Posted on 05/13/2020 10:38:33 AM PDT by Salvation
The text from today’s Gospel (Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter) speaks of the need to remain in the Lord.
Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither.
In this short Gospel, the word “remain” occurs six times. Do you get the point? Remain! The Greek word μείνατε (meinate) is the plural imperative of the verb meno, meaning to abide. To abide means to remain habitually or to stay somewhere. It speaks of stability and persistence. I prefer “abide” as a translation because it suggests staying put. One can “remain” in a place for an hour and then leave, but abiding has a more ongoing sense.
It is clear that a branch must always stay attached to the vine or else it is doomed. Absolutely nothing is possible for a branch (except to wither and die) unless it is attached to the vine 24 x 7 x 365. It would appear that the analogy couldn’t be clearer.
And yet it seems very unclear to Jesus’ disciples, who walk away easily, finding abiding both tedious and difficult. And then we puzzle as to why our spiritual life is tepid and its fruits lackluster. We can’t have even a mediocre spiritual life apart from Christ; the text says we can’t do anything at all but be scattered.
How do we abide with and in the Lord? Scripture distinguishes four ways. We abide and experience union with the Lord through
Yes, abiding is accomplished through prayer, Scripture, sacraments, fellowship, and walking uprightly. This Gospel could not be clearer: abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide. Six times the word is used.
Do you get it? Abide. Abide persistently.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
prayer is not fellowship
Who said it was?
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) |
| Luke 24 |
||
| Luke 24:29 | ||
| But they constrained him; saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. And he went in with them. | Et coëgerunt illum, dicentes : Mane nobiscum, quoniam advesperascit, et inclinata est jam dies. Et intravit cum illis. | και παρεβιασαντο αυτον λεγοντες μεινον μεθ ημων οτι προς εσπεραν εστιν και κεκλικεν η ημερα και εισηλθεν του μειναι συν αυτοις |
Maybe you should read it again. Look at the list, and then the following paragraph that summarizes it, redefining prayer as fellowship.
So we "assemble." The Mass is the quintessential assembly where we celebrate Jesus' Transubstantiation. He "feeds" us with his very own Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. This is to help us on our journey, at death, to be with Him in heaven for all eternity.
Catholics celebrate Mass daily, if we like. It's not only a "Sunday" morning celebration.
We pray and celebrate in fellowship...together, assembled. I don't consider that a stumbling block in my faith. If YOU do so, then so be it. That is between you and our good Lord.
“Catholics celebrate Mass daily, if we like. It’s not only a ‘Sunday’ morning celebration.”
Apparently, you don’t know many non-Catholics. I was born on a Saturday, in church four days after that, and then a MINIMUM of five times a week after that until I was through Seminary. Hardly “only a Sunday morning celebration”.
I used to attend Mass only on Sundays, as I was taught.
However, my husband and I lived in the K.S.A. for five years and I learned to appreciate my faith THAT MUCH MORE, thanks to my Saudi Muslim (SHI'I, NOT Sunni) boss.
I started daily Mass after we returned home to the USA. The good Lord used that wonderful old boss of mine as an instrument -- and it was because of him that I was inspired to attend daily Mass.
Our good Lord chooses His own instruments and this one was a doozy.
Those five years were almost forty years ago and I still attend Mass ALMOST DAILY. I attend six days a week. I think of that old boss of mine sometimes. He'd be dead by now. He was in his fifties then.
Did you ever try to bring your Saudi Muslim boss into the One, True Faith? Or did you obey KSA's law against doing so?
1. Proselytizing is against the law.
2. Proselytizing can warrant prison or, at best, getting kicked out of the country.
3. As a GUEST WORKER in their country it would be just plain STUPID to pull that kind of stunt.
4. I suppose it doesn't even OCCUR to you to think of how abysmally rude it would be as well.
You won't believe this but the K.S.A. is this country's best friend over there. But, that would be BEYOND your powers to imagine.
-- Saudi pilots were trained HERE to help the Americans fight the enemies OVER there.
-- The Kingdom also allowed Christian ministers to live there and minister to the Christians. Americans wouldn't go there to live and work unless they had their "holy men."
We had a Dominican priest and he offered a daily 9:00 A.M. Mass. Naturally there were no churches but a building isn't needed to celebrate Mass. He held Mass at the VERY large community room.
I attended Mass every Sunday morning...along with about a dozen Filippino workers.
I always took off 25 minutes every Sunday morning to attend Mass. My Catholic Indian co-worker, Harry, STRONGLY objected. He said that I should attend Mass on FRIDAYS, like the rest of the expatriates.
I continued to attend Sunday Mass and Harry told on me. I can still remember that conversation. After Harry told on me my Saudi boss said the following. Remember, English was my boss's second language:
Harry, God is number One. There is always time for God. "cloudmountain" can go to pray whenever she wants."
I don't know WHOSE jaw fell faster or farther, Harry's or mine. But, my boss was correct. There IS always time for God. And when we returned to the USA I started attending daily Mass. I had to be at work at 7:15 because of parking so I attended the 6:30 A.M. Mass near where I live, then drove on to where I worked.
The Protestants had only ONE minister and he was a Lutheran minister.
Both the priest and minister (and his wife) lived on camp with the same kind of accommodations we had.
There WERE a few idiot Americans who did try to proselytize. Some tried to sell Bibles. They KNEW it was wrong but just HAD to do it. They were asked to leave the Kingdom...instant exit visa.
By the way we sent all our books over there, including my Bible...and it was never confiscated.
There were also some idiots who sold alcohol to the Saudis...and THEY went to prison. Well, the wives were sent home and the husbands went to prison.
I'm surprised at you for asking such a STUPID question.
I guess that shows how little you know about ... many things.
Why don't you just spit on the graves of the North American martyrs and all the other Catholic missionaries who offered their lives for the salvation of others?
The hijackers in the September 11 attacks were 19 men affiliated with al-Qaeda. Fifteen of the 19 were citizens of Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one from Lebanon, and one from Egypt.
Some "friends".
Was it legal for muslims to proletysize Christians, e.g. Harry?
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