Posted on 06/22/2026 3:02:27 AM PDT by Cronos
The strength to never give up and to continue spreading the message of hope, love, and peace comes from “a deep relationship” with Jesus, the Pope said during this Sunday’s Angelus. This also enables us to face hostility and persecution, just as the early Christians did.
On a hot Sunday in Rome, as in other parts of the world, Pope Leo XIX commented during the Angelus on the Gospel (https://www.omnesmag.com/en/resources-2/gospel/sunday-readings-12th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-part-a/) the part of the Mass in which Jesus sends the disciples out on their mission (Mt 10,26-33).
the Holy Father said in the Angelus, we should not think of “contemplation” as “an exclusive experience, reserved for a few saints or for monks and hermits. We can all do it by making an effort, amid our daily commitments, to set aside moments of stillness to remain in silence before God, listen to his voice, entrust our joys and concerns to him, and reflect on our lives with him.”.
“This makes us, more and more, people of solid and conscious faith,” he emphasized, and “therefore credible and free apostles—men and women capable of reflecting the light of the Gospel in every setting and in every situation of life, bearing witness to it even where its value is neither understood nor accepted.”.
Both today and yesterday, “it is difficult to remain faithful to Jesus” teachings and proclaim his Word: to respond to hatred with love, to arrogance with gentleness, and to discouragement with perseverance.”.
For this reason, the Pope urges, “we must delve deeper into the roots of our faith and our mission through an intense relationship with Him”
The Successor of Peter extended a special greeting to the members of the International Catholic-Pentecostal Dialogue, as well as to the faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries,
(Excerpt) Read more at omnesmag.com ...
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The Pope invites all believers—not just monks or saints—to set aside moments of daily silence to "remain before God," listen to His voice, and entrust Him with their lives. This internal life fosters a "solid and conscious faith," which transforms believers into credible apostles who can reflect the light of the Gospel in any situation.
John 15:5: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." This reinforces the article's point that effective evangelization depends on staying connected to the "roots" of the faith.
1 Peter 3:15: "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence."
Matthew 28:19–20: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."
The strength to never give up and to continue spreading the message of hope, love, and peace comes from “a deep relationship” with Jesus,
(Jer 31:31) “The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
(Jer 31:33) “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put My instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Heb_8:10 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Heb_10:16 “This is the new covenant I will make with My people on that day, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
The new covenant is a deep personal relationship with God not the church. Are you born again? Does the Spirit live in you. Do you crave his Word like you do pizza?
The Word of God is Jesus Christ
I do crave the Lord far more than pizza - which I know I will get flak for admitting - I don't care much for, it's too carb heavy
do YOU, PeterPrinciple crave the Word of God - Jesus the Christ?
As you, Peterprinciple, of course I am born again as Jesus defined it — He explicitly clarifies that being born again means being “born of water and the Spirit,” (John 3:3-5) - Jesus linked being born of water AND spirit together in a single, concurrent action - the sacrament of Baptism. he very first thing Jesus does after explaining how to be “born again” to Nicodemus is go out into the land of Judea with His disciples and baptize people (John 3:22). John 1 shows us this when Jesus as a example to us, is baptised.
The Bible never defines being “born again” as a subjective, emotional moment where you pray a sinner’s prayer or “accept Jesus into your heart.” It refers to the physical and spiritual reality of Baptism—the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) where God cleanses us, opens the heavens, and fills us with His Holy Spirit
Now let me ask you — Are you born again the Bible way, or just the modernist way?
Remember that St. Peter explicitly stated, “Baptism... now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21), and that Ananias commanded Paul, “Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins” (Acts 22:16).
Do note that the New Covenant isn’t a choice between a relationship with God or a relationship with the Church; the Church is the body of the New Covenant. In Ephesians 5:31-32, St. Paul quotes Genesis regarding marriage—the ultimate “deep personal relationship”—and explicitly states: “‘The two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”
it is not either/or but AND...
St. Paul explicitly states that Christ loved the Church and “gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25), calling the Church the very Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) — so we have to have a deep personal relationship with Christ AND with His body.
God made a covenant with a visible assembly (the Ekklesia). Jesus gathered twelve men, established a visible hierarchy, and said, “He who hears you hears me” (Luke 10:16).
The Bible never defines being “born again” as a subjective, emotional moment where you pray a sinner’s prayer or “accept Jesus into your heart.” It refers to the physical and spiritual reality of Baptism—the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) where God cleanses us, opens the heavens, and fills us with His Holy Spirit
Are you baptized in the Spirit? Does God’s Word speak to you. Does God reveal more to you when you read his Word with the Holy Spirit.
Paul in Ephesus
Act 19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.
Act 19:2 “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Act 19:3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.”
The Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues, nor just an emotional event. The Holy Spirit is a deep relationship with God. You will know it when it is there.
10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
11“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.
12“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
John 3:9-21 NASB 95
*****
John records Jesus and this interaction with Nicodemus.
Several things stand out.
First, the necessity of believing in Him. This is a consistent them throughout the gospel of John, and the NT, and is the key to having eternal life.
The astute reader will also note for the one believing in Him, He promises eternal life.
It is also interesting to note what He didn't tell Nicodemus he had to do for eternal life.
This would have been the perfect opportunity to lay out conditions but He didn't. He noted the simple, yet confusing, act of believing in Him. And for the one who does he gains eternal life.
You can bank on it. Why? Because He said so.
“Does the Spirit live in you”
Yes - the Holy Spirit absolutely lives in me. He took up residence at my Baptism, where the Scriptures promise we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), which is the “bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit continues to guide and conform me into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) through the Sacraments He established to nourish our souls.
Does the Spirit live in you? Do you let Him nourish you and grow you in grace through the physical means He chose as in John 6, 1 Corinthians 10:16, Philippians 2:12, John 20:22-23, 2 Peter 3:18, as Christ told us to grow and bear fruit in john 15:4-5 and Matthew 7:19
Do you let the Holy Spirit live in you as in Acts 19:5-6; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7 - the Apostles showed us the way with the Spirit as the driving force animating physical water, physical oil, physical bread, and physical hands.
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