Far and few inbetween are such temples."
For example, +Mary of Egypt.
Posted on 12/04/2006 7:52:47 PM PST by Pyro7480
'The Nativity Story' Movie Problematic for Catholics, "Unsuitable" for Young Children
By John-Henry Westen
NEW YORK, December 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A review of New Line Cinema's The Nativity story by Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the United States, points out that the film, which opened December 1, misinterprets scripture from a Catholic perspective.
While Fr. Geiger admits that he found the film is "in general, to be a pious and reverential presentation of the Christmas mystery." He adds however, that "not only does the movie get the Virgin Birth wrong, it thoroughly Protestantizes its portrayal of Our Lady."
In Isaiah 7:14 the Bible predicts the coming of the Messiah saying: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." Fr. Geiger, in an video blog post, explains that the Catholic Church has taught for over 2000 years that the referenced Scripture showed that Mary would not only conceive the child miraculously, but would give birth to the child miraculously - keeping her physical virginity intact during the birth.
The film, he suggests, in portraying a natural, painful birth of Christ, thus denies the truth of the virginal and miraculous birth of Christ, which, he notes, the Fathers of the Church compared to light passing through glass without breaking it. Fr. Geiger quoted the fourth century St. Augustine on the matter saying. "That same power which brought the body of the young man through closed doors, brought the body of the infant forth from the inviolate womb of the mother."
Fr. Geiger contrasts The Nativity Story with The Passion of the Christ, noting that with the latter, Catholics and Protestants could agree to support it. He suggests, however, that the latter is "a virtual coup against Catholic Mariology".
The characterization of Mary further debases her as Fr. Geiger relates in his review. "Mary in The Nativity lacks depth and stature, and becomes the subject of a treatment on teenage psychology."
Beyond the non-miraculous birth, the biggest let-down for Catholics comes from Director Catherine Hardwicke's own words. Hardwicke explains her rationale in an interview: "We wanted her [Mary] to feel accessible to a young teenager, so she wouldn't seem so far away from their life that it had no meaning for them. I wanted them to see Mary as a girl, as a teenager at first, not perfectly pious from the very first moment. So you see Mary going through stuff with her parents where they say, 'You're going to marry this guy, and these are the rules you have to follow.' Her father is telling her that she's not to have sex with Joseph for a year-and Joseph is standing right there."
Comments Fr. Geiger, "it is rather disconcerting to see Our Blessed Mother portrayed with 'attitude;' asserting herself in a rather anachronistic rebellion against an arranged marriage, choosing her words carefully with her parents, and posing meaningful silences toward those who do not understand her."
Fr. Geiger adds that the film also contains "an overly graphic scene of St. Elizabeth giving birth," which is "just not suitable, in my opinion, for young children to view."
Despite its flaws Fr. Geiger, after viewing the film, also has some good things to say about it. "Today, one must commend any sincere attempt to put Christ back into Christmas, and this film is certainly one of them," he says. "The Nativity Story in no way compares to the masterpiece which is The Passion of the Christ, but it is at least sincere, untainted by cynicism, and a worthy effort by Hollywood to end the prejudice against Christianity in the public square."
And, in addition to a good portrait of St. Joseph, the film offers "at least one cinematic and spiritual triumph" in portraying the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth. "Although the Magnificat is relegated to a kind of epilogue at the movie's end, the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is otherwise faithful to the scriptures and quite poignant. In a separate scene, the two women experience the concurrent movement of their children in utero and share deeply in each other's joy. I can't think of another piece of celluloid that illustrates the dignity of the unborn child better than this."
See Fr. Geiger's full review here:
http://airmaria.com/
One must guard against spiritual pride. Only those who empty themselves of all pride become temples for Spirit's indwelling.
Like glass, the light of God shines through them, yet they have become invisible, never drawing attention to themselves, so that all we see is God's light through them.
Far and few inbetween are such temples.
And Catholics worship Mary and pray to statutes.
Virgin worship is filthy paganism in every instance..
Foreign to anything biblical.. trying to share Christ's sacrifice..
Most pagan religions have a form of virgin worship.. From Isis and Horus and her perpetually infant son.. To Ashteroth and her husband Baal... Queen of Heaven is a stalwart in eastern religion especially Buddhism and Hinduism.. Rome had vestal virgins a muddy mix from many sources.. Even animism has its queens of heaven that are virginal..
Did I say FILTHY?...
Like your tagline.
There's no evidence in Scripture for the Immaculate Conception, nor for the Ascension of Mary.
They are fables.
Of COURSE I believe you, you baklava-scarfing Orthodox scum! ;-)
I wasn't trying to confront so much as just to say, Hey, WE believe that TOO!
Caution, I have not had my coffee yet. This is a side note: WHen I did Aquinas on the Sacrament I seem to recall that he acknowledged the validity of Orthodox orders. So whatever we thought of you, I'd venture to say that we didn't think you weren't in the sho' 'nuff Church. Or maybe Aquinas wasn't representative?
Makes perfect sense to me!
I also thought specifically of you, my sister, in reading the following on the last page of Simone Weil's book, Waiting for God
The last sentence she wrote in the notebook found after her death was:I've never met one who does that better than you.
"The most important part of education - to teach the meaning of to know (in the scientific sense)."
Far and few inbetween are such temples."
For example, +Mary of Egypt.
"WHen I did Aquinas on the Sacrament I seem to recall that he acknowledged the validity of Orthodox orders."
Could be; I've never heard that.
"Or maybe Aquinas wasn't representative?"
That's certainly possible. Aquinas wasn't representative of a lot of what the Latin Church believed both before and after his death, the Immaculate Conception for example.
I think you will find that for many centuries, Rome looked at the Orthodox as being wholly outside the Church because our bishops were not in communion with the pope and would not submit to his claimed universal immediate jurisdiction.
"Of course she needed a savior. This is who redeemed her ang granted her her holiness."
If the Theotokos was born without being subject to the effects of Ancestral Sin and was sinless in her life, what was she redeemed from? And if she was ontologically in a permanent state of theosis from the moment of her conception, and we assuredly are not, what is it about her that we are to emulate. Are we to strive to attain some similitude to the Theotokos, to attain a "likeness" to the Theotokos rather than Christ, or in addition to Christ? Is this a sine qua non of theosis? In all honesty, Alex, I think its just this concept which leads to certain excesses in Marian devotion that we most all recognize, most especially the Co-Redemptrix idea as it is popularly advanced.
At base this is all rooted in the idea of Original Sin and the absolute depravity of mankind after the Fall. It is that concept which necessitates the whole idea of the IC and turning the Theotokos into someone ontologically different from the rest of humanity. Does this mean that Latin theology makes the Theotokos a goddess? No, of course not, but unfortunately these concepts seem to have lead many of the Latin faithful to look at her and react to her exactly as if she were a goddess even of they would never call her that.
B, in saying the foregoing, I am positively NOT saying that praying to her for help, or comfort, having icons or statues of her in the home and/or office and venerating her, praying the rosary, singing hymns in praise of her, etc amount to goddess worship.
Article 4, Q 74, Tertia ParsThe question is whether it is mo' better to use leavened or unleavened bread. Much to everyone's surprise He comes down on the side of unleavened bread, but in the course of his discussion he says it would be a sin for Greek Priests to use unleavened because she should play by the rules of their team. (Dawg paraphrase)
I always understood this to mean that he thought there really were Greek Priests.
To tell the truth, all I remembered was the question was in the 70's, AND the opinion about playing team ball.
"I always understood this to mean that he thought there really were Greek Priests."
I think its very likely he did. In his days, the schism wasn't as absolute as we might often believe. Indeed, into the late 1600s there were ties of communion between various Orthodox bishops and Latin Rite bishops, even in the Aegean. In fact, as recently as within the past 200 years there were joint celebrations of feastdays on various of the Aegean Islands. But I do think you'll find that from about 1100 on, Rome itself felt that the Orthodox were outside The Church, even if on a local basis that wasn't so true.
Take a read of the writings of Pius IX and Leo XIII. I think they are pretty clear that they believe the Orthodox are damned.
Stipulating the differing understanding of sins and hoping the idea will make it across the differences, her redemption was that she "was born without being subject to the effects of Ancestral Sin and was sinless in her life".
This is not where my studies go, so I am certainly open to correction by folks who know what they're talking about.
Anyway, FWIW part of the language is:
... by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ,..., was preserved free from all stain of original sin,..."
So presumably the stain is, while not of the essence, still inevitable without "a singular grace and privilege".
"Ineffabilis Deus" is short, but it's heavy going.
Could you narrow your aim a little. I'm on dial-up. :-) And my brain is analog and the tubes keep burning out. :-(
I'm not certain, but, yes, I think you probably did. It rings a bell anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.