Posted on 06/26/2015 10:18:59 AM PDT by Morgana
My grandmother celebrates 100 years of being a Catholic. She will most likely be a Catholic till her last breath as all my other grandparents were. Me? I’m a mere forty-year cradle Catholic. I own that it hasn’t been easy to remain a faithful daughter of the Church, particularly during my turbulent twenties. There was a period I disagreed with, questioned, and criticized Holy Mother Church. There were times I watched people I love abandon their baptismal promises. Still, I remained true to my heritage.
Why? Why am I still Catholic? It’s for the same reasons why people disagree, question, criticize and leave the Church:
1. The Eucharist. A mystery or a symbol to some, but the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord in the host is clear as the Catechism 1376 puts it, “because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread.” I am more than happy to remain in the Church where Jesus is really and truly present, and where I can be united to Him in receiving Communion.
2. Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church exalts the Mother of God as the perfect apostle and bestows dignity to womanhood. Since Mary was “preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Catechism 966), she is the role model for every Christian. The scripture on the wedding feast at Cana illustrates that she is a powerful intercessor to our prayers and that devotion to her is the fastest, surest way to unity with Christ as she encourages us: “do whatever [Jesus] tells you.” Our Lady is, to me, all that and a mother who cares about my everyday concerns, with the end goal of the sanctifying my soul. “Don’t be afraid of loving Mary too much,” St. Maximilian Kolbe said. “You can’t possibly love her more than Jesus does.”
3. The saints. By the rigorous process of canonization, the Catholic Church venerates the saints as humans who blazed the path on how to live the Christian life and who “provide us with examples on holiness.” The saints also obtain favors for us as they “do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as the proffer the merits which they acquired on earth.” (Catechism 956). Just like any good friend, saints inspire and pray for me. The journey of my spiritual life is easier with their assistance.
4. Penance and Reconciliation. Undoubtedly, the Church houses both saints and sinners. Knowing our fallen nature, which tempts us to sin and often characterizes us as Pharisees, Christ established the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means for contrite sinners to obtain absolution for our sins. Jesus told St. Faustina “When you approach the confessional…I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden in the priest.” Never have I heard more powerful words than the merciful ones voiced at the Sacrament of Reconcilation: “I absolve you from your sins, may God give you pardon and peace.”
5. Purgatory. Purgatory is the place where all who die in God’s grace and friendship but are still imperfectly purified undergo purification after death so as the achieve holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. (Catechism 1030). Purgatory as a manifestation of God’s mercy gives me hope that even if I can’t overcome my faults during my life on earth, I still have an opportunity to be sanctified by God’s justice so that I can one day enjoy the beatific vision.
6. Suffering. Suffering is inevitable in our lives because of man’s free will. The Catholic Church makes sense of suffering when it teaches that suffering can be untied with Christ’s passion in atonement for sins. According to St. John Paul II, suffering also increases our capacity for selfless love and hones the virtue of humility. Since scripture says that carrying my cross is necessary to share in Christ’s redemption, the Church not only explains suffering’s purpose but also offers me graces from the Sacraments to endure sacrifice.
7. Magisterium. Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church as the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” to sift through the muddled moral issues that confounds our modern age (and every age) so that she can provide clear guidelines on right versus wrong. “To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles.” (Catechism 2032) In every moral issue it has addressed, the Church has illustrated wisdom that only comes from the Holy Spirit. I rely on this wisdom to guard my soul from evil and to direct me on the path to eternal life as much as I rely on the promise of Jesus that “the gates of hell shall never prevail against [the Church].”
I could go on and on. The truth in the Catechism and experience of millions of Catholics over two thousand years are inexhaustible. I don't know how far back my Catholic roots go. But I hope I am not the branch that withers and rots off a steadfast family tree and I pray that I leave Catholicism as a fruitful legacy to my children, and generations after them.
Catechism 2030: “It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized that the Christian fulfills his vocation.”
No, I refer to the original meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words to correctly understand the intent rather than change the meaning like the Catholic Church does.
You didn't attempt to understand the original Hebrew and Greek words did you.
Might the world have been redeemed and no one saved?
Not being fluent in ancient Greek and Hebrew, I rely on people who are — just as you do.
“I ask again was anyone saved at the cross?”
And, again, I tell you EVERYONE was redeemed by Christ.
“Might jesus had died in vein ?”
No, Jesus did not die in vein. He didn’t even die in vain. Learn the difference.
“Might the world have been redeemed and no one saved?”
No. The two are not the same, but they are related. Learn the difference.
I guess i wonder why the question has not been answered.. Were Hindis and Buddhists redeemed at the cross ? .......
Christ will indeed redeem all thing of this world and restore them
But the scriptures indicate that through the cross the elect stand justified before God.. having now a right standing before Him
Romans 5: 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
1 Cor15 ;1 Now aI make known to you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
The difference is of course you do not consider the work of Christ completed.. He bought you back from the slavery of sin but now you need to work for that freedom
I ask one more time If the entire population of the earth from all time was redeemed can a faithful Buddhist? a faithful Hindi , faithful Muslim be saved ??
If the work of salvation was not completed at the cross was it possible that Jesus dies for no one?? IN VAIN ??
“Were Hindis and Buddhists redeemed at the cross ? .......”
Are you familiar with the meaning of the word EVERYONE?
“Christ will indeed redeem all thing of this world and restore them”
Christ already redeemed EVERYONE. Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:6; Acts 20:28.
“But the scriptures indicate that through the cross the elect stand justified before God.. having now a right standing before Him”
Christ already redeemed us. What part of that do you not understand?
“Romans 5: 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Redeemed and saved are related but different things. The fact that you apparently confuse justification with redemption as if redemption were the same thing as saved and ignore sanctification only shows your apparent confusion.
Nothing in 1 Cor contradicts anything I said.
“The difference is of course you do not consider the work of Christ completed..”
There you go again making you false things I don’t actually believe. I don’t mind when someone attacks what I believe, but why do anti-Catholics so often resort to outright falsehoods? It’s as if they have no conscience and don’t care about the truth. Christ’s work was essentially done with the Ascension. His work, however, still continues INSIDE US because His grace is never exhausted.
“He bought you back from the slavery of sin but now you need to work for that freedom”
“bought you back” = redemption. I do not have to “work” for anything from God. I must merely cooperate with Him and His gifts.
“I ask one more time If the entire population of the earth from all time was redeemed can a faithful Buddhist? a faithful Hindi , faithful Muslim be saved ??”
And I tell you AGAIN, EVERYONE is redeemed. Redemption and salvation are related but are two different things.
“If the work of salvation was not completed at the cross was it possible that Jesus dies for no one?? IN VAIN ??”
Wow, you finally learned to spell “vain” correctly. Now maybe you’ll learn the difference between “redemption” and “salvation”. Jesus died for EVERYONE. Not EVERYONE will be saved. Why? Because redemption is not the same thing as salvation.
1 Timothy 2:5-6
So then a faithful Buddhist or a faithful hindi ia
can be saved
One more question.. Did Jesus die for my sin??
Then you would have known that the Hebrew word has no tie to your using “reason” in the way you do.
“So then a faithful Buddhist or a faithful hindi ia can be saved”
Redemption and salvation are related, but are two different things. Again, learn the difference.
Only those who the Father has given.
John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
“One more question.. Did Jesus die for my sin??”
Did you ever read Romans 4:25?
How about 1 Cor 15:3-4?
How about 1 Peter 2:24?
You don’t seem well acquainted with the Bible. Maybe you should spend your time reading and praying over the scriptures rather than repeatedly conflating redemption and salvation online? Certainly that would be a better use of your time.
1 Timothy 2:6 says otherwise. It doesn’t surprise me you would go against the Bible.
Redemption and salvation are related, but are two different things. Again, learn the difference.
Please answer my question can an observant Buddhist or Hindi be saved ??
So Jesus redeemed mankind and died for their sins... and justified men before the Father... but none of that saves right?? His work was incomplete.. and we have to do stuff ??
Do you have any proof of this, or are we to accept it as fact based on your say so, drawn from whatever cramped and sectarian authority that you regard as binding on you?
They like to ignore 90% of John 6
Jesus died for those the Father gave Him...
Not so fast there.
The Greek word doesn't mean "all" as in every one.
Greek - 3956 /pás ("each, every") means "all" in the sense of "each (every) part that applies." The emphasis of the total picture then is on "one piece at a time."
It doesn't surprise me that you would use the Catholic corruption of the meaning instead of the intent of the Greek word.
I've already told you the intended meaning of Hebrew word.
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let's yakach (decide, adjudge, prove) this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
Greek - yakach - to decide, adjudge, prove [http://biblehub.com/hebrew/3198.htm]
None of your human reasoning in there. It's God's declaration that counts. Only the cults add human reasoning and come up with all kinds of contra scripture beliefs.
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.