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.
G'night all. Pax vobiscum.
"A thorough study of his epistles reveals that Paul used the word faith and its cognates over two hundred times in the New Testament, but not once did he couple them with the adjectival qualifiers alone or only. Are we to believe that though he intended to teach justification by faith alone, he was never convinced that he should employ the attributes of the word alone to express explicitly what he invariably meant? What would have curtailed him from such an important qualification if indeed the solitude of faith in regard to justification was on the forefront of his mind?"A second reason that leads us to pose this critical question is that Paul used the word alone more frequently than did any other New Testament writer. Many of these instances appear right alongside the very contexts that contain teachings on faith and justification. Thus it is obvious that even while Paul was teaching about the nature of justification he was keenly aware of the word alone and its qualifying properties. This would lead us to expect that if Paul, who is usually very direct and candid in his epistles, wanted to teach unambiguously and unequivocally that man was justified by faith alone, he would be compelled to use the phrase if he thought it would make his point indisputable.
"Moreover, since Paul's writings were inspired, we must also acknowledge that the Holy Spirit likewise knew of the inherent qualifying properties of the word alone but had specific reasons for prohibiting Paul from using it in connection with faith."
--Robert A. Sungenis
I am just so, so tired of all this nonsense.
You believe A.
No, I believe B.
No, you believe A.
No, I believe B.
No, you believe A.
No, I believe B.
No, you believe A.
No, I believe B.
No, you believe A.
Ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
The scary thing is that Satan never gets tired.
We weren't speaking about witches, were we??? We were talking about Christian martyrs being murdered by Catholics for not bowing down to your pope...
We read your catechism...We read the papal bulls...We read Catholics online...We read sources put out by the Vatican...We read your pope's weekly address...We read the material that you claim was put out by your church fathers...We read what you guys tell us...
And last but far from least, we study the scriptures...I think we've covered the bases...
I don't believe you mean that...
I converted to Jesus Christ years ago...I have a testimony of where, when, how and why I asked Jesus to make me a child of God...And I have posted that many times on FR...
I believe what you mean is that I should convert to your religion while I still can...
And my answer is, Not A Chance...Why would I want to give up assurance of salvation, eternal security, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to follow some faker who erroneously calls himself, Holy Father???
I know who my Holy Father is and it ain't some cat sittin' on a man made throne in Rome...
Surely you will post that Gospel that saves from the Apostle John...
I'm thinking you mean that your pope teaches or reads from the Gospels every day...I have yet to hear or read about your pope leading people to Jesus thru the Gospel of the Grace of God...
The Gospels are not the gospel...
Because someone (and definately not Jesus) somehow convinced you that The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ before he ascended into heaven...
That guy’s got some spooky eyes...
Had you been a bible believer, you would never have become Catholic...
And I will go so far as to claim that had you been a Spirit filled, born again Christian as a non Catholic, you would never have become Catholic...
This was written by Apostles. It is about the Authority of the priest reading it to the Church. The authority handed down by the Apostles.
Strike three...You're out...Not even close...Not even in the same ballpark...
Has nothing to do with anyone's authority...It is about faith...It's about how one gets faith...You get faith by hearing (or reading) the word of God, from anyone...
It's the power of the word of God...Has nothing to do with the person reading it to you...
Seems to me that the Revelation, written to the seven churches in Asia, would represent a plurality of churches ... and being a plurality, would consititute the multiple that you are asking evidence for.
Is 7 enough? There were certainly others. This clearly establishes from scripture a plurality of churches. Also, since Christ has different words of encouragement and rebuke for each of them, wouldn't it stand to reason that they differed in doctrine?
Perhaps you could explain why Christ addresses the churches themselves individually, and not the pope at the time. I find it impossible to believe, that Jesus Christ did not address the pope at the time, begin His representative on Earth over the church ... instead he addressed the individual churches.
Why no message to the church at Rome? Seems like if Rome held a primary role in the early church that Jesus would have had something to say to the church at Rome.
Its a slam dunk in my book.
This will be a 500 post thread by Friday.
Need to catch up.
The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel... The Gospels are not the gospel...
>>>The True Church will always be ready to welcome you back.<<<
That’s what the Mormons and JW’s tell Biblical Christians all the time, as well.
Roman Catholicism is a mixture of Christianity and various forms of Paganism, with some other influences mixed in. I have no doubt some Catholics are Christians, but it is DESPITE the many false doctrines and abominable practices they are taught by the RCC, not because of them.
Thanks for repeating that stuff...Maybe someone who wants to know what God says about will pick up a bible and find out...
Speaking of Saul Alinsky.....
Google search on Catholic Church position on Social Justice
The Catholic church is more aligned with a communist ideal than with a Biblical stance.
Had you been a bible believer, you would never have become Catholic...
And I will go so far as to claim that had you been a Spirit filled, born again Christian as a non Catholic, you would never have become Catholic...
>>Do I detect a spirit of bitterness? Unlike some people who follow the party line, I took the time to research the early Christian faith apart from partisanship.
All of my friends in college were “Bible-believing” types, but I have an independent streak and think for myself.
I was surrounded by knee-jerk Protestants, but I thought for myself.
The only spirit you know anything about is one from the dark side.
We were talking about Christian martyrs being murdered by Catholics for not bowing down to your pope...
>>Spare me Foxes Book of “Martyrs”. Protestants have plenty of their own blood of Catholic martyrs on their hands.
And I am changing the topic to the witches burned by good “Bible-believing”, “God-fearing” Puritans.
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