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.
Well, again, that’s where you are wrong.
We don’t know and the Church does not officially teach on where or when or who may have witnessed Mary’s death.
There is a story regarding it, which the Church has not declared as absolute truth.
****The assumption of Mary also contradicts the scripture of the first and second resurrection accounts.****
No, it does not, for when Jesus was questioned about John, what did He say?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
.23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
If Jesus wills that His mother be with Him in heaven, what is that to thee?
Cynical bear's observation was 100% spot on. Literal one verse, allegorical/spiritual the next, all depending on which doctrine Catholics are trying to support. It's inconsistent, and disingenuous, and intellectually dishonest.
The whole passage or discourse should be interpreted in the same manner. If it can't be then it needs to be interpreted differently. Since the discourse in John 6 makes no sense, cannot be interpreted literally for the whole thing, then it must be interpreted differently, which does make sense and make it internally consistent with the rest of Scripture.
So when Jesus says you have to eat His flesh and blood to have life in you and that when you eat you will never die or never hunger or thirst again, it's more than hypocritical to take the eating flesh and blood literally but not the living forever and never being hungry or thirsty.
Thanks, MM, and you look just darling in your umpire outfit.
:)
thus sayeth the prophet presently no screen name.
So it is written so shall it be.
Is it allowed under the general rules of FR engagement that an umpire make a friendly wager?
It's vain to make something that isn't - to something you want it to be for an agenda. Here, Jesus says it better....
Mark 7:6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as It Is Written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
So the whole thing is made up of myth. Good grief.
>>If Jesus wills that His mother be with Him in heaven, what is that to thee?<<
Because it contradicts scripture.
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Mary was not the first resurrection.
So, if the Bible clearly says that two people were taken up to heaven, it does not contradict Scripture to believe that God also took up Mary.
Catholics add nothing to God’s Word, which is Jesus.
It is protestants who limit God’s Word to what they can or can’t believe He will or can do.
Then we’ll just rightly conclude that the assertions are baseless.
No evidence to support them = baseless accusations or assertions.
Care to wager on that?
****Mary was not the first resurrection.****
That’s true, Jesus raised up Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter.
Empty rhetoric and accusation is often what we get.
Actually, only a carnal people would think such and that is what Augustine says.
One must first believe and then know.
So, those who believed Jesus is the Son of God, then knew that what He said is true, whether they could understand it or not.
If one does not understand the union of the carnal and the spiritual, it is because one does not believe that Jesus could give us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink.
I recall twice “refreshing” your memory.
Care to wager I can do it again?
You claimed you can tell who is saved and not, going to Heaven or hell.
What’s the stakes?
I’ll even let you lay off some of your bet on metmom...
Well, it’s been interesting.
Good night and God bless.
They were also seen alive and died later. I do so hope you understand the difference of the resurrection to eternal life and being raised from the dead like Jesus did on multiple occasions.
G’night, Jvette, thanks for your posts.
God bless you and yours...
Your credibility.
Yeah, your’s is already lost. :)
I’m tired of doing this, you say something, then deny it. It takes time and effort to go back and grab the thread and quotes.
If you’re not sure, back out. If you are sure you didn’t claim to be able to tell who is saved and who isn’t, then it just costs you the time to make a wager, while I have to do the work.
How about; A bold “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” and one week off the threads?
Same wager for you metmom.
I'm afraid the childish babblers are those who prefer to pretend they please God by their own merits and to present to him their "home made" mud pies of their works of righteousness when only the perfection of Christ, himself, can open the door to salvation and eternal life.
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