Posted on 10/13/2019 8:52:49 AM PDT by Salvation
One of the great human inadequacies is our inability to give proper and adequate thanks to God. Perhaps the biggest problem is that we don’t even realize the vast majority of what He does for us; it is hidden from our eyes.
A further problem is that in our fallen condition we seem to be wired to magnify our problems and minimize or discount the enormous blessings of each moment. God sustains every fiber of our being and every atom of creation. God’s blessings are countless and yet we get angry if our iPhone malfunctions or if a few of His myriad blessings are withdrawn.
An old gospel song says it well:
I’ve got so much to thank God for; So many wonderful blessings and so many open doors. A brand new mercy along with each new day. That’s why I praise You and for this I give You praise. For waking me up this morning, For starting me on my way, For letting me see the sunshine, of a brand new day. That’s why I praise You and for this I give You praise. So many times You´ve met my needs, So many times You rescued me. That’s why I praise You.
For every mountain You brought me over, For every trial you’ve seen me through, For every blessing, For this I give You praise.
Fundamental Question – The question at the heart of this Sunday’s Gospel is best expressed in the Book of Psalms: What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The same psalm goes on to answer the question in this way: The cup of salvation I will take up and call on the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:12).
The Mass is signified – Indeed, how can I possibly thank the Lord for all the good He has done for me? Notice that the psalm points to the Eucharist in saying, The cup of salvation I will take up …. As you know, the word Eucharist is a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.” We cannot thank God our Father adequately, but Jesus can. In every Mass, we join our meager thanksgiving to His perfect one. At every Mass, Jesus takes up the cup of salvation through the priest and shows it to us. This is the perfect and superabundant thanks to the Father that only Jesus can offer. In every Mass, Jesus joins us to His perfect sacrifice of thanks. That is how we give thanks in a way commensurate with the manifold blessings we have received.
Hidden Mass – The Gospel for this day makes the point that the Mass is the perfect offering of thanks to the Father in a remarkable and almost hidden way. But for Catholics, it is right there for us to see if we have eyes to see it. The Gospel contains all the essential elements of Holy Mass. It is about giving thanks and reminds us once again that it is the Mass that is the perfect thanksgiving, the perfect “Eucharist.”
Let’s look and see how it is a Mass:
1. Gathering – Ten lepers (symbolizing us) have gathered and Jesus comes near as He passes on His way. We do this in every Mass: we gather and the Lord draws near. In the person of the priest, who is the sacrament, the sign of His presence, Jesus walks the aisle of our church just as He walked those ancient roads.
2. Kyrie – The lepers cry out for mercy, just as we do at every Mass. Lord, have mercy! Jesus, Master, have pity on us!
3. Liturgy of the Word – Jesus quotes Scripture and then applies it to their lives, just as He does for us at every Mass. (In saying, “Go show yourselves to the priests,” Jesus is referencing Leviticus 13, which gives detailed instructions on how the priests of old were to diagnose leprosy or its having been cured.) Yes, this is what we do at every Mass: we listen to the Lord Jesus, through the priest or deacon, proclaiming God’s Word and then applying it to our lives.
4. Liturgy of the Eucharist – The Gospel relates that one of them fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. This is what we do during the Eucharistic prayer: we kneel and thank Jesus, and along with Him, give thanks to the Father. As we have noted, the word “Eucharist” comes from the Greek and means “thanksgiving.” Here is the perfect thanks rendered to the Father. Those who claim that they can stay home and give adequate thanks to God should be rebuked for being prideful. Only Jesus can give perfect thanks to the Father, and we can only give adequate thanks by following Jesus’ command to “Do this in memory of me.” We have to be at Mass.
5. Ite, missa est – Finally, Jesus sends the thankful leper on his way, saying, Stand up and go; your faith has saved you. We, too, are sent forth by Jesus at the end of every Mass, when He speaks through the priest or deacon: “The Mass is ended, go in peace.”
So, there it is. Within this Gospel, which very clearly instructs us to give thanks to God, is the very structure of the Mass. If you want to give proper thanks to God, the right place to do it is at Mass. Only at Mass is perfect and proper thanks given to God.
It was all prefigured in the psalm long ago: What return shall I make to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up and call on the name of the Lord (Psalm 116:12). Yes, it is the very cup of salvation, the chalice containing Christ’s blood, that is held up at every Mass. It is the perfect sacrifice of thanks. It is the prescribed sacrifice of praise. It is the proper sacrifice of praise.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
So perfect that it is only manifestly described in one of the epistles, and which corpus of writings most reliably show us how the NT church understood the gospels. And which does not manifest the contrived Catholic semi-literal interpretation of the Lord's supper . Thanks be to God.
Amazing Arch Pope can write about the gospel and never mention the Gospel of Grace that brings salvation.
Hey Rome! You had one job.
What does it mean that we used to always say Communion, not Eucharist? It was deliberately, not gradually, changed, like ‘celebrate’ instead of ‘say,’ ‘assist,’ ‘offer’ mass.
Also, 4-part purpose in our participating in mass: adoration, supplication, contemplation, thanksgiving.
Where/when exactly did Christ ever hold a ‘mass’? I cannot wait for the ‘day’ of the LORD to begin. Traditions of the unholy fathers is going to get a second temple cleansing.
The first Mass was celebrated by Jesus: the LAST SUPPER was the first Mass.
That is where the current Mass gets the words that change bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus.
Does your Bible contain the narrative of the Last Supper. That was the first Mass celebrated by Christ himself.
The last words to the Apostles was “Do this in memory/remembrance of me.” Thus Christ passed on the graces to say the Mass to the Apostles; and they passed it on to those they ordained.
Participation in The Lord’s Supper is a result of one being saved, not a means of salvation.
So you are saying Judas Iscariot is saved?
Scripture only says body and blood.
Soul and divinity, not so much.
Those are the very words of the priest in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
The mass is the renewal of Christ's offering of himself to the Father on Calvary--the perfect act of worship. We are unable to do better.
“ The mass is the renewal of Christ’s offering of himself ...”
.....
Which Scripture never teaches anywhere.
It teaches the opposite - that Christ died “once.”
That Christ entered to offer His blood once in the heavenlies.
“Hebrews 9:24-26 (NASB)
[24] “For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
[25] **nor was it that He would offer Himself often**, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
[26] Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now **once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. **“
What you wrote is simply made up and not true.
And other Catholics would be furious if we were the ones who said that.
If you were Catholic you would hear all four things.
Also Catholics don't believe that the Bible is the only source of our faith. There's no where in the Bible that says it's the only source of our faith.
The other source of our faith is Apostolic Tradition.
Also, from the same source:
In the Second Vatican Council’s document on divine revelation, Dei Verbum (Latin: “The Word of God”), the relationship between Tradition and Scripture is explained: “Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit. To the successors of the apostles, sacred Tradition hands on in its full purity God’s word, which was entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit."
“Thus, by the light of the Spirit of truth, these successors can in their preaching preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is not from sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same devotion and reverence.”
https://www.catholic.com/tract/scripture-and-tradition
https://www.versebyverseministry.org/bible-answers/does-james-teach-that-works-are-required-for-salvation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_fide
"Sola Scriptura" was an invention of the once FATHER Martin Luther, a truly brilliant German Catholic priest in the early-mid 16th century, who believed that Scripture was the only source of salvation. Good works weren't necessary.
Father Luther was excommunicated and became the first Protestant.
The Church explains receiving Holy Communion as receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus and that is why I say it.
I'm sorry that this is so lengthy.
You really didn’t need to use your time.
I’ve already heard it all already and rejected most of it as contradictory to the Word of God.
But here’s the thing; the early church fathers taught sola fide less than a generation after the Apostles died. Who are you to contradict them?
Where did you get THAT from?
I have the book THE FOUR WITNESSES, The Early Early Church in Her Own Words and there is NO mention of sola fide. The authors were Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of Lyon. Also, if the early Church was SO wrong why did it take people 1,500 years to deny it?
And why did the denunciation come from an excommunicated Catholic priest who CHANGED the Bible? He changed the words of St. James, that is, we are saved by faith and good works.
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:Faith and Works (Genesis 15:1-7; Romans 4:1-12; Galatians 3:1-9; Hebrews 11:8-19)
14What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
16If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that?
17So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.
Yup. catholics start with the Word of God found in Scripture then add to it because they know better than the recorded Word. And you guys accuse us of presumption ?
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