Jesus Shock by Peter Kreeft

(New York: Wellspring, 2012-05), 168

Christ is not the solution to our problems; he is the giver of our problems. Your problem, however big it is (or however small), is his wise and loving will to you, even though it may not look wise and loving." (37-38)

Notes from 2025-03-01:

  • "Jesus is 'The Word of God,' God's single answer to all our questions." (22)
  • "We only have to think about one thing and then everything else will be O.K., right? Just ask Jesus: What do You want me to do? And then do it." (31)
  • Jesus is not a means to an end, he is the end. (34)
  • Francis Thompson wrote in his classic Poem "The Hound of Heaven," "Is my gloom, after all, shade of His hand outstretched caressingly?" (37)
  • Christ is not the solution to our problems; he is the giver of our problems. Your problem, however big it is (or however small), is his wise and loving will to you, even though it may not look wise and loving." (37-38)
  • "'Jesus-shock' breaks your heart in two and forces you to choose which half of your heart you will follow." (41)
  • "Eucharistic Adoration is the definitive and eternal answer to the problem of boredom, because that is the business of Heaven. Everything smaller than Heaven bores us because only Heaven is bigger than our hearts." (64)
  • "It is just as crazy not to be crazy about Christ as it is to be crazy about anything else." (67)
  • All of Part Four is a beautiful apology for The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (98+)
    • All other Catholic-Protestant debates are almost trivial in comparison (104)
    • Sola fides was overcome by the Joint Statement on Justification. Sola gratia was solved by Trent. Sola scriptura may some day be solved as well. (106)
    • "This is the single clearest reason why I became a Catholic: because I looked at History. Not a single Christian in the world for 1000 years doubted or denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist." (106)
    • "Now comes the supreme irony. What is it that the Eucharist provides? The very thing Protestant Evangelicals cherish the most: the Real Presence of Christ and our real union with Christ, "accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior" in the most real, total, complete, personal, concrete, and intimate way! The connection between the "Protestant point" (Christ as personal Lord and Savior) and the "Catholic point" (the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist) is closer than a bridge; it is virtually an identity. This has to be a central key to ecumenism and reunion. Put the Protestant flint and the Catholic steel together, and you will kindle a fire that will burn round the world." (107)
  • Spiritual Disciplines: "Two of the most perfect and powerful means to becoming a saint are Eucharistic adoration and frequent Holy Communion." (109)
  • Jesus and the Eucharist are either/or, to be or not to be, "choose this day whom you will serve" (Jos-24, pg 142)
  • "Abortion is the Antichrist's demonic parody of the Eucharist. That is why it uses the same holy words, 'This is my body,' with the blasphemously opposite meaning." (144)
  • "Eucharistic Adoration is the foundation for all our other acts of holy warfare...So please be alone with Christ now, frequently, before the Eucharist. This is one of the most practical things you can possibly do." (146-147)
  • "Everyone knows the Church is in crisis." (150)
  • "Flaky, airy, liberal Catholics love his The Phenomenon of Man, but many solid, orthodox, conservative Catholics like Henri de Lubac and Flannery O'Connor love The Divine Milieu." (160)

Notes from 2013-12-05:

  • From Pascal's Penseés: "Not only do we only know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life, or our death, of God or of ourselves." (22)
  • The core of the disagreement of the reformation was not justification by faith, religion and politics, the Bible, the corruption of the Church, the Pope, Mary/the saints, purgatory: it was about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist (29)
  • the Church as the "Theory of Everything", the unified field theory in religion (29)
  • George Macdonld's The Golden Key is his favorite fairy tale (and Tolkien's also). The Golden Key is Christ. (33)
  • "Because of His omnipresence, nothing is secular…He unites everything except sin." (36)
  • "God is such a gentlemen that He asked permission from His mother to be born! (48)
  • "Find a parish that sings. Better yet, make your parish a parish that sings." (53)
  • The transcendentals:
    • Beauty, Truth, Goodness
    • "These are the three things we all want infinitely an absolutely. They are the three attributes of God our very nature tells us about." (53)
    • Christianity is succeeding in Truth and Goodness, but not beauty anymore
  • From Meditation in a Toolshed by C. S. Lewis: "Everything in this world is to be looked-along, and God looked-at, for everything is a means and God is the end." (122)
  • "Man is a cathedral, and God is the builder." (132)
  • "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! 1 Corinthians 6:19
  • "The Eucharist is a sword. It is pointed at your heart. This is not a clever ploy of mine, an image I invented; it is pure scriptural logic. For the Eucharist is Christ, and Christ is the Word of God, and the Word of God is a sword." (143)
  • "The war begins and ends at your back door, just as the great, worldwide War of the Ring began and ended at the very door of Bag End." (146)
  • quote 156: he loves us for our own sake
  • This is the one book Peter Kreeft wishes people would read (cf. min 35 of Matt Speaks to His 6th Favorite Person in the World, Dr. Peter Kreeft - Pints With Aquinas)

Created: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2025-03-17-Mon