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.
Actually I was following your lead in your reply to my post. I thought you wanted to trade non sequiturs. No?
The Catholic Church's problem with Christianity stem from the Bible, not denominations.
Your first mistake is implying I think like you and then trying to spin that you actually thought that. Manipulation to deceive is from the pit.
Don’t mess w/someone who has wisdom and discernment - save it for catholics who are without the Spirit.
Sects, denominations, whatever you wish to call them, they exist. Since they disagree too, I guess their argument is with the Bible as well.
So, anyway, not answering whether you agree or not?
I'm tired of it though. I think your last one would make a great bumper sticker:
Don’t Mess With Someone Who Has Wisdom and Discernment.
And Humility too!
To be ‘in Christ’ is being humble.
Something those without the Spirit will never understand. Save your ‘man’ pictures, as they only impress catholics.
Humble is not the word that comes to mind when reading your posts.
Entertaining is one that does however.
thank you.
The 4 Gospels are also tied to the 4 living creatures of Ezekiel and Revelation.
4 is also known as the number of creation. 4 seasons, 4 main compass points, 4 natural states of matter, 4 forces, 4 dimensions, 4 double-bonds in a carbon molecule which is element number 6. 6 is the Biblical number of ‘flesh’ or ‘man’. All life is carbon-based (element #6) which has 4 bonds pointing to the created origin of life (or flesh).
Also, Exodus 26:31-32. The Four Pillars on which the Cherubim-embroidered veil hung. The four pillars display the beautiful veil. The four Gospels display the perfection of God the Son tabernacled among men.
And how Rev. 4:6,7 authenticates the ORDER of the Four Gospel accounts. Everything in God's Word is there, and in His perfect order.
It shouldn't because it can't. When one is without the Spirit, there are many things you don't get as your posts indicate.
Entertaining is one that does however.
Don't be hard on yourself - you can't understand what you aren't equipped to understand.
1 Cor 2:14 "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
1 Cor 12:7-11
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.
I understand you just fine. I don’t equate you with God, and I think this might differentiate the way I see your posts from the way you see them.
Still, I appreciate their entertainment value.
thanks again.
You are speaking as God or the Spirit aren’t you?
If your thoughts turn towards God when reading the scriptures I posted, that’s the Spirit of God calling you to Him. I don’t have the power to do that.
Hard as it may be for you to believe, I have Holy Scriptures, and I read them. I really don’t need you to post verses to me, particularly in the haughty manner that is your online persona.
Your power for me here, is to entertain.
thanks again.
It's telling me that if they can get people to believe it all came from them, then they have all the authority in the world to "edit" it, in addition to making it say whatever they want it to say. Whereas, if God is really who gave it to us, then he is who has the authority, not them, and his Holy Spirit does his job to illuminate God's truth from those Scriptures to all those who have surrendered themselves to his perfect will. I found this great article that addresses this point. It's called "Just Trust us on this one...wink, wink".
I do believe your challenge to me was "show me where any translation says it like that, I'll bet you can't". I showed you a few that used the word "pillar and buttress". So what that the KJV uses a different word, it still means the same thing and the "church" is not called the "basis" of the truth as you stated. I met your challenge. What? No gold star? ;o)
If you are referring to God's Word, without the Spirit you can understand them as your posts show.
in the haughty manner that is your online persona.
I'm a spirit filled child of The Most High God. Beggars are envious and will ridicule what they don't have to feel better.
Enjoy your entertainment, the Vatican/RCC has plenty more for you that you can't imagine. And then you will see haughtiness and I don't mean the haughtiness of extending the hand for the ring to be kissed - although that has prepared their subjects of what's to come.
Or even more importantly, not just editing it and claiming the sole right to interpret it, but ADDING to it. If they claim authorship, then they can claim the authority to add to it any extra-Biblical teachings and declare it of equal authority and inspiration as Scripture.
That's what is so insidious about their claim of authorship of Scripture and claims of being responsible for its existence.
Seems to me the only ‘spirit’ you’ve exhibited here is one of anger and strong need to attack Christ’s Church - with more than a little holier than thou thrown in as usual.
Empty jabs, swinging at air, weak imitations of a puffer fish. It is mere entertainment, like watching an internet temper tantrum.
Like this one, each time you start a discussion with me, your content is the same: nonsense and pompous insults.
While I enjoy the break from actual discussion, I have to wonder: How is this working for you?
By adding to it and changing what in essence they are saying is the same old question - Did God really say ?
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