Posted on 01/18/2012 3:19:15 PM PST by NYer
.- Pope Benedict XVI said today that achieving Christian unity requires more than “cordiality and cooperation” and that it must be accompanied by interior conversion.
“Faith in Christ and interior conversion, both individual and communal, must constantly accompany our prayer for Christian unity,” said the Pope to over 8,000 pilgrims gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall on Jan. 18.
The Pope’s comments mark the start of the 2012 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that runs until Jan. 25. It will be observed by over 300 Christian churches and ecclesial communities around the globe.
The Pope asked for “the Lord in a particular way to strengthen the faith of all Christians, to change our hearts and to enable us to bear united witness to the Gospel.”
In this way, he said, they “will contribute to the new evangelization and respond ever more fully to the spiritual hunger of the men and women of our time.”
The Pope explained that the concept of a week of prayer for Christian unity was initiated in 1908 by Paul Wattson, an Episcopalian minister from Maryland. One year later, he became a Catholic and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood.
Pope Benedict recalled how the initiative was supported by his predecessors Pope St. Pius X and Pope Benedict XV. It was then “developed and perfected” in the 1930s by the Frenchman Abbé Paul Couturier, who promoted prayer “for the unity of the Church as Christ wishes and according to the means he wills.”
The mandate for the week of prayer, the Pope underscored, comes from the wish of Christ himself at the Last Supper “that they may all be one.” He observed that this mission was given a particular impetus by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) but added that “the unity we strive for cannot result merely from our own efforts.” Rather, “it is a gift we receive and must constantly invoke from on high.”
The theme for 2012 Week of Prayer – “All shall be changed by the victory of Jesus Christ our Lord” – was crafted by the Polish Ecumenical Council. Pope Benedict said it reflects “their own experience as a nation,” which stayed faithful to Christ “in the midst of trials and upheavals,” including years of occupation by the Nazis and later the Communists.
The Pope tied the victory the Polish people experienced over their oppressors to overcoming the disunity that marks Christians.
He said that the “unity for which we pray requires inner conversion, both shared and individual,” and it cannot be “limited to cordiality and cooperation.” Instead, Christians must accept “all the elements of unity which God has conserved for us.”
Ecumenism, the Pope stated, is not an optional extra for Catholics but is “the responsibility of the entire Church and of all the baptized.” Christians, he said, must make praying for unity an “integral part” of their prayer life, “especially when people from different traditions come together to work for victory in Christ over sin, evil, injustice and the violation of human dignity.”
Pope Benedict then touched on the lack of unity in the Christian community, which he said “hinders the effective announcement of the Gospel and endangers our credibility.” Evangelizing formerly Christian countries and spreading the Gospel to new places will be “more fruitful if all Christians together announce the truth of the Gospel and Jesus Christ, and give a joint response to the spiritual thirst of our times,” he explained.
The Pope concluded his comments with the hope that this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will lead to “increased shared witness, solidarity and collaboration among Christians, in expectation of that glorious day when together we will all be able to celebrate the Sacraments and profess the faith transmitted by the Apostles.”
The general audience finished with Pope Benedict addressing pilgrims in various languages, including greeting a group of men and women from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, before leading the crowd in the Our Father and imparting his apostolic blessing.
So is the wafer God? Yes or no?
Acts 15:8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the holy Spirit just as he did us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.
>> “Try meticulously keeping all 613 laws and see how successful you are.” <<
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Huh ?? This is what catholics do, so why ask us?
Since rzman21 can’t possibly win the debate through knowledge of the scriptures, nor understanding thereof, he tries to use a shell game, bringing up irrelevent, and unrelated chaff, and spam-posting them.
>> “Furthermore, we accept and confirm the councils of the holy fathers, and their traditions and writings...” <<
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There is only one Holy Father, in Heaven, and he keeps no council with catholics. He also rejects ‘traditions’ and calls us to his perfect word.
Romans 12:1-2 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
He can't possibly win any debates until he re-registers under a new screenname.
Did he get to ride the lightning?
Where?
****Catholicism teaches defense of their church and what it’s heiarcky determines because they are taught by it’s leadership to defend them.****
Please show me where this is taught, because I have never learned that nor has anyone spoken of it.
We are taught about Jesus and all that our faith says about Him and about us. We are taught from Scripture and Tradition.
It’s a small percentage of people who take the time to practice apologetics and that practice entails explaining our faith using Scripture, Tradition and the writings of the early fathers.
When I defend the Church it is from scurrilous attacks and vicious untruths told about what the Church believes and teaches.
***Catholicism teaches it’s the source of truth as determined by their leadership and claimed authority.... which it is not....****
Speaking of spurrious claims.....
The Church teaches that the source of truth is God, revealed to us through His word, preserved and proclaimed by His Church. It is the Holy Spirit that guides the Church.
****They forfeited that authority when their leadership brought in all manner of pagan rituals to appease the pagans they invited into the church.****
Another spurrious claim, and one that is laughable considering that the pagan charge is made against all of Christianity and not just the Church.
***leadership desired money and the power it welds***
All of its leadership desires money and power? See, that sweeping brush can be used against others as well. The Church, indeed all of us are human and there are flawed and self centered people in all of it. But, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit guides the Church and protects His people.
By saying the Church forfeited their authority, one is admitting they had it at one time. And if that is true, then that is saying that God has given up on His Church, gone back on His word and left His people to perish because some of its leaders are sinful and selfish.
Thankfully, that is not the case, and MOST who serve in the Church are devout believers who are true to Jesus, the Church and their vows.
****Because they see the church as the body of Believers****
As long as those “believers” believe what they believe.
So both of you are arguing that he said it and he didn’t mean it. (For the record, Iscool, yes, the ministry of preaching is entrusted to those who give up all they have to become priests. So, yes, we believe he meant all those passages you claim we don’t think he meant.)
But see, here’s the funny thing. After a lot of Jesus’ figurative languages, when people are puzzled by what he means, he explains, if not to the entire crowd, then at least to his apostles. After every time he spoke of eating his body and drinking his blood, his audience cannot believe he could mean what he says. And he lets those who will not believe in what he says go away from him. And instead of telling people something else that he REALLY meant, he tells them how difficult it is to believe what he is really saying.
So, yes, you’re right: Not everything in the bible is meant completely literally. There are very few sane Christians with gouged eyeballs and severed tongues. But these passages, these he expounds on “Verily, verily I say unto thee...”
Gee, what a surprise.
Anyone else want to join the dogpile?
I pinged you to the thread. Check your ping list.
He and another.
Matthew 23
23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
23:9 And call no [man] your i father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Like THIS one?
John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
That's all. Whoever believes....
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life: I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.So in other words, you took the very passage in which Jesus says that you must believe that you must eat his body and drink his blood, and edited it so it sounded like he was simply saying the opposite. Bad mom!The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
****We don’t form our own *church*.****
If you belong to any protestant denomination, you belong to a church started by someone who has a theology which differs from others. This led them to start their own church, which others join because their ears are tickled with the doctrines and teachings that person preaches.
There are too many of them to keep track and news ones forming everyday. It’s like the old joke about the weather, if you don’t like what is preached, wait a few minutes and a new preacher will come along.
***We *ARE* the church, the body of Christ. When we together the church is meeting.****
Gee, exactly what the Church teaches.
***I see that I did say the religious *system* of the day. Poor choice of words on my part. He didn’t buck the religious system in regard to the Law, which he kept perfectly, but rather the religious *traditions* of His day. He bucked the religious tradition of the Pharisees and Sadducees continually and had words with them over it.***
Really? So, the religious “traditions” were not part of Jesus’ religious system? Hmmmmm.....There is only one occasion in which Jesus speaks of tradition. The incidence is related in Mark and Matthews gospels.
When one reads that entire passage, one sees that Jesus does not condemn the tradition itself, but the hearts of the pharisees who question Him because the disciples did not wash their hands before eating.
These men assiduously washed their hands, and performed these rituals in public to be observed by others, but then violated the commandment to honor father and mother, by claiming that they had no money for their care since they had given it to the temple.
Jesus also told His followers to do what the pharisees tell them but no do what they do.
****And his gathering all people together was NOT what the Jews of those days were all about. They didn’t associate with ANYONE who was not full Jew, hence their rejection of the Samaritans.****
He was not a loner then was He?
He also said this.....
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
The SPIRIT who gives life. Not a wafer, not eating food. The flesh is NO help at all.
Suddenly context is everything to a Catholic?
Who knew?
There’s a first time for everything, I guess.
Jesus was a man on a mission. He was going to accomplish that whether anyone went along with Him or not.
He invited people to come along and they did, but I also don’t doubt that if they didn’t He’d keep on going, just as happened when his disciples abandoned Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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