Posted on 05/31/2013 2:44:05 PM PDT by NYer
Do our Catholic children and most adults know what these images teach?
All of us know one of the elephants in the room of the Catholic Church. Our religious education programs are not handing on the essence of our Catholic Faith, our parents are befuddled about their role in handing on the faith and the materials we use are vapid or if good do not make an impression on young minds. We are afraid of asking for memorization and thus most don't remember anything they've learned about God and Church other than some niceties and feel good emotions.
I teach each class of our grades 1-6 (we don't have 7th or 8th) each Thursday, rotating classes from week to week. For the last two years I have used Baltimore Catechism #1 as my text book. It is wonderful to use with children and it is so simple yet has so much content. If Catholics, all Catholics, simply studied Baltimore Catechism #1, we would have very knowledgeable Catholics.
These past two years I've used Baltimore Catechism #2 with our adult religious program which we call Coffee and Conversation following our 9:30 AM Sunday Mass, which coincides with our CCD program which we call PREP (Parish Religious Education Program).
This #2 book has more content and is for middle school, but upper elementary school children must have been more capable of more serious content back when this book was formulated and used through the mid 1960's because it is a great book to use with adults and not childish at all. We all use this same book as a supplemental book for the RCIA because it is so clear, nobly simple and chocked full of content!
Yes, there are some adjustments that need to be made to some chapters, but not that many, in light of Vatican II and the new emphasis we have on certain aspects of Church that are not present in the Baltimore Catechism. But these are really minor.
What is more important though is that when the Baltimore Catechism was used through the mid 1960's it was basically the only book that was used for children in elementary and junior high school. It was used across the board in the USA thus uniting all Catholics in learning the same content. There was not, in other words, a cottage industry of competing publishing houses selling new books and different content each year.
The same thing has occurred with liturgical music, a cottage industry of big bucks has developed around the sale of new hymnals, missalettes and new music put on the open market for parishes to purchase. It is a money making scheme.
Why do our bishop allow this to happen in both liturgical music and parish catechesis? The business of selling stuff to parishes and making mega bucks off of it is a scandal that has not be addressed.
In the meantime, our liturgies suffer and become fragmented because every parish uses a different resource for liturgical music and the same is true of religious formation, everyone uses something different of differing quality or no quality at all.
Isn't it time to wake up and move forward with tried and true practices that were tossed out in favor of a consumerist's approach to our faith that has weakened our liturgies, our parishes and our individual Catholics?
Compiling the Bible is nothing to take great credit for.
Scripture was recognized as such before the Bible was compiled and claiming credit for it takes the glory from God.
Something it takes a lot of guts to do.
How do you know what we have to answer for at the Judgment?
Who gave you the inside line?
Always reframing the question; when your assertion comes under fire...
Every drop of blood Jesus shed on Calvary He got from Mary.
The lengths some go to CREDIT Mary is blasphemous.
If you or anyone else chooses to ADD to what is in the bible....
My question is:
When you Catholics had the chance; why didn't you incorporate all these non-biblical teachings into the bible?
We Protestants would have NEVER known the difference.
MM; is YOUR name written there?
*snicker*
So, how many virgin birth babies were represented in your research?
I don't know why so many Protestants are far more comfortable with the idea of Mary being a slut than the Madonna. I don't know why so many Protestants believe that persons were killed for approaching the Ark of the Covenant, but feel no compunction or reluctance to blaspheme the Ark of the New Covenant. It really is very sad and not at all cute or funny.
No one here treats Mary as a slut, and such a suggestion is an offense. Just because we will *not* bow down to her, or attribute to her the things that belong to Yeshua, does not mean we don't respect her.
I don't know why so many Protestants believe that persons were killed for approaching the Ark of the Covenant, but feel no compunction or reluctance to blaspheme the Ark of the New Covenant. It really is very sad and not at all cute or funny.
Silly catlicks... Mary is not the Ark of the Covenant. Yeshua is.
Yeshua contains the commandments and the manna.
Yeshua is the Mercy Seat and is the one who will sit upon it.
Yeshua goes before His people in battle.
Yeshua is the one seething with the power of YHWH.
Yeshua is the one who is 'too holy to touch'.
Yeshua is the one whom the Cherubim bow down before.
Yeshua is the one who sits in the Holy of Holies.
Yeshua is the one the Temple was built to house.
And it goes on and on.
What is blasphemous is attributing these things to Mary.
I wonder if anyone can recognize all the occult symbols in this picture...
What is that in the center of her body? her “sacred heart?” If so, how is that occultic? Is the horn looking object supposed to be Venus? the moon?
Peace be to you
Picture of Mary. Have to imagine Jesus.
Mary gets more credit, attention, and honor that Jesus.
The heart of Catholicism is Mary, not Jesus.
From this thread alone, it's Mary's blood that Jesus shed for us.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3025958/posts?page=1339#1339
Every drop of blood Jesus shed on Calvary He got from Mary.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3025958/posts?page=1233#1233
Redemption and Salvation entered the world through Mary, not sin.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3025958/posts?page=1236#1236
It is by Eve's disobedience that Man fell, and it is by Mary's obedience that Man is saved.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3025958/posts?page=1245#1245
If you do not have an understanding of the Trinity and the Incarnation you cannot understand Mary. It cannot be found in a single verse, but woven within the Greatest Story Ever Told. Mary IS the Mother of God.
And lest anyone think the words of an anonymous internet poster are not enough, we have here from the CCC,...
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a9p6.htm
969 This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.510
http://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/TRUEDEVO.HTM
When therefore we read in the writings of Saint Bernard, Saint Bernardine, Saint Bonaventure, and others that all in heaven and on earth, even God himself, is subject to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that the authority which God was pleased to give her is so great that she seems to have the same power as God. Her prayers and requests are so powerful with him that he accepts them as commands in the sense that he never resists his dear mothers prayer because it is always humble and conformed to his will.... St. Louis de Montfort, in Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, #27, 246.
Then there are the prayers to Mary that deify her and claim that God cannot refuse her, putting her over God in authority.
http://www.goodshepherdparish.org/re/Prayer/novenas.htm
I beg you to present my petition to your Divine Son. If you will pray for me, I cannot be refused. I know, dearest Mother, that you want me to seek Gods holy Will concerning my request. If what I ask for should not be granted, pray that I may receive that which will be of greater benefit to my soul. Prayer to Our Lady of Hope O Mary, my Mother, I kneel before you with heavy heart. The burden of my sins oppresses me. The knowledge of my weakness discourages me. I am beset by fears and temptations of every sort. Yet I am so attached to the things of this world that instead of longing for Heaven I am filled with dread at the thought of death. O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me in my distress. You are all-powerful with your Divine Son. He can refuse no request of your Immaculate Heart. Show yourself a true Mother to me by being my advocate before His throne. O Refuge of Sinners and Hope of the Hopeless, to whom shall I turn if not you?
And there's far more available on the internet.
The heart of Catholicism is Mary, not Jesus.
Apparently that’s Mary sitting on the Mercy seat???
In a forum rich in ignorance of Catholicism, that has broken new ground. For Catholics and those who were legitimately Catholic at one point in their lives, the Real Presence in the Eucharist does not require "imagination". The Eucharist is fully the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus which is why it is the center of the Monstrance.
This particular Monstrance was made to replicate early Church art and artifacts. To those with any knowledge in art history the placement of objects in art within that era was far more significant than in today's point and click society. There is no more focused and reverent placement of the Real Presence than where it appears in this Monstrance.
Peace be with you
I'm just gonna say it like I'm thinkin' it FWIW
We are at war and we are fighting the good fight...scripture tells us to put on the helmet we are given (amongst other things) and to take up the sword of the spirit (which is the word of God)...The sword is obviously an offensive weapon in this context (the ONLY weapon in the armoury listed in Ephesians).The protective headgear is listed as the helmet of salvation and in the context of spiritual warfare it is there to protect the mind.(let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus....but we have the mind of Christ....be transformed by the renewing of your mind....be of one mind....be persuaded in your own mind....be persuaded that He is able to keep you....You who believe may KNOW ye have life etc etc etc)
If you turn "ye may know you have life" into a "sin of presumption" then you are downplaying the effectiveness of the helmet ie:planting doubt.All that is needed then is to downplay the importance of the sword (which is the word of God...ie: "out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword"...the same sword that "is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart")and you will have people fighting the good fight with doubt in their mind and doubt in their weapon.In that light,that 'spirit' looks a lot like a fifth column.
It's in the Bible.
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Rev 20:11-12)
When the Son of Man comes in His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on His right hand but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. ... Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My Brethren, you did it to me.
"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. ... Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."(Matthew 25:31-36, 40-43, 45-46 NRSV)
It's no secret. No inside line. Just basic Christianity.
Compiling the Bible is nothing to take great credit for.
You may wish to reread my post.
Scripture was recognized as such before the Bible was compiled and claiming credit for it takes the glory from God.
Evidently the history of the Council of Nicea is a fairy tale to some.
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