My dear friend in Christ
Our Supreme Pontifff said no such thing! I read the article this morning on the CNA site.
Pope Benedict correctly points out that we are now "under grace," no longer the "law." Meaning the hundreds of additions to the Commandments that were imposed over the years, as part "of Hebrew law."
God's Covenant Law's of His Commandments, require works, a great many works!
It was good to point out the article, and perhaps not soooooo good the manner in which you expressed it.
God bless you!
working4Christ
|
My dear friends in Christ,
This may appear to be an unusual Confession, but nevertheless it is real.
From time to time, I thank God for not making me "too intelligent." tonight I shall do so again.
"By there fruits you shall know them."
Our RCC suffers at its base, because of many problems of errant philosophy and poor theology caused by pride. There are many, often with very good intentions, who think that they know more or know better. (They should "know better!)
What I find even more disturbing is that Rome has spoken on this issue, so it is also disobedience.
This is why we must pray for all of God's Ordained. Our Holy Father, our Bishops and our priest and religious. Thanking God for their ministeries and sacrifices.
|
 Nov 24, 2008 at 08:09 AM |  #1 |
"OK, for those of you who don't know, yesterday's Mass readings (Ordinary Form) were from Matthew 25 :
"This is freaking me out, no other way to put it. I'm in the middle of discerning a vocation to the contemplative life- I don't feel called at all to go out and start a soup kitchen or volunteer at homeless shelters, and my priest is making it out to sound like this is what I have to do in order to please God and end up in Heaven. Not that volunteering isn't good- I've done volunteer work- but what's wrong with praying for people and offering my life of prayer as reparation for sin? Why do the Corporal Works of Mercy seem to get more attention and emphasis than the Spiritual Works. I get the impression that dedicating my life to prayer is seen as useless nowadays, that what real Christians do is go out and find hungry people to feed and visit prisons.
I ended up feeling very scared of God. Scared that I'm not doing what He wants, and that He'll just see me as a little worthless mutt who didn't feed Him, and ignored His needs, and that if I do become a contemplative nun, I might find out that at the end of my life all of my prayers will somehow have been empty, because I didn't help the poor. It feels like everything I do is worthless, or something. At the moment I'm clinging to Mary, because I know God can't refuse His own mother, but I don't like being so scared of judgement."
REPLY:
 My dear friend in Christ,
Fear of the Lord is a good thing for all of us.
Saint Paul has three seperate list of the "Gifts of the Spirit." None of the list are the same, and therein is a very important teaching.
God is not only the giver of GREAT GIFTS, but also different gifts.
1 Cor. 12:
"4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10* to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
12* For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13* For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single organ, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, 25 that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." end of bible quote
My dear friend in Christ, if our Awesome God sees fit to make "no two snow flakes alike," how much more unique will our Creator make us?
Each of God's children is more unique than a snow flake! Why, because as Paul say's above, we all have a different "part to play" in God's Church. Be still and know, pray and God will speak to your heart. When you discover peace and joy in your decission, you can be assured that you have chosen wisely. God can only do GOOD, so a decission that causes unrest and a restless spirit means you may wish to rethink your position.
Your Pastor was not wrong, only incomplete.
He was stressing quite correctly our absolute need to help the poor. He seems to have left it there to make His Point.
But there are many kinds of poor: poor of Spirit, poor of Health, poor of understanding, and yes, the downtrodden and physically poor. Indeed we must all work to build the community of God, but we are not all called to do it in the same manner, or with the same focus. Thus our gifts, and our talents differ, but all "build up the Body." |
|
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment