Posted on 08/15/2013 7:03:11 PM PDT by annalex
Once a woman in the crowd surrounding Christ and His disciples cries out to Him:
Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. (Luke 11:27)
What is it? We have, clearly, an act of venerating Mary. Note that the Blessed Virgin is venerated properly: not on her own but as the mother of Christ. Yet the reason for venerating is indeed concerning: it is her physiological and physiologically unique relationship with Jesus that is emphasized. That is not yet paganism with its crude theories of gods giving birth to other gods, but it is lacking proper focus and Jesus corrects it:
Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:28)
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| The Virgin with the Child on her knees and a prophet pointing at the star. Catacomb of Priscilla, late 2nd c. Source |
Having gotten past this linguistic hurdle, we can understand clearly what this passage, Luke 11:27-28, does: it establishes veneration of saints based not on their blood relation to Christ but on their obedience to God. It is in that sense that we venerate Our Lady: given that Christ is the Word of God personified, she heard and kept both Him in person as her Child and His teaching, figuratively. In Mary the essence of sainthood is seen in the flesh as well as in the mind. We could say that by the late second century at the latest, when we find evidence of the veneration of both the prophets and the Mother of God in the catacombs, the two reasons to venerate a saint: his martyrdom as in the case of Polycarp, or his obedience to the Word, as in Mary, -- unite into a single practice.
Time; times; and half a time...
“Trying to talk to someone who does not understand the Scriptural definition of *saint* as Catholics don’t, isn’t going to be productive.”
No kidding. Every time he writes another line, I just cringe. How in the world can someone be so blind? It boggles the mind.
Now I understand why...Her posts usually contain scripture...
Robby,
Are you really that ignorant of Scripture?
1 Timothy 2:1
There is one Mediator, and that Mediator gave himself a ransom for all.
“We are not saved by faith alone, so not every believer ends up in heaven
BINGO!!!
We have a winner!”
Can you believe someone would actually say this much less believe it??!!
“When He says “more blessed”
He doesn’t. Read the Bible every once in a while with attention and you, too, will be Catholic like me and understand the Holy Scripture.’
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. You, sir/madam, have not a clue what you are on about.
Robby,
Are you really that ignorant of Scripture?
1 Timothy 2:1
There is one Mediator, and that Mediator gave himself a ransom for all.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
One...
One...
One...
One...
“Read the Bible every once in a while with attention and you, too, will be Catholic like me and understand the Holy Scripture.
You just CAN’T make this stuff UP! ;^)”
Oh, Elsie, it would be hysterical if it were not so tragic.
Doesn’t that statement just RING with PRIDE and SCORN and SUPERIORITY!
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Let us pray that a bolt from heaven jolts annalex out of his stupor and the REAL Jesus makes Himself known to our sorely deluded fellow freeper.
“That is why they are saints: because they “hear the word of God, and keep it”.”
Like me, like metmom, like smvoice, like any believer in any era....we are the saints.
Very cool pics, Gamecock.
Thanks for sharing!
“natural way for a window to end her days”
Calling Elsie...another one you just cannot make up. lol
“WHEN you ‘die’ you get to SLEEP until the Last Trump sounds*.”
I part ways with you here, Elsie.
We do not sleep at death, but our souls go straight to heaven to be with Jesus and for unbelievers the soul goes to hell.
“Remember that a monastery was a natural way for a window to end her days, although the practice took off a couple of centuries later.”
Shoulda known you would have jumped on that right away.
I came late to the party. lol
“Our Lady visited a whole town in Portugal once.
WOW! Did she get a 3 day pass or WHAT?”
You are so bad! ROFL!
More like she was AWOL.
One of my favorites...
My pleasure!
I have some ofthe vatican as well, but I only post those on special occasions.
Why is Mary the only dead saint that gets to leave heaven and make these little jaunts around the world?
Don’t you think that is discriminatory?
I sure would like to know. It just came up out of nowhere and started correcting my posts. Uh, hello, isn’t that what the RCs are for??
“if it divides her, then it is of the devil.”
You just cannot help sticking your foot in your mouth, can you, annalex?
And I’d bet you do not see the irony here either.
That piece of toast looks more like my Aunt Fanny.
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