Theology (Religion)
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Pray for the Living and the Dead – A Meditation on the Seventh Spiritual Work of Mercy Msgr. Charles Pope • June 15, 2015 • What is the value of one prayer? I suspect it is far greater than any of us imagine. Prayer changes things, sometimes in obvious ways, more often in subtle and even paradoxical ways. But prayer is surely important, even when we don’t experience its immediate effects. Perhaps this is why Jesus taught us to pray always and never to lose heart (cf Luke 18:1). St. Paul echoed this with the simple exhortation “Pray without ceasing”...
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A Summons to Courage and a Reminder of Victory in an Old Hymn Msgr. Charles Pope • June 14, 2015 • There is a lesser known hymn, at least in Catholic circles, that is remarkably appropriate for our times. It challenges us to see the choice before us soberly, and encourages us with the fact that the victory is already ours if we choose Christ Jesus. In times like these we need courage and conviction; this hymn serves as a powerful anthem to such a call. I would like to present the verses of the hymn and supply commentary throughout....
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On Aug. 11, 1927, Smith Wigglesworth stood in Angelus Temple to preach on preparing for the Second Coming of Christ. He told the audience that liquid fire was consuming him. Then Wigglesworth made this opening statement: But there will be things that will happen prior to His coming that we shall know. You can tell. I am like one this morning that is moving with a liquid, holy, indispensable, real fire in my bosom, and I know it is burning and the body is not consumed. It is real fire from heaven that is making my utterances come to you...
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The one aboutÂ… ItÂ’s Blessed are the Poor IN SPIRIT, you Marxist Nincompoop. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain, and when He was set down, His disciples came unto Him. And opening His mouth, He taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5: 1-3 The First Beatitude is another grossly misread and misunderstood verse, with the misunderstanding being a recent phenomenon, spurred by a conscientious perversion of the meaning of the verse by Marxist infiltrators beginning in the 20th century. And now most especially by Pope...
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222. Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that “less is more”. A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment....
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The Holy See Press Office has announced that the instrumentum laboris, or working document, of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family will be released on June 23. Three of the synod’s leading officials-- Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Cardinal Péter Erdo, and Archbishop Bruno Forte-- will present the document at a Vatican press conference.
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ROME — A Belgian bishop who has called on the Church to welcome same-sex couples will get to bring his case straight to Pope Francis. The Vatican announced Tuesday that Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp will serve as a delegate to October’s Synod on the Family. His appointment adds intellectual heft and star power to the liberal flank of bishops pushing for the Church to change how it approaches Catholics living in “irregular situations.” Bonny’s views, however, may be vigorously resisted by other synod members announced by the Vatican Tuesday, including prelates from Africa and Poland. Bonny, 59, made waves...
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“The practice of yoga has no place in the lives of Christians,” was the announcement made by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in response to the International Day of Yoga, which was established by the United Nations in 2014. The Holy Synod argues that since yoga is a fundamental aspect of Hinduism, it cannot be practiced by Christians because it is contrary to the Christian faith. And because of that it cannot be considered as just a “form of exercise.” The official announcement further states that the Church of Greece respects the freedom of religious belief but...
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I would very much like to be a Universalist. In terms of my Christian hope, in terms of my emotional attachments, I would love to believe that in the end, no one would harden their heart against the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ, all would repent and believe, and all would find salvation in the age to come. I believe that this is at least a logical possibility, as there is no person who ever lived who could not repent, to whom God does not extend the offer of salvation. In recent years, Universalism has become a popular option...
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We concluded our last series on The Sacrifice Challenge with a few citations from Cyril of Jerusalem, so we thought it opportune to use him to demonstrate one of the ways Rome “finds” her doctrines in the Early Church. As we noted last week, Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures were part of a late-fourth century trend during which Rome’s novel Mass Sacrifice was invented. Catholic Answers used a few select quotes to prove Cyril’s belief in transubstantiation, but as we demonstrated, those quotes were truncated in order to isolate them from their context, and Cyril—even in the midst of his other errors—nevertheless...
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Can someone be pro-choice and still consider themselves Christian? What does the Bible say in regard to being pro-life? The Author of Life When Peter and John were witnessing to the Jews in what is called Solomon’s portico, Peter said “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses” (Acts 3:14-15). Here Peter was saying that they chose a murderer over the “Author of life” and that of course was Jesus. The crowd...
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The attempt to change God the Father to God the Mother is full bore idolatry—a syncretism of the spirit of the age. I remember some of the most emotionally powerful moments of worship that I have experienced occurred in a context where there was the least amount of belief. There was a time in my life when I regularly went to worship at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, a beautiful church building that had this glorious liturgy. And it would be my habit to go there on Sunday morning and to sit in the pew and listen to the music...
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Last week I was writing about Magna Carta and how the Catholic Church’s role has been written out, in particular the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. But the same could also be said about much of English history from 600AD to 1600; from the very first law code written in English, which begins with a clause protecting Church property, to the intellectual flourishing of the 13th century, led by churchmen such as Roger Bacon, the Franciscan friar who foresaw air travel. However, the whitewashing of English Catholic history is mainly seen in three areas: political liberty, economic...
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The presidents of African national and regional episcopal conference gathered in Ghana from June 8 to 11 to discuss the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family. Fifty prelates, including five cardinals, were present. Among them was Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. “Be conscious of the mission of the Church; protect the sacredness of marriage which is now being attacked by all forms of ideologies that intend to destroy the family in Africa,” said Cardinal Sarah, according to a Vatican Radio report. “Do not be afraid to stress the...
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Not satisfied with what Women and the Church (WATCH) has done to reduce the Anglican Church in Great Britain to a pale reflection of her former glory, its former Chair and "prominent Church of England campaigner", Christina Rees, will be among the speakers at a conference in Philadelphia later this year of the Catholic movement for women's ordination, Women's Ordination Worldwide. (H/T Ruth Gledhill). The BBC's Religious affairs correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, recently posed the question: Is the UK still a Christian country? The answer was 'Yes'. But based on analyses by the US Pew Research Center, the conclusions suggest that...
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To utterly despair of oneself is infinitely more difficult for a man than to invent some kind of good works.generated self-salvation project. Human beings irresistibly gravitate toward a works or karma-based system because it gives man the false hope that his redemption is within his own reach. But a salvation that is all of grace, a gift earned by Someone else, is so utterly offensive to human nature, so humbling to our pride, that only a supernatural work of grace will bring a person to yield to it.Contrary to popular and cultural concepts of God, the Bible declares that...
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They were five cardinals and forty-five bishops from as many African countries who met in Accra, the capital of Ghana, from June 8-11. All in the clear light of day, not almost in secret like some of their colleagues from Germany, France, and Switzerland, who had gathered a few days before at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. But while at the Gregorian the objective was changing the Church’s stance on divorce and homosexuality, in Accra the push was in the other direction. The marching route was indicated from the very first remarks by Guinean cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of...
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Polish Church delegates will 'stick to the understanding of Paul VI and John Paul II', according to a bishops' conference spokesmanPoland’s Catholic bishops have pledged to resist changes to Catholic teaching on marriage and family life at October’s synod on the family at the Vatican and rejected demands for reform by German-speaking Catholics. “Polish Church delegates will certainly stick to the understanding of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II,” said Msgr Jozef Kloch, spokesman for the Polish bishops’ conference. “As the vicar of Christ, the Holy Father will decide what can be accepted. In this sense, we’ve nothing to...
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Pope Francis downplayed the severity of disputes within the Church, spoke about the Christian view of feminism, and underlined the need for practical ecumenism, in a June 12 meeting with priests associated with the charismatic renewal. During a two-hour meeting, held in the Roman basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope also cautioned the priests against “the comfortable sin of clericalism.” And he disclosed that he had invited the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to join him in presenting the forthcoming encyclical Laudatio Si. In answer to a question after his talk, Pope Francis said that he wanted to...
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DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS Eph 2:8-10 (8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:(9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.(10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Definition. Salvation by works is a false doctrine which rejects God's grace policy in the provision of eternal salvation for the human race. Salvation by works rejects the total helplessness of mankind under real spiritual death. Real spiritual death not only means...
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