blind but it never ceases to be God's gift. It carries in itself a promise and hope for achieving its ultimate goal because it does not cease to be, even in case of wrong and sinful decisions, an ability given by God himself. There is always hope that every freedom will finally prove to be what God wanted, namely, freedom to the right decision. He alone can save the created freedom in a truly divine manner without destroying His own gift.

A deeper understanding of the gift of freedom is able to open new perspectives of universalist eschatological thinking. One can then perceive that God is always present in the very depths of His creatures. A created being is unable to free itself entirely from this immanent presence of the Creator. It may ignore or reject it, but it cannot change the very fact of being created and its dependence in existence on the all-embracing reality of God. This fact already implies a mysterious promise stemming from the indestructible bond between God and each creature. No fault, nor the state of getting completely lost, can destroy this ontological bond. The human being is and will always remain an icon of God, a being who with the help of the Creator is able to overcome all resistance and make the ultimate and irreversible choice of the Infinite Goodness. ...

God himself is the greatest hope for all His creatures. He penetrates even the infernal depths of the human heart. He can lead out of the depths of Gehenna. He does not destroy the freedom of rational beings, but respects human choice. However, he has his truly divine way of persuading the freedom of the beings most in revolt. He attracts and transforms them from the inside through His goodness, beauty and boundless love manifested above all in the voluntary kenosis of Christ. The existential inner state of being lost is constantly visited by Christ. He does not leave anyone on his or her own. To persist in sinful resistance to God is the worst illness of freedom. I believe that Christ is forever the Good Shepherd of all those who got lost. Not to leave, to return again and again, to persuade and attract - this is the most divine feature of God.

Typical reflection on the relationship of divine and creaturely agency often seems to place God and humanity on the same level. Only two choices are given: God either respects human choice and leaves us alone with our choices, no matter how disastrous, or God violates the integrity of our personhood and coerces us to love and obey him. But surely this cannot be right, precisely because our freedom is a gift from our transcendent creator that is perpetually given and sustained by him in the depths of our being. Though truly and genuinely freed, we are not autonomous, independent beings. God is not just not “outside” of us, knocking on the door; he is also “inside” of us, gently invoking us to heed his summons of love.

At least this is something along the lines we need to think about the relationship between divine freedom and creaturely freedom.

Clearly this is not just a theoretical question for me. I do not know the spiritual state of my departed son. But even if he thought he had rejected God by his adoption of atheism, even if he thought he was rejecting God by his decision to commit suicide, I must believe that the holy God is free to reach down into Aaron’s subjective depths and persuade him to open his heart to the healing and converting power of the Spirit. I must believe this for my Aaron. I must believe this for myself. If I could not believe this, surely I would go mad.

Beautiful post, Alvin Just hold onto this hope, brother, because it’s worth holding on to.

Blessings to you, and know that God is with you and your wife and with Aaron.

Matt