Glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will. We praise You. We bless You. We adore you. We glorify You. We give You thanks for Your great glory. O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son. O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: you Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are holy. You alone are the Lord. You alone, O Jesus Christ, are most high. Together with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen
finally, for the benefit of my friend who is concerned that mr sherlock is lost and still unsaved, i have posted above the “The Gloria” which is prayed at every Mass. ( those who seperate themselves from the Church would not know this )
i invite my friend to read that prayer, focus on the words
“O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: you Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. “
when Mr Sherlock prays those words to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to have mercy on him, does Jesus answer this prayer of Mr Sherlock?
Sang that and many, many other things like it, as well as all kinds of things, as a preacher's son. Heard hundreds of sermons. Memorized The Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, Scripture. Baptized as an infant. Catechized and confirmed. Officer of District Youth organization. Member of Men's group. etc., etc., etc. All that means nothing, Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed, Pentecostal, Baptist -- all to no avail for anyone.
Joining a church does not get you saved.
Singing "Gloria in Excelsis," mouthing Scripture and creeds, doing fine, moral works, defending a failed religious organization -- these will not buy your way into The God's Heaven and into The Kingdom of The Christ.
Only by coming under Holy Spirit Word-based conviction as an intelligent, responsible, accountable, practicing sin-laden depraved child of Satan, confessing and desiring to abandon his/her past life, and coming under the Blood of The Crucified One, will The Mighty God consent to even hear the pleas of this pitiful worm of a human.
Without shedding of His Blood, there is no remission of sins. He permitted that on Golgotha, once for all time, never needing a repeat performance. You can count on that. I did, and God saved me by His Grace through The Faith of The Anointed One, The Lord of All, Jesus, in whom I have placed all my trust. That happened long before I learned that baptism by immersion was God' will for me to be personally testifying in a public demonstration by submitting to a figurative-literal rite proclaiming an ongoing, everlasting salvation, as taught by the Holy Ghost (1 Pet. 3:21).
My salvation was not one in which some capricious god held his approval back until a few drops of water were flung on me by some priest or minister's fingers wetted in a baptismal font, at his whim and convenience, a will of the flesh, a work of man, by the will of man. No.
You can bet on that too.
Hate to bring this up again, but since you mentioned it, if I were looking for a religious group to affiliate with (as Sherlock is), it wouldn't be one which has persecuted and murdered at least hundreds and hundreds of thousands of other humans who rejected their false doctrines, and burned their opponents' vernacular Scriptures; let alone one which now still covers the errors of their clergy.
"And he said unto them, 'Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.'" (Lk. 16:15)
Just an observation --