Author: Paul Chaloux of St. Agnes Church in Arlington.
What is your home parish, and how did you become affiliated with the Arlington diocese? I have been a daily communicant at St. Agnes since I moved to Arlington in 2015 to pursue my doctorate at The Catholic University of America in Washington. I have served as a catechist in the parish for 10 years after serving as a catechist for 15 years at my previous parish, St. Columba Church in Hopewell Junction, N.Y.
Why did you write this book? “Heaven’s Currency: A Study of Love” is the final book of a trilogy about life’s great mysteries and is a direct outgrowth and culmination of my previous two books, “Why All People Suffer” (1991) and “Dying without Fear” (1993). I could not have written it if I had not written the other two books first because the topics are highly interrelated.
Can you synopsize the book? “Heaven’s Currency: A Study of Love” completes a trilogy on the great mysteries of life. This newest work explains how the mysteries of love, suffering and death are synergistic and critically important in leading us to God and heaven. The book dives into the underlying reasons for painful times and debunks common misconceptions that often result in applying false attributes to God. It recounts real-life stories of those who experienced brokenness but found healing and joy through God’s love, even in moments of great distress.
This study of the mystery of divine love explains the nature of love and how it is manifested in seven relationships known to us since antiquity. It explains that love is a capability to be grown, not a commodity to be accumulated, hence it increases rather than diminishes with use, and it can be lost forever if we choose not to share it.
“Heaven’s Currency” articulates how all love is infused into us by God, to be shared as widely as possible. The book utilizes the works of saints, such as St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings on the order of love, to reveal how divine love, or charity, is the true currency of heaven. It emanates from God and is indeed the only thing that can be shared by both the living and the dead enduring even beyond death. “Heaven’s Currency” explains that following the ten commandments, the beatitudes and the works of mercy teaches us to love others and become the best versions of ourselves.
What’s something else the average Catholic in the pew should know about it? I began this series after being convinced by my neurologist in my first appointment after being diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease that I should change my doctorate studies to “Why all People Suffer.”
To purchase
Go to paulchaloux.com.
