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.
Where did you ever get that perverted idea...No minister or pope saves souls...
And they died in vain...
Why not accept the unity under the Headship of Christ? Does every church have to be under one organization?
Said the fallible man who follows the traditions started by fallible men 1500 years after Our Lord, His Apostles and His Church.
‘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.”’
If he’s saying it would take a miracle to reunite Christians, then I think he is right.
I don't reply to your pings because your posts are sufficient condemnations of your beliefs on their own. This one I make an exception for because it is shameful far beyond what I thought you capable of. You've outdone yourself.
Continue on.
Nope!
Word of God only!
Men fail; that is why the Lord condemned following traditions.
Do You Confess Jesus Christ Came in the Flesh/Human? We Confess Jesus Christ came in The Flesh/Human every Sunday Mass.
Does you Church confess with everyone standing up as a Pledge to Jesus Christ. We do. You can only say and mean it if you have the Holy Spirit.
I left and went to Indy churches and came back. NO! Not one would firmly confess Jesus Christ while standing in public assembly. This is one of the many reasons Why I came back? Because we firmly confess Jesus is Lord and Savior who came as a Human.
1 John 4
1Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2By this is the spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God:
3And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world.
4You are of God, little children, and have overcome him. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them.
6We are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God.
8He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity.
9By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him.
10In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.
11My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another.
12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us.
13In this we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his spirit.
14And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God.
16And we have known, and have believed the charity, which God hath to us. God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.
17In this is the charity of God perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment: because as he is, we also are in this world.
18Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity.
19Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us.
20If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?
21And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.
HERE IS THE CONFESSION:
Which we confess every Sunday in the personal Pronoun
The Biblical Confession 1 John 4 of Faith.
I believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through Him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven.
(at the following words, up to and including “and became man”, all bow) and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will have no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets;
And in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Whatever.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
Well thankyou...The real martyrs are those Christians who died at the hands of your Roman religion for refusing to bow down to your popes...
Can’t, you’re so far over there on the left that those of us here on the right have no idea what’s happening to you - looks like lotsa smoke.
>> Convert to Christ while you still can.
“I don’t know if unity with those who who reject apostolic succession is possible.”
As one whose only Holy Father is in Heaven, I agree with you.
LOL! The Catholic Church fixes everything as a mystery, except of course, the various eternally fixed doctrines and answers they provide as revealed exclusively to them and which defy logic.
Scripture according to you.
According to Holy Scripture, the Apostles, their successors, the early church, martyrs45 and Christ's Church for over 2,000 years, you're partaking of Holy Eucharist unworthily, if you partake at all.
Men fail; that is why the Lord condemned following traditions.
So why do you follow the teaching of men who dreamed up a contrary doctrine contrary to Christ's teaching and plain reading of scripture?
Do you do so unknowingly or did someone else teach you? Who? I don't believe you thought it up on your own. And if you did, you've only created your own tradition.
The Catholic Church fixes everything as a mystery, except of course, the various eternally fixed doctrines and answers they provide as revealed exclusively to them and which defy logic.
>>Like the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Evangelicalism=Gnosticism
Why do you post Idols on FR?
“The Pope saves souls.”
Here I always thought that was Jesus.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.