Pope Francis speaks to pilgrims during his Wednesday General Audience on April 23, 2014 Credit: Kyle Burkhart/CNA
Posted on 05/15/2014 2:15:20 PM PDT by NYer
.- Pope Francis reflected in his daily Mass on how the apostles evangelized by first telling the history of God’s people, explaining that it’s impossible to understand a Christian without this association.
“You cannot understand a Christian outside of the people of God. The Christian is not a monad,” but “belongs to a people: the Church,” the Pope observed in his May 15 homily.
“A Christian without a church is something purely idealistic, it is not real.”
Beginning by looking to the first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, the Roman Pontiff addressed those gathered in the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse by recalling how when Paul preached in Antioch, he did so by first recounting the whole of Israel’s salvation history.
“Jesus does not make sense without this history” because he “is the end of this story, (the end) toward which this story goes, toward which it walks,” he noted, so “you cannot understand a Christian outside of the people of God.”
“You cannot understand a Christian alone, just like you cannot understand Jesus Christ alone” the Pope went on to say, explaining that “Jesus Christ did not fall from the sky like a superhero who comes to save us.”
“No. Jesus Christ has a history. And we can say, and it is true, that God has a history because He wanted to walk with us. And you cannot understand Jesus Christ without His history.”
Pope Francis then described how a Christian without a history, a nation or the Church “is incomprehensible,” saying that it’s “a thing of the laboratory, an artificial thing, a thing that cannot give life.”
Drawing attention to the importance of remembering this “dimension of history,” the Bishop of Rome observed that a Christian is “a living memory of his people’s journey, he is the living memory of his Church.”
“Then, where is this people going? Toward the ultimate promise. It is a people walking toward fullness; a chosen people which has a promise for the future and walks toward this promise, toward the fulfillment of this promise.”
In order to do this Christians within the Church must be men and women “with hope: hope in the promise,” the Pope went on, noting that “It is not expectation: no, no! That’s something else: It is hope.”
“Right, on we go! (Toward) that which does not disappoint.”
Explaining how a Christian is also someone who remembers, the pontiff encouraged all present to “seek the grace of memory, always” so that by doing so and also looking forward with hope they might be a Christian who “follows the path of God and renews the covenant with God.”
This type of Christian constantly tells the Lord “Yes, I want the commandments, I want your will, I will follow you” he continued, adding that “He is a man of the covenant, and we celebrate the covenant, every day” in the Mass, therefore a Christian is “a woman, a man of the Eucharist.”
Concluding his reflections, Pope Francis encouraged all present to “think about our Christian identity,” stating that “Our Christian identity is belonging to a people: the Church.”
“Without this, we are not Christians” he observed, noting how “we entered the Church through baptism: there we are Christians.”
“For this reason, we should be in the habit of asking for the grace of memory, the memory of the journey that the people of God has made,” the pontiff said, and “also of personal memory: What God did for me, in my life, how has he made me walk…”
Praying, the Roman Pontiff asked “for the grace of hope, which is not optimism: no, no! It's something else,” and asked “for the grace to renew the covenant with the Lord who has called us every day.”
“May the Lord give us these three graces, which are necessary for the Christian identity.”
They vote Democrat. The party of Abortion, Homosexuality, and all the rest.
Any self proclaimed Christian who votes Democrat is not Christian.
They all will suffer the wrath of God.
OK...
New International Version (NIV)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Where's the TIME thingy??
It’s that DUCK thing.
If it WALKS like one and...
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...
But which (Eph. 5:25) refers to the universal body of Christ, which alone is only made up of believers who are baptized into it by the Spirit, (1Cor. 12:13) which is the one body of Eph. 2:20; 4:3, while the various visible churches are not. One cannot separate from the former, but must separate from one of the latter when it becomes critically aberrant.
Rome counts and treats even prosodomite murderers of infants as members in life and death, and the majority of her member are liberal, in contrast to her evang, counterparts, thus manifesting what she really believes, (Mt. 7:20; Ja. 2:18) in addition to doctrinally being critically in error. Thus requiring separatism from her.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
Pope placing church before God? Believing in God is only “idealistic”?
~~~~~~~~~
Aaaahhhh... Why not...? '-)
ROFLOL!!!
Thank you, Dear Sister!!
(Still laughing!!)
This statement requires careful distinctions.
First, I agree with you that it is a damnable scandal that members of the hierarchy are disobedient to the Church's own authoritative teachings, as found in Scripture and the teachings of Ecumenical Councils, and as codified in Canon Law. What we're dealing with here is disobedient clergy, who do not count, individually or collectively, as "Rome," let alone as "The Catholic Church" itself (though they are Catholics.)
I wouldn't expect you to have followed the ongoing discussion of Canon 915 in the Catholic community here, for the last, oh, 15 years, but please realize what the Canon requires:
"Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."
Therefore all those Bishops and other clerics who are "admitting to Holy Communion" those who should not be admitted (like Pelosi, Biden, Cuomo and others) are themselves "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin". They are against the Church.
So the blame here rests, not on the Church (which teaches the truth) but on those who are objectively in the position of defiance and disobedience on this point.
It's truly a wretched situation --- a comprehensively offensive situation of the worst kind --- but the wretchedness is that of these disobedient clerics, and not of erroneous teaching on the part of the Church.
It's akin to the scandalous and evil time when, after the Last Supper, one Apostle betrayed the Lord, one denied him three times, nine others headed for the tall grass, and only one of the Twelve was faithful enough to stand at the foot of the Cross.
Pssttt... *brother*.
Elsie is a *he*.
But that disobedience to Scripture and the Canon is so pervasive as to be almost insurmountable.
It still boggles the mind that Catholics can say that a priest, bishop, etc have ex-communicated themselves from the church and are still in a position to offer valid sacraments if their *intent* is right.
And if they are unwilling to enforce Catholic doctrine and teaching, how can their intent be right? They obviously don’t care what the church has to say on those matters.
That makes sense, I would say.
Fooled me... '-)
Thanks!
The Marriage of the Lamb is the Church.
Philip
The grace is accessed by faith through Christ, not sacraments.
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And there is only ONE mediator between God and man.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
Thank you. And may He bless you and guide you as you bring comfort to your mother.
We simply accept the Sacraments very gratefully at His hand, since He founded them all and offered them to us for our great benefit.
The healing of Naaman the Syrian at the hands of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5) LINK is an excellent figure for the sacraments.
Naaman take offense at the idea that he could be cured by God through a sacramental sign: "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?" Scripture adds, "So he turned and went off in a rage."
But then: "Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy."
Well, think about it. Couldn't God have just had Elisha say, "In the name of the God of Israel, be cleansed"? And then with a wave, poof! All better?
But it was the will of God that Naaman be cured by an outward sign, an obedient plunging into the Jordan, the shallow, muddy Jordan, something paltry and senseless and even unnecessary, in his mind. (I recently read that, in contrast, the Pharpar and Abana fed into a system of canals used for irrigation, one of the most complete and extensive in the ancient world.)
But the point was that God willed for Naaman to learn what could best be given only by this sacramental sign.
Like the other physical means of conveying Divine power, a frequent typology in the OT (Elijah's mantle, Aaron's and Moses' rods, even the bones of Elisha which brought a dead man to life) God uses select people, and material things, to be channels of His grace.
If these things were not chosen by God Himself, they would have no significance. But since God acts "sacramentally," we have no authority to minimize or abolish what He gives us.
An exception is a bad thing to make a rule over.
Most Catholics talk as if grace is given only through the sacraments and yet, if grace can be given without them, then there’s no need for them.
When I need God’s grace is when someone cuts me off on the interstate to get to an exit when they could have pulled in behind me.
I need it when I’m in the check out line and someone is paying for luxuries I can’t afford with an EBT card.
Grace is for the moment, not something that can be stored up for a rainy day.
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