Posted on 04/11/2010 6:09:57 PM PDT by stfassisi
The first “Hail Mary” was brought from Heaven by Gabriel the Archangel, the messenger of Holy Trinity
The following text of Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican, is taken from the March-April, 2003 issue of “Echo of Mary, Queen of Peace”:
The recent Apostolic Letter of John Paul II, "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" (released last October 16) encourages all Christians to turn back to the prayer strongly recommended both by the latest Pontiffs and recent Marian apparitions. Paul VI called the Rosary a compendium of the Gospel. To make it more complete, John Paul II added the 'mysteries of light' to cover Jesus' public life. Padre Pio called the Rosary beads a weapon of extraordinary power against Satan.
One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism: "Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end." The secret that makes this prayer so effective is that the Rosary is both prayer and meditation. It is addressed to the Father, to the Blessed Virgin, and to the Holy Trinity, and is a meditation centred on Christ.
Today more than ever, the world is in need of prayer and meditation. It is in need of prayer because people have forgotten God, and without God the world has put itself on the edge of a precipice. This is why in Her messages, Our Lady insists so much on prayer. Without God's help, Satan wins. The world is also in need of meditation because if the great Christian truths are forgotten, souls become void. This void is grabbed up by the enemy, and he fills it with his lies. And today we see the results with widespread belief in superstition and occultism.
The most obvious danger for our society today is the downfall of the family. The rhythm of today's world has broken the family unity. Little time is spent together, and even when the family is together, its members don't speak because the television speaks. Where are the families which recite the Rosary together in the evenings? Pope Pius XII insisted in his own time: “If you pray the Rosary together, you will experience peace in your families; you will get on together.” “The family that prays together, stays together,” would say Father Peyton, the untiring apostle of the family Rosary. “Satan wants war,” Mary said one day in Medjugorje. Well, the Rosary is the weapon which is able to guarantee peace for the world, because it is a prayer and a form of meditation able to transform hearts and defeat the enemy.
Protected by the Rosary
The following inspiring episode from World War II, written by Sr. Mary Sheila O'Neil and reported in the October-December, 1979 issue of Garabandal Magazine (P.O. Box 606 Lindenhurst, New York 11757 USA) also illustrates the power of the Rosary:
It was a busy day in March. As a teacher-principal in the 1950's, I had to make sure that each day provided the time for the two separate roles. On that March fourth, an incident between a teacher and a parent had kept me out of my class for almost an hour that morning, so for the rest of the day, I was desperately trying to make up class time. Hence, the knock on my door at 2:00 p.m. was not welcome.
With relief, I found it was only a salesman who needed my signature and even produced his pen. As he did so, his Rosary had caught onto the pen's clip and came out as well. I signed as I said indifferently, "So, you are a Catholic." "Oh no," he said, "but a lot of us owe our lives to Our Lady, and I promised Her I would always keep my Rosary with me and say it every day."
Twenty minutes later, I was still at the door listening, fascinated, to the account of one of the wonderful experiences a group of airmen had had with Our Lady. My visitor hesitated to start, for he had noticed my "non welcome" opening of the door. But eager now to hear his story, I assured him that the class was doing an exercise, and I begged him to proceed. He continued:
It was May, 1940, and we had joined the Air Force in late September. At Halifax, we were given an intensive training course, because they needed us overseas, and to us young lads, the whole program was exciting.
We were grouped into squadrons, each of which consisted of six to ten planes, and each was trained to maneuver as a unit. Therefore about thirty to fifty men made up a squadron, along with the squadron leader who gave all the orders and kept the group functioning in unity.
In May, our squadron was told we were going overseas and would be in action at once. We would work on nightly missions over enemy territory until the war was over. We were waiting for our new squadron leader, due to arrive in two days on a 9:00 p.m. air-force flight. Being an officer, he would, we thought, go at once to the officers' quarters.
We watched the plane, glimpsed him from the distance, and resigned ourselves to waiting until the next day to "size him up." A couple of hours later, this squadron leader, Stan Fulton, in full uniform, entered our bunk house.
“Well men, we're going to spend some dangerous hours together, but let's hope we all meet back here when it's over. Ah, there's a free bunk and I am tired! I'll meet each of you tomorrow.”
With that, he threw his bag on an upper bunk. Our squadron leader, an officer, sleeping here with us! We liked him at once and our liking and our admiration grew each day.
That first night he knelt on the floor and prayed his Rosary in silence. Astounded, we were struck dumb. When he finished, he looked at us with his friendly smile and said, “I hope you guys don't mind a fellow saying some prayers because where we're going, we're going to need them.”
The next day our maneuver practice, under his command, assured us that Fulton was not just our military leader, but our friend. He was one of us; he never tried to intimidate us with his rank.
That night, he repeated his prayer session. Although our group had trained together for six months at least, I had never seen anyone kneel in prayer, and had no idea that any of our group was Catholic; but the third night three of our companions joined Fulton in saying the Rosary. The rest of us did not understand but we kept a respectful silence.
A few nights later — we were quick learners — we all answered the Hail Marys and Our Fathers. Fulton looked pleased, and thus we ended each day in prayer.
On June 1, 1940, we were to leave Halifax to begin a series of night raids from England over Germany. The evening before, Fulton gave each of us a Rosary.
“We shall be in some tight situations, but then, if you agree, we'll say the Rosary. If you will promise to keep the Rosary with you always throughout your life and to say it, I can promise you that Our Lady will bring you all back safe to Canada.”
We answered, “Sure thing.” Little did we dream we would be in action for four years, many times in dreadful danger with fire all around us. At such times, Fulton's voice would ring through each plane, “Hail Mary...” How reverently and sincerely did we respond! How many hundreds of Rosaries we must have said.
After two years, it was noted that ours was the only squadron that had not lost a plane nor a single life. We said nothing, but we knew.
Finally, the terrible war was over. During those years, we lost all sense of excitement and adventure. All that concerned us was survival! We did survive, too. All returned to Canada in 1945, fully convinced that Our Lady had taken care of us.
So I never forget to keep my Rosary with me and say it every day although I am not a Catholic. When I change my trousers, the first thing I transfer, even before my wallet, is my rosary.
Acts 17:11
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
I post facts and you post gibberish.
As God wills.
Jesus is the message and Jesus is God.
2 Corinthians 5: 10 For we must all appear 7 before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.
What have the Calvinists done in the body? Good or evil? By their fruits, Dr. E.
Romans 14: 10 Why then do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." 12 So (then) each of us shall give an account of himself (to God).
What account do Calvinists give? They would point to the Crucifixion and say that that is what we should be judge by? That is not what either Jesus or Paul says,
Matthew 13: 37 18 He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world, 19 the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, 20 and the harvesters are angels. 40 Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom 21 all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 43 22 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.
Who are the weeds, Dr. E.? Those who reject Jesus and His works. Which works of Jesus do the Calvinists reject?
Revelation 20: 11 9 Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them. 12 I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. 10 The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls. 13 The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades 11 gave up their dead. All the dead were judged according to their deeds.
What deeds of the Reformed are going to be Judged? The deeds of Jesus? That makes no sense since Jesus is the Judge. No, you will be Judged by your own deeds, exactly as Scripture says.
Nope! In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It was the entire revealed Word, not the limited to the written scripture, which was also produced by the Holy Spirit through Apostolic Tradition.
This is a great example of how the Roman Catholic church perverts the Gospel.
Yes, Mark. A thousand times yes. All believers will be judged according to the good work of Jesus Christ within them.
For an Christian religion to be oblivious of that fact is an astoundingly sad situation.
Read the Bible. Christ's obedience, Christ's righteousness and Christ's good works are what God sees in us and loves and rewards because they are the free, merciful gifts He gives to His flock.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." -- Romans 3:23-26"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
If you're having trouble understanding the imputation of Christ's righteousness to His flock, read this link by Sproul. It can only help...
Reformed theology insists that the biblical doctrine of justification is forensic in nature. What does this mean? In the popular jargon of religion, the word forensic is used infrequently. The word is not foreign, however, to ordinary language. It appears daily in the news media, particularly with reference to criminal investigations and trials. We hear of "forensic evidence" and "forensic medicine" as we listen to the reports of criminologists, coroners, and pathologists. Here the term forensic refers to the judicial system and judicial proceedings. The term forensic is also used to describe events connected with public speaking. Schools hold forensic contests or events that feature formal debates or the delivery of speeches. The link between these ordinary usages of forensic and its theological use is that justification has to do with a legal or judicial matter involving some type of declaration. We can reduce its meaning to the concept of legal declaration. The doctrine of justification involves a legal matter of the highest order. Indeed it is the legal issue on which the sinner stands or falls: his status before the supreme tribunal of God. When we are summoned to appear before the bar of God's judgment, we face a judgment based on perfect justice. The presiding Judge is himself perfectly just. He is also omniscient, fully aware of our every deed, thought, inclination, and word. Measured by the standard of his canon of righteousness, we face the psalmist's rhetorical question that hints at despair: "If you, LORD, should mark iniquities, ...who could stand?" (Psalm 130:3 NKJV). The obvious answer to this query is supplied by the Apostle Paul: "There is none righteous, no, not one...." (Romans 3:10). God commands us to be holy. Our moral obligation coram Deo (before the face of God) is to live perfect lives. One sin mars that obligation and leaves us naked, exposed before divine justice. Once a person sins at all, a perfect record is impossible. Even if we could live perfectly after that one sin, we would still fail to achieve perfection. Our sin may be forgiven, but forgiveness does not undo the sin. The consequences of the sin may be removed or ameliorated, but the sin itself is not undone. The Bible speaks figuratively about the sin being washed, cleansed, healed, and blotted out. The sin, which is scarlet, may become white as snow, the crimson may become like wool, in God's sight. The sin may be cast into the sea of forgetfulness or purged with hyssop. But these images describe an expiation for sin and divine forgiveness or remission of our sin. Our record does not change, but our guilt does. Hence Paul declares, "Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin" (Romans 4:8 NKJV). In our redemptive forgiveness God does not charge us with what we owe. He does not count our sins against us. If he did, no one (except Jesus) would ever escape his just wrath. No one but Christ would be able to stand before God's judgment. Again, God in his grace may regenerate us, sanctify us, and even glorify us. He might make us perfect in the future. He really does change the elect and will eventually make the justified totally and completely righteous. But even the perfected saint in heaven was once a sinner and has a track record that, apart from the grace of justification, would send him to hell. Thus, where temporal creatures are concerned, everyone who is once imperfect is always imperfect with respect to the whole scope of the person's individual history. This is what Thomas Aquinas meant when he asserted that justification is always of the impious (iustificatio impii). Righteous people have no need of justification, even as the healthy have no need of a physician. Both Roman Catholic and Reformation theology are concerned with the justification of sinners. Both sides recognize that the great human dilemma is how unjust sinners can ever hope to survive a judgment before the court of an absolutely holy and absolutely just God. If we define forensic justification as a legal declaration by which God declares a person just and we leave it at that, we would have no dispute between Rome and Evangelicalism. Though Rome has an antipathy to the concept of forensic justification, this antipathy is directed against the Protestant view of it. In chapter 7 of the sixth session of the Council of Trent, Rome declared: "...not only are we reputed but we are truly called and are just, receiving justice within us, each one according to his own measure...." Here Rome is jealous to distinguish between being reputed just and actually being just, yet it is still true that God calls the baptismally regenerated just. That is, for Rome justification is forensic in that justification involves God's legal declaration. A person is justified when God declares that person just. The reason or the ground of that declaration differs radically between Roman Catholic and Reformed theology. But both agree that a legal declaration by God is made. Nor is it sufficient merely to say that Rome teaches that justification means "to make just," while Protestants teach that justification means "to declare just." For Rome God both makes just and declares just. For Protestants God both makes just and declares just -- but not in the same way. For Rome the declaration of justice follows the making inwardly just of the regenerate sinner. For the Reformation the declaration of justice follows the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the regenerated sinner. At the heart of the controversy between Roman Catholic and Reformation theology is the nature of justification itself. It is a debate not merely about how or when or by what means a person is justified, but about the very meaning of justification itself.
How is it that you can make 10,000 posts regarding Catholic dogma, claiming with self proclaimed authority, to know what is it and isn't but never once mention the Beatitudes which form the heart of Catholicism?
Great Scriptures and points.
thx.
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
1. NOT examined !!!!TRADITIONS!!!!
2. NOT examined the minutes of the meetings of the bureaucratic self-serving political power mongers--centered in any city!
3. NOT examined the letters of the early "Fathers."
4. NOT examined the rituals of this group compared to the rituals of that group.
5. NOT examined the customs of this group compared to the customs of that group.
6. NOT examined the tea leaves from St Paul's afternoon tea.
7. NOT examined chicken entrails courtesy of the nearest Jewish mother.
8. NOT examined the flutter pattern of the latest batch of white hankies.
9. NOT examined the volume, timbre and body language of the latest town crier.
10. NOT examined the way the greatest amount of theological/political wind was blowing.
11. NOT examined how worn the nonexistent rosary beads were.
12. NOT examined how kissing worn the toes of the nonexistent 'venerated' statues were.
13. NOT examined how long the meditations were at each of the STATIONS OF THE WHITE HANKY. . . .
NO!
THEY EXAMINED SCRIPTURE--JUST AS CHRIST AND PAUL et al exhorted all Believers to do.
Trouble is, some folks think they can come up with a better plan THAN GOD'S PLAN. Power mongers are like that. And arrogant RELIGIOUS bureaucratic political power mongers are amongst the worst, if not the worst outright.
It still boggles my mind that anyone claiming the name "Christian" would DARE to even remotely suggest that ANYTHING could be considered equal to THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. That's a pretty brazen type of theological, logical, personal, spiritual ROT to leap off that cliff.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WORD OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE THE WAYS OF THE LORD.
BLESSED BE ALL WHO SEEK THE LORD AND PUT HIM FIRST, FOREMOST, ALWAYS.
BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB.
THX for your kind reply.
And what scriptures would that be since the Bereans preceded the canon?
Why didn't they search with great eagerness the Gospels to see what Christ said?
Did they so doubt the word of Paul that they needed to check up on him?
It still boggles my mind that anyone claiming the name "Christian" would DARE to even remotely suggest that ANYTHING spoken or written by Paul could be considered equal to THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. That's a pretty brazen type of theological, logical, personal, spiritual ROT to leap off that cliff.
There, fixed it for you.
NOPE.
Not by a trillion miles was anything ‘fixed’ soundly, Biblically, redemptively, honorably.
Mangled in typical Roman Catholic et al fashion? Yeah.
Without the authority of Paul's epistles, you don't have a religion...Well you do, but it's not Christian...
You throw out everything except the Gospels, you don't have much...No Acts 2:38...No Christianity...No knowledge of Grace...No adoption of Gentiles into the church...No church...
Silly, but sad...
And what scriptures would that be since the Bereans preceded the canon?
That should be fairly obvious to anybody (of course, there will be some that claim that they consulted, presciently, the Gospel of John or the the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, but we can't do much about them, can we?)
Why didn't they search with great eagerness the Gospels to see what Christ said?
Other than the fact that they weren't even written by that time...
Did they so doubt the word of Paul that they needed to check up on him?
Makes sense to me.
It still boggles my mind that anyone claiming the name "Christian" would DARE to even remotely suggest that ANYTHING spoken or written by Paul could be considered equal to THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. That's a pretty brazen type of theological, logical, personal, spiritual ROT to leap off that cliff.
and that's the one that I really don't understand what you were trying to say anyway.
Were you trying to say that the Berean Christians should have encompassed that attitude (not holding the words of that apostle as the equal of the written word of God that was extant at that time)? What exactly were you trying to say?
Not by a trillion miles was anything ‘fixed’ soundly, Biblically, redemptively, honorably.
Mangled in typical Roman Catholic et al fashion? Yeah.
Try to form a cogent thought and articulate it in English.
You can have a complete Christian faith with nothing ore than the Two Greatest Commandments and the Eight Beatitudes.
So, by your bizarre interpretation of Scripture, Saint Stephen (the FIRST Christian martyr) and Saint James (brother of Saint John and one of three to witness the Transfiguration) WERE NOT Christians because they were both martyred before Saint Paul wrote any of his epistles.
You throw out everything except the Gospels, you don't have much...
Just the actual Words of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Silly, but sad...
What sect do you belong to anyway?
You just can't have Protestantism because it uses an assumed supremacy of the Pauline scripture over the actual words of Christ, not to reform but to revise the Gospels and shape Christianity to their man-made and self-serving theology.
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