Priests are a gift from the Heart of Christ, Pope Benedict says

CNA ^ | 6/13/2010

[markomalley]

Vatican City, Jun 13, 2010 / 10:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Thousands of pilgrims and faithful gathered at noon Sunday in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with the Holy Father. Before the prayer, he said that the fruits of the recently ended Year for Priests could never be measured, but are already visible and will continue to be ever more so.

“The priest is a gift from the heart of Christ, a gift for the Church and for the world. From the heart of the Son of God, overflowing with love, all the goods of the Church spring forth,” proclaimed Pope Benedict XVI. “One of those goods is the vocations of those men who, conquered by the Lord Jesus, leave everything behind to dedicate themselves completely to the Christian community, following the example of the Good Shepherd.”

The Holy Father described the priest as having been formed by “the same charity of Christ, that love which compelled him to give his life for his friends and to forgive his enemies.”

“Therefore,” he continued, “priests are the primary builders of the civilization of love.”

Benedict XVI exhorted priests to always seek the intercession of St. John Marie Vianney, whose prayer, the “Act of Love,” was prayed frequently during the Year for Priests, and “continues to fuel our dialogue with God.”

The pontiff also spoke about the close of the Year for Priests, which took place this past week and culminated with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He emphasized “the unforgettable days in the presence of more than 15,000 priests from around the world.”

The feast of the Sacred Heart is traditionally a “day of priestly holiness,” but this time it was especially so, Benedict XVI remarked.

Pope Benedict concluded his comments by noting that, in contemplating history, “one observes so many pages of authentic social and spiritual renewal which have been written by the decisive contribution of Catholic priests.” These were inspired “only by their passion for the Gospel and for mankind, for his true civil and religious freedom.”

“So many initiatives that promote the entire human being have begun with the intuition of a priestly heart,” he exclaimed.

The Pope then prayed the Angelus, greeted those present in various languages, and imparted his apostolic blessing.

[kosta50]

It wouldn't matter he wasn't saved. He never heard The Gospel until he started going to church with us

Protestant doctrine would assert that if he believed Jesus was his Savior, then he was already saved with or without your Gospel.

[Quix]

EXCELLENT AND ACCURATE POST.

THX.

HOPE YOU’RE DOING WELL. LUB

[wmfights]

Thanks

It's interesting how our preconceived notions interfere with sound studying of Scripture. Lately, I've been looking to see how The Gospel came to us. It's a great study and opened my eyes to a couple things.

Jesus Christ came to Israel and instructed his disciples to not go to the Gentiles. Jesus even hid the revelation of His death burial and resurrection from His disciples. Until the resurrection actually occurred no one had a clue. Even after the resurrection His disciples did not reach out to the entire world with The Gospel. Instead they clustered in Jerusalem thinking the return of the Messiah and the establishment of His Kingdom was imminent.

After Stephen was martyred, another rejection of Jesus Christ by Israel, Paul was converted. What surprised me was his first reaction was to go to the synagogue and preach Jesus is the Christ and the Kingdom, even though he was converted to go to the Gentiles. It was after this that Paul was run out of town and went into Arabia (probably Mt. Sinai) and was taught by Jesus for 3 years. About the same time that Jesus taught His disciples prior to the Cross. When Paul returned the Gospel of Grace to the Gentiles was revealed.

[Titanites]

It was used of God to touch my heart

Did a spirit touch your heart when you called me a liar a few posts back?

[wmfights]

Protestant doctrine would assert that if he believed Jesus was his Savior, then he was already saved with or without your Gospel.

A couple things old FRiend. I'm not a Protestant.

The other is that your church doesn't teach The Gospel or you wouldn't have phrased the point you were trying to make that way.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Evangelicals, or what you term "Protestants" do not assert any moral, theological, or ethic superiority due to any hierarchical management structure, nor in fact to any human construct or tradition whatsoever, so attempting to decry the actual Christian church en toto by decrying two of its members has no logical basis or effect. It is basically saying "Nuh uh, you are". But, when one has come to a battle of wits unarmed, one swings whatever one has access to, I suppose.

lol. Amen!

Catholics invest all of their theological validity tokens in the group authority of the Romanist priesthood. That Romanist priesthood accepts and continues to embrace Pelosi, Biden, Kennedy, and a host of other reprobate communist child murder-supporting servants of Lucifer, thereby negating any validity they may have held up to that point.

You've summarily lost the argument by your own submitted standard of failure.

I wish I had said that.

And sometime in the future, I probably will.

(I only steal from the best.)

[Natural Law]

"I'm not a Protestant."

Hair splitting;

PROTESTANT - a member of any of several church denominations denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth; broadly : a Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern church

[Dr. Eckleburg]

lol. A quibble over church politics.

A far FAR cry from the blasphemy that Rome teaches.

[kosta50]

A couple things old FRiend. I'm not a Protestant.

Very well, then what are you? If yours is a sola scriptura 'church' then it is Protestant.

The other is that your church doesn't teach The Gospel or you wouldn't have phrased the point you were trying to make that way

If it is not the Gospel taught by the Church then it is a private Gospel.

[Titanites]

A quibble over church politics

LOL. I'm sure they consider it a "quibble".

A far FAR cry from the blasphemy that Rome teaches.

Funny you throw that stone considering all the blasphemy being taught in the glass house of Presbyterianism. Look at all the splitting and resplitting in that mess due to claims of blashpemy. It isn't "Rome" allowing ordination of women.

You'd be better served throwing that stone at your own church or churches.

[stfassisi]

It wouldn't matter he wasn't saved. He never heard The Gospel until he started going to church with us.

First of all,it's not your decision to say who IS and who IS NOT saved, and I DOUBT your FIL never heard the Gospel either .It sounds to me that you were pushing your beliefs on an old man who had a stroke and your anti Catholic/Orthodox agenda here on FR seems plausible that you are capable of doing this.

Secondly, God does not condemn people to life without Him in Hell because they didn't hear the Bible being read to them. According to this "logic", EVERY Old Testament figure is in hell. Every person in the Western Hemisphere up until 1500 is in hell. Every person in lower Africa and Asia is in hell until missionaries went there, in some cases, into the 1800's.

[The Comedian]

I wish I had said that.
And sometime in the future, I probably will.
(I only steal from the best.)

I'm honored.

You can't steal a gift, my friend, so consider it a minor contribution to the awesome task you and Quix and the rest of the brethren here have undertaken, and feel free to do with it whatever you wish!

Just please forgive my lack of patience in spending time teaching at the cultist troglodytes. You and Quix are welcome to them. I can't do pig singing lessons. I just show up later to cook the bacon.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Diamond]

In Col 1:15, the firstborn of all creatures (or creation) implies Christ is not only made, but first to be made. It also implies that he is not divine, which is obvious from the part you left out in your snippet, namely "he is the image [icon] of the invisible God (os estin eikon tou Theou tou aoratou).

And the amplification of verse 15 by verse 16, which you leave out of your analysis, states, For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.. He cannot logically have created ALL things if He Himself were a created thing.

As footnote 44 points out,

If Paul believed Christ was a created being or a being with origins as the Arians suggest, then Paul had available to him the terms prwtovktisto" (first-created) or prwtovplasto" (first-formed). Murray, 44.

In verse 9, which precedes these verses Paul says, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form"

The Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich and Danker lexicon renders the word "the state of being god, divine character/nature, deity, divinity, used as abstract noun for qeo,j Louw and Nida have, "the nature or state of being God - 'deity, divine nature, divine being.' Thayer's lexicon says, "deity, i.e. the state of being God, Godhead: Col. ii. 9." Thayer is here giving us the words of Grimm. However, he then goes on to provide some important information on his own:

[SYN. qeo,thj, qeio,thj: qeo,thj deity differs from qeio,thj divinity, as essence differs from quality or attribute]
http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=1173

So eikon tou Theou tou aoratou must be understood in this context.

If eikon means an "artistic representation" in the strict sense, and a "mental image" in the metaphorical sense, or, as in the sense of a "copy" eikon means a "living image," a "likeness," an "embodiment" and a "manifestation, as the translators/commentators say, then what makes you think that calling Christ the image of God is not simply to say, as F. F. Bruce points out, that in Him the being and nature of God have been perfectly manifested--that in Him the invisible has become visible? And if all this were only to emphasize His Sonship, how does emphasizing His Sonship deny His Deity?

Cordially,

[boatbums]

Another bit of news is the scandal surrounding Schwertley, including accusations of breaking numerous commandments. More can be found here and here.

I have no "skin" in the game here as I am not Presbyterian, however, if being "perfect" and "sinless" is now a criteria for writing anything concerning theology, we wouldn't have anything. This INCLUDES the catechism....hooboy...sure you want to make this kind of statement?

[Quix]

ABSOLUTELY INDEED.

[Quix]

Did a spirit touch your heart when you called me a liar a few posts back?

It doesn't take Holy Spirit discernment to notice that things like the post referred to were untrue accusations, false, bearing false witness. It would have been a LACK of integrity for me to avoid noting that.

By the standard you seem to be applying, Y'all call Proddys liars all the time--often in very harshly personal terms.

Our skins are thick enough and we recognize the absurdities in y'all's accusations so easily, we usually think little of it. Par for the course when engaging the Rabid Clique sorts of Roman Catholics et al hereon.

Besides, with God Almighty keeping careful score in every idle word of everyone, we don't need to bother keeping account of such things. We have sufficient FAITH in God's handling of such things to usually mostly walk on by--considering the sources and all.

[Quix]

MAKES LOTS OF SENSE TO ME.

THX THX BRO

[Titanites]

sure you want to make this kind of statement?

You missed the point, unsurprisingly. If he can't be honest with his own church, his honesty when writing about Catholics is just as questionable.

[Titanites]

Clean up your mess.

[MarkBsnr]

Show me where Paul quotes God except for the three verses in Acts 9. Show me where Paul quotes God in support of any of his writings.

Paul quoting the O.T. to prove a point, on the assumption that Scripture is God's word:

In other words, you have no proofs. Therefore I take this as an admission of non Sola Scriptura, as I do for all those others who claim this. You are not alone, certainly.