Dedicated to disseminating the devotion to the Divine Heart of God the Father Encompassing All Hearts.
Deification is the transformation of man into god through the grace of God. Predominant in the theology of Eastern Christianity, but marginalized and obscured in contemporary interpretations of the theology of Western Christianity, Bartolo-Abela explores how it is deification, not just salvation, that was and remains the intent of God for mankind, with deification occurring not solely in patria, but in via and in patria. This is an understanding of deification which has been largely lost and needs to be recovered in the Western Church.
Examining the works of the Church Fathers on both sides of the East-West divide in Christianity, Bartolo-Abela shows that rather than being restricted to the East, deification featured consistently in many theological works popular in the West, with the most prominent being those of Aquinas, Augustine, Hilary of Poitiers, Irenaeus and Jerome. Bartolo-Abela argues that it was deification, not just salvation as commonly understood, that was also inherently referred to by Paul VI in the universal call to holiness found in Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.
Deification is the process of man becoming god and attaining theoria, seeing God, after purification of the heart and illumination of the heart of the soul have ensued through baptism in the Holy Spirit, as understood throughout tradition. Deification from this life, not solely the next, is the desire of God for mankind in accord with the words of Christ and Peter, “I said you are gods” (Jn 10:34) and “partakers of the divine nature” (2 P 1:4).
“Before sharing my thoughts on the book I want to mention that I am not going to state my belief or lack of belief in the narratives described in this book. Each person who reads the book can decide for him or herself whether or not he or she believe the words contained therein. It is not my place to judge either way and I will leave my comments to the actual content of the book.
“Having said that, The Divine Family is a short (84 pages), beautifully written book that describes the Archangels Michael and Rafael, the Blessed Virgin and Jesus. It also describes Satan and vividly points out that hell is very real and that it only takes one moral sin for us to go there. The author even directly questions non-believers who may be reading the book and one of the questions she asks is, “Do you really want to wait until you are dead to find out whether all this [hell] is true?” More importantly, though, the book, through the experiences of the author, reminds us how deeply we are loved and cherished by the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“In sharing her experiences, the author relates her experience of the power of the Sacrament of Confession and her experience of the illumination of conscious (something spoken about by many mystics). She also relates several experiences of communication with the Virgin Mary, Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. As I read these experiences, I could almost tangibly feel God’s love.
“There wasn’t anything in the book that struck me as being doctrinally unsound or contrary to Catholic faith and morals. So, even if the experiences aren’t true, they are worth reading because I am sure they will lift your heart up to the Triune God, as it did for me.”
The diptych, revealed, ecumenical icon of the Divine Heart of God the Father Encompassing All Hearts, with the Consecration (Seal) Prayer to the Almighty Father.
Website of the author of these books.
Official website of the Devotion to the Divine Heart of God the Father Encompassing All Hearts.
Preview video of the book The Icon of the Divine Heart of God the Father: Apologia and Canon.
Preview video of the book The Divine Family: Experiential Narratives.