'bama
Posted on 01/03/2013 11:09:36 PM PST by WilliamIII
Before Monday night's national championship game, a University of Notre Dame football captain will lead the team through a prayer called Litany of the Blessed Virgin. "Mother of our Savior," a captain will say. "Pray for us," the team will respond.
It's a ritual familiar to Catholics. But most players on the Notre Dame squad aren't Catholic. So participation in that ritual is voluntary. And should any concern arise about praying to the Virgin Mary—a concept some non-Catholic Christians find objectionable—team chaplain Father Paul Doyle stands ready to respond. "We're not praying to our blessed mother," he says. "We're asking her to pray for us."
At the heart of Notre Dame's legendary football program is a careworn balancing act. The team is unapologetically Catholic. Before every game, the Fighting Irish participate in a Mass overseen by one of the team's two appointed Catholic priests, a tradition dating back to the 1920s. At the end of that ceremony, each player receives a priest-blessed medal devoted to a Catholic saint—a different saint every game for four years. Also during the pregame Mass, players can kiss a reliquary containing two splinters that Notre Dame believes came from the cross of Jesus. "Most of the non-Catholic players are Christian, so when you tell them these splinters came from the actual cross of Jesus they are humbled to reverence," Doyle says.
Yet Notre Dame is so nonpromotional that players of other faiths feel welcome on the team, never receiving so much as an invitation to convert, let alone pressure to do so. As a result, many feel comfortable participating in distinctly Catholic rituals.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
'bama
A prayer, strictly speaking, is a request. Some is in the context of divine worship; some is not. I can pray to you if I like — that would NOT be worship (latria) which belongs to God alone. Lawyers routinely send “prayers” to judges. I don’t know why you insist on blurring this important distinction.
Prayer (legal term), a legal term referring to a plaintiff's demands
If the Assumption of the Virgin directly into heaven without dying is a fact, then she and she alone (well except for Enoch and Elijah) would represent ostensible exceptions to the admonition re: necromancy (though I am not capable nor worthy to clarify that admonition beyond what any of us can read in Scripture).
I couldn't agree more...and it's a wonderful thought.
All I am saying is that there is an admonition not to involve oneself in necromancy (etc.) and that seems to include all spirits of the non-divine (ref: Saul trying using the Witch of Endor to summon the Prophet Samuel).
Certainly Samuel was with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Heaven (though this of course occurred before the time in which Jesus had come to the earth in person as the Christ).
As an aside, my head is beginning to spin and I think I need a cup of tea.;-)
Yes. Are you familiar with the concept of Jesus dying for our sins, and after him the dead being allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven? That’s presumably where his mom is.
Jesus died on earth. Does that mean you can’t talk to him?
He’s the Creator and He invites you into a personal conversation and relationship with Himself...what do you think?
I think they are mostly just being polite.
Jesus opened up the Heavens between His Death and His Resurrection.
Thank you, very much.
You’re right, it wasn’t Notre Dame, it was anotherr prestigious Catholic University that agreed to the cross cover up:
Surprising word today that President Barack Obama’s White House asked Georgetown University to cover all religious symbols at the scene of the president’s economic speech at the Roman Catholic institution Wednesday.
And the prestigious Jesuit university agreed.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/04/obama-notre-dame-georgetown.html
I do not miss the distinction, but I detest the semantic dishonesty that attends to calling it “not prayer” when one speaks to St. Mary and even petitions her to pray on one’s behalf - an act that was enjoined neither by Christ nor the Biblical texts.
If the Blessed virgin is such an obstacle for you, why not think about angels instead? Angels are not “dead people”. Is it OK to communicate with angels, to ask for their prayer and protection?
Never thought of her that way. Blessed by her, and by you.
Still more obscurantism.
Ah: Argumentum ex silencio?
Oh, and where, pray tell, is the Scripture telling us of her “Assumption?”
No Scripture of which I am aware teaches that we should. At least one Scripture implies that we should not (I TIM. 2:5).
So the Blessed Virgin Mary and numerous others sinned by speaking with angels? I think not.
Care to try again?
Simply put... they got their ass kicked by Bama because their ability to play the game of football wasn't on the same level as SEC football.
I realize what the article is trying to say but it's obfuscating the obvious.
If they want to compete they have to ELEVATE their football program because "God helps those who help themselves" is how it works.
"Roll Tide"
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