Posted on 03/12/2008 6:12:12 AM PDT by reg45
When is St. Patrick's day this year? I've heard both the 15th and the 17th of March. Which one is correct?
I heard that it has been transfered to March 14th. At least my Archbishop has allowed for the faithful to eat meat that day. The archbishop in question is from the Hartford, CT, RC Archdiocesse.
Corned beef and cabbage! Yum!
Drunkeness is sinful 365 days a year. The catechism is crystal clear on that.
Having a party is not sinful. Celebrating is not sinful. Rejoicing is not sinful.
However, on Holy Week, our attention ought to be on the passion and death of Our Lord, in preparation for celebrating His resurrection.
What does it say about your "Christian testimony" that you'd make a ridiculous and offensive comment about the "RCC" [sic] teaching that holiness is not important except during Holy Week? Is that the "judge and condemn thy neighbor without evidence" part of your "Christian testimony"?
St Paddy’s has been moved to Friday, the 14th, (on the liturgical calendar for Catholics.)
It was the day before.
Because “special days” are actually “liturgical feast days.”
1. Mass is observed every day. At mass, the words and actions of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Scriptures, are remembered, as well as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it isn’t like, Catholics only remember these things once a year. Only the sinful lapsed Catholics who attend Mass only once or twice a year do that. However, Holy Week takes on more meaning as we draw nearer to the actual days on the calendar each year when Christ died, was buried, and rose again.
I salute the good work you do in introducing Christ and his teaching to those who may have been previously unaware.
2. I agree. As I have said before, the paganistic rituals that accompany these days are abhorrent. As I am not Irish, I do not completely understand the nature of these non-Christian practices on St. Patrick’s Day.
3. It is my firm belief that God the Holy Spirit, working through Pope Gregory, set up the current Gregorian Calendar, and in the moving this year of the rememberance of St. Patrick, it will be returned to what it should be, a rememberance of a man, who like yourself, was a missionary and brought Christianity to Ireland. Those who celebrate on the 17th will not be the Christians, but the pagans who St. Patrick attempted to convert. Thus light should be shed more brightly on these less-than-Christian practices.
“’What does it say about your ‘Christian testimony’ that you'd make a ridiculous and offensive comment about the “RCC” [sic] teaching that holiness is not important except during Holy Week? Is that the ‘judge and condemn thy neighbor without evidence part of your “Christian testimony’?”
365 days a year our attention ought to be on the work of Jesus Christ and the need of sinners to come to Him in repentance and faith. NOT just during one week of man-made so-called holy days which were never prescribed in the Scriptures.
The creating of holy days implies to the hearts of un-regenerate but religious sinners that one week is for looking half way straight and outwardly pious, while “partying” is perfectly acceptable the remainder of the year.
Yes, my Christian testimony, in fact, does include a Biblical stand against psuedo-Christian false religious practice; that stand for the benefit of those who understand that God's Word is the final and sole Authority in these matters, and not costumed religious men. There are more New Testament Scriptures instructing TO JUDGE than there are those telling us NOT to judge. Do you know why?
Liturgical feast days? Where in Scripture?
“At mass, the words and actions of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Scriptures, are remembered, as well as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
I realize that the Roman church believes in apostolic authority which is extra-biblical. But then any man claiming authority can become the authority over the Scriptures. I am not trying to be unkind, but I don’t believe that any pope has authority to do anything.
The New Testament isnstructs walking in the spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit for all the children of God (Eph. 5). They that are led by the spirit are the sons of God (Romans 8). And so Colossians ch. 2 instructs clearly that Christians have no particular holy days. So what right does a pope or a church system have to over-ride the Scriptures Themselves?
The world can see religious pomp and ceremony any day of the year in any part of the world. But the world so rarely sees common Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit, living Christ in their daily expression, words, activities.
Holy days and religious trappings are mainly for leading along people who have not the Spirit of God. Religion is basically a substitute for the Holy Spirit.
Scripture does no such thing. 2 Colossians speaks of Jewish secular festival days and sabbaths as no longer being obligatory, not Holy Days, like the Lord's Day, and much to the chagrin of you linguistic literalists, you won't find the words Trinity, Incarnation or Bible in Scripture either. Paul in no way refutes the Third Commandment.
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths," Colossians 2:16
I observe the Resurrection every time I preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Good for you but you'd better take another look at chapter 11 of First Corinthians and not lose sight of the Crucifixion, for without it there is no Resurrection.
"For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come." 1 Corinthians 11:26
Monday, 17 March 2008.
Of course, I never said otherwise. You're starting from a Ockhamite dialectic which I reject: "paying special attention to the death of the Lord during a particular week means you're ignoring it the rest of the time".
To be honest, that's ridiculous, and nobody except people like you, when trashing people like us, really thinks that way. PROOF: Try telling your wife that you aren't celebrating your anniversary because that would mean you're ignoring her the rest of the year, and see how far that gets you.
which were never prescribed in the Scriptures.
What was "never prescribed in the Scriptures" was a self-appointed, self-authorized "preacher" like you telling authentic Christian believers what the Scriptures meant ...
that God's Word is the final and sole Authority in these matters
... because if God's word is the final and sole authority, you have no authority whatosever to lecture me or anyone else about what God's Word means, or any other topic connected with faith.
Why is it that all of you self-appointed Popes deride "costumed religious men" and yet expect us to listen to you as though you had authority to teach?
The creating of holy days implies to the hearts of un-regenerate but religious sinners
I can't help what "un-regenerate but religious sinners" think. They take one bit of practice or belief and don't bother to understand and practice the whole thing. I can't help that. The Faith is a whole program; if you take only some of the medicine the Doctor prescribes, and not in the dosages he requires, you shouldn't be surprised if you stay sick.
Nowhere in Scripture does Scripture claim that Scripture has every jot and tittle of Christian practice spelled out in detail.
You don't even know what books constitute Scripture apart from the authority of the Church. Go ahead: prove from Scripture that Romans or Galatians is Scripture. You can't do it. Even John Calvin admitted that it can't be done. R.C. Sproul admits that it can't be done. Apply your standard rigorously, and you'd have to throw the NT away.
Catholics should take more interest in the souls of others if they truly believe what they believe. I agree that going to Church on Sunday is not enough to live a Christ centered life. I used to be like that, just going through the motions, but in order to be a true follower of Christ I must live my faith.
At Mass we remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who became the new Lamb at Passover, dying and rising from the dead for our sins. Masses are held at an altar, not a dinner table (or at least, they are supposed to be, but there has been liturgical abuse by those who do not “stick to the script”). The Eucharistic Prayer said at every mass includes the words of Christ at the Last Supper, although in one week we will remember specifically the day in which this took place.
What we do may be pomp and ceremony but the incense, the procession, all these things, are designed to show reverence to Jesus Christ as we believe in His True Presence in the Eucharist. I guess it all depends on your interpretation of John chapter 6, verses 22 through 71; and Luke chapter 22, verses 14 through 20. Although those who do not believe in transubstantiation will see it as pomp and ceremony. I guess it all depends on your perspective.
And yes, I suppose the Pope’s authority and the authority of all the bishops, etc. depends on whether or not you agree with apostolic succession. You may believe whatever you’d like to believe. You may, however, review Acts chapter 6.
And we are not just a Roman church. There are 22 Eastern rite Catholic churches in full communion with the Pope, including the Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq who just had an archbishop kidnapped and killed by terrorists.
I agree that we should all be filled with the Holy Spirit. The apostles (and Mary) were on the day of Pentecost in the upper room. However, as you recall in Acts chapter 8, they had accepted the Word of God, but had not received the Holy Spirit. Peter and John came to them, and prayed that it would be done, but it did not happen. These people had been baptised, but it was not enough. Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. This is why Catholics celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation, that we may all receive the Holy Spirit from the laying on of hands by the representatives of the apostles at this current time, the bishops (here is that apostolic succession thing again). So I agree, we should all receive the Holy Spirit and take the message of Christ to all who are not enlightened.
And we should all live with Christ at the center of our lives. As Jesus says:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.”
And: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
If we are not doing these things, we are not living as Christians. As a Catholic I am obligated to attend Mass every Sunday and on non-Sundays such as Christmas, but that is the bare minimum; it is not enough. We should be living for Christ, each and every day, with all our hearts-, minds, and strength.
My comment about observance of the Resurrection had to do with another's question specifically regarding EASTER. It was not a denial of the Crucifxion. You took my answer incorrectly without going back to look at why I gave that answer.
Do you personally and regularly deal with sinners about the Cross, the Blood of Christ, as well as the Resurrection of Christ?
There is nothing in existence in any church on earth today that is like what was happening when 12 Jewish ministers to the Jews were charging Israel, as a nation, for their Crimes against their Messiah, and preaching for that nation to repent.
Please be honest to your church councils, and admit that the RCC believes that salvation is only through the Church of Rome. Nobody can be saved or enjoy Heaven unless they subjugate themselves to the RCC’s authority and system.
When any church or religious society on Earth deems itself the only true church and holding an unbroken succession to the Apostles, that is a religious society I stay away from.
I know many churches and denominations which believe they have biblical interpretation correct, but would NEVER state that adherence to their order is necessary for salvation. There are about a half dozen organizations operating in the States, however, that each believe their particular church and their particular sacramental and liturgical system are the means of grace or the means of salvation. From those we stay away.
Actually, their authority exists whether or not some jumped-up self-appointed "preacher" recognizes it or not.
That wasn’t what I was saying, and I agree with you. However, I do recognize the poster’s right to believe in whatever he wants to believe. We can try to reach others with our message, but we can’t force anyone to believe anything. That is between them and God.
However, I am reminded of something Fulton J. Sheen wrote after a trip to the Far East:
Catholic missionaries, he thought, “should start with what is good in the religions they find in their countries as Our Lord started with a drink- of cold water in converting a Samaritanas Claudia began with a dream in understanding Christ far better than a rational- husband, and as Paul began with an inscription to a pagan deity to convert two souls in Athens.”
And as the discussion originally began with St. Patrick, let us remember his methods in converting the Irish. Each person needs to be communicated to on their own terms. Bishop Sheen was famous for his ability to attract converts. We could all learn a lesson from that line of thinking in our religious conversations with non-Catholics.
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