The American work ethic would have us think that the harder we work, the greater our reward. And while this may be true in the secular world, it is far from true in the sacred world. The British-born theologian and thinker Pelagius and the African-born St. Augustine went more than a few rounds on this very topic in the early fifth century by debating the nature of grace and its place in the work of salvation. But this debate is not one lost to history, for Sunday after Sunday modern men and women work to get more out of Mass—after all, if Mass isn’t fruitful for me, it can’t be God’s fault, can it? Dr. Andrew Chronister address this question in his May 2025 Bulletin entry, Liturgy, Pelagianism, and Attentiveness to God’s Grace, the findings of which he discusses with Adoremus Editor, Christopher Carstens, in this month’s Adoremus Interview.
