Posted on 03/26/2006 3:50:13 PM PST by NYer
(AGI) - Vatican, March 25 - During the whole 26 years that Pope John Paul II served as pontiff, "everyone was quite aware of the presence of the Virgin Mary as Mother and Queen of the Church during his spirituality and his untiring inistry". But, said the new pontiff, "this presence was most obvious during the attack on his life in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981". This was a bold statement from Pope Benedict XVI this morning to the new cardinals and all Catholics on the role the Virgin played in deviating Ali Agca's bullet. He made it during the mass at the close of his first Consistory. In fact, it is widely known that the Polish Pope maintained that the prophecy of the third secret of Fatima was consigned to him, the description of a bishop dressed in white lying in a pool of blood.
On that occasion, Joseph Ratzinger was the regional head (or prefect) of the Holy See and had to explain the Pope's thinking to the public and make it clear that this interpretation was not a dogma of the Catholic faith. And today, looking at the window that is now his after the previous pope's papacy, Benedict XVI added, "in memory of that tragic event, Pope John Paul II wanted a mosaic of the Virgin to be placed high above the Apostolic Palace, overlooking St. Peter's Square. It would be there as a reminder of both the highlights and the more everyday moments of his long papacy, which entered its final phase precisely a year ago, a phase that was simultaneously painful and triumphant, in a way that is appropriate at Easter".
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way,
the truth,
and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me.
Doesn't exactly answer the question.
What's the question?
I'll address your odd questions if you have the wisdom and courage to answer the following things about Baptist beliefs:
I can't agree with a person who would assign a human being the same powers and status as Jesus Christ.
It's blasphemy.
You can't answer the questions because you know the answers would expose the weaknesses in your theology.
Too bad...
I thought you may actually be able to defend your own faith...you're so bad at attacking mine.
No. Inasmuch, however, as ALL human or angelic intercessors in such matters derive their powers from God, there is no basis for your jumping to this conclusion to begin with. Besides, what about St. Paul's "intercession" in Acts 20:9, which I already alluded to?
NO ONE claims that Mary is God, you should know that well enough, you've certainly seen many posts here on FR from Catholics emphatically denying the charge. Your feigned ignorance of the Catholic position here is most telling. Re-read what I said in the post you were responding to: ANY heavenly intercessors, be they angels or saints, undertake their intercession with the consent of God, through His power, and for His glory. If you don't understand that, go take it up with St. Paul, St. Peter or any of the saints mentioned in Revelation 8 who intercede for us here below.
I don't know what your faith is, so I am not attacking "it". I am however defending jesus Christ against blasphemy. I will continue to do so until my dying breath.
Your conclusion does not follow from the Scripture passage because you do not do the will of God with the same degree of obedience as did/does Mary.
-A8
Where do you think Jesus is being blasphemed here?
-A8
That's what I'm here for. To make sure you can make it thru the day with relatively few surprises. (eye roll)
Mary is dead. I am alive. So my degree of obedience if much greater to the will of God. I am able to do it.
Also, Jesus said that who ever does the will of God is the same as his mother and brothers and sisters.
So, I am the same as Mary.
Since she is dead and can't hear your prayers to her, maybe you should start praying to me.
When someone says that devotion to Mary is salvational, that is blasphemy against Jesus Christ.
Mary died for no one.
Her blood was not shed to cleanse us from our sins.
Where does it say that Mary saved his life?
Blasphemy is the word that comes to mind for me too. It also saddens me. If, by what we hear over and over again, that Mary only "points the way", then this article is bogus. Or we've got a misunderstanding of RC doctrine by many of our FR friends.
There is NO ONE here at FR that has ever claimed that Mary saves. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
bonfire said: There is NO ONE here at FR that has ever claimed that Mary saves. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
You do not understand death, apparently. When God told Moses that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were already dead, Jesus points out that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Mark 12) Jesus did this to show the Sadducees (who denied the resurrection) that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were not non-existent, but merely temporarily separated from their bodies, to which they would return at the resurrection. Similarly, the writer to Hebrews (Heb 12:1) tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, those who have gone before us. And how is it, then, that dead people can cry out to God?(Rev 6:9-10) To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, as Paul says. Therefore, Mary can pray, and does pray, for us as do all the departed saints.
Also, Jesus said that who ever does the will of God is the same as his mother and brothers and sisters. So, I am the same as Mary.
That's a non sequitur, as I explained earlier. Not only does your level of obedience fall short of that of Mary's, but you did not give birth to Christ. Mary is His mother in a way that no one else can be. And Mary's holiness surpasses that of you and me. The Church teaches that Mary has a special relation to Christ, since she literally is the Mother of God, not just in the general sense of belonging to the Church and thus being part of Christ's body.
-A8
Well, I hope no one else played a role in your salvation (e.g. your parents, your friends, relatives, neighbors, pastor, etc.), because otherwise it wasn't "by Me", and thus apparently it wasn't coming unto the Father.
-A8
Santo subito would be a just reward (if that is an appropriate word)
RIP - JP11
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