Toward a theology of limits. Seen in the right way, limits can enlarge the range of human possibility.

Abstract:  Many in healthcare bemoan the limits-on, for example, budgets, patient autonomy, and life-prolonging interventions--of the 1990s. But limits can enhance, as well as constrict, human possibilities. Genesis reminds us that being limited is part of being human. Without limits, we would not need to become responsible. We would not need compassion, reconciliation, healing, prudence, risk, or trust. Hopes and dreams would be irrelevant. We would be paralyzed by indifference. The Bible also tells us that God is self-limiting. The New Testament describes God's self-limiting Incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth. The theology of Incarnation says that God works not in spite of human structures, experiences, and limits, but through them. The doctrine of the Trinity shows that God's own identity consists in relationship. It is from the perspective of community that one sees modern humanity's greatest ethical challenges. If we of the Catholic ministry are to be at the healthcare table, we must be willing to compromise. And we must be at the table if our values of inherent human dignity, social justice, and care for society's outcasts are to have a voice.