Posted on 12/05/2010 6:14:57 PM PST by RnMomof7
People The Pope is not your enemy at least not Ratzinger. He is not in opposition to Christ nor is most conservative preachers of the Gospel of any church.. The next Pope or your next preacher? GOD only knows and the Lucifer's angels are just as likely to show up at any ones church next in the form of Preacher, Priest, Deacon, or Sunday School teacher.
This thread at this point reminds me of visiting the monkey exhibit at the zoo. They act like monkeys because they are just that. We are brothers and sisters in Christ responsible for what we say BECAUSE OTHERS OF LESSER FAITH may not understand and me harmed. By being harmed I mean saying if is bickering is the following of Christ I don't need it. I don't think anyone in the thread wants to do that to anyone. Stop, take a deep breath, and think.
MARY SINGS THE PRAISES OF GOD’S MERCY Pope John Paul II
In the ‘Magnificat’, the Blessed Virgin proclaims the greatness of God who called her, his humble handmaid, to be the Mother of his Incarnate SonAt the General Audience of Wednesday, 6 November, the Holy Father returned to his catechesis on the Virgin Mary with a reflection on her song known as the Magnificat. "With her wise reading of history, Mary leads us to discover the criteria of God's mysterious action. Overturning the judgements of the world, he comes to the aid of the poor and lowly", the Pope said, pointing out that it is humility of heart which the Lord finds especially attractive. Here is a translation of the Holy Father's catechesis, which was the 35th in the series on the Blessed Virgin and was given in Italian.
1. Inspired by the Old Testament tradition, with the song of the Magnificat Mary celebrates the marvels God worked in her. This song is the Virgin's response to the mystery of the Annunciation: the angel had invited her to rejoice and Mary now expresses the exultation of her spirit in God her Saviour. Her joy flows from the personal experience of God's looking with kindness upon her, a poor creature with no historical influence.
The word Magnificat, the Latin version of a Greek word with the same meaning, celebrates the greatness of God, who reveals his omnipotence through the angel's message, surpassing the expectations and hopes of the people of the Covenant, and even the noblest aspirations of the human soul.
He who is mighty has done great things for me
In the presence of the powerful and merciful Lord, Mary expresses her own sense of lowliness: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden" (Lk 1:47-48). The Greek word "tapeínosis" is probably borrowed from the song of Hannah, Samuel's mother. It calls attention to the "humiliation" and "misery" of a barren woman (cf. 1 Sam 1: 11), who confides her pain to the Lord. With a similar expression, Mary makes known her situation of poverty and her awareness of being little before God, who by a free decision looked upon her, a humble girl from Nazareth and called her to become the Mother of the Messiah.
2. The words "henceforth all generations will call me blessed" (Lk 1:48) arise from the fact that Elizabeth was the first to proclaim Mary "blessed" (Lk 1:45). Not without daring, the song predicts that this same proclamation will be extended and increased with relentless momentum, At the same time, it testifies to the special veneration for the Mother of Jesus which has been present in the Christian community from the very first century. The Magnificat is the first fruit of the various forms of devotion, passed on from one generation to the next, in which the Church has expressed her love for the Virgin of Nazareth.
3. "For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name, And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation" (Lk 1:49-50).
What are the "great things" that the Almighty accomplished in Mary? The expression recurs in the Old Testament to indicate the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt or Babylon. In the Magnificat, it refers to the mysterious event of Jesus' virginal conception, which occurred in Nazareth after the angel's announcement.
In the Magnificat, a truly theological song because it reveals the experience Mary had of God's looking upon her, God is not only the Almighty to whom nothing is impossible, as Gabriel had declared (cf. Lk 1:37), but also the Merciful, capable of tenderness and fidelity towards every human being.
4. "He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away" (Lk 1: 51-53).
With her wise reading of history, Mary leads us to discover the criteria of God's mysterious action. Overturning the judgements of the world, he comes to the aid of the poor and lowly, to the detriment of the rich and powerful, and in a surprising way he fills with good things the humble who entrust their lives to him (cf. Redemptoris Mater, n. 37).
While these words of the song show us Mary as a concrete and sublime model, they give us to understand that it is especially humility of heart which attracts God's kindness.
God fulfils his promises in Mary with abundant generosity
5. Lastly, the song exalts the fulfilment of God's promises and his fidelity to the chosen people: "He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever" (Lk 1:54-55).
Filled with divine gifts, Mary does not limit her vision to her own personal case, but realizes how these gifts show forth God's mercy towards all his people. In her, God fulfils his promises with a superabundance of fidelity and generosity.
Inspired by the Old Testament and by the spirituality of the daughter of Zion, the Magnificat surpasses the prophetic texts on which it is based, revealing in her who is "full of grace" the beginning of a divine intervention which far exceeds Israel's messianic hopes: the holy mystery of the Incarnation of the Word.
This has nothing to do with Mary.
The Proverb is Messianic and tells us just like these other verses below that the WORD was there from the very beginning. Mary is NOT the WORD and she can not save anyone.
Isaiah 48:16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
Genesis 1:26 And Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the earth.”
Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
That is fiction. There is nothing in the Bible to substantiate those musings, but there is plenty that speaks against it.
Just kidding...beautiful post!
Where in the Bible does it say that the Bible is the ENTIRE revealed truth about God?
Always worth posting in order to illustrate the errors of praying to dead people and believing in a “co-redeemer.”
" It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." -- John 6:63
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." -- 2 Timothy 3:16-17"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Now please show us in Scripture where we are to believe something about God and salvation that is NOT contained in the Scriptures.
Not really my friend I'm just seeing something I see very disturbing. One reason I shy away from these threads is they get to the point of danger on both sides. I don't mean it in a sense someones going to thump someone physically I mean spiritually dangerous.
There has been and until the day of our Lord Return will be a jealousy among believers. There was among disciples and Apostles. Christ had to deal with it with His Disciples. Christ Disciples were not only jealous of each other but other sects. Christ dealt with that as well.
His disciples had very different temperaments like Simon who by reading accounts had somewhat a temper. Paul may have been second on that or one of stubbornness with the disagreement over John Mark which was a sharp disagreement.
Our enemy of this world who wishes us not to enter the next in Christ kingdom is biting at our heals. In the mean time his disciples are very busy united tearing down ALL our churches as well as our nation. Protestants you have much bigger threats than the Roman Catholic Church. The sins you list are not ones unto eternal damnation. The same with the Roman Catholic church of whom this old opinionated man has benefited greatly from their mission. They protected my wife from harm for over three months as well as ministered to her in a very rough period in her's and my own life. My wife is Baptist also BTW but was in a Catholic school for a while in her youth. She still loves talking to The Sisters at the hospital when we go there on appointments.
Do yourselves a big spiritual favor both sides. Get to know the other. This is a discussion board where all can hide from each other. What if Jesus had us right now all in one room together? We'd all give Him a headache and I include myself who has given him plenty of my own grief and disappointed Him by sinning.
If a person tells me Jesus Christ who took our sins on the cross and died for us and arose from the dead and that He is their Lord and Savior that is enough for me as long as their behavior reflects it. I don't mean that they don't stumble I mean they try to walk in the way of the Lord. We all have our falls and we all have our spiritual valleys we have to climb back out of. They are my brother in Christ unless they also say to me or show me that Buddha, Krishna, or the actual name of a false god they also serve or worse serve the devil himself is their god as well and no I do not think Catholics do such.
Believe it or not I've been around a few of them briefly who worship the devil literally by ritual while I was in the service and my doing so was not by choice.
I'm a sinner myself. Forgiven by the Grace of GOD through Christ. I have enough sins to account for and I sure don't want one of them to be making a person loose what amount of faith they have and fall. And yes I have see Protestant churches so rigid in man made laws and rules that no person in the church can abide in it. This can happen in any church.
Thank God for Scripturally-literate Christians.
“praying to dead people”...huh???
Scripture
I. We are One Family in Christ in Heaven and on Earth
Eph. 3:14-15- we are all one family (”Catholic”) in heaven and on earth, united together, as children of the Father, through Jesus Christ. Our brothers and sisters who have gone to heaven before us are not a different family. We are one and the same family. This is why, in the Apostles Creed, we profess a belief in the “communion of saints.” There cannot be a “communion” if there is no union. Loving beings, whether on earth or in heaven, are concerned for other beings, and this concern is reflected spiritually through prayers for one another.
Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23-32; Col. 1:18,24 - this family is in Jesus Christ, the head of the body, which is the Church.
1 Cor. 12:12,27; Rom. 12:5; Col. 3:15; Eph. 4:4 - we are the members of the one body of Christ, supernaturally linked together by our partaking of the Eucharist.
Rom. 8:35-39 - therefore, death does not separate the family of God and the love of Christ. We are still united with each other, even beyond death.
Matt. 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30 - Jesus converses with “deceased” Moses and Elijah. They are more alive than the saints on earth.
Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38 - God is the God of the living not the dead. The living on earth and in heaven are one family.
Luke 15:7,10 – if the angels and saints experience joy in heaven over our repentance, then they are still connected to us and are aware of our behavior.
John 15:1-6 - Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. The good branches are not cut off at death. They are alive in heaven.
1 Cor. 4:9 – because we can become a spectacle not only to men, but to angels as well, this indicates that angels are aware of our earthly activity. Those in heaven are connected to those on earth.
1 Cor. 12:26 - when one member suffers, all suffer. When one is honored, all rejoice. We are in this together as one family.
1 Cor 13:12; 1 John 3:2 - now we see in a mirror dimly, but in heaven we see face to face. The saints are more alive than we are!
Heb. 12:1: we are surrounded by a great glory cloud (shekinah) of witnesses. The “cloud of witnesses” refers to the saints who are not only watching us from above but cheering us on in our race to heaven.
1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 20:6 - we are a royal family of priests by virtue of baptism. We as priests intercede on behalf of each other.
2 Peter 1:4 - since God is the eternal family and we are His children, we are partakers of His divine nature as a united family.
1 Cor. 1:2; Rom. 1:7 - we are called to be saints. Saints refer to both those on earth and in heaven who are in Christ. Proof:
Acts 9:13,32,41; 26:10; 1 Cor. 6:1-2; 14:33; 2 Cor. 1:1; 8:4; 9:1-2; 13:13; Rom. 8:27; 12:23; 15:25,26, 31; 16:2,15; Eph. 1:1,15,18; 3:8; 5:3; 6:18; Phil. 1:1; 4:22; Col 1:2,4,26; 1 Tm 5:10; Philemon 1:5,7; Heb. 6:10; 13:24; Jude 1:3; Rev. 11:18; 13:7; 14:12; 16:6; 17:6;18:20,24; Rev 19:8; 20:9 - in these verses, we see that Christians still living on earth are called “saints.”
Matt. 27:52; Eph. 2:19; 3:18; Col. 1:12; 2 Thess. 1:10; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4; 11:18; 13:10 - in these verses, we also see that “saints” also refer to those in heaven who united with us.
Dan. 4:13,23; 8:23 – we also see that the angels in heaven are also called “saints.” The same Hebrew word “qaddiysh” (holy one) is applied to both humans and angels in heaven. Hence, there are angel saints in heaven and human saints in heaven and on earth. Loving beings (whether angels or saints) are concerned for other beings, and prayer is the spiritual way of expressing that love.
http://www.scripturecatholic.com/saints.html
Ratzinger is the enemy of all free republics who do not wish to become subservient to his "global authority" "with teeth" who is given "the power of enforcement."
Is there no end to Romanist undermining of Scripture?
Mary did not perform any "wise reading of history" and Mary does NOT "lead us to discover the criteria of God's mysterious action."
Scripture leads us to an understanding of God, His "criteria" and His "actions."
Please cite scripture which says everything should be in (as opposed to “should not contradict”) scripture
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