182 The Wonder of the Neglected Gift of Deification (with Parts!) with Dr. Matthew Tsakanikas

Deification: A secret in the Catholic Church that really shouldn’t be a secret.  Join Dr. Gerry Crete, Dr Matthew Tsakanikas, professor of theology at Christendom College, and Dr. Peter for a wide-ranging discussion of the glory, the adventure, the awe of partaking of God’s divine nature with the entirety of our being – our hearts, souls, minds, bodies, innermost selves, and all our parts, from a perspective informed by Internal Family Systems and grounded in a Catholic anthropology and metaphysics.  What does it really mean for all of you to be a beloved little son or beloved little daughter of God?  

Books by Dr. Matthew Tsakanikas:

2025 A Catechesis on Deification, Transfiguration & the Luminous Mysteries: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DX1HZMLM/

2026 Meditations on Deification and the Luminous Mysteries: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0GWVYQGPP

Check out our sister podcast:  https://www.youtube.com/@ScriptureForYourInnerOutcasts 

The Resilient Catholics Community is about to reopen for new members in June. If you are a Catholic who wants to overcome the natural level obstacles to sharing deeply in God's divine nature as his beloved little son or beloved little daughter, and are into parts and systems thinking, consider applying to the RCC at www.soulsandhearts.com/rcc.

Online Workshop for those Catholic Formators new to IFS, “Catholic Parts Work in Human Formation” will be on June 10, 2026 from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM Eastern, register at https://members.soulsandhearts.com/Catholic-parts-work

The Formation for Formators Retreat is August 10-13, 2026 in Bloomington Indiana.  The theme is “Authentic Being and Authentic Relating.” This retreat focuses on you finding and loving you in more of your parts, including parts you have not yet encountered – your exiles – more at www.soulsandhearts.com/FFF  

Conversation Hours with Dr. Peter are every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time on his cell at 317.567.9594 – it’s an opportunity to discuss themes from this podcat or any of the materials generated by Souls and Hearts.  

Key Moments

12:00 What is deification/theosis/divinization?  Being made a son or daughter of God means sharing in God’s nature.  

15:00  Ephesians chapter 1 reveals God’s plan from before the foundation of the world to makes us sons in the Son.  

16:52  Dr. Gerry’s objections to the IFS conceptualization of “Self”

21:01 The image of God within us is dynamic – the “capax Dei” 

21:50  How Adam and Eve lost their interior integration with the Fall and how Jesus opens the way for re-integration.

27:05  Satan to Adam and Eve “Ye shall become like gods….” 

30:30  How do we receive the love of God?  

34:20  The internal battle: “Parts of me are drawn to receive God’s love and parts of me are not…”

41:19 The necessity of entering into a loving relationship with Jesus for interior integration

43:40  God’s wills that you flourish in all domains and in all your parts

48:40  Divinization and the human body

53:00  Divinization is “too hot to handle” for many Christians – but it’s the essential framework for all of the Catholic life, it’s the essential story that holds all the other stories.  

1:02:00 The importance of accepting all of my parts as they are right now.  God accepts all parts as they are, so I need to as well.  Acceptance of a part does not mean endorsing that part’s disordered desires, impulses, and emotions

1:08:35  Sometimes parts find it easier to tolerate being loved by someone other than God at first, and that lesser loves can help parts open up to God’s direct love

1:25:01  Dr. Tsakanikas’ key takeaway:  Love makes the lover want to make the beloved equal to himself,

1:26:28  Dr, Gerry’s takeaway:  It’s important for us to evangelize each of our own parts

1:27:54  Dr. Peter’s takeaway:  Real love is given freely. But in our fallen human states, in our fallen human condition, it's not received without a cost to our parts.