THIS BOOK TREATS OF THE END OF THE CITY OF GOD, THAT IS TO SAY, OF THE ETERNAL HAPPINESS OF THE SAINTS; THE FAITH OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY IS ESTABLISHED AND EXPLAINED; AND THE WORK CONCLUDES BY SHOWING HOW THE SAINTS, CLOTHED IN IMMORTAL AND SPIRITUAL BODY, SHALL BE EMPLOYED.
1. - Of The Creation Of Angels And Men
As we promised in the immediately preceding book, this, the last of the whole work, shall contain a discussion of the eternal blessedness of the city of God. This blessedness is named eternal, not because it shall endure for many ages, though at last it shall come to an end, but because according to the words of the gospel, "of His kingdom there shall be no end." - Luke 1:33 - Neither shall it enjoy the mere appearance of perpetuity which is maintained by the rise of fresh generations to occupy the place of those that have died out, as in an evergreen the same freshness seems to continue permanently, and the same appearance of dense foliage is preserved by the growth of fresh leaves in the room of those that have withered and fallen; but in that city all the citizens shall be immortal, men now for the first time enjoying what the holy angels have never lost. And this shall be accomplished by God, the most almighty Founder of the city. For He has promised it, and cannot lie,and has already performed many of His promises, and done many unpromised kindness to those whom He now asks to believe that He will do this also.
For it is He who in the beginning created the world full of visible and intelligible beings, among which He created nothing better than those spirits whom He endowed with intelligence, and made capable of contemplating and enjoying Him, and united in our society, which we call the holy and heavenly city, and in which the material of their sustenance and blessedness is God Himself, as it were their common food and nourishment. It is He who gave to this intellectual nature free-will of such a kind, that if he wished to forsake God his blessedness, misery should forthwith result. It is He who, when He foreknew that certain angels would in their pride desire to suffice for their own blessedness, and would forsake their good, did not deprive them of this power, deeming it to be more befitting His power and goodness to bring good out of evil than to prevent the evil from coming into existence. And indeed evil had never been, had not the mutable nature - mutable, though good, and created by the most high God and immutable Good, who created all things good - brought evil upon itself by sin. And this its sin is itself proof that its nature was originally good.
For had it not been very good, though not equal to its Creator, the desertion of God as its light could not have been an evil to it. For as blindness is a vice the eye, and this very fact indicates that the eye was created to see the light, and as, consequently, vice itself proves that the eye is more excellent than the other members, because it is capable of light (for on no other supposition would it be a vice of the eye to want light) so the nature which once enjoyed God teaches, even by its very vice, that it was created the best of all, since it is now miserable because it does not enjoy God. It is He who with very just punishment doomed the angels who voluntarily fell to everlasting misery, and rewarded those who continued in their attachment to the supreme good with the assurance of endless stability as the meed of their fidelity. It is He who made also man himself upright, with the same freedom of will - an earthly animal, indeed, but fit for heaven if he remained faithful to his Creator, but destined to the misery appropriate to such a nature if he forsook Him.
It is He who, when He foreknew that man would in his turn sin by abandoning God and breaking His law, did not deprive him of the power of free-will because He at the same time foresaw what good He Himself would bring out of the evil, and how from this mortal race, deservedly and justly condemned, He would by His grace collect, as now He dose, a people so numerous, that He thus fills up and repairs the blank made by the fallen angels, and that thus that beloved and heavenly city is not defrauded of the full number of its citizens, but perhaps may even rejoice in a still more overflowing population.
2. - Of The Eternal And Unchangeable Will Of God
It is true that wicked men do many things contrary to God's will; but so great is His wisdom and power, that all things which seem adverse to His purpose do still tend towards those just and good ends and issues which He Himself has foreknown. And consequently, when God is said to change His will, as when, example, He becomes angry with those to whom He was gentle, it is rather they than He who are changed, and they find Him changed in so far as their experience of suffering at His hand is new, as the sun is changed to injured eyes, and becomes as it were fierce from being mild, and hurtful from being delightful, though in itself it remains the same as it was. That also is called the will of God which He does in the hearts of those who obey His commandments; and of this the apostle says, "For it is God that work in both to will." - Phil. 2:13 - As God's "righteousness" is used not only of the righteousness wherewith He Himself is righteous, but also of that which He produces in the man whom He justifies, so also that is called His law, which, though given by God, is rather the law of men. For certainly they were men to whom Jesus said, "It is written in your law" - John 8:17 - though in another place we read, "The law of his God is in his heart." - Psalm 37:31 -
According to this will which God works in men, He is said also to will what He Himself does not will, but causes His people to will; as He is said to know what He has caused those to know who were ignorant of it. For when the apostle says, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God" - Gal. 4:9 - we cannot suppose that God there for the first time knew those who were foreknown by Him before the foundation of the world; but He is said to have known them then, because then He caused them to know. But I remember that I discussed these modes of expression in the preceding books. According to this will, then, by which we say that God wills what He causes to be willed by others, from whom the future is hidden, He wills many things which He does not perform.
Thus His saints, inspired by His holy will, desire many things which never happen. They pray, for example, for certain individuals - they pray in a pious and holy manner - but what they request He does not perform, though He Himself by His own Holy Spirit has wrought in them this will to pray. And consequently, when the saints, in conformity with God's mind, will and pray that all men be saved, we can use this mode of expression: God wills and does perform - meaning that He who causes them to will these things Himself wills them. But if we speak of that will of which is eternal as His foreknowledge, certainly He has already done all things in heaven and on earth that He has willed - not only past and present things, but even things still future. But before the arrival of that time in which He has willed the occurrence of what He foreknew and arranged for before all time, we say, It will happen when God wills. But if we are ignorant not only of the time in which it is to be, but even whether it shall be at all, we say, It will happen if God wills - not because God will then have a new will which He had not before, but because that event, which from eternity has been prepared in His unchangeable will, shall then come to pass.
3. - Of The Promise Of Eternal Blessedness To The Saints, And Everlasting Punishment To The Wicked
Wherefore, not to mention many other instances besides, as we now see in Christ the fulfillment of that which God promised to Abraham when He said, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed" - Gen. 22:18 - so this also shall be fulfilled which He promised to the same race, when He said by the prophet, "They that are in their sepulchres shall rise again; " - Isaiah 26:19 - and also, "There shall be a new heaven and a new earth; and the former shall not be mentioned, nor come into mind; but they shall find joy and rejoicing in it: for I will make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her." And by another prophet He uttered the same prediction: "At that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust" of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." - Dan. 12:1-2 - And in another place by the same prophet: "The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and shall possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." - 7:18 - And a little after he says, "His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." - Dan. 7:27 -
Other prophecies referring to the same subject I have advanced in the twentieth book, and others still which I have not advanced are found written in the same Sacred Scriptures; and these predictions shall be fulfilled, as those also have been which unbelieving men supposed would be frustrate. For it is the same God who promised both, and predicted that both would come to pass - the God whom pagan deities tremble before, as even Porphyry, the noblest of pagan philosophers, testifies.
4. - Against The Wise Men Of The World, Who Fancy That The Earthly Bodies Of Men Cannot Be Transferred To A Heavenly Habitation
But men who use their learning and intellectual ability to resist the force of that great authority which, in fulfillment of what was so long before predicted, has converted all races of men to faith and hope in its promises, seem to themselves to argue acutely against the resurrection of the body while they cite what Cicero mentions in the third book De Republica. For when he was asserting the apotheosis of Hercules and Romulus, he says: "Whose bodies were not taken up into heaven; for nature would not permit a body of earth to exist anywhere except upon earth." This, forsooth, is the profound reasoning of the wise men, whose thoughts God knows that they are vain. For if we were only souls, that is, spirits without any body, and if we dwelt in heaven and had no knowledge of earthly animals, and were told that we should be bound to earthly bodies by some wonderful bond of union, and should animate them, should we not much more vigorously refuse to believe this, and maintain that nature would not permit an incorporeal substance to be held by a corporeal bond? And yet the earth is full of living spirits, to which terrestrial body are bound, and which they are in a wonderful way implicated.
If, then, the same God who has created such beings wills this also, what is to hinder the earthly body from being raised to a heavenly body, since a spirit, which is more excellent than all bodies, and consequently than even a heavenly body, has been tied to an earthly body? If so small an earthly particle has been able to hold in union with itself something better than a heavenly body, so as to receive sensation and life, will heaven disdain to receive, or at least to retain, this sentient and living particle, which derives its life and sensation from a substance more excellent than any heavenly body? If this does not happen now, it is because the time is not yet come which has been determined by Him who has already done a much more marvellous thing than that which these men refuse to believe. For why do we not more intensely wonder that incorporeal souls, which are of higher rank than heavenly bodies, are bound to earthly bodies, rather than that bodies, although earthly, are exalted to an abode which, though heavenly, is yet corporeal, except because we have been accustomed to see this, and indeed are this, while we are not as yet that other marvel, nor have as yet ever seen it? Certainly, if we consult sober reason, the more wonderful of the two divine works is found to be attach somehow corporeal things to incorporeal, and not to connect earthly things with heavenly, which, though diverse, are yet both of them corporeal.
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
To HIS ACCUSERS' questions, our Lord Jesus Christ gave only the answer of his withering silence. From a worldly point of view, he did the foolish thing. What would you think of someone before a court who might clear himself of a charge by a word, or a show of power, and yet refuses to do so? Well, here is our Lord going to the Cross and to death, simply because he will not do the worldly thing. That was foolishness. The folly of Omnipotence!
And from that day to this, the Church has been robed in the garment of a fool, because she never does the worldly thing. Her saints are fools, because they plunge after poverty like others dig after gold, tear at their body while others pamper theirs, and dare even to swing the world a trinket at their wrist, in order that they might gain an everlasting crown. Her devout nuns are fools who leave the lights and glamours of the world for the shades and shadows of the Cross, where saints are made; her priests are fools because they practice celibacy in a world that has gone crazy about sex.
The Vicar, the Pontiff, is a fool, for refusing to relax the teachings of Christ. Yes, the Church is a fool, and all her loyal members are fools, but they are fools only from the world's point of view, not from God's point of view. For with the foolish things of the world God has chosen to confound the wise, and with the weak things of the world to confound the strong.
The Church must always bear the taunt of being not modern and unworldly, as our Lord Jesus had to bear it before Herod. And our Lord warned us that it would be the mark of the divinity of the Church: "If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you... If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you." In other words: "If you ever want to discover my religion on the face of the earth, look for the Church that does not get along with the world." The religion that gets on with the world, and is accepted by it, is worldly; the religion that does not get on with the world is other-worldly, which is another way of saying that it is divine.
The Church is very modern, if modern means that her members should change their hats with the seasons, and even with the styles, but she is not modern if it means that every time someone changes his hat, he should also change his head, or in an applied sense, that she should change her idea of God every time psychology puts on a new shirt, or physics a new coat.
The Church is modern, if modern means incorporating the new found wisdom of the present with the heritage of the centuries, but she is not modern if it means sneering at the past as one might sneer at someone's age. She is modern, if modern means a passionate desire to know the truth, but she is not modern if it means that truth changes with the calender, and that what is true on Tuesday is false on Wednesday. The Church is modern, if modern means progress toward a fixed ideal, but she is not modern if it means changing the ideal instead of attaining it.
The Church is like an old schoolmaster - the schoolmaster of the centuries - and as such she has seen so many students pass before her, cultivate the same poses, and fall into the same errors, that she merely smiles at those who believe that they have discovered a new truth; for in her superior wisdom and experience, she knows that many a so-called new truth is only a new label for an old error.
It is about time that the modern world gave up expecting the Church to die because she is "behind the times." Really she is behind the scenes, and knows just when the curtain will fall on each new fad and fancy. If an announcement had been made a thousand times about a death, and the funeral never took place, people would soon begin to take the announced funeral as a joke. And so it is with the Church. She is always supposed to be behind the times, and yet it is she who lives beyond the times.
At least a hundred voices in every century since her birth have tolled the bells for her funeral, but the corpse never appeared. They are always buying coffins for her, but it is they who use the coffins. They are always assisting at her apparently last breath, and yet she moves. They are always digging her grave, and it is a grave into which the diggers fall, The taunt that she is "behind the times" and "out of touch with the world" will never annoy her, for she knows that it is easy to be in the swim, in the sense of being "up to the times" for even a dead body can float downstream.
It takes a live Body to resist the current.
THE CHURCH IS THE BODY of Christ, composed of the many millions or billions of individuals who have been incorporated to it by Baptism, and governed by the invisible head, Christ, and the visible head, the Vicar of Christ on earth. But a body and a head are not sufficient to constitute the Mystical Christ as the Church. The Church must also have a soul as the principle of its life and its unity. That soul is the Holy Spirit.
In order that we may properly understand the role of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, try to picture the apostles and the faithful on earth during the ten days after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. The Church then existed in its raw material - its great arteries had been formed, its head had been named, its members were called, but it still lacked a soul.
The apostles and disciples and the faithful were still separate individuals; they needed a soul to make them one. The condition of the Church can be represented better by the analogy of life. Its members were like the elements in a chemical laboratory, capable of being part of the body, and yet not a body because lacking a soul. We know up to one hundred percent the chemicals that enter into the constitution of a human body, and yet with all our superior knowledge of chemistry, we cannot make a body in our laboratories. Why? Because we lack the power to give a unifying principle, a soul, to those chemicals which will make them mutually coalesce into that new emergent we call life.
Now the apostles were like the chemicals in a laboratory; they were individuals, each with his own outlook on life, each with his doubts, his uncertainties, his point of view. They could not give themselves unity anymore than chemicals alone can make life. The permanent union of their minds was impossible without a certitude from on high, for life is not a push from below, but a gift from above. They needed a soul, a spirit - a vivifying, unifying principle which would make the cells of the Mystical Body cohere in the unity of a headship under Christ. And this vivifying, unifying spirit did not come until the day of Pentecost.
Organization has nothing to do with the marvelous vitality of the Church, nor is there any other human explanation. If the Church were left to its human elements it would have perished long ago. The secret of her immortal life is her Eternal Spirit. which cannot be destroyed by the world anymore than the soul of an infant can be destroyed. Hence in the face of the force of violence the Spirit manifests the immortality of her being; against the force of ideas the Spirit shows the immortality of her ideas; and against the force of passion the Spirit shows the immortality of her love.
If there is any picture that adequately describes the Church in time, it is that of a person living throughout the cataclysms and revolutions, the progress and the unfolding of the centuries. A person who is fifty today is the same identical person as always, despite the changes in his bodily life and the historical upheavals of our time. He can say, "I saw mankind exalt itself to a god in the prewar period; I saw that same humanity prove it was not a god but only a beast in the battlefields of the World War[s]; I saw it settle down to a false peace without ever learning the lesson that it cannot survive without God." In like manner, the Church is an abiding Person through all centuries. The only difference between her now and then is the difference between the acorn and the oak, the mustard seed and the great tree. The Church members have come and gone, like the cells in a human body, but her Spirit has remained one and the same.
And since it is the Spirit that makes the Body, the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ has been contemporaneous with the centuries. When, therefore, we in the twenty-first century wish to know about Jesus Christ, about his early Church, about history, or know Him and His Church, we go not only to the dusty records but to the living Church.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
And from that day to this, the Church has been robed in the garment of a fool, because she never does the worldly thing. Her saints are fools, because they plunge after poverty like others dig after gold, tear at their body while others pamper theirs, and dare even to swing the world a trinket at their wrist, in order that they might gain an everlasting crown. Her devout nuns are fools who leave the lights and glamours of the world for the shades and shadows of the Cross, where saints are made; her priests are fools because they practice celibacy in a world that has gone crazy about sex.
The Vicar, the Pontiff, is a fool, for refusing to relax the teachings of Christ. Yes, the Church is a fool, and all her loyal members are fools, but they are fools only from the world's point of view, not from God's point of view. For with the foolish things of the world God has chosen to confound the wise, and with the weak things of the world to confound the strong.
The Church must always bear the taunt of being not modern and unworldly, as our Lord Jesus had to bear it before Herod. And our Lord warned us that it would be the mark of the divinity of the Church: "If you had been of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you... If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you." In other words: "If you ever want to discover my religion on the face of the earth, look for the Church that does not get along with the world." The religion that gets on with the world, and is accepted by it, is worldly; the religion that does not get on with the world is other-worldly, which is another way of saying that it is divine.
The Church is very modern, if modern means that her members should change their hats with the seasons, and even with the styles, but she is not modern if it means that every time someone changes his hat, he should also change his head, or in an applied sense, that she should change her idea of God every time psychology puts on a new shirt, or physics a new coat.
The Church is modern, if modern means incorporating the new found wisdom of the present with the heritage of the centuries, but she is not modern if it means sneering at the past as one might sneer at someone's age. She is modern, if modern means a passionate desire to know the truth, but she is not modern if it means that truth changes with the calender, and that what is true on Tuesday is false on Wednesday. The Church is modern, if modern means progress toward a fixed ideal, but she is not modern if it means changing the ideal instead of attaining it.
The Church is like an old schoolmaster - the schoolmaster of the centuries - and as such she has seen so many students pass before her, cultivate the same poses, and fall into the same errors, that she merely smiles at those who believe that they have discovered a new truth; for in her superior wisdom and experience, she knows that many a so-called new truth is only a new label for an old error.
It is about time that the modern world gave up expecting the Church to die because she is "behind the times." Really she is behind the scenes, and knows just when the curtain will fall on each new fad and fancy. If an announcement had been made a thousand times about a death, and the funeral never took place, people would soon begin to take the announced funeral as a joke. And so it is with the Church. She is always supposed to be behind the times, and yet it is she who lives beyond the times.
At least a hundred voices in every century since her birth have tolled the bells for her funeral, but the corpse never appeared. They are always buying coffins for her, but it is they who use the coffins. They are always assisting at her apparently last breath, and yet she moves. They are always digging her grave, and it is a grave into which the diggers fall, The taunt that she is "behind the times" and "out of touch with the world" will never annoy her, for she knows that it is easy to be in the swim, in the sense of being "up to the times" for even a dead body can float downstream.
It takes a live Body to resist the current.
THE CHURCH IS THE BODY of Christ, composed of the many millions or billions of individuals who have been incorporated to it by Baptism, and governed by the invisible head, Christ, and the visible head, the Vicar of Christ on earth. But a body and a head are not sufficient to constitute the Mystical Christ as the Church. The Church must also have a soul as the principle of its life and its unity. That soul is the Holy Spirit.
In order that we may properly understand the role of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, try to picture the apostles and the faithful on earth during the ten days after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. The Church then existed in its raw material - its great arteries had been formed, its head had been named, its members were called, but it still lacked a soul.
The apostles and disciples and the faithful were still separate individuals; they needed a soul to make them one. The condition of the Church can be represented better by the analogy of life. Its members were like the elements in a chemical laboratory, capable of being part of the body, and yet not a body because lacking a soul. We know up to one hundred percent the chemicals that enter into the constitution of a human body, and yet with all our superior knowledge of chemistry, we cannot make a body in our laboratories. Why? Because we lack the power to give a unifying principle, a soul, to those chemicals which will make them mutually coalesce into that new emergent we call life.
Now the apostles were like the chemicals in a laboratory; they were individuals, each with his own outlook on life, each with his doubts, his uncertainties, his point of view. They could not give themselves unity anymore than chemicals alone can make life. The permanent union of their minds was impossible without a certitude from on high, for life is not a push from below, but a gift from above. They needed a soul, a spirit - a vivifying, unifying principle which would make the cells of the Mystical Body cohere in the unity of a headship under Christ. And this vivifying, unifying spirit did not come until the day of Pentecost.
Organization has nothing to do with the marvelous vitality of the Church, nor is there any other human explanation. If the Church were left to its human elements it would have perished long ago. The secret of her immortal life is her Eternal Spirit. which cannot be destroyed by the world anymore than the soul of an infant can be destroyed. Hence in the face of the force of violence the Spirit manifests the immortality of her being; against the force of ideas the Spirit shows the immortality of her ideas; and against the force of passion the Spirit shows the immortality of her love.
If there is any picture that adequately describes the Church in time, it is that of a person living throughout the cataclysms and revolutions, the progress and the unfolding of the centuries. A person who is fifty today is the same identical person as always, despite the changes in his bodily life and the historical upheavals of our time. He can say, "I saw mankind exalt itself to a god in the prewar period; I saw that same humanity prove it was not a god but only a beast in the battlefields of the World War[s]; I saw it settle down to a false peace without ever learning the lesson that it cannot survive without God." In like manner, the Church is an abiding Person through all centuries. The only difference between her now and then is the difference between the acorn and the oak, the mustard seed and the great tree. The Church members have come and gone, like the cells in a human body, but her Spirit has remained one and the same.
And since it is the Spirit that makes the Body, the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ has been contemporaneous with the centuries. When, therefore, we in the twenty-first century wish to know about Jesus Christ, about his early Church, about history, or know Him and His Church, we go not only to the dusty records but to the living Church.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saint Augustine stands as one of the greatest and most influential of Christian theologians. "It may be safely predicted that while the mind of man yearns for knowledge, and his heart seeks rest, the Confessions will retain that foremost place in the world's literature which it has secured by its sublime outpourings of devotion and profound philosophical spirit."
It should be borne in mind that the Confessions was not intended to be an intellectual exercise, removed from the everyday realities of life. In it, Augustine seeks to lay bare his heart, his soul - before God and before his fellowmen. It is an honest book and a book that speaks to the heart first of all.
We moderns may find some difficulty in his allegorizations, especially those found in the last three books. But one translator aptly remarked, "Where the strict use of history is not disregarded, (to use Augustine's expression) allegorizing by way of spiritual meditation, may be profitable." Certainly his insights are not to be despised!
Born in 352, in a small city of Tagaste, Africa (in what is now Algeria) Augustine lived in the time of the growing ascendancy of the Christian Church and the growing decline of the Roman empire. It was scarcely a quarter of a century earlier that the great Council of Nicaea had been held, and there were heresies and schisms throughout the Christian world that still held sway over hearts and minds. Donatists continued to hold that many Catholic Orders were invalid because they came through traditori (those who had denied the faith during the severe persecution and had later repented and been restored to the Church).
In his later years, Augustine would spend much effort in fighting for the unity of the Church against their schismatic beliefs. Arianism (denying the full divinity of Christ) succeeded in winning the allegiance of the Emperor and his mother, and echoes of that threat to the peace and unity of the Church continued to resound throughout Augustine's lifetime. But for Augustine personality, his sojourn among the Manicheans gave the background for much of the material we find in the Confessions. After his schooling under a harsh tutor in Tagaste, he was sent to Madaura for a short time. Family finances forced his return home and resulted in an idle year, 369-370. He was then sent to Carthage, to what would be equivalent to a University, where he distinguished himself in the rhetorical school. His father died in 371, but his mother continued to support his schooling with the aid of a wealthy patron, Romanianus. It is evident that he continued to cherish high ambitions for his worldly success. While at Carthage, Augustine came under the influence of the Manicheans and took a mistress, to whom he was faithful for fifteen years. To them was born one son, Adeotus.
After some years of teaching at Carthage, Augustine decided to go to Rome. His mother opposed the idea, but could not dissuade him. After a brief stay in Rome, he was appointed in 385 as Public Teacher of Rhetoric at Milan, where he first came under the influence of Saint Ambrose. In 385-386, the Empress Justina demanded the surrender of two churches to the Arians. Saint Ambrose led his people in a refusal to surrender the churches, even when confronted by military force. Augustine was aware of this crisis, but he was not personally involved.
Ten years spent with the Manicheans had brought Augustine many intellectual difficulties with their system. Although they had encouraged his own sceptical approach to the Sacred/Holy Scriptures, they had not satisfied his thirst for sure knowledge nor his growing uneasiness with his disorderly life. With his mother's help, Augustine's mistress was dismissed and arrangements were made for his marriage, which had to be postponed because his intended was underage. But his struggles with the flesh resulted in his taking a new mistress because he felt morally incapable of making a better choice. He chronicles the inner struggles which led, with timely help from Ambrose, to his departure from the Manicheans and his conversion to the Catholic faith. He was baptized at Easter, 387, along with his son, Adeotus. Having resigned his position as professor of Rhetoric, he and his company were waiting for a ship to make their way back to Africa when his mother suddenly became ill and died at Ostia, the port of Rome.
The next year, having returned to Tagaste and sold his property there, Augustine set up a monastic kind of community with a few friends, continuing his writing. In 391, with much misgiving on his part, he consented to be ordained presbyter at Hippo, a nearby city of about 30,000. The Church was not strong there, its population being a mixture of pagans, Jews, several schismatic sects, and a large group of Donatists. In 395 (in violation of the eighth canon of Nicaea) he was made assistant bishop to the aged Valerius, and succeeded him as bishop the following year.
It was not long after his election as bishop that he began the Confessions, completing them probably in 398. Thus they represent his thought and the account of his life in its midstream. He wrote this book "at the request of friends who begged him to commit to writing those recollections of his former life to which he often referred in private conversation. He consented for the characteristic reason that he desired his friends to mourn and rejoice along with him as they followed his retrospect of past years, and on his behalf to give thanks to God."
Augustine's years as bishop involved struggles with errors he believed to be a threat to salvation and to the welfare of the Church on several fonts: Manicheans, Donatists, Arians and Pelagians. In addition to these very real battles, the Roman empire itself was under mortal assault. It is one of the great ironies of history that as Augustine finished his immortal City of God in the quiet of his monastic residence, the Vandals were pillaging the countryside of North Africa. "While the Vandals besieged Hippo, Saint Augustine died (August 28, 410) in the sanctity and poverty in which he had lived for many years. Shortly afterward, the Vandals destroyed the city, but left his cathedral and library untouched."
Sending the Confessions to a friend, Augustine wrote, "In these behold me, that you may not praise me beyond what I am. Believe what is said of me, not by others, but by myself."
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
It should be borne in mind that the Confessions was not intended to be an intellectual exercise, removed from the everyday realities of life. In it, Augustine seeks to lay bare his heart, his soul - before God and before his fellowmen. It is an honest book and a book that speaks to the heart first of all.
We moderns may find some difficulty in his allegorizations, especially those found in the last three books. But one translator aptly remarked, "Where the strict use of history is not disregarded, (to use Augustine's expression) allegorizing by way of spiritual meditation, may be profitable." Certainly his insights are not to be despised!
Born in 352, in a small city of Tagaste, Africa (in what is now Algeria) Augustine lived in the time of the growing ascendancy of the Christian Church and the growing decline of the Roman empire. It was scarcely a quarter of a century earlier that the great Council of Nicaea had been held, and there were heresies and schisms throughout the Christian world that still held sway over hearts and minds. Donatists continued to hold that many Catholic Orders were invalid because they came through traditori (those who had denied the faith during the severe persecution and had later repented and been restored to the Church).
In his later years, Augustine would spend much effort in fighting for the unity of the Church against their schismatic beliefs. Arianism (denying the full divinity of Christ) succeeded in winning the allegiance of the Emperor and his mother, and echoes of that threat to the peace and unity of the Church continued to resound throughout Augustine's lifetime. But for Augustine personality, his sojourn among the Manicheans gave the background for much of the material we find in the Confessions. After his schooling under a harsh tutor in Tagaste, he was sent to Madaura for a short time. Family finances forced his return home and resulted in an idle year, 369-370. He was then sent to Carthage, to what would be equivalent to a University, where he distinguished himself in the rhetorical school. His father died in 371, but his mother continued to support his schooling with the aid of a wealthy patron, Romanianus. It is evident that he continued to cherish high ambitions for his worldly success. While at Carthage, Augustine came under the influence of the Manicheans and took a mistress, to whom he was faithful for fifteen years. To them was born one son, Adeotus.
After some years of teaching at Carthage, Augustine decided to go to Rome. His mother opposed the idea, but could not dissuade him. After a brief stay in Rome, he was appointed in 385 as Public Teacher of Rhetoric at Milan, where he first came under the influence of Saint Ambrose. In 385-386, the Empress Justina demanded the surrender of two churches to the Arians. Saint Ambrose led his people in a refusal to surrender the churches, even when confronted by military force. Augustine was aware of this crisis, but he was not personally involved.
Ten years spent with the Manicheans had brought Augustine many intellectual difficulties with their system. Although they had encouraged his own sceptical approach to the Sacred/Holy Scriptures, they had not satisfied his thirst for sure knowledge nor his growing uneasiness with his disorderly life. With his mother's help, Augustine's mistress was dismissed and arrangements were made for his marriage, which had to be postponed because his intended was underage. But his struggles with the flesh resulted in his taking a new mistress because he felt morally incapable of making a better choice. He chronicles the inner struggles which led, with timely help from Ambrose, to his departure from the Manicheans and his conversion to the Catholic faith. He was baptized at Easter, 387, along with his son, Adeotus. Having resigned his position as professor of Rhetoric, he and his company were waiting for a ship to make their way back to Africa when his mother suddenly became ill and died at Ostia, the port of Rome.
The next year, having returned to Tagaste and sold his property there, Augustine set up a monastic kind of community with a few friends, continuing his writing. In 391, with much misgiving on his part, he consented to be ordained presbyter at Hippo, a nearby city of about 30,000. The Church was not strong there, its population being a mixture of pagans, Jews, several schismatic sects, and a large group of Donatists. In 395 (in violation of the eighth canon of Nicaea) he was made assistant bishop to the aged Valerius, and succeeded him as bishop the following year.
It was not long after his election as bishop that he began the Confessions, completing them probably in 398. Thus they represent his thought and the account of his life in its midstream. He wrote this book "at the request of friends who begged him to commit to writing those recollections of his former life to which he often referred in private conversation. He consented for the characteristic reason that he desired his friends to mourn and rejoice along with him as they followed his retrospect of past years, and on his behalf to give thanks to God."
Augustine's years as bishop involved struggles with errors he believed to be a threat to salvation and to the welfare of the Church on several fonts: Manicheans, Donatists, Arians and Pelagians. In addition to these very real battles, the Roman empire itself was under mortal assault. It is one of the great ironies of history that as Augustine finished his immortal City of God in the quiet of his monastic residence, the Vandals were pillaging the countryside of North Africa. "While the Vandals besieged Hippo, Saint Augustine died (August 28, 410) in the sanctity and poverty in which he had lived for many years. Shortly afterward, the Vandals destroyed the city, but left his cathedral and library untouched."
Sending the Confessions to a friend, Augustine wrote, "In these behold me, that you may not praise me beyond what I am. Believe what is said of me, not by others, but by myself."
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Sunday, July 8, 2012
On using the name of the Lord Jesus and the true cause for the apostles to rejoice:
Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. - Luke 9:1-2 - Matt. 10:1 - Mark 6:7 -
John spoke up. 'Master', he said 'we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.' - Luke 9:49-50 -
The Lord Jesus Christ appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. - Luke 10:1-2 -
The seventy-two came back rejoicing, 'Lord', they said 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.' - Luke 10:17-20 - John 12:31-32 - Rev. 20:12 -
Reverend Father Martin Luther ( 1472 to 1553 ) had never intended to break away from the Catholic Church, he had hoped to reform it from within, but events spiraled out of his control. It was on the date of 'All Souls Day' in 1517, that Rev. Fr. Martin Luther inadvertently began the Reformation (religious upheaval) of the sixteenth century. Then, came the others as well as the English Reformation. As the Reformation and Protestantism spread over Europe, a parallel 'Counter-Reformation' was established within Catholicism. Both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation had common roots in a shared desire to end the evil of corruption and abuses of power of the late medieval Church; thus, those who broke away from the Church became known as the 'Reformation' whilst those that remained are known as 'Counter-Reformation.'
When Paul III, who became Pope in 1534. He make his two teenage nephews cardinals which of course, did not bore well for reform, but most of the other cardinals, the Pope Paul III appointed were reformers. On the whole the Pope was keen to reform the Church and the papacy. A commission was set up to investigate abuses in the Church and make recommendations for reform: known as the Concilium, was widely published and was quite damning. A lot of abuse had been detected throughout the Church, and the commission advised that the Pope, the Cardinals should think spiritually and act about spiritual matters, practices 'Holiness' and spend less time worrying about their position and benefits in the world.
Finally, in 1545, Pope Paul III succeeded in overcoming the anti-reform party in the Church and calling a council at Trent to address the whole problem of ecclesiastical abuses and Protestantism. As far as the doctrine is concern, the 'Council of Trent' refused to fully budge in the direction of the Protestants. But the 'Council of Trent' agreed with the Protestants that faith is necessary to salvation, but it disagreed with them that it is sufficient. Similarly, the 'Council of Trent' rejected the Protestants' contention that the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is the sole source of doctrine and that it is more authoritative than the Church.
Instead, the 'Council of Trent' retain the traditional view that the Church and the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible form a whole, undivided body of teaching. This means that Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is indeed authoritative, only it is interpreted by the Church. Thus, the 'Council of Trent' reaffirmed the seven Sacraments, the doctrine of Purgatory, the use of Relics, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Clerical celibacy and other elements that the Protestants denounced as not scriptural. The doctrine of transubstantiation [the presence of the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist] was reaffirmed and it was made explicit.
Pope Pius IV promulgated the decisions of Trent in 1564. After that, Trent acted rather as the 'Council of Nicaea' it provided a universal of doctrine and discipline within the Catholic. Many Catholics became more concerned of their faith that the Protestants disagreed or rejected, such as the seven Sacraments and the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was in this period that the 'Ave Maria' or 'Hail Mary' prayer had come into universal use in the eleventh centuries till today.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with you,
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.
As the Catholic Church is progressing, a new force is appearing, that is, the 'Society of Jesus' also known as 'the Jesuits.' The Society of Jesus or 'the Jesuits' were founded by a Spanish soldier named Ignatius of Loyola, under the service of the king of Spain, who prided himself in his military prowess, and he was a nobleman. One day, in a battle between two rival cities, a canon ball fell upon his legs and exploded. One of his legs was shattered, and he was carried home by his enemies, no less, because they respected his bravery in battle. His recovery was very slow and very painful. After some months of convalescence, he asked for some books to read to while away his time. He requested for some romantic novels, but there were only two books available, a book on the Life of Christ and a book on the Lives of the Saints.
So Ignatius of Loyola had no choice but to read these two books and became interested in spirituality. After leaving the hospital, he spent times in prayer and meditation in monastery, and came out of this deeply wrought experience with a deep rooted desire to 'help souls.' For him this meant essentially to help people discover their pathway to God. After a while of so doing, he was warned by the Church authorities not to carry on unless he had qualified himself with a Church degree. This is what turned his mind towards studying theology and to the priesthood, and eventually brought him to the University of Paris, where he found himself rooming with Francis Xavier and Peter Favre.
In 1540, Pope Paul III approved the new 'Society of Jesus.' The principal virtue for its Jesuits - who were all priests - was obedience, to the general of the order and the Pope. The Society of Jesus as a whole was to the service of the Pope in whatever capacity he saw fit. The Jesuits did not have a specified rule to follow, but they did have the Spiritual Exercises that Ignatius of Loyola wrote. And eventually the Spiritual Exercises was use as a tool, an instrument and as a way or method for helping people to discover themselves, their desires, their personal experiences and their way to God.
It seem that Saint Ignatius of Loyola had in mind to preach to the Muslims, and in fact, some of the first missions that he sent the early Jesuits on were to Muslims.
However, the Church recognized the value of the Jesuits in opposing Protestantism and put them to work in this major mission. Jesuit scholars began to study the arguments and the beliefs of the leading Protestants and wrote answers to them. The Jesuits went through theological debate with them as well. A renowned Italian Jesuit named Robert Bellarmine, a theologian with impeccable reputation for preaching that Protestants as well as Catholics came to hear his sermons. Saint Robert Bellarmine was a deeply charitable person who was known to clothe the poor and needy with his tapestries and he was a very honest man. Appointed to the post of professor of controversies at the Jesuit college in Rome by Pope Gregory XIII, Saint Robert Bellarmine studied the works of the Reformers and wrote fair-minded responses to the Protestants. He was not simply a reactionary who denied that the Protestants had said anything worthwhile: on the contrary, he aimed to defend an understanding of Christianity which was rooted in the Church fathers, especially Saint Augustine of Hippo.
To engage in such scholarship, Jesuits had to be well educated, and from an early stage Saint Ignatius of Loyola was determined that education would play a key role. It was, after all, supposed to be a Society of elite priests, dedicated to spreading the Christian message, and this required extensive spiritual training and spiritual education. Spiritual schools and training centers were therefore opened. By the time Saint Ignatius of Loyola died in 1556, there were 35 Jesuits schools throughout Europe. He believed that spiritual education should be available to everyone, and it were extremely popular, and this did a great deal to stem the advance of Protestantism.
Saint Peter Canisius play a major role in the German Counter-Reformation, he was the eighth person to join the Society of Jesus. Saint Peter Canisius spent many years preaching throughout Germany and he had opened Jesuit schools there. Saint Peter Canisius was present at the Council of Trent and wrote a number of books explaining Catholic doctrine: the short Catechisms he composed, with small explanations of each belief, were extremely popular and still used in the nineteenth century. And this stem the advance of Protestantism. Catholics remember Peter Canisius as the 'second apostle of Germany' after Boniface.
In order to successfully quashed Protestantism, the Jesuits continue to opened spiritual schools. The Jesuits translated anti-Protestant and devotional works into their own native language, popularized the Catholic liturgy, and official Catholicism was still struggling for dominance with Orthodoxy in Ukraine. Finally, the Jesuits penetrated Ukraine and helped to bolster Catholicism, an effort formalized in 1596 with the Union of Brest. This declaration created a brand new church, the Ukraine Catholic Church, which was in communion with the Roman Catholic Church but used Orthodox rites.
The latter half of the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a large number of extraordinarily brilliant men emerge from the ranks of the Jesuits. Some, such as Saint Matteo Ricci, made a splash on the world stage; others, such as the scientist Athanasius Kircher SJ, were content to explore volcanoes or study the causes of disease. Many Jesuits studied science. That made Jesuits great explorers, too - of the 8 major rivers in the world, 5 were first charted by Jesuits.
The Jesuits successfully quashed Protestantism, and that the most famous missionaries of the era were all Jesuits. In fact, half of Europe have apostatized, but the Renaissance explorers had revealed whole new worlds which might be amenable to Catholicism.
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. - Luke 9:1-2 - Matt. 10:1 - Mark 6:7 -
John spoke up. 'Master', he said 'we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.' But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.' - Luke 9:49-50 -
The Lord Jesus Christ appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. - Luke 10:1-2 -
The seventy-two came back rejoicing, 'Lord', they said 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.' - Luke 10:17-20 - John 12:31-32 - Rev. 20:12 -
Reverend Father Martin Luther ( 1472 to 1553 ) had never intended to break away from the Catholic Church, he had hoped to reform it from within, but events spiraled out of his control. It was on the date of 'All Souls Day' in 1517, that Rev. Fr. Martin Luther inadvertently began the Reformation (religious upheaval) of the sixteenth century. Then, came the others as well as the English Reformation. As the Reformation and Protestantism spread over Europe, a parallel 'Counter-Reformation' was established within Catholicism. Both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation had common roots in a shared desire to end the evil of corruption and abuses of power of the late medieval Church; thus, those who broke away from the Church became known as the 'Reformation' whilst those that remained are known as 'Counter-Reformation.'
When Paul III, who became Pope in 1534. He make his two teenage nephews cardinals which of course, did not bore well for reform, but most of the other cardinals, the Pope Paul III appointed were reformers. On the whole the Pope was keen to reform the Church and the papacy. A commission was set up to investigate abuses in the Church and make recommendations for reform: known as the Concilium, was widely published and was quite damning. A lot of abuse had been detected throughout the Church, and the commission advised that the Pope, the Cardinals should think spiritually and act about spiritual matters, practices 'Holiness' and spend less time worrying about their position and benefits in the world.
Finally, in 1545, Pope Paul III succeeded in overcoming the anti-reform party in the Church and calling a council at Trent to address the whole problem of ecclesiastical abuses and Protestantism. As far as the doctrine is concern, the 'Council of Trent' refused to fully budge in the direction of the Protestants. But the 'Council of Trent' agreed with the Protestants that faith is necessary to salvation, but it disagreed with them that it is sufficient. Similarly, the 'Council of Trent' rejected the Protestants' contention that the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is the sole source of doctrine and that it is more authoritative than the Church.
Instead, the 'Council of Trent' retain the traditional view that the Church and the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible form a whole, undivided body of teaching. This means that Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is indeed authoritative, only it is interpreted by the Church. Thus, the 'Council of Trent' reaffirmed the seven Sacraments, the doctrine of Purgatory, the use of Relics, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Clerical celibacy and other elements that the Protestants denounced as not scriptural. The doctrine of transubstantiation [the presence of the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist] was reaffirmed and it was made explicit.
Pope Pius IV promulgated the decisions of Trent in 1564. After that, Trent acted rather as the 'Council of Nicaea' it provided a universal of doctrine and discipline within the Catholic. Many Catholics became more concerned of their faith that the Protestants disagreed or rejected, such as the seven Sacraments and the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was in this period that the 'Ave Maria' or 'Hail Mary' prayer had come into universal use in the eleventh centuries till today.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with you,
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.
As the Catholic Church is progressing, a new force is appearing, that is, the 'Society of Jesus' also known as 'the Jesuits.' The Society of Jesus or 'the Jesuits' were founded by a Spanish soldier named Ignatius of Loyola, under the service of the king of Spain, who prided himself in his military prowess, and he was a nobleman. One day, in a battle between two rival cities, a canon ball fell upon his legs and exploded. One of his legs was shattered, and he was carried home by his enemies, no less, because they respected his bravery in battle. His recovery was very slow and very painful. After some months of convalescence, he asked for some books to read to while away his time. He requested for some romantic novels, but there were only two books available, a book on the Life of Christ and a book on the Lives of the Saints.
So Ignatius of Loyola had no choice but to read these two books and became interested in spirituality. After leaving the hospital, he spent times in prayer and meditation in monastery, and came out of this deeply wrought experience with a deep rooted desire to 'help souls.' For him this meant essentially to help people discover their pathway to God. After a while of so doing, he was warned by the Church authorities not to carry on unless he had qualified himself with a Church degree. This is what turned his mind towards studying theology and to the priesthood, and eventually brought him to the University of Paris, where he found himself rooming with Francis Xavier and Peter Favre.
In 1540, Pope Paul III approved the new 'Society of Jesus.' The principal virtue for its Jesuits - who were all priests - was obedience, to the general of the order and the Pope. The Society of Jesus as a whole was to the service of the Pope in whatever capacity he saw fit. The Jesuits did not have a specified rule to follow, but they did have the Spiritual Exercises that Ignatius of Loyola wrote. And eventually the Spiritual Exercises was use as a tool, an instrument and as a way or method for helping people to discover themselves, their desires, their personal experiences and their way to God.
It seem that Saint Ignatius of Loyola had in mind to preach to the Muslims, and in fact, some of the first missions that he sent the early Jesuits on were to Muslims.
However, the Church recognized the value of the Jesuits in opposing Protestantism and put them to work in this major mission. Jesuit scholars began to study the arguments and the beliefs of the leading Protestants and wrote answers to them. The Jesuits went through theological debate with them as well. A renowned Italian Jesuit named Robert Bellarmine, a theologian with impeccable reputation for preaching that Protestants as well as Catholics came to hear his sermons. Saint Robert Bellarmine was a deeply charitable person who was known to clothe the poor and needy with his tapestries and he was a very honest man. Appointed to the post of professor of controversies at the Jesuit college in Rome by Pope Gregory XIII, Saint Robert Bellarmine studied the works of the Reformers and wrote fair-minded responses to the Protestants. He was not simply a reactionary who denied that the Protestants had said anything worthwhile: on the contrary, he aimed to defend an understanding of Christianity which was rooted in the Church fathers, especially Saint Augustine of Hippo.
To engage in such scholarship, Jesuits had to be well educated, and from an early stage Saint Ignatius of Loyola was determined that education would play a key role. It was, after all, supposed to be a Society of elite priests, dedicated to spreading the Christian message, and this required extensive spiritual training and spiritual education. Spiritual schools and training centers were therefore opened. By the time Saint Ignatius of Loyola died in 1556, there were 35 Jesuits schools throughout Europe. He believed that spiritual education should be available to everyone, and it were extremely popular, and this did a great deal to stem the advance of Protestantism.
Saint Peter Canisius play a major role in the German Counter-Reformation, he was the eighth person to join the Society of Jesus. Saint Peter Canisius spent many years preaching throughout Germany and he had opened Jesuit schools there. Saint Peter Canisius was present at the Council of Trent and wrote a number of books explaining Catholic doctrine: the short Catechisms he composed, with small explanations of each belief, were extremely popular and still used in the nineteenth century. And this stem the advance of Protestantism. Catholics remember Peter Canisius as the 'second apostle of Germany' after Boniface.
In order to successfully quashed Protestantism, the Jesuits continue to opened spiritual schools. The Jesuits translated anti-Protestant and devotional works into their own native language, popularized the Catholic liturgy, and official Catholicism was still struggling for dominance with Orthodoxy in Ukraine. Finally, the Jesuits penetrated Ukraine and helped to bolster Catholicism, an effort formalized in 1596 with the Union of Brest. This declaration created a brand new church, the Ukraine Catholic Church, which was in communion with the Roman Catholic Church but used Orthodox rites.
The latter half of the sixteenth and seventeenth century saw a large number of extraordinarily brilliant men emerge from the ranks of the Jesuits. Some, such as Saint Matteo Ricci, made a splash on the world stage; others, such as the scientist Athanasius Kircher SJ, were content to explore volcanoes or study the causes of disease. Many Jesuits studied science. That made Jesuits great explorers, too - of the 8 major rivers in the world, 5 were first charted by Jesuits.
The Jesuits successfully quashed Protestantism, and that the most famous missionaries of the era were all Jesuits. In fact, half of Europe have apostatized, but the Renaissance explorers had revealed whole new worlds which might be amenable to Catholicism.
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Monday, July 2, 2012
God has always been present to His Church in a way different from His presence elsewhere. The Church of the Old Testament already enjoyed a prototype, show of the Eucharistic Presence. The ancient sanctuary contained two items of particular significance: the lamp stand and the bread of presence. Saint John applies both to Christ, the Light of the World - John 8:12 - and the Bread of Life - John 6 -
Saint Paul epistle to the Hebrews 9:2 - records that "there was an outer tabernacle which contained the lamp stand and the table and the loaves set before God; sanctuary was the name given to this." The so-called table of the show bread was important not so much for the table itself as for the bread placed upon it. It was the bread of presence, literally "bread of the face." It was to this bread of presence that Christ referred to Matthew 12:4 as "the loaves set out there before the Lord." The bread was meant as a memorial placed continually in God's presence.
The bread is to be a token sacrifice to the Lord. - Lev. 24:7 -
Each Saturday a fresh supply of bread was substituted for the old loaves, twelve in number, one for each of the twelve tribes. All were thus represented, little Benjamin no less than royal Judah, Dan as well as the priestly Levi, and just as much for one tribe as for another. No part of God's family was forgotten. Each was fully represented, and they were always before Him.
The table is to hold the loaves of bread which are to be set out continually in My Presence. - Ex. 25:30 -
The bread of the Old Testament was thus the presence of the people before the Lord, but the Bread of the New Testament is the Presence of the Lord before the people. In the Old Testament there was never a moment when they were out of His sight. Bread was a continuous reminder to Him of His covenant relation to them and of His promises to them of a Savior and Redeemer. As the twelve tribes were made one in His presence, so also His ecclesia, His Church, by "the one bread is made one body, though we are many in number; the same bread is shared by all." - 1Cor. 10:17 -
The bread of presence was before His face; that is why it was called the continual bread: "keep hallowed loaves set forth continually" - 2Chron. 2:4 - "the bread set forth there as always." - Num. 4:7 -
The bread was to be made of the finest flour, and, upon each row, incense was placed to indicate that the offering was a sacrifice to the Lord.
Put grains of fine incense upon them; the bread is to be a token sacrifice to the Lord. - Lev. 24:7 -
Thus was prefigured the union of the sacrament and sacrifice under the New Law.
Even a "sanctuary lamp" was provided - not that the bread was the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ, but only a shadow, an anticipation.
Never must the altar be empty of this perpetual fire. - Lev. 6:13 -
From that day to this, a lamp announces the Presence.
For the Christian who lives in the realm of grace, the demands of the holiness of God are not less demanding that they were for the Jew under the Old Testament. If those who rebelled in the desert did not escape judgment, much less shall we who are privileged to live in the fullness of revelation.
Beware of excusing yourselves from listening to Him who is speaking to you. There was no escape for those others, who tried to excuse themselves when God uttered His warnings on earth; still less for us, if we turn away when He speaks from heaven. - Heb. 12:25 -
The Old Testament contains seven instances of sudden judgment in connection with the tabernacle or the temple, its liturgy, its worship or its vessels. Three of them had to do with the offering of incense, three with the ark, and one with the candle stick.
Probably the first to die in the desert were Aaron's two sons who had just been ordained priests. God had sent down fire from heaven upon the altar of sacrifice and directed that it be always kept burning, like a sanctuary lamp before a tabernacle. - Lev. 9:23-24 - What their sin was is uncertain - it may have been drinking alcohol in forbidden circumstances - Lev. 10:9 - but in any case, they offered a "strange fire." They may have lighted a fire themselves instead of taking it from the altar, and they may also have mixed a strange incense which was expressly forbidden - Ex. 30:9-10 - "whereupon the Lord sent down fire which devoured them and they died there in the Lord's presence." - Lev. 10:2 -
To approach the tabernacle with the spirit of the world in our soul instead of the Spirit of Christ is to offer foreign fire. But whatever the sin of those Old Testament priests was, we are bidden to "worship God as He would have us worship Him, in awe and reverence; no doubt of it, our God is a consuming fire." - Heb. 12:28-29 -
The ark fell into the hands of the Philistines - 1Kings 4; 1Sam. 4 - because the Jews had used it as a magical charm to protect them in time of war. The Philistines put it in the temple of Dagon, and the statue of the god fell prostrate before the ark, as those who came to arrest Our Blessed Lord fell down at the mention of His name. - John 18:6 -
When the Philistines refused to acknowledge the power of God, great numbers of them died with the plague. - 1Kings 5:6; 1Sam. 5:6 - As the ark was a source of blessings to those who reverenced it, it was similarly a source of affliction to those who refused to recognize the power of God, Who dwelt symbolically in it. The same is true of Christ.
We are Christ's incense offered to God, making manifest both those who are achieving salvation and those who are on the road to ruin; as a deadly fume where it finds death, as a life-giving perfume where it finds life. Who can prove himself worthy of such a calling? - 2Cor. 2:15-16 -
Everywhere the ark went while it was in the hands of the Philistines, there went the punishment of God:
No city was free from the fear of death, and God's heavy visitation; even those who survived had shameful sores to tend, and everywhere cries of anguish went up to heaven. - 1Kings 5:12; 1Sam. 5:11-12 -
Though we see no such manifestations of this power when the Eucharist is profaned, may it not be that God is reserving His judgment for those who approach it without faith? Men may plead that they have eaten in His Presence and done wonderful works in His name and cried, "Lord, Lord" but He will say that He knows not such workers of iniquity. - Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 12:25-27 -
The Philistines finally became penitent, returned the Ark, and offered tokens of reparation for their sins; but how much more mercy they would have obtained if they had acknowledged God's presence not in terror, but in appeal to His mercy!
If God punished the Philistines so harshly for keeping the ark, which was only a promise and prototype of the Eucharist, then what reverence should the Eucharist itself not awaken in those who have the reality and the substance! How terrible a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! - Heb. 10:31 - How feeble Nebuchadnezzar seemed when he fed on grass! - Dan. 4:30 - What a contemptible "god" did Herod appear when worms were devouring his vitals! - Acts 12:21-23 - How Belshazzar trembled with fear, his knees shaking at the sight of the handwriting on the wall! - Dan, 5:6 - How Felix fled from enlightenment when Paul reasoned with him about righteousness and judgment! - Acts 24:25 - Persons who are filled with slavish fear seek to banish what causes them terror rather than part with the sin that alone makes God an object of dread. But to us has been given the power to call down the Lord on our altars! Our greater privileges should make us tremble at knowing how God punished those with fewer talents and less light.
Another Old Testament incident that helps the bishop and priest to see how much reverence God demands for His Sacrament is seen in the punishment that was given to the people of Bethshemesh. They were happy to receive the ark back from the Philistines, but they failed to show respect. Rather, manifesting an unlawful curiosity, they looked into it and were smitten by God. - 1Kings 6:19; 1Sam. 6:19 -
Such was the Lord's displeasure when any irreverence was shown to the ark. The law was clear as to who might touch the ark and how it should be carried. It was not proper to put it in a wagon, as had been done, nor was it to be touched by anyone except the priest:
Then when Aaron and his sons have wrapped up the sanctuary and all its appurtenances ready for the march, the sons of Caath (Kohath) will enter and carry them away in their wrappings; they are not to touch the things of the sanctuary, on pain of death. - Num. 4:15 -
The ark should have been carried by two stave, held by priests. Uzzah was not a priest and was accordingly not authorized to touch the holy thing. This violation of God's command may have been the fruit of a habitual irreverence induced by long familiarity with the ark. God's action showed that no service was acceptable to Him unless regulated by strict adherence to His revealed Will. The utmost reverence was demanded of all who approached Him. - Lev. 10:3 -
How strictly the Lord enjoins His priests:
Keep yourselves unsullied, you that have the vessels of the Lord's worship in your charge. - Isaiah 52:11 -
The privilege of belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ implies both tremendous privileges and equally tremendous responsibilities.
Nation is none I have claimed for My own, save you; and guilt of yours is none that shall go unpunished. - Amos 3:2 -
Such are the judgments falling upon men in connection with the tabernacle, its worship, its holy vessels or its priesthood. When all these are taken together, one trembles at the reverence God demands for the things that are His and the punishment He metes out sometimes for the least infraction of what is dedicated to His service. The altar at which the priest stands is holy.
If the angels tremble, shall we not quake? But the Presence must not kindle a fear born of sin or impiety, but a holy fear begotten of love for One Who dwells among us.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 3
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Saint Paul epistle to the Hebrews 9:2 - records that "there was an outer tabernacle which contained the lamp stand and the table and the loaves set before God; sanctuary was the name given to this." The so-called table of the show bread was important not so much for the table itself as for the bread placed upon it. It was the bread of presence, literally "bread of the face." It was to this bread of presence that Christ referred to Matthew 12:4 as "the loaves set out there before the Lord." The bread was meant as a memorial placed continually in God's presence.
The bread is to be a token sacrifice to the Lord. - Lev. 24:7 -
Each Saturday a fresh supply of bread was substituted for the old loaves, twelve in number, one for each of the twelve tribes. All were thus represented, little Benjamin no less than royal Judah, Dan as well as the priestly Levi, and just as much for one tribe as for another. No part of God's family was forgotten. Each was fully represented, and they were always before Him.
The table is to hold the loaves of bread which are to be set out continually in My Presence. - Ex. 25:30 -
The bread of the Old Testament was thus the presence of the people before the Lord, but the Bread of the New Testament is the Presence of the Lord before the people. In the Old Testament there was never a moment when they were out of His sight. Bread was a continuous reminder to Him of His covenant relation to them and of His promises to them of a Savior and Redeemer. As the twelve tribes were made one in His presence, so also His ecclesia, His Church, by "the one bread is made one body, though we are many in number; the same bread is shared by all." - 1Cor. 10:17 -
The bread of presence was before His face; that is why it was called the continual bread: "keep hallowed loaves set forth continually" - 2Chron. 2:4 - "the bread set forth there as always." - Num. 4:7 -
The bread was to be made of the finest flour, and, upon each row, incense was placed to indicate that the offering was a sacrifice to the Lord.
Put grains of fine incense upon them; the bread is to be a token sacrifice to the Lord. - Lev. 24:7 -
Thus was prefigured the union of the sacrament and sacrifice under the New Law.
Even a "sanctuary lamp" was provided - not that the bread was the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ, but only a shadow, an anticipation.
Never must the altar be empty of this perpetual fire. - Lev. 6:13 -
From that day to this, a lamp announces the Presence.
For the Christian who lives in the realm of grace, the demands of the holiness of God are not less demanding that they were for the Jew under the Old Testament. If those who rebelled in the desert did not escape judgment, much less shall we who are privileged to live in the fullness of revelation.
Beware of excusing yourselves from listening to Him who is speaking to you. There was no escape for those others, who tried to excuse themselves when God uttered His warnings on earth; still less for us, if we turn away when He speaks from heaven. - Heb. 12:25 -
The Old Testament contains seven instances of sudden judgment in connection with the tabernacle or the temple, its liturgy, its worship or its vessels. Three of them had to do with the offering of incense, three with the ark, and one with the candle stick.
Probably the first to die in the desert were Aaron's two sons who had just been ordained priests. God had sent down fire from heaven upon the altar of sacrifice and directed that it be always kept burning, like a sanctuary lamp before a tabernacle. - Lev. 9:23-24 - What their sin was is uncertain - it may have been drinking alcohol in forbidden circumstances - Lev. 10:9 - but in any case, they offered a "strange fire." They may have lighted a fire themselves instead of taking it from the altar, and they may also have mixed a strange incense which was expressly forbidden - Ex. 30:9-10 - "whereupon the Lord sent down fire which devoured them and they died there in the Lord's presence." - Lev. 10:2 -
To approach the tabernacle with the spirit of the world in our soul instead of the Spirit of Christ is to offer foreign fire. But whatever the sin of those Old Testament priests was, we are bidden to "worship God as He would have us worship Him, in awe and reverence; no doubt of it, our God is a consuming fire." - Heb. 12:28-29 -
The ark fell into the hands of the Philistines - 1Kings 4; 1Sam. 4 - because the Jews had used it as a magical charm to protect them in time of war. The Philistines put it in the temple of Dagon, and the statue of the god fell prostrate before the ark, as those who came to arrest Our Blessed Lord fell down at the mention of His name. - John 18:6 -
When the Philistines refused to acknowledge the power of God, great numbers of them died with the plague. - 1Kings 5:6; 1Sam. 5:6 - As the ark was a source of blessings to those who reverenced it, it was similarly a source of affliction to those who refused to recognize the power of God, Who dwelt symbolically in it. The same is true of Christ.
We are Christ's incense offered to God, making manifest both those who are achieving salvation and those who are on the road to ruin; as a deadly fume where it finds death, as a life-giving perfume where it finds life. Who can prove himself worthy of such a calling? - 2Cor. 2:15-16 -
Everywhere the ark went while it was in the hands of the Philistines, there went the punishment of God:
No city was free from the fear of death, and God's heavy visitation; even those who survived had shameful sores to tend, and everywhere cries of anguish went up to heaven. - 1Kings 5:12; 1Sam. 5:11-12 -
Though we see no such manifestations of this power when the Eucharist is profaned, may it not be that God is reserving His judgment for those who approach it without faith? Men may plead that they have eaten in His Presence and done wonderful works in His name and cried, "Lord, Lord" but He will say that He knows not such workers of iniquity. - Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 12:25-27 -
The Philistines finally became penitent, returned the Ark, and offered tokens of reparation for their sins; but how much more mercy they would have obtained if they had acknowledged God's presence not in terror, but in appeal to His mercy!
If God punished the Philistines so harshly for keeping the ark, which was only a promise and prototype of the Eucharist, then what reverence should the Eucharist itself not awaken in those who have the reality and the substance! How terrible a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! - Heb. 10:31 - How feeble Nebuchadnezzar seemed when he fed on grass! - Dan. 4:30 - What a contemptible "god" did Herod appear when worms were devouring his vitals! - Acts 12:21-23 - How Belshazzar trembled with fear, his knees shaking at the sight of the handwriting on the wall! - Dan, 5:6 - How Felix fled from enlightenment when Paul reasoned with him about righteousness and judgment! - Acts 24:25 - Persons who are filled with slavish fear seek to banish what causes them terror rather than part with the sin that alone makes God an object of dread. But to us has been given the power to call down the Lord on our altars! Our greater privileges should make us tremble at knowing how God punished those with fewer talents and less light.
Another Old Testament incident that helps the bishop and priest to see how much reverence God demands for His Sacrament is seen in the punishment that was given to the people of Bethshemesh. They were happy to receive the ark back from the Philistines, but they failed to show respect. Rather, manifesting an unlawful curiosity, they looked into it and were smitten by God. - 1Kings 6:19; 1Sam. 6:19 -
Such was the Lord's displeasure when any irreverence was shown to the ark. The law was clear as to who might touch the ark and how it should be carried. It was not proper to put it in a wagon, as had been done, nor was it to be touched by anyone except the priest:
Then when Aaron and his sons have wrapped up the sanctuary and all its appurtenances ready for the march, the sons of Caath (Kohath) will enter and carry them away in their wrappings; they are not to touch the things of the sanctuary, on pain of death. - Num. 4:15 -
The ark should have been carried by two stave, held by priests. Uzzah was not a priest and was accordingly not authorized to touch the holy thing. This violation of God's command may have been the fruit of a habitual irreverence induced by long familiarity with the ark. God's action showed that no service was acceptable to Him unless regulated by strict adherence to His revealed Will. The utmost reverence was demanded of all who approached Him. - Lev. 10:3 -
How strictly the Lord enjoins His priests:
Keep yourselves unsullied, you that have the vessels of the Lord's worship in your charge. - Isaiah 52:11 -
The privilege of belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ implies both tremendous privileges and equally tremendous responsibilities.
Nation is none I have claimed for My own, save you; and guilt of yours is none that shall go unpunished. - Amos 3:2 -
Such are the judgments falling upon men in connection with the tabernacle, its worship, its holy vessels or its priesthood. When all these are taken together, one trembles at the reverence God demands for the things that are His and the punishment He metes out sometimes for the least infraction of what is dedicated to His service. The altar at which the priest stands is holy.
If the angels tremble, shall we not quake? But the Presence must not kindle a fear born of sin or impiety, but a holy fear begotten of love for One Who dwells among us.
BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN ( 1895 to 1979 )
Page 3
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Preaching is not the act of giving a talk, seminar, sermon; it is the art of making a preacher. The preacher then becomes the talk and sermon.
It is from the heart's overflow that the mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45 -
The preacher without the Spirit of Christ is like Gehazi whom Elisha sent to revive a dead man. Although Gehazi brought with him the prophet's staff, no miracle happened, for the virtue of the staff was negated by the hands that held it. - 2Kings 4:25-38 - One may hold the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible of the Lord in the pulpit, as Gehazi held the staff in his hand, but no souls are saved. The absence of an inner spiritual life makes sermonizing dull, stale, flat and unprofitable.
It is possible for the bishops, priests and clergy to experience a hardening as a result of his intimate contact with the spiritual, rather than an increase in spirituality. Sacristans are privileged to work or serve close to the Eucharistic Lord but that does not prevent some sacristans from being perfunctory in their genuflections. Jewelers become used to jewels. Husbands grow bored with beautiful wives if there is no "stirring up of the first zeal." Contact with the Divine is a privilege that can similarly turn into indifference unless each day one tries to get a step closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Trafficking with the Word of God one day after another without prayer and preparation does not leave a bishop, priest, clergy the same; it leave him worse. Failure to climb means to slide backward. The only defense against acedia, against the tragic loss of divine reality, is a daily renewal of faith in Christ. The bishop, priest who has not kept near the fires of the tabernacle can strike no sparks from the pulpit.
The bishop and priest at ordination was told to preach. The office is to be taken so seriously as to make every bishop and priest cry out with Saint Paul:
It would go hard indeed with me if I did not preach the Gospel. - 1Cor. 9:16 -
The best preacher or counselors are not the worldly wise with tape recorders or those who know all the psychological tricks of interviewing and presenting, those more concerned with congenial surroundings than with the presence of the Spirit. The best guides of souls are saintly bishops and priests who have suffered in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Through such does the Holy Spirit pour His seven gifts. Those who live close to Christ impart Christ. As Saint Augustine said, "What I live by, I impart." Suffering brings wisdom, but books bring only natural understanding. The bishop and priest who has been crucified and has endured His passion with patience will always be found to be the merciful bishop and priest. If there is a long line outside one confessional on Saturday and only one or two penitents outside another, it is time for a bishop and priest to ask himself some questions. Holiness draws penitents to holy bishops and priests. The attraction of such bishops and priests is the attraction of Christ Himself.
If only I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to Myself. - John 12:32 -
No bishops and priests sees problems so sympathetically as the bishop and priest who is standing on the watchtower of Calvary. Like the sun, it cannot be seen, and yet it illumines all else.
How many souls say of that great army of saintly bishops and priests: "He showed me my heart" or "He showed me the loveliness of Christ" or "It was like talking to Our Lord." It is not possible for a bishop and priest, at one and the same time, to be clever and to show that Our Lord is mighty to save. With noble iteration, no less than thirty-three-times does Saint Paul use the expression "in Christ." To him it is the secret of "encouragement, loving sympathy, common fellowship in the Spirit. - Phil. 2:1 - The bishop and priest imbued with this concept because he has "crucified nature with its passions and all its impulses" - Gal. 5:24 - always directs others in the shadow of the Cross and the light of the Spirit.
Bishop and priestly counseling is basically the application of the Redemption to the individual. It is not just preaching to one person instead of preaching to a crowd, for in counseling the individual presents his problem as does a patient to a doctor. The bishop and priest establishes the facts, as the doctor does; then he presents his diagnosis and treatment, always mindful of the words of Our Lord:
Only the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no avail; and the words that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life. - John 6:64 -
The Spirit is particularly important when the bishop and priest is dealing with a problem of behavior rather than a intellectual problem. In almost nine cases out of ten, those who have once had the faith but now reject it or claim that it does not make sense are driven not by reasoning but by the way they are living. Catholics usually fall away not from any difficulty with the Creed, but from some difficulty with the Commandments. When this happens, the bishop's and priest's task is to arouse the conscience through the Spirit. There is not much reference to the conscience alone in Sacred Scripture, but there is abundant testimony that the conscience is aroused by the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul tells us that it was his conscience that was illumined by the Holy Spirit, making him ready to be doomed in order to save his brethren.
I am telling you the truth in Christ's name, with the full assurance of a conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit. - Rom. 9:1 -
It is the work of conscience to witness to our fulfillment of our duty toward God, but it is the work of the Spirit to witness God's acceptance of our faith in Christ and our obedience to Him. Thanks to the Spirit, the testimony of conscience and the declaring of Christ in our life become identical. Conscience alone in a person may be likened to a room that is very poorly lighted and in which the Commandments are printed on the wall in small characters. When the Holy Spirit illumines the conscience , a brilliant light is shed upon those characters. The Holy Spirit restores consciences, so that they accept the guidance of the law of Christ. The Holy Spirit also shows the conscience the relationship between sin and its purging by the Blood of Christ, so that there is no more a consciousness of sin. - Heb. 9:14, 10: 2-22 -
It is never enough for a bishop and priest to tell his people that they must follow their conscience; he must constantly seek the illumination of their conscience by the Spirit.
The end at which our warning aims is charity, based on purity of heart, on a good conscience, and a sincere faith. - 1Tim. 1:5 -
One never understands the enormity of sin except through the Spirit, a truth that Our Lord explained to His apostles and priests the night of the Last Supper. Sin is best treated and overcome, not solely in relation to the breaking of a commandment, but in terms of the breaking of our bonds with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Sin disrupts our ties with the Heavenly Father because it alienates us as sons. Such is the message of the parable of the prodigal son. - Luke 15:11-32 - Sin also reenacts Calvary.
Would they crucify the Son of God a second time, hold Him up to mockery a second time, for their own ends? - Heb. 6:6 -
A personal equation must be established between the soul and the Crucifix. Sins of pride are understood through the crown of thorns; sins of lust, through the torn flesh; sins of avarice, through the poverty of nakedness; and sins of alcoholism, through thirst. Moreover, sin must be seen as resisting the Spirit of Love - Acts 7:51 - as stifling the Spirit of Love - 1Thess. 5:19 - and as distressing the Spirit of Love. - Eph. 4:30 -
Conscience is always enlightened when sin is seen as hurting someone we love. No sin can touch one of God's stars or silence one of His words, but it can cruelly wound His Heart. Once the penitent understands this truth, he can see why he has such emptiness and desolation in his soul: he has hurt one he loves.
Many who approach a bishop or priest still try to conceal their conscience. They offer spurious reasons to explain their actions. The bishop, priest, clergy who remains on a purely psychological level cannot always see through such deceits, and, in consequence, he cannot help the one who has come to him. It takes a spiritual X ray to penetrate such a mind.
Who else can know a man's thoughts, except the man's own spirit that is within him? So no one else can know God's thoughts, but the Spirit of God. And what we have received is no spirit of worldly wisdom; it is the Spirit that comes from God, to make us understand God's gifts to us; gifts which we make known, not in such words as human wisdom teaches, but in the words taught us by the Spirit, matching what is spiritual with what is spiritual. Mere man with his natural gifts cannot take in thoughts of God's Spirit; they seem mere folly to him, and he cannot grasp them, because they demand a scrutiny which is spiritual. Whereas the man who has spiritual gifts can scrutinize everything, without being subject, himself to any other man's scrutiny. Who has entered into the mind of the Lord, so as to be able to instruct him? And Christ's mind is ours. - 1Cor. 2:11-16 -
Thousands or millions would flock to the Church, frustrated souls and the young would seek the bishop and priest out, hearts unnumbered would seek comfort in the confessional did the bishops, priests, clergy but realize the extraordinary powers of direction, counseling and guidance that come from living in the Spirit of Christ.
Page 2
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
It is from the heart's overflow that the mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45 -
The preacher without the Spirit of Christ is like Gehazi whom Elisha sent to revive a dead man. Although Gehazi brought with him the prophet's staff, no miracle happened, for the virtue of the staff was negated by the hands that held it. - 2Kings 4:25-38 - One may hold the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible of the Lord in the pulpit, as Gehazi held the staff in his hand, but no souls are saved. The absence of an inner spiritual life makes sermonizing dull, stale, flat and unprofitable.
It is possible for the bishops, priests and clergy to experience a hardening as a result of his intimate contact with the spiritual, rather than an increase in spirituality. Sacristans are privileged to work or serve close to the Eucharistic Lord but that does not prevent some sacristans from being perfunctory in their genuflections. Jewelers become used to jewels. Husbands grow bored with beautiful wives if there is no "stirring up of the first zeal." Contact with the Divine is a privilege that can similarly turn into indifference unless each day one tries to get a step closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Trafficking with the Word of God one day after another without prayer and preparation does not leave a bishop, priest, clergy the same; it leave him worse. Failure to climb means to slide backward. The only defense against acedia, against the tragic loss of divine reality, is a daily renewal of faith in Christ. The bishop, priest who has not kept near the fires of the tabernacle can strike no sparks from the pulpit.
The bishop and priest at ordination was told to preach. The office is to be taken so seriously as to make every bishop and priest cry out with Saint Paul:
It would go hard indeed with me if I did not preach the Gospel. - 1Cor. 9:16 -
The best preacher or counselors are not the worldly wise with tape recorders or those who know all the psychological tricks of interviewing and presenting, those more concerned with congenial surroundings than with the presence of the Spirit. The best guides of souls are saintly bishops and priests who have suffered in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Through such does the Holy Spirit pour His seven gifts. Those who live close to Christ impart Christ. As Saint Augustine said, "What I live by, I impart." Suffering brings wisdom, but books bring only natural understanding. The bishop and priest who has been crucified and has endured His passion with patience will always be found to be the merciful bishop and priest. If there is a long line outside one confessional on Saturday and only one or two penitents outside another, it is time for a bishop and priest to ask himself some questions. Holiness draws penitents to holy bishops and priests. The attraction of such bishops and priests is the attraction of Christ Himself.
If only I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to Myself. - John 12:32 -
No bishops and priests sees problems so sympathetically as the bishop and priest who is standing on the watchtower of Calvary. Like the sun, it cannot be seen, and yet it illumines all else.
How many souls say of that great army of saintly bishops and priests: "He showed me my heart" or "He showed me the loveliness of Christ" or "It was like talking to Our Lord." It is not possible for a bishop and priest, at one and the same time, to be clever and to show that Our Lord is mighty to save. With noble iteration, no less than thirty-three-times does Saint Paul use the expression "in Christ." To him it is the secret of "encouragement, loving sympathy, common fellowship in the Spirit. - Phil. 2:1 - The bishop and priest imbued with this concept because he has "crucified nature with its passions and all its impulses" - Gal. 5:24 - always directs others in the shadow of the Cross and the light of the Spirit.
Bishop and priestly counseling is basically the application of the Redemption to the individual. It is not just preaching to one person instead of preaching to a crowd, for in counseling the individual presents his problem as does a patient to a doctor. The bishop and priest establishes the facts, as the doctor does; then he presents his diagnosis and treatment, always mindful of the words of Our Lord:
Only the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no avail; and the words that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life. - John 6:64 -
The Spirit is particularly important when the bishop and priest is dealing with a problem of behavior rather than a intellectual problem. In almost nine cases out of ten, those who have once had the faith but now reject it or claim that it does not make sense are driven not by reasoning but by the way they are living. Catholics usually fall away not from any difficulty with the Creed, but from some difficulty with the Commandments. When this happens, the bishop's and priest's task is to arouse the conscience through the Spirit. There is not much reference to the conscience alone in Sacred Scripture, but there is abundant testimony that the conscience is aroused by the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul tells us that it was his conscience that was illumined by the Holy Spirit, making him ready to be doomed in order to save his brethren.
I am telling you the truth in Christ's name, with the full assurance of a conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit. - Rom. 9:1 -
It is the work of conscience to witness to our fulfillment of our duty toward God, but it is the work of the Spirit to witness God's acceptance of our faith in Christ and our obedience to Him. Thanks to the Spirit, the testimony of conscience and the declaring of Christ in our life become identical. Conscience alone in a person may be likened to a room that is very poorly lighted and in which the Commandments are printed on the wall in small characters. When the Holy Spirit illumines the conscience , a brilliant light is shed upon those characters. The Holy Spirit restores consciences, so that they accept the guidance of the law of Christ. The Holy Spirit also shows the conscience the relationship between sin and its purging by the Blood of Christ, so that there is no more a consciousness of sin. - Heb. 9:14, 10: 2-22 -
It is never enough for a bishop and priest to tell his people that they must follow their conscience; he must constantly seek the illumination of their conscience by the Spirit.
The end at which our warning aims is charity, based on purity of heart, on a good conscience, and a sincere faith. - 1Tim. 1:5 -
One never understands the enormity of sin except through the Spirit, a truth that Our Lord explained to His apostles and priests the night of the Last Supper. Sin is best treated and overcome, not solely in relation to the breaking of a commandment, but in terms of the breaking of our bonds with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Sin disrupts our ties with the Heavenly Father because it alienates us as sons. Such is the message of the parable of the prodigal son. - Luke 15:11-32 - Sin also reenacts Calvary.
Would they crucify the Son of God a second time, hold Him up to mockery a second time, for their own ends? - Heb. 6:6 -
A personal equation must be established between the soul and the Crucifix. Sins of pride are understood through the crown of thorns; sins of lust, through the torn flesh; sins of avarice, through the poverty of nakedness; and sins of alcoholism, through thirst. Moreover, sin must be seen as resisting the Spirit of Love - Acts 7:51 - as stifling the Spirit of Love - 1Thess. 5:19 - and as distressing the Spirit of Love. - Eph. 4:30 -
Conscience is always enlightened when sin is seen as hurting someone we love. No sin can touch one of God's stars or silence one of His words, but it can cruelly wound His Heart. Once the penitent understands this truth, he can see why he has such emptiness and desolation in his soul: he has hurt one he loves.
Many who approach a bishop or priest still try to conceal their conscience. They offer spurious reasons to explain their actions. The bishop, priest, clergy who remains on a purely psychological level cannot always see through such deceits, and, in consequence, he cannot help the one who has come to him. It takes a spiritual X ray to penetrate such a mind.
Who else can know a man's thoughts, except the man's own spirit that is within him? So no one else can know God's thoughts, but the Spirit of God. And what we have received is no spirit of worldly wisdom; it is the Spirit that comes from God, to make us understand God's gifts to us; gifts which we make known, not in such words as human wisdom teaches, but in the words taught us by the Spirit, matching what is spiritual with what is spiritual. Mere man with his natural gifts cannot take in thoughts of God's Spirit; they seem mere folly to him, and he cannot grasp them, because they demand a scrutiny which is spiritual. Whereas the man who has spiritual gifts can scrutinize everything, without being subject, himself to any other man's scrutiny. Who has entered into the mind of the Lord, so as to be able to instruct him? And Christ's mind is ours. - 1Cor. 2:11-16 -
Thousands or millions would flock to the Church, frustrated souls and the young would seek the bishop and priest out, hearts unnumbered would seek comfort in the confessional did the bishops, priests, clergy but realize the extraordinary powers of direction, counseling and guidance that come from living in the Spirit of Christ.
Page 2
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Not all who visit a psychiatrist have need of his services, and while those who come to the bishops, priests, clergy have need of a psychiatrist. Christians, Catholics who are not emotionally disturbed will sometimes seek or consult a psychiatrist because God's appointed, anointed, and ordained bishops, priests, clergy have given up counseling. Today, the doctor is often more interested in diseases than in sick peoples while too many bishops, priests, clergy rely more of their index cards, secular profession than the gift of the Holy Spirit, that is, God's grace. Psychiatrist occasionally fill the void created by the want of genuine concern for the ills and woes of people, especially their soul on the part of the bishops and clergy. Thus, the state has largely taken over spiritual education and successfully converted it into secular education. And now psychology would take the soul away from the bishops, priests, clergy.
If we lose the Spirit of Christ, we lose a sense of sin. We are living in the first age in the history of Christianity which denies guilt. A time is coming when peoples will say: there is no crime, there is no guilt, there is no sin. Souls today are not sinners; they are patients. They have the psychic effect of sin, but are without forgiveness. Sin is not the worst thing in the world; the worst thing is the denial of sin. If I am blind and deny light, I shall never see; if I am deaf and deny sound, I shall never hear; if I am a sinner and deny sin, there is no forgiveness. The denial of sin is no forgiveness. There is only hunger. And when it is due, peoples come crying and fawning to God, the Lord Jesus Christ saying: "Give us bread" [Holy Eucharist]
We teach what scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.
These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God. Now instead of the spirit of the world, we have received the Spirit that comes from God, to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us.
Therefore we teach, not in the way which philosophy is taught but in the way that the Spirit teaches us: we teach spiritual things spiritually. An unspiritual person is one who does not accept anything of the Spirit of God: he sees it all as nonsense; it is beyond his understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit. A spiritual person, on the other hand, is able to judge the value of everything, and his own value is not judged by other men. As scripture says: Who can know the mind of the Lord, so who can teach him? But we are those who have the mind of Christ. - 1Cor. 2:9-16 -
The unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be enmity with God: such a limitation never could and never does submit to God's law. People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not unspiritual but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live. - Rom. 8:5-13 -
Of course, it is the law that stresses the sin, and it is the Holy Spirit that emphasizes sin over and against the holiness of God. It is through such humiliation and through such conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit gives access to a personal relationship to God which it the true solution of guilt. The Holy Spirit instead of putting us in a legal relationship with God, puts us onto a personal relationship; it is a personal encounter with God; it is a personal experience with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It brings a much greater severity with oneself and at the same time, a joyous adventure which is endlessly renewed.
Every bishop, priest, clergy, when he goes before God, the Lord Jesus Christ for judgment, will be asked, "Where are your children?" The vocation of the bishop, priest, clergy is primarily to beget souls in Christ. Shall they mount the pulpit and denounce unnatural birth control in the flesh while they practice it in the spirit? Shall mothers be blamed for not having more children when the baptismal records show no souls begotten in Christ?
Every soul is the bishop, priest, clergy responsibility, and many would enter the Church did they but ask them. Do the Church have catechetical centers and use them to train the laity to be apostles, teachers and live out the full responsibilities of the Sacraments? Every Church should be a nursery of souls who are not of the fold; every bishop, priest, clergy, a shepherd in search of lost sheep; every Holy Mass, a proclamation that redemption must be spread to the world.
The error of many bishops, priests is that they are concerned more with the administrative than the evangelical. In other words, they put priority on the world first, then, the Church, and then the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not supposed to be, but a prerequisite that the priority of the Lord Jesus Christ is always first, then, the Church, and lastly the world. Do they organize for soul-saving with the same zeal as they organize for fund drives? When money is needed, a bishop, priest thinks nothing of organizing a door to door fund raising and promptly canvass for donations; but how often does they make a door to door canvass for converts? Are they having the Church continually replenished by souls who come to tell what God has done for them? Where the Holy Spirit is, there are conversions of soul or heart:
Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved. - Acts 2:47 -
And there are other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
and these I have to lead as well.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there will be only one flock,
and one shepherd. - John 10:16 -
In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. - 1Cor. 12:28 -
Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that those of us who teach can expect a stricter judgment. - James 3:1 -
But who among us does not know many [Bishops, Priests, Clergy, Laity, Believers] who have left the one fold and the one shepherd because of broken vows, lust for a second or third marriage, sophomoric pride or anyone of the seven pallbearers of soul, commonly called the seven capitals sins?
Is the Holy Spirit less bountiful, less able to save souls now than at Pentecost? Is the tenor of priestly life holding in check those fires and mighty winds of conversions? Why do the Pentecostal fires burn so brightly in the mission lands and so feebly in the Church? Has the tide of the Spirit run out of the harbors? The fault is not in the Spirit. The rushing of mighty winds has not calmed and stilled itself into stagnancy or sterility. The Holy Spirit is still ready to overshadow every priesthood, so that we may bring forth those who are holy.
God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice. - Rom. 11:29 -
The bishop, priest, clergy acts from without, the Holy Spirit from within. We wish one another blessings; The Lord gives blessings. God alone can plant in a heart, by His divine husbandry, the seed that will blossom into a new creature in Christ. - 2Cor. 5:17 - The selfishness and sloth that make us shrink from searching for souls can be consumed by His Spirit. And if we have the fire of the Spirit, would burnish them into jewels of the Kingdom of God!
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
If we lose the Spirit of Christ, we lose a sense of sin. We are living in the first age in the history of Christianity which denies guilt. A time is coming when peoples will say: there is no crime, there is no guilt, there is no sin. Souls today are not sinners; they are patients. They have the psychic effect of sin, but are without forgiveness. Sin is not the worst thing in the world; the worst thing is the denial of sin. If I am blind and deny light, I shall never see; if I am deaf and deny sound, I shall never hear; if I am a sinner and deny sin, there is no forgiveness. The denial of sin is no forgiveness. There is only hunger. And when it is due, peoples come crying and fawning to God, the Lord Jesus Christ saying: "Give us bread" [Holy Eucharist]
We teach what scripture calls: the things that no eye has seen and no ear has heard, things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him.
These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God. After all, the depths of a man can only be known by his own spirit, not by any other man, and in the same way the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God. Now instead of the spirit of the world, we have received the Spirit that comes from God, to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us.
Therefore we teach, not in the way which philosophy is taught but in the way that the Spirit teaches us: we teach spiritual things spiritually. An unspiritual person is one who does not accept anything of the Spirit of God: he sees it all as nonsense; it is beyond his understanding because it can only be understood by means of the Spirit. A spiritual person, on the other hand, is able to judge the value of everything, and his own value is not judged by other men. As scripture says: Who can know the mind of the Lord, so who can teach him? But we are those who have the mind of Christ. - 1Cor. 2:9-16 -
The unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be enmity with God: such a limitation never could and never does submit to God's law. People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not unspiritual but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live. - Rom. 8:5-13 -
Of course, it is the law that stresses the sin, and it is the Holy Spirit that emphasizes sin over and against the holiness of God. It is through such humiliation and through such conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit gives access to a personal relationship to God which it the true solution of guilt. The Holy Spirit instead of putting us in a legal relationship with God, puts us onto a personal relationship; it is a personal encounter with God; it is a personal experience with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It brings a much greater severity with oneself and at the same time, a joyous adventure which is endlessly renewed.
Every bishop, priest, clergy, when he goes before God, the Lord Jesus Christ for judgment, will be asked, "Where are your children?" The vocation of the bishop, priest, clergy is primarily to beget souls in Christ. Shall they mount the pulpit and denounce unnatural birth control in the flesh while they practice it in the spirit? Shall mothers be blamed for not having more children when the baptismal records show no souls begotten in Christ?
Every soul is the bishop, priest, clergy responsibility, and many would enter the Church did they but ask them. Do the Church have catechetical centers and use them to train the laity to be apostles, teachers and live out the full responsibilities of the Sacraments? Every Church should be a nursery of souls who are not of the fold; every bishop, priest, clergy, a shepherd in search of lost sheep; every Holy Mass, a proclamation that redemption must be spread to the world.
The error of many bishops, priests is that they are concerned more with the administrative than the evangelical. In other words, they put priority on the world first, then, the Church, and then the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not supposed to be, but a prerequisite that the priority of the Lord Jesus Christ is always first, then, the Church, and lastly the world. Do they organize for soul-saving with the same zeal as they organize for fund drives? When money is needed, a bishop, priest thinks nothing of organizing a door to door fund raising and promptly canvass for donations; but how often does they make a door to door canvass for converts? Are they having the Church continually replenished by souls who come to tell what God has done for them? Where the Holy Spirit is, there are conversions of soul or heart:
Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved. - Acts 2:47 -
And there are other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
and these I have to lead as well.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there will be only one flock,
and one shepherd. - John 10:16 -
In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. - 1Cor. 12:28 -
Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that those of us who teach can expect a stricter judgment. - James 3:1 -
But who among us does not know many [Bishops, Priests, Clergy, Laity, Believers] who have left the one fold and the one shepherd because of broken vows, lust for a second or third marriage, sophomoric pride or anyone of the seven pallbearers of soul, commonly called the seven capitals sins?
Is the Holy Spirit less bountiful, less able to save souls now than at Pentecost? Is the tenor of priestly life holding in check those fires and mighty winds of conversions? Why do the Pentecostal fires burn so brightly in the mission lands and so feebly in the Church? Has the tide of the Spirit run out of the harbors? The fault is not in the Spirit. The rushing of mighty winds has not calmed and stilled itself into stagnancy or sterility. The Holy Spirit is still ready to overshadow every priesthood, so that we may bring forth those who are holy.
God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice. - Rom. 11:29 -
The bishop, priest, clergy acts from without, the Holy Spirit from within. We wish one another blessings; The Lord gives blessings. God alone can plant in a heart, by His divine husbandry, the seed that will blossom into a new creature in Christ. - 2Cor. 5:17 - The selfishness and sloth that make us shrink from searching for souls can be consumed by His Spirit. And if we have the fire of the Spirit, would burnish them into jewels of the Kingdom of God!
Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.
By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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