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Posted on 05/06/2010 6:19:27 AM PDT by markomalley
Welcoming future participants in the Congress on the Family, which will take place in Jonkoping, Sweden from May 14-16, the Holy Father taught on love and marriage on Wednesday. Through the love present in marriage, he said, we are given an idea of the love that awaits us in Heaven.
The Pope’s words on marriage came during his English-language greeting of the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
The message of the congress to the world is one of joy, said the Holy Father, “because God’s gift to us of marriage and family life enables us to experience something of the infinite love that unites the three divine persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Noting that “human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, are made for love,” he proposed that through the love between spouses, parents and children and siblings “we are offered a foretaste of the boundless love that awaits us in the life to come.
“Marriage is truly an instrument of salvation, not only for married people but for the whole of society,” he underscored.
He went on to explain that “like any worthwhile goal,” it is demanding, challenging and calls us to sacrifice for the good of another while also inviting us to “nurture and protect the gift of new life.”
The stable family, the Holy Father added, is the “first and most fundamental school for virtuous living and the qualities of good citizenship.”
The Diocese of Sweden’s congress aims to shed light on “Love and Life” through the three days of prayer, discussion and addresses. The talks will focus on God’s plan for men and women in marriage, the rights of children and social changes and challenges for Christian families today. Programs for children and youth have also been organized for the congress.
Pope Benedict concluded his message to participants by encouraging all people to “promote a proper understanding and appreciation of the inestimable good that marriage and family life offer to human society.”
Still doesn’t know what it takes for salvation.
He went on to explain that “like any worthwhile goal,” it is demanding, challenging and calls us to sacrifice for the good of another while also inviting us to “nurture and protect the gift of new life.”
The stable family, the Holy Father added, is the “first and most fundamental school for virtuous living and the qualities of good citizenship.”
Thank God for the stand that the Catholic Church and the Pope take in defense of marriage and life.
He nails it here about the role the family plays.
Through the love present in marriage, he said, we are given an idea of the love that awaits us in Heaven.
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He gets it...
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave His life for her.. Ephesians 5:25
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I’m sure your sect has a monopoly on that knowledge though. Just curious, how does your sect interpret 1 Timothy 2:15?
That should get the gay activists all worked up. Apparently the Catholic-bashers too. What the heck is up with that??? BTW, I’m not Catholic, but I don’t understand the apparent hatred. The way this world is shaking down, Christians really need to deal with our differences and work together in Christ. My opinion, for what little it’s worth.
No Jesus is the "instrument" of salvation for men, not marriage.. marriage is a type of the relationship between Christ and the church .
Signs and symbols and types do not save
I send cordial greetings to all who will be taking part in the congress on the Family in Jonkoping, Sweden, later this month. Your message to the world is truly a message of joy, because God's gift to us of marriage and family life enables us to experience something of the infinite love that unites the three divine persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, are made for love -- indeed at the core of our being, we long to love and to be loved in return. Only God's love can fully satisfy our deepest needs, and yet through the love of husband and wife, the love of parents and children, the love of siblings for one another, we are offered a foretaste of the boundless love that awaits us in the life to come. Marriage is truly an instrument of salvation, not only for married people but for the whole of society. Like any truly worthwhile goal, it places demands upon us, it challenges us, it calls us to be prepared to sacrifice our own interests for the good of the other. It requires us to exercise tolerance and to offer forgiveness. It invites us to nurture and protect the gift of new life. Those of us fortunate enough to be born into a stable family discover there the first and most fundamental school for virtuous living and the qualities of good citizenship. I encourage all of you in your efforts to promote a proper understanding and appreciation of the inestimable good that marriage and family life offer to human society. May God bless all of you.
Well, that makes (at least) two of us. I've tried reason, but that doesn't work. But I can pray for them and I guess that's the best I could do anyway.
I don't think Catholics on this thread need the pointless pontificating of anti-Catholics trying to score cheap shots. In fact, you should be ashamed of yourself for making such a cheap shot when a brother in Christ, in this case the Pope, is attempting to defend basic Christian ideals.
Rule One: "Rome" is the locus of all evil in the Universe.
Rule Two: In case of doubt, see "Rule One".
Corollary: "Rome" must be destroyed. All else is irrelevant.
==============================================================
Certain parties appear to operate according to "The Rules" as stated above.
That's certainly a tall order in our current corrupt, radically egalitarian, and feminist society.
Ephesians 5:
5Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it: 26That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any; such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish. 28So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself. 29For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church: 30Because we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.
This is certainly a tall order in our current corrupt, radically individualistic, and selfish society.
It is only by the Grace of God that any of us can hope to live as Christ would have us live, rather than as the world tells us to live.
In so far as all Grace is ordered toward our salvation and sanctification, sacramental Marriage, by which Christ imparts Grace to married couples is an instrument of both salvation and sanctification.
In other words, Paul was wrong when he said, "By grace are ye saved through faith, and this not of works, that no man may boast"?
To be right, he would have to have said, "By Jesus are ye saved through faith ..."?
Hint: there are different kinds of "causes". Jesus is not the instrumental cause of our salvation, grace is. Grace is conferred through all the sacraments (and outside of them as well, if God so chooses). Jesus is the meritorious cause of our salvation.
Sometimes I’m not in the mood to try reason anymore and skip directly to prayer. :)
Also, while the divorce rate in the United States hovers around 50 percent during the first five years of marriage, those who use Natural Family Planning have a divorce rate of about 0.6 percent according to the Couple to Couple League, and 2-5 percent according to research conducted by California State University, attesting to the strong covenant love shared by these couples. Link.
Then he needs to make himself clear..
Sometimes the Christian thing to do is apologize, admit you made a mistake, and move on.
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