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Priests are a gift from the Heart of Christ, Pope Benedict says
CNA ^ | 6/13/2010

Posted on 06/13/2010 12:16:24 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: catholic; priests
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To: Quix; Amityschild; Brad's Gramma; Cvengr; DvdMom; firebrand; GiovannaNicoletta; Godzilla

Works of the law do not save anyone. Works done for a reward, monetary or social, such as in order to gain status, do not save anyone. That latter group of non-salvific works I summarized as done for ulterior motive. This is what your quotes say, and it is the Catholic teaching. The works that do contribute to our salvation are works that Christ Himself told us about, see Matthew 5-7 or Matthes 25 second half of the chapter, or Romans 2:6-10.


761 posted on 06/19/2010 6:58:40 PM PDT by annalex
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To: Iscool
You have no righteous works

Matter of fact, I do. I just volunteered at a homeless children shelter, as a matter of fact. Earlier I defended the Church of Christ against a lot of misinformed heretics, and did very well.

762 posted on 06/19/2010 7:02:02 PM PDT by annalex
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To: RnMomof7

The discourses in the Sermon of the Mountain and in Matthew 25, like most discourses of Christ, were given His disciples. However, the distinction drawn between the sheep and the goats is not a distinction between groups of disciples but distinctions between the elect and the reprobate. The distinction if expressed solely in terms of their good works or absense of good works. The eventual result is eternal salvation or eternal condemnation. So,

1. We are judged by our works.
2. Our salvation is not secure till we die and are judged on the entirety of our works (for example, a “goat” might repent, as you yourself note, or a “sheep” may fall into sin.


763 posted on 06/19/2010 7:07:59 PM PDT by annalex
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To: Quix

“GOD’S WORD
IS
GOD’S WORD!

OTHER
STUFF
AIN’T!
!DOH!”

Except for Calvin’s and Luther’s interpretations and a few million others’s interpretations of Scripture....

How many thousands of denominations now claim to be exclusively the “correct” interpreters?


764 posted on 06/19/2010 7:12:44 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
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To: boatbums; RnMomof7; ForAmerica; Dr. Eckleburg
What, then, do you mean by "obligation"?

For example, a Jewish law said that one is obligated to circumcise his children. That is a work of law, in this case Hebrew law, that is not salvific for that very reason, and St. Paul wrote two epistles -- to Romans the to the Galatians explaining that.

We "Protestants" have been saying all along that the good works God has prepared for us to do are because we are saved and not in order to be saved

Yes, and that is precisely the counterscriptural heresy, as we've seen from several verses. We are nto saved till we are judged, and we have to do works of love if we want to be saved (Mt 5-7. Mt 25, Rm 2:6-10, Ja. 2, Eph. 2:10, Phil. 2:12-13).

765 posted on 06/19/2010 7:14:32 PM PDT by annalex
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To: Natural Law

“That is some of the worst haiku I have ever seen or someone left the random word generator program on your PC on this morning.”

Hilarious. Some of these bandwidth burners are funny. They have no rational or actual content but they are very comical.


766 posted on 06/19/2010 7:15:07 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
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To: RnMomof7
Any work done believing that it is necessary to save you or that works are a part of your salvation is done for a self serving ulterior motive, saving yourself

But the scripture does not agree with that sophistry. The works that are not salvific that the scripture gives us examples of are works done under the Hebrew or any other law (Rm 3:28), or works done in order to boast (Eph. 2:9), or pharisaic works of self-aggrandizing hypocrisy (Mt 23:13, many similar). A desire for salvation is nowhere listed as wrong motivation.

767 posted on 06/19/2010 7:20:10 PM PDT by annalex
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To: Iscool
you'd have to be embarrassed to post such tripe

Indeed pointing you that when the scripture says that we must do something them we must do somethign is silly, but someone managed to contradict just that, and so I had to write such a laughable tautology. I am amazed myself.

Salvation...RIGHT NOW

That verse simply says that a believer has everlasting life at every moment (as does a nonbeliever). It does not say what works does the believer do in order to preserve it.

What you have right now is the fact that Jesus redeemed your sin. If you adhere to the right doctrine and stay away form sin, leave the Protestant heresy behind, and generally do what the gospel tells you, then you will preserve that gift and will be saved. So hurry up.

you believe what Paul was teaching, you're on the fast track to heaven

Yup. That's what I have been saying...

768 posted on 06/19/2010 7:27:19 PM PDT by annalex
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To: blue-duncan; Dr. Eckleburg; Iscool; RnMomof7
He is the prime mover in dispensing grace based on His own sovereign choices

Much better, thank you.

769 posted on 06/19/2010 7:29:07 PM PDT by annalex
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To: UriÂ’el-2012

on Natural Law, “What will it take to ban this imperious abusive dolt ?”

I’d suspect if he keeps clobbering his debating foes with Scripture that they have no answer for...maybe he will become eligible.

“abusive dolt”

Let’s try not to make it personal.


770 posted on 06/19/2010 7:30:29 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
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To: UriÂ’el-2012

on Natural Law, “What will it take to ban this imperious abusive dolt ?”

I’d suspect if he keeps clobbering his debating foes with Scripture that they have no answer for...maybe he will become eligible.

“abusive dolt”

Let’s try not to make it personal.


771 posted on 06/19/2010 7:31:00 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Catholics believe in the inerrancy of the entire Bible.

This does not include Calvinic cherry picking and fantasies of a Lotto induced salvation.


772 posted on 06/19/2010 7:34:52 PM PDT by rbmillerjr (A loud band of PaulBots, Isolationists, Protectionists, 911Inside Jobnuts, 3rdParty Loud Irrelevants)
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To: annalex; Iscool; RnMomof7; Quix
Matter of fact, I do. I just volunteered at a homeless children shelter, as a matter of fact. Earlier I defended the Church of Christ against a lot of misinformed heretics, and did very well.

Well then, let me ask you this, what is your motivation in these good works? Volunteering to help those less fortunate is admirable. Do you do this out of love for God and gratitude for his amazing grace or do you do it to help you in gaining entry into heaven? When you defend your faith against those you deem "heretics", are you doing this because you love others as Christ does and want to see all come into the knowledge of the truth or because you think you must as part of your duty to your religion?

I think that the prime difference here is the "motive". Can you not see that when Christ said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.", means our works are a natural outcome of a true heart-felt faith and love? You seem to want to turn it around to imply we MUST do good works to be saved and not because we ARE saved. I believe if my motivation for doing good is because I fear hell and see heaven as a reward for those works, then all my work counts for nothing. My efforts, compared to the blood sacrifice Jesus Christ made as payment for sin, are but filthy rags in God's sight. And I believe Scripture very clearly makes this point, as well.

Which would you choose, to have your child obey you because he loves and respects you or because he is afraid of you?

773 posted on 06/19/2010 7:36:59 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.)
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Comment #774 Removed by Moderator

To: Quix
Thank you for your encouragement, dear brother in Christ!
775 posted on 06/19/2010 7:53:05 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: annalex; Amityschild; Brad's Gramma; Cvengr; DvdMom; firebrand; GiovannaNicoletta; Godzilla; ...
NOPE.

THAT DOESN'T WASH AT ALL.

The only way y'all can justify salvation by a shred of works--REGARDLESS OF HOW 'PSEUDO-SANCTIFIED' AND WRAPPED IN WHITE-HANKIES IT IS--THE ONLY WAY to construe reality with such a heretical notion, based in any even heretical sense on 'Scripture,' is to use the Vatican Rubber 'Bible' as I demonstrated in #716.

776 posted on 06/19/2010 7:53:46 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: small voice in the wilderness
Thank you so much for that beautiful Scripture, dear brother/sister in Christ, and thank you for sharing your testimony!
777 posted on 06/19/2010 7:54:29 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: annalex; Amityschild; Brad's Gramma; Cvengr; DvdMom; firebrand; GiovannaNicoletta; Godzilla; ...

It will take more time than I may have left this evening to post a detailed reply to those Scriptures.

However, basically, I know of nothing in them that indicates that SALVATION, PER SE is at all generated, granted, applied based on works done out of any attitude or motive whatsoever.

REWARDS are granted on the basis of works. NOT SALVATION.


778 posted on 06/19/2010 8:00:29 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: annalex; Amityschild; Brad's Gramma; Cvengr; DvdMom; firebrand; GiovannaNicoletta; Godzilla; ...

No. That’s not true, according to Scripture.

Y’all’s ‘works of righteousness’

are just as much a filthy ___stral rag as are Proddys’.

Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Compared to Christ’s Standard, God’s Standard, that’s the verdict. Scripture is quite clear.

Laying SALVATION ASIDE,

THEN works and rewards can be a consideration.

IF SALVATION is in the discussion, then the BEST OF WORKS WITH THE BEST OF ATTITUDES AND MOTIVES are not any more recemptive than the worst used ___tex—according to Scripture and the root words involved.


779 posted on 06/19/2010 8:04:19 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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To: rbmillerjr

NOPE.

Vatican rubber ‘Bible’
rubber dictionaries,
straw dogs

strike again.

Sometimes I wonder if y’all even read what you write.

It’s embarrassing on your behalf to think that y’all believe such stuff!


780 posted on 06/19/2010 8:10:01 PM PDT by Quix (THE PLAN of the Bosses: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2519352/posts?page=2#2)
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