Posted on 12/12/2006 10:51:32 PM PST by Coleus
That's right. I know, I've been banned from them. ;-)
There are a number of Catholic posters who manage to show up on nearly every thread that is posted by a protestant, no matter how innocuous the title. I know them all by name and I debate with them all regularly. I don't think they would deny that they seem to post on nearly every protestant thread. They enjoy the discussions and, amazingly enough, some of them actually believe the stuff they say. :-)
This thread is NOT a catholic thread. It may have been started by a Catholic, the intent was to rag on Protestants and Mormons and Jews and skeptics and everyone else who does not accept the doctrine of the "Immaculate Conception".
Another argument from silence.
-A8
My faith in the essential goodness and niceness of people as a whole is always tested on these threads. For some reason, our Protestant brethren take especial glee in being particularly nasty, hateful and protesting theoir moral superiority.
Blah. I mat forswear these until after the Epiphany, at this rate.
Who is included in "all"? Just some?
Friday, December 08, 2006 Meditation Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12 The Immaculate Conception If you have any experience of motherhood, you know that it takes a lot of faith. In many ways, its something beyond your control. Suddenly, you have a new life inside of you. You do your best to nurture that life, but you dont know how everything is going to turn out. You do everything you can to assure that your child will be loved and supported. Still, you have to trust God for the big picture. As we honor Mary today, lets remember the deep faith she had, not just to be a mother but to be the Mother of God! She didnt comprehend how she could give birth to the Messiah, but she still said yes to Gods plan. She was told she would suffer greatly because of her child, but she still obeyed. Clearly, Mary was no shrinking violet. She took care of Jesus for thirty years, endured his crucifixion and death, and stayed true to him until the end. Mary has many things to teach us. Like her, we are called to bring Jesus into this world, and like her, we too will suffer. When we face the challenges and temptations of life in this world, we can be tempted to forget about our walk with the Lord and just go with the flow. Or we can do as Mary did and proclaim Gods greatness, recognizing that he will look after us if we remain humble and open to his word: He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:53). Mary is more than just an idealistic example of perfect faith. She is a mother, and she wants nothing more than to bring us to her son, Jesus. Quite simply, she loves us! St. John Vianney tells us, Marys heart is so loving toward us that the hearts of all other mothers taken together are but a piece of ice in comparison. We can go to her, not just for our needs, but to ask her help in growing closer to the Lord. In the prayers of the rosary, we say to her, The Lord is with you! Lets not forget Mary, this privileged insider in the heavenly court, who is already praying for each and every one of us! Lord, thank you for your Blessed Mother! May I imitate her virtues and call upon her to help me walk with you! |
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She Was Almost Invisible, but She Gave Birth to Him! |
Gn 3:9-15, 20 / Eph 1:3-6, 11-12 / Lk 1:26-38
As we look across the span of recorded history, we find the exploits of leaders, scholars, adventurers, inventors, and explorers whose achievements changed forever the world that we live in. And we wonder how they rose to greatness, as often as not from humble beginnings. More often than not, our wonderings go unanswered, because there is rarely a useful record of their formative years, and even less useful records of those invisible people who did the forming and shaping of their intellects and their souls.
The feast we mark today celebrates that simple peasant girl whose heart was so open to God that she gave birth to God's only Son, whom she then tended and guided for the many years that followed. What an extraordinary privilege that was, and with what grace Mary lived up to her special calling at every moment. At the very first moment of it all, she said to the angel, "I don't understand how this can be, but my answer to God is 'Yes.'" And so it was all her life long.
That is why we celebrate this and all the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she, a human being just like us, had both the ability and the willingness to say "Yes" to God at every moment. In doing that, she made the right home and formed the right heart in God's Son and her son, Jesus.
Mary is the almost-invisible woman in the Gospels, but her gift to Jesus was beyond calculation. The gifts that we have to give will in the long run also be almost entirely invisible except to those who can read the fine lines of cause and effect from generation to generation.
Give your gift as Mary did. History may never notice, but God will, and so will many of His children.
Circular reasoning. One can't know for sure one way or the other, from direct Scripture references.
However, one can deduce from Scripture that she was sinless, pure, and holy by the following argument:
1) The Glory of the Lord overshadowed the Ark of the (old) Covenant. It was so Holy that Uzzah was killed when he touched it (I Samuel 6:19). The Glory of the Lord, in the thick cloud on Mt. Sinai, was so bright and awesome that Moses face shone.The Lord Himself told the Israelites that they were not to go on the mountain or even touch the border of it or they would die(Ex. 19:12). There are many other instances recorded in Scripture where people knew that they would die if they beheld the Glory of the Lord. Isaiah saying "Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips" is one that comes to mind.
2) The Angel said to Mary that "the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35b) The power of the Highest overshadowed her, just like the Glory of the Lord overshadowed the original Ark of the Covenant.
3) Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, because Jesus called Himself the New Covenant. See Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20; and Mark 14:24.
4) If God made the Israelites sanctify themselves and wash themselves before Moses could go up on the mountain (Ex. 19:9-12), how much more so would He sanctify the woman chosen to carry His Glory.
Beauty Unveiled
Luke 1:26-38 Introductory Prayer: Hail Mary, full of grace! Mother, I praise you and congratulate you today as we celebrate your feast. Thank you for the example you gave us while you were on earth. You have taught me how to live so many virtues. Teach me how to pray today so that I may win the grace to live as you did. Petition:Let it be done to me according to your will. 1. Dont Be Afraid. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate the moment when the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. From the first moment of life, Mary was sinless, just like Eve before the Fall. Though both were created sinless, only Mary persevered in her immaculate state by fighting to do Gods will. The fight to be faithful is what we can offer God today: Do not be afraid to show your love for God by doing his will. 2. Gods the Protagonist. Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you. Today we celebrate a feast honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the other great Marian feasts we celebrate how Mary generously collaborated with Gods action in her soul. In being immaculately conceived, Mary plays a passive role, while the protagonist is God. God is also the protagonist in our fight to be holy. Often times, the best thing we can do is let go and allow God to take over. He wants to be the protagonist in our striving for holiness today. 3. Getting to Yes. Just as you are doing your daily meditation now, one day Mary, a girl in a poor town of about 500 inhabitants, was doing hers. Suddenly, an angel appears, startles her and proposes to her the sublime mission of being the mother of the Messiah. All creation is pending on her answer as she ponders the message in her heart. One final push by the angel For nothing will be impossible for God and the young Mary answers, Let it be done to me. Though an angel probably wont appear during your meditation, Gods grace asks you for a yes today just like Marys. Dialogue with Christ: Lord, I thank you for the gift of Mary. She gives me an example of a life perfectly united to your will. Help me today to live as she did, to give myself without thinking of myself, and to be open to what you want to do through me today. Resolution: I will invite one or more friends or family members to Mass with me today. |
Thanks
original sin
Thank you for this,Dear Friend.
You are welcome. You have FRmail.
"Who is included in "all"? Just some?"
I'm a fast learner so let me see if I can help you. "All" is like the word "brother" but not like the word "grace". "All" can mean "all", like everything, or it can mean less than everything if you don't mean everything. Kind of like when your wife says "you do that all the time" when what she means is "look what you did". Now on top of that you have "all" meaning all that I can think of at this time but that doesn't mean I've included everything that has ever happened or that I have ever thought of. It's kind of a fluid word of convenience, a chameleon type word that you can use and withdrawer items from if they don't really fit into what you are trying to sell.
The word "brother" is similar in that it can mean kindred, cousin, friend and even mean sibling except it can never be used as a sibling for Jesus 'cause by fiat of some councils He didn't have any no matter what the scriptures say. However the word "grace" can only have one meaning when used in reference to Mary, but multiple meanings when used anywhere else in the scriptures.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Wasn't he talking about all the Romans? Makes sense to me.
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December 08, 2006 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception Old Calendar: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the solemn dogma defined by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. As Our Lady Immaculately Conceived is the patroness of the United States of America, this is a holyday of obligation in the United States. Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed on December 8, 1854: "The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin." Catechism of the Catholic Church
"Tota pulchra es! O Mary, thou art all fair, unstained by original sin" (1st Ant. at Vespers; All.). This cry of admiration, which the Church puts on our lips, expresses the feelings of fallen man before the spotless purity of our Lady. From all eternity God had chosen Mary to be the Mother of the Word Incarnate; He therefore decked her in holiness, preserving her from all stain and making her a worthy dwelling for His Son. The Blessed Virgin's perfect redemption which, from the moment of her conception, preserved her from original sin cannot, therefore, be dissociated from our redemption by Christ; and so, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, coming in the course of Advent, heralds the splendours of the Incarnation of the Redeemer. Pope Pius IX in his bull Ineffabilis Deus of December 8, 1854, declared the Immaculate Conception to be an infallible teaching of the Church as well as "a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception was, by a unique privilege and grace of Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." The stain of original sin was excluded from her soul, not removed from it. Many confuse the meaning of this dogma, thinking it refers to Mary's conception of the immaculate Jesus. That is the Incarnation, which we celebrate on the Solemnity of the Annunciation on March 25. This dogma of the Immaculate Conception, on the other hand, refers to St. Anne's conception of Our Immaculate Lady in her womb. Patron: United States. Symbols: crown and monogram; lily; enclosed garden; crown of stars; glass (symbol of purity) lily often placed in a vase of transparent glass; lily of the valley. Things to Do:
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She would have been numbered among the "all" if God had not chosen to save her beforehand.
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