I am only posting this to ask that you all to pray for Gregory. He's sadly misinformed, as I was for so long in my life about the CC. I am not posting this to have an all out 'war of words' which is counter productive when done in anger, although I should probably go to reconciliation and confess the old blood pressure did take a rise when reading this vitriol, from a "Christian brother."
This is the stuff that tears the Body of Christ even more. It rips His flesh even worse than the scourging did at that marble pillar 2000 years ago. This rift in the Body with those who "think they know it all" is very heartbreaking and must grieve the Holy Spirit and Our Mother tremendously. It grieves me and I'm a fallen sinner trying to aspire to holiness and become a saint worthy of Heaven. What must it do to the most PURE ONES?
"God, please help us all to unite and bind us together in Your Love."
"Hail Mary full of grace, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. "
Anyone who might want to visit his blog:
or comment on this or my "Mary" post from Jan. 2008 is more than welcome to do so. God be praised for giving us HIS CHURCH, the ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH! Our Safety and our Shield and our Shelter in the storm that even rages in Christendom, most egregiously.
PEACE~ susie
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- THEOTOKOS:
- MOTHER OF GOD
Here is Greg's most recent post in its entirety:
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Pope is a hypocrite.
Greg writes: I think I need to give some clarification on the beginning of my last post. I recently read that infamous paragraph 1540 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church again. But this time, I read it correctly, and I was even more astonished and enraged; what it really said was worse than my first interpretation:
"Instituted to proclaim the Word of God and to restore communion with God by sacrifices and prayer, the priesthood nevertheless remains powerless to bring about salvation, needing to repeat its sacrifices ceaselessly and being unable to achieve a definitive sanctification, which only the sacrifice of Christ would accomplish" (Par. 1540 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition).
In the above paragraph, the Pope, responsible for the release of the book, is putting down and trying to weaken the faith of the Jews by calling them "powerless", and though they may strive for salvation, he claims they cannot get it. According to him, it's out of their reach because they
had ceaseless sacrifices. They could never reach a point where they could say "It is finished" (John 19:30), knowing they had been fully forgiven by God, and accepted into His kingdom. But here's the hypocritical slap in the face; When you stop and think about it, how is the Pope's church with the endless sacrifice of the mass any different?
Pope Benedict XVI condemns the Jews to hell, when he leads others to do the same thing that he says keep salvation at bay. He also denies the power of the word of God, which the priesthood was given to proclaim; even though the Jews had it, they were not saved. However, that same word of God tells us " Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:22). Here in this one verse, Jesus tells us that the Jews have salvation, but the Pope disagrees.
"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim 3:15). Because the Jews had the scriptures, they had salvation. But the Pope disagrees with the Word of God, all the while condemning himself "powerless to bring about salvation" (par. 1540), because of his love of ceaseless sacrifice.
1 comment:
Just thought this maybe needed a response...I will try to answer without going on too long!
Stick to the text, don't add interpretation. The Catechism (CCC)here is saying only what any Jew would say, and I think you would too, Greg: that killing a sheep (or even a million sheep) doesn't get one into heaven. The Old Testament sacrifices were needed then (pre-Christ) for two reasons.
First, it was a way to acknowledge that God gives all we have. The sacrifice was a way to "return" some of that to God, rather than grasp selfishly at one's possessions.
Second, it was a way to show the gravity of sin, symbolically saying "I deserve this fate because of my sins, but this animal is (symbolically!) dying in my place."
That is why the New Testament refers to Jesus as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." His sacrifice actually does open heaven to us because he isn't merely symbolic. He truly does take our sins upon Himself and take our punishment through His Passion and Death. All who are saved are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus. Since God is outside of time, that applies not only to those who lived after Christ's coming, but also those who lived before.
This hardly condemns Jews to hell; it only says that they are saved the same way everyone else is - through the power of Jesus. It is only the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that has the power to convert our hearts. Otherwise, one may have the Word of God, but it cannot not do what it should. Remember the parable of the farmer sowing seed? Without the grace of Jesus, we are all that rocky soil, the footpath, or the thorns. Certainly the Old Testament Jews (which are the ones spoken of in the CCC passage you cite) had salvation when they were the "good soil" to receive the Word and live it. But all of that was through the grace of the looked-for Messiah.
The "endless sacrifice of the Mass" is a different matter altogether. Why? Because it is not separate from that of the Cross. Perhaps we would wish to have been present during Jesus' life, His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. What a privilege! He gives us that gift through the Mass. It is a "being present" at the foot of the Cross. God is not bound by time and generously enables us to participate in His life on earth. This is a lengthy topic; that is just a quick mention of why it is different from the sacrifices of sheep and bulls in the ancient Temple.
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