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.”
“Please answer my question can an observant Buddhist or Hindi be saved ??”
Acknowledge this fact and I might:
Redemption and salvation are related, but are two different things. Again, learn the difference.
Interesting that you seem to be ignoring the previous verse.
Romans 4:24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
That's not everybody.
>>How about 1 Cor 15:3-4?<<
Ditto!
1 Corinthians 15:2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
>>How about 1 Peter 2:24?<<
This time you stopped to soon.
1 Peter 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
You don't seem to be acquainted with all of scripture. Maybe you should spend your time reading and praying over the scriptures rather than repeatedly parroting the Catholic polemic.
“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 ??”
Redemption and salvation are related, but are two different things. Again, learn the difference. I suggest you read the articles I posted to you. You seem to be very unfamiliar with basic Christian beliefs. Did you read any of the articles I posted links to? Two or three were by Protestants. Did you read even those? It’s the information age. There’s no reason to confuse redemption and salvation.
“It doesn’t surprise me that you would use the Catholic corruption of the meaning instead of the intent of the Greek word.”
It doesn’t surprise me that you would use the Protestant anti-Catholic tendency to contradict yourself dogmatically because now you can never use Romans 3:23 to say the Virgin Mary sinned. Good going.
Of course I can. All, as in all parts that apply, applies to Mary since there was only one sinless human and that was Jesus. It is He and He alone that was declared "without sin".
You are not an authority or expert in ancient Hebrew and Greek, and you decline to cite to any. Do you have anything other than your say so to offer?
Sigh! Do you not read my posts? Here, I'll bold what you claim I didn't include.
From my post: " Greek - yakach - to decide, adjudge, prove [http://biblehub.com/hebrew/3198.htm]"
There, I even put it in red for you this time. Wait, I'll even make it a link for you!!!!
http://biblehub.com/hebrew/3198.htm
>>Do you have anything other than your say so to offer?<<
How about you actually read the posts before making really ...... Oh never mind. See ya.
If Jesus dies for all sins, He dies for all sinners. That means everyone was redeemed. There is no other possibility.
“Of course I can.”
Nope. You’re done.
Not even close vlad. Scripture is full of proofs of error by the Catholic Church and it's followers. Not until the rapture will I be done.
“Not even close vlad.”
Yep. Done.
“Not until the rapture will I be done.”
If you mean the Darbyesque Rapture, there is no such thing. That was invented in the 19th century. Enjoy you’re non-event.
I just showed you there were qualifiers. Your refusal to believe them doesn’t change the truth.
“I just showed you there were qualifiers. Your refusal to believe them doesn’t change the truth.”
I just showed you the logical problem with your claim. Your refusal to believe it doesn’t change the truth.
Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ’s death was sufficient for all ...but applied only to those the Father gave Him.. (the elect )
So you would agree then that Christ ..took the penalty for my sin?
So He bought me, took my punishment ... but He did not save me?
Truth is you do not want to answer my question ...because Rome teaches that the observant Buddhist and the observant Hindi can ride their own goodness into heaven... cause they have been redeemed right ?
Consider what the Seventh Day Adventists -- who are not known as slackers when it comes to Scriptural strictness -- have to say about faith and reason and the passage from Isaiah that I cited:
Use of reason
Some today—both Christians and non-Christians—place faith and reason in opposition to one another. But this is not the biblical view. Isaiah 1:18 declares, “Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord." Unless we reason as we read, we will fail to understand what we're reading. A passage from Nehemiah shows that the need to engage the Word with our intellect is nothing new.
After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, many of the brave souls who returned to rebuild Jerusalem had not heard or read the Scriptures. So a group of priests "read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read" (Nehemiah 8:8; emphasis added). Paul exhorted Timothy to "be diligent, . . . accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15,NASB). Note that "accurately handling the word of truth" requires diligence, and diligence includes careful reasoning.
And if one follows the link and reads the rest of the web page, it is clear that Adventists -- yes, even Adventists -- are like Catholics in urging that reading Scripture correctly requires attention to cultural and historical context, the logical context, reason, perspective, and a balancing of evidence.
“Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ’s death was sufficient for all ...but applied only to those the Father gave Him.. (the elect )”
No. Redemption was for all. Salvation is not obtained by all.
“So you would agree then that Christ ..took the penalty for my sin?”
Again, do you understand what the word EVERYONE means? This isn’t hard. I’m willing to bet you actually do know what the word EVERYONE means.
“So He bought me, took my punishment ... but He did not save me?”
He redeemed you. Redemption and salvation are related but are two different things.
“Truth is you do not want to answer my question”
If you’re talking about what (you apparently believe) I “want” then you are engaging in “mind reading” which is a violation of board rules.
“...because Rome teaches that the observant Buddhist and the observant Hindi can ride their own goodness into heaven... cause they have been redeemed right ?”
No. If anyone - ANYONE - enters Heaven it is by God’s grace. This is EXACTLY what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says in sections 1996-2001. So, once again, we see that you are clearly wrong about the Catholic faith. No surprise there, of course.
Mother Theresa knew it well evidently. She claimed they should just be better whatever they were. No need to change evidently.
Please answer my question ...can an observant Buddhist go to heaven ... PS Mother Teresa thought so ...
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