What is the meaning of the offertory of the Mass?

 

What is the meaning of the offertory of the Mass?

At the beginning of the liturgy of the Eucharist, the gifts, which will become Christ’s body and blood, are brought to the altar.

First, the altar, the Lord’s table, which is the center of the entire Eucharistic liturgy, is prepared: The corporal, purificator, missal, and chalice are placed on it. The gifts are then brought forward. While the priest receives the offerings, the offertory song is sung. Singing may always accompany the rite at the offertory, even when there is no procession with the gifts.

This rite is described by St Justin (second century) with stark impersonal simplicity: “Bread, water, and wine are brought.” The first Christians had no special ceremonies accompanying this rite, for they desired to depart from pagan sacrificial practices. At the same time, they emphasized the special character of the Victim, which is not the bread and wine, but our Lord himself.

However, later on, it became necessary to defend the intrinsic goodness of created things against Gnosticism, while making it clear that the gifts brought to the altar are not the Victim to be sacrificed. The congregation participated in the act of offering by approaching the altar in procession and presenting various gifts: not only bread and wine, but also other edible items, and even flowers. The deacons sorted out these gifts and put aside those that would be used in the Mass. The rest was given to the poor or used for the needs of the Church. During this procession, a chant was sung—a custom that gave birth to the offertory antiphon.

Even though the faithful no longer, as in the past, bring the bread and wine for the liturgy from their homes, the rite retains the same spiritual value and meaning. 

The bread and wine that we offer are poor and humble gifts. Yet, precisely for that reason, they aptly represent our smallness before God. However, because of the Eucharistic transubstantiation, we will actually be offering to God not these lowly tokens, but his only begotten Son, the only Victim worthy of him. This Victim, offered by us and for us, will absorb our own oblation. 

Together with Christ, we offer everything that we are and all that we possess, all that we have done or try to do. We offer our memory, intelligence, and will; our family, profession, hobbies, success, sufferings, failures, and worries; and our aspirations and spiritual communions. 

Likewise, we offer our small and big mortifications: all those acts of love we performed yesterday and as many as we plan to perform today. “The appropriate word you left unsaid; the joke you didn’t tell; the cheerful smile for those who bother you; that silence when you’re unjustly accused; your kind conversation with people you find boring and tactless; the daily effort to overlook one irritating detail or another in those who live with you...”

But let us not forget to offer also the happy events and the pleasant things that mark our day and our entire life. 
Nov 6 Thu 

Is there a remedy for sadness?

 

Is there a remedy for sadness?
Pope Leo XIV reflected on the Resurrection of Christ.

Jesus’ Resurrection can heal one of the challenges of today’s world: sadness. Intrusive and widespread, sadness accompanies the days of many people. It is a feeling of instability, at times profound desperation, which invades one’s inner space and seems to prevail over any impetus to joy.

Sadness is a thief. It robs life of meaning and vigor, turning it into a directionless and meaningless journey.

This modern experience can also be seen in the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in the Gospel of Luke, who are discouraged by Jesus’ death. This story gives us an example of human sadness: the end of the objective to which so much energy has been invested, the destruction of what seemed to be the essence of their lives.

Their hope was dashed; desolation had taken hold of their hearts. Everything had imploded in a very short space of time, between Friday and Saturday, in a dramatic sequence of events. The Gospel described them as standing still, “looking sad”. 

Yet this sad journey of defeat and return to ordinary life occurred on the same day as the victory of light, of the Resurrection, had been fully consummated. 

When all seemed lost to the two men, Jesus appeared as a stranger to them. It was the risen Jesus, but they did not recognize him. Sadness clouded their gaze, erasing the promise that the Master had made several times: that he would be killed and that on the third day he would rise again. 

Yet hope is real and tangible. Jesus’ words to the disciples called out the foolishness of their hearts. Rather than driving them further into sadness, his frankness rekindled a sense of hope in them. 

Jesus accepted their invitation to remain with them. He took his seat at the table with them. Then he took the bread, broke it, and offered it to them. At that moment, the two disciples recognized him… but he immediately disappeared from their view.

The culmination of the story was at the breaking of the bread, which reopened the eyes of the heart, illuminating once again the vision clouded by despair.

That moment reignited joy within the disciples and encouraged them to share their experience with others.

The Lord has risen indeed. Jesus did not only rise in words, but in action, as his body showed the marks of the crucifixion. The victory of life is not an empty word, but a real, tangible fact.

May the unexpected joy of the disciples of Emmaus be a gentle reminder to us when the going gets tough. Only the Risen One can radically change our perspective, instilling the hope that will fill the void of sadness.

On the paths of the heart, the Risen One walks with us and for us. He bears witness to the defeat of death and affirms the victory of life, despite the darkness of Calvary. History still has much goodness to hope for.
Nov 5 Wed

Nov 4 Tue Can Christ overcome evil?

 

Nov 4 Tue
Can Christ overcome evil?
In his first homily as pope, St John Paul II explained:

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.
Peter came to Rome! What else but obedience to the inspiration received from the Lord could have guided him and brought him to this city, the heart of the Empire? Perhaps the fisherman of Galilee did not want to come here. He would have preferred to stay on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, with his boat and his nets. Yet, guided by the Lord and obedient to His inspiration, he came here!

According to an ancient tradition, Peter tried to leave Rome during Nero’s persecution. However, the Lord intervened and came to meet him. Peter spoke to Him and asked, “Quo vadis, Domine?” — “Where are you going, Lord?” And the Lord answered him at once: “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” 
Ashamed, Peter returned to Rome and stayed there until his crucifixion.

The Lord came to make us all “a kingdom of priests.”
By the mystery of His power, Christ’s mission as Priest, Prophet-Teacher, and King continues in the Church. Each one of the members of the People of God shares in this threefold mission and power to overcome evil. 

Perhaps in the past, the tiara, that triple crown, was placed on the Pope’s head to signify the Lord’s plan for his Church, namely that all “sacred power” exercised in the Church, is nothing other than service, service with a single purpose: to ensure that the whole People of God shares in this threefold mission of Christ and always remains under the power of the Lord; a power that has its source not in the powers of this world, but instead in the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection.

Christ’s power does not speak the language of force but expresses itself in charity and truth.

Christ made the pope become and remain the servant of his unique power, the servant of his sweet power, the servant of his power that knows no dusk. He made the pope a servant: indeed, the servant of his servants.

Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and, with Christ’s power, serve the human person and the whole of mankind.

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To His saving power, open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows “that which is in man.” He alone knows it.

So often today, man does not know what is in him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often, he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt that turns into despair. We ask you, therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of life eternal.

How should I face the fact of dying?

 

How should I face the fact of dying?
“Always, forever! Words brought to our lips by the human desire to prolong - to make eternal - what is pleasant.
Lying words, on earth, where everything must end."

We are wayfarers. Therefore, while treading firmly on the ground, we should always keep our gaze set firmly on the goal of our journey, on our Father God.

“Death comes, St. Josemaría wrote, and cannot be avoided. What empty vanity it is, then, to center our existence on this life. See how many men and women suffer. Some suffer because life is coming to an end, and it pains them to leave it; others because it goes on, and they are sick of it. In neither case is there room for the mistaken view that makes our passage through this world an end in itself."

“One must leave that way of thinking behind and anchor oneself to another, an eternal one. A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centered motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in eternal Christ."

We prepare for our definitive meeting with God by practicing detachment from everything.

Jesus vividly describes the rich man's abundance of possessions, with which he could have done so much good. But the man was foolish and set his heart on his riches. Take your ease, he told himself, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

The lesson is clear: we have to be detached from material possessions, ready to render an account to God whenever he calls us. 

Nothing we enjoy here will accompany us to the grave. “Don't set your heart on loves here below. -Such loves are selfish... Those whom you love will recoil from you, in horror and disgust, within hours of God calling you to his presence. -Elsewhere are the loves that endure."

 Since we will enter God's presence empty-handed, why do we latch on to things? They are a dead weight, an obstacle on our journey. In the end, we'll have to abandon them anyway. Before God, only our good deeds have any value.
Therefore, we want to be completely detached from everything on earth. St. Josemaría taught us how we should prepare for this decisive moment: “You were consoled by the idea that life is to be spent, burned in the service of God. And spending ourselves entirely for him is how we shall be freed from death, which brings us the possession of Life."

If we are faithful, death will bring us complete happiness, but we should seek to die old, after a long life working for God.
“Have you heard how sadly the worldly-minded lament that, 'Each day that passes is to die a little’?
Well, I say to you: rejoice, apostolic soul, because each day that passes brings you closer to Life."

For the children of God, for those who trust in the mercy of their Father in heaven, death is the definitive, long-awaited meeting with our Lord and his Blessed Mother. 
Nov 3 Mon

Challenge: Should I pray for the dead? Isn’t it unbiblical?

 

Challenge: Should I pray for the dead? Isn’t it unbiblical?

– The practice is not just Catholic, it is biblical.

First, it isn’t only Catholics who pray for the dead, many others also do. Further, prayer for the dead has been practiced by Jews since before the time of Christ and continues to be practiced by them today.

In Scripture, Judah Maccabee and his men were retrieving the bodies of fallen comrades when they discovered that some who had fallen were wearing pagan amulets, and so “they turned to prayer, praying that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out” (2 Macc. 12:42). This gives evidence of prayer for the dead among Jews, before the time of Christ; and Jews continue to pray for the dead today, particularly using a prayer known as the Mourner’s Kaddish.

The New Testament also contains a plausible instance of prayer for the dead. After praying for the household of a man named Onesiphorus, Paul goes on to pray “may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day” (2 Tim. 1:18). Paul twice mentions “the household of Onesiphorus” (2 Tim. 1:16, 4:19), but does not greet him with the rest of his household and speaks of him only in the past tense. Many scholars have concluded that Onesiphorus had passed away, and thus Paul was praying for the departed.

The Protestant apologist C.S. Lewis writes: “Of course I pray for the dead! The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me… At our age, the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of interaction with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him?” (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107).

It is a natural human impulse to pray for our loved ones, even when they have passed from this life. Prayer for the souls in purgatory is a duty of charity; and in many cases, also one of justice.

The most valuable suffrage we can offer is the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass can be applied for the deceased to satisfy for the temporal punishment due to their sins. With a mother's love, the Church has also established that the faithful can gain indulgences that are applicable to the deceased. These indulgences flow from the treasury of graces formed by the merits of Christ, our Lady, and the saints.

Personal penance, offered as expiation for sins, can also be offered for the deceased. Our hope that God will heed our prayers, our suffrages, and our penance on behalf of the souls in purgatory stems from the certainty that all who are united to Christ form a single Body in Him.

We ask our Lady, Gate of Paradise, to open the gates of heaven for those who have left us, and that some day we may all be reunited there forever.
Nov 2 Sun

Today, the feast day of all the saints

 

Today, the feast day of all the saints, we have the opportunity to increase our hope, since most of the saints were unknown, and strove “to fulfill God's will perfectly without leaving their ordinary tasks, or their condition and state of life in the world.... Some have been canonized by the Church. However, the great majority of these souls have remained unnoticed, in obscurity and silence. It is almost impossible to know to what extent their holy lives have been an example to others and have contributed to manifesting the sanctity of the Church.”

By this feast, the Church reminds us that sanctity is within everyone's reach. For “all of the baptized can and ought to sanctify themselves, and be a powerful leaven of Christian life (1 Cor 5:6), while they continue their normal life of work in the midst of the world.” Jesus taught this very clearly: You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

“Our Lord wants each of you to strive to be a saint in the particular circumstances of your own situation in the world. This is God's will, your sanctification” (1 Thess 4:3).

The Gospel stipulates some of the requirements for sanctity. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God… The beatitudes show the path that we must follow to reach holiness.

“The call to sanctity is truly universal, and not merely for a few or for a particular state in life. It does not generally require abandonment of the world; any work, any profession, can be a path to sanctity, and a means for apostolate.”

We are not the only travelers along the road to sanctity. We live the communion of the saints when we help one another achieve sanctity. We are united with all Christians: to those already triumphant in heaven, to those undergoing purification in purgatory, and to those still journeying on earth. “A Christian cannot be an individualist. He cannot be uninterested in others. He cannot have his back selfishly turned to the world. He is essentially social, a responsible member of the Mystical Body of Christ.”

We live the Communion of the Saints through our prayer for one another. Throughout the day, we ask many times that grace may strengthen or heal the one most in need. Thus, we too will experience the Communion of the Saints. 

If you feel the Communion of the Saints—if you live it—you'll gladly be a man of penance. Our daily work will also contribute toward spreading divine life in the souls of our friends, and in others, whom we do not even know.

Our Lady, Queen of All the Saints, will help us to awaken in all hearts the universal call to holiness, the foundation for our apostolic zeal and our co-redemptive work in the midst of the world.
Nov 1 Sat

Should I be proud of the Cross?

 

Should I be proud of the Cross?
The leaders in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago couldn’t debate Christ, so they killed Him. But here’s the thing: The truth cannot be killed. Therein lies our hope. And so, we Christians wear the Cross, an emblem of torture and violent death, around our necks and hang it on our walls. The emblem is the cross, representative of the most hideous, barbaric form of execution there ever was—crucifixion—invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans. 

Saint Paul said we boast in the Cross. Why? Is it because it’s the weapon we use to kill people? Do we tell people to submit to Christ and then hang them on a cross if they refuse? No. We don’t hang people on crosses. Instead, we crucify ourselves by dying to ourselves and the world. We follow St. Paul’s urging to make our bodies living sacrifices; to become obedient to death, even death on a cross.  

Becoming obedient to death, however, does not make us cowards. Fortitude (courage) is a cardinal virtue. And we are called to be virtuous, which includes being courageous.

A writer wrote the other day that, in the Letter to the Romans, Paul taught that rulers were God’s ministers and therefore were to punish evil doers and protect the good. Citing Thomas Aquinas, he wrote that the common good requires rulers to suppress injustice and preserve order. He quoted Pope Leo XIII, who warned that when authority neglects its divinely ordained duty, bloodshed follows. 

Christ told us to be merciful as our Father is merciful. And so we try. He told us to love our enemies. But as I’ve instructed before, loving our enemies does not mean pretending they are our friends. And note that Christ never said “Blessed are the pacifists.” Rather, He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” It implies establishing the Truth, not yielding to error. 

My friends, we are not Quakers. When our homes, families, or churches are attacked, we have a duty to defend them. It is not mercy to stand by and watch good things be destroyed; it is cowardice. A Christian must put a stop to mindless evil destruction. Then he forgives. For he desires that all men, friend and foe alike, attain eternal life.

Christ told us to conquer the world by baptizing it. Christ did so first, conquering Satan with the same weapon Satan used to trap our first parents—a tree. So, we glory in that tree. We glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ and embrace it. We glory in the sweet wood and the sweet nails that deliver us and set us free.
Excerpts from Fr. Kevin Drew
Oct 31 Fri

What is the Prayer of the Faithful?

 

What is the Prayer of the Faithful?
In the General Intercessions or Prayer of the Faithful, the congregation prays for the needs of the Church and the world, responding to the invitation made by the celebrant. 
As a rule, this is the sequence of intentions:

- For the needs of the Church: for the pope, the bishops, the shepherds of souls; for the missions, the unity of Christians, vocations, etc.

- For public authorities and the salvation of the world: for peace among nations, rulers, development of people, social justice; for a bountiful harvest; for freedom, prosperity, etc.

- For those oppressed by any need: for the poor, the persecuted; for the sick, broken homes, the jobless; for those in jail, unbelievers; for those who doubt, etc.

- For the local community: including the deceased, the absent, the destitute; for the dying; for the clergy, the families, for the newlywed couples, etc.

We make these intentions our own either by silent prayer or by a response said together after each intention, such as this:

- Lord, hear our prayer

We end the Prayer of the Faithful with the concluding prayer said by the priest, asking God to accept our petitions.
With this, the liturgy of the word comes to an end.

We pray for the needs of the Church and of the world as St Paul admonished Timothy, one of his disciples: 

My advice is that, first of all, prayers should be offered for everyone—petitions, intercessions, and thanksgiving—and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may live religious and reverent lives in peace (1 Tim 2:1-3).

All of us gathered in the temple will be ready to spread the whole message of salvation, keeping in mind the true meaning of ethics in which the distinction between good and evil is not relativized, the real meaning of sin, the necessity for conversion, and the universality of the law of fraternal love.

“A man or a society that does not react to suffering and injustice and makes no effort to alleviate them is still distant from the love of Christ’s heart. While Christians enjoy the fullest freedom in finding and applying various solutions to these problems, they should be united in having one and the same desire to serve mankind. Otherwise, their Christianity will not be the word and life of Jesus; it will be a fraud, a deception of God and man.” St. Josemaría 

The law of fraternal love is a consequence of our divine filiation. All those who are called to share the same faith are brothers, children of the same Father. We realize we cannot enclose ourselves in an exclusively individualistic search for God. Each one must commit himself to help the others get closer to God and to give an answer to the present needs of the world. A man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. Each one must be ready to serve the others, helping to find solutions to their problems and to unjust situations.
Oct 30 Thu

In social life, how do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 3.

 

In social life, how do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 3.
The drama of our human existence encompasses interlocking spheres of belief and behavior: the religious sphere, the moral sphere, and the prudential (political) sphere. Today, we will conclude with the different set-ups regarding the Prudential (Political) sphere.

The Prudential (Political) Sphere: How does your conscience guide your everyday choices and compare them with your religious and moral principles? Do you invoke religious and moral teachings to help formulate your views of the world? Must your beliefs affect your public choices?

The CATHOLIC PRUDENTIAL (POLITICAL) SPHERE applies Catholic religious and moral principles to every culture and nation. It gathers the positive cultural traits of every ethnicity and energizes them. It points out the negative traits of every civilization to denounce them.

The Catholic laity governs the political sphere as its own concern, often with the general guidance of the hierarchy, which proclaims the principles. The political sphere includes everyday living, secular lawmaking, immigration, domestic policy, and foreign policy. We govern our individual lives, communities, and nations with God’s grace and according to our state of life.

The laity considers circumstances and evaluates evidence. Lay people apply Christian principles to form opinions and make choices. Moral pragmatism—the claim that good ends justify evil means (such as “We have no choice but to target non-combatants to win the war”) interferes with Catholic moral principles. The clergy must not overreach in prudential judgments that should be the realm of the laity.

The Christian message has a social dimension, and the Church encourages its diffusion and implementation as an integral part of the Christian conception of life. The main task of the Church is the salvation of souls. Man, however, can reach salvation only if he strives to establish in his society the order of justice and charity that is desired by God. 

This religious-moral-prudential template applies to every aspect of life, including the various expressions of Protestant practice, strains of Islam, and the array of Eastern religions. The model helps with mutual understanding without rancor.

The TRADITIONAL PROTESTANT PRUDENTIAL (POLITICAL) SPHERE is to be found among the (mostly Protestant) American founding fathers. Pastors often become political figures. Facts for decision-making are usually evidence-driven or practical. However, Protestant religious doctrines do not demand reasonable natural law to determine many political policies.

A significant strain of old-fashioned Protestantism includes the doctrine of Dispensationalism, a relatively recent development (dating back to the last 200 years). We are in the final historical dispensation, some of them claim, and the return of Jesus and His 1,000-year reign is imminent.

The ATHEIST PRUDENTIAL SPHERE is purely rationalistic without the light of faith and executes the maxim “everything is permissible as long as you don’t hurt anybody.” Since atheists presumably view their own death (or terrible suffering) as the greatest evil, waging war is unintelligible unless death in battle is preferable to continued existence.

Devout atheists may be disposed to murderous secular ideologies (such as Communism). But they may also be less dangerous than consequentialist Catholics or some strains of Protestantism.
Oct 29 Wed

In my personal choices, how do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 2.

 

In my personal choices, how do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 2.

The drama of our human existence encompasses interlocking spheres of belief and behavior: the religious sphere, the moral sphere, and the prudential (political) sphere. Today, after seeing the Religious sphere, we will see the different set-ups regarding the Moral sphere.

The Moral Sphere: Identify the source and specific principles that direct and determine your sense of right and wrong. It is the answer to the question, Are there evil acts, not atoned for or repented, that would threaten the possession and enjoyment of eternal life for me?

The CATHOLIC MORAL SPHERE derives from Jesus and His Church. The Church invokes the Scriptures and the words of Jesus to formulate the precepts of natural law, clustered around the Ten Commandments, and applies them to specific situations. The moral principles help us understand and define what acts are intrinsically good and what actions are evil. A person facing eternity with a single mortal sin not atoned for or repented, could end in condemnation at death. The moral law (except for Catholic merely disciplinary laws such as fasting) applies to everyone, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. For instance, Catholics believe that adultery is wrong for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

The fact of the Incarnation—God became Man and, thus, He reconciled man with Himself—is essential to our understanding of Catholic morality. The articles of Faith and morals are reasonable, not merely unpredictably determined. 

The Catholic religion and authentic science are perfectly compatible. God commands us through the Church to do good and avoid evil, love God and neighbor. God is infinitely good and cannot desire evil.

Freedom makes man a moral subject. To accomplish a good act, man makes use of his freedom to pursue an authentic good. A good moral option must not be measured only by the good intentions of the subject.

We are free to choose what we are to do, but we are not free to make what we have chosen good or evil, right or wrong. Our choices are good or bad insofar as they conform to God’s divine and eternal law and its “imperatives,” which are made known to us through the mediation of the conscience. Conscience is the judgment of the intellect on the goodness or evil of an act performed or about to be performed.

The TRADITIONAL PROTESTANT MORAL SPHERE refers solely to the Bible to distinguish right from wrong. We are saved by faith, not works (understood as moral behavior). Protestant theologians reject so-called man-made doctrines (even as they move forward with non-Scriptural doctrines such as salvation by faith alone). Talk of “intrinsically evil acts” is rare to non-existent. Hence, traditional Protestants cannot point to specific intrinsically evil acts, not atoned for or forgiven, that would lead to condemnation. For them, Faith and reason, or religion and science, need not always agree. God, in His infinite majesty, can even command evil as such.

In the ATHEIST MORAL SPHERE, the first principle is: We live, we seek happiness in whatever form we please, then we die. That’s it.
Oct 28 Tue

How do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 1.

 

How do I know what is right or wrong? Chapter 1.
The drama of our human existence encompasses interlocking spheres of belief and behavior: the religious sphere, the moral sphere, and the prudential (political) sphere. Today, we will see the different set-ups regarding the Religious sphere.

The Catholic system, proclaimed by Jesus Christ, God and Man, is highly developed and explicit. Within it, there are several systems and spiritualities, that emphasize different details, keeping the same interdependent template. But all have eternal consequences.

The rich man who neglected Lazarus recognized no religious authority (cf. Lk. 16:19-31). Thus, he lived. Thus, he died. Thus, he was judged. The inescapable interlocking combination of the religious, moral, and political spheres determines our eternal destiny.

The Religious Sphere: Identify your beliefs, traditions, and doctrines. It declares who our spiritual authorities. It answers, Is there life after death?

The CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS SPHERE encompasses the entire Deposit of Faith. In it, the Evangelists recorded the testimony of the eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. The Church hands down the testimony from every generation. The essentials of the faith are presented to us by the teaching authority of the Church. Tradition, Scriptures, and Magisterium are guardians of the faith.

The Apostles’ Creed sums up the faith. God creates us in His image. Original sin wounded human nature. Jesus saves us from our sins. His Cross and Resurrection redeem us, and our encounter with Him, in the Church and the Sacraments, heal our wounded nature and prepare us for heaven.

The Traditional PROTESTANT RELIGIOUS SPHERE is founded on the “Scriptures alone” belief but includes other implicit traditions and doctrines. Original Sin demolishes (not merely “wounds”) human nature. The Cross and Resurrection save us when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. We encounter Jesus in faith alone. They invoke literal interpretations of the Scriptures and trust pastors, often with their conflicting interpretations.

In the ATHEIST (ANTI-) RELIGIOUS SPHERE, God doesn’t exist. Faith is unreasonable, just myths and superstitions. The atheist believes (without evidence) that all existence comes to an end at death.
Oct 27 Mon

Until when should I love my neighbor?

 

Until when should I love my neighbor?
Our love for God is expressed in the way we practice charity.
We have to love all mankind. If we really want to love and serve God, then we must serve every human being. It can happen to us at times, Saint Josemaría wrote, that “it seems as if I hear someone saying to me: loving God above all things is easy, but to love one's neighbor, friends and enemies, now that's really difficult! However, if you really love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, then that love for your neighbor which you find so difficult will be a consequence of the Great Love; and you won't feel at odds with anybody.”

We ought to examine whether our love for God is shown in specific acts of love for neighbor. That is essential if we are to be disciples of Jesus. He loved us so much that he gave his life for each of us. “Because of Christ's love for all mankind, both for those who wish to serve him faithfully despite their shortcomings, and for those who don't wish to be his friends at all, he allows himself to be mistreated, insulted, and crucified.”

When someone possesses Christ, he doesn't worry whether he has already served others enough; he doesn't think about his own rights, tastes, or preferences. “This self-giving, this understanding, this charity, this forgetting about one's own rights, causes us to yield in everything that is ours, just as Christ Jesus did. Our Lord has told us to learn from him: ‘learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.’ To acquire this meekness, this humility, this holy readiness to yield in everything personal, it is enough for us to contemplate Jesus, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

“You talk to me about the ‘happy medium.’ Be careful! For a person who wants to live a life of Love with a capital L, half-measures are weak, they are miserly, they are mean and calculating. I will give you some advice. When Love knocks at your door, don't throw up barriers or hold back your heart. Never be afraid of going too far. 

If we are generous to God, it will lead us to be generous to those around us, putting our heart into all that we do. The virtue of justice demands it of us: other people have the right to our understanding and our charity.”
People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

We need to give Christ a chance to make use of us, to be His word and His work, to share His food and His clothing in the world today. If we do not radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase.
Oct 25 Sat