FAITH
More and more Catholics in western countries seem to be loosing their grip on faith in the Most Holy Trinity. They maintain the words of faith (the Niceen Creed) of their forefathers, but the substance is being gradually eaten away. In practice they have transferred their faith from a faith in the supernatural to a faith in the natural; they no longer look forward hopefully towards a Paradise of fellowship with the Trinity in heaven, but are trying with all their might to create a Paradise on earth, now, through strictly human, scientific and technological means. It is certainly a futile effort and bound to eventually end in despair and destruction. - 9/25/01
Roman Catholics proclaim as "The Mystery of our Faith" -- Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. None of these truths will have their intended effect -- communicate God's life into our hearts -- if we do not understand that after "Christ is risen," the words "and is with us" or "and is in our midst" or "and in our hearts" as our Byzantine Catholic brothers do constantly. It's not enought to say "Christ is risen". He might be risen and ascended and sitting at the right hand of the Father waiting for us to arrive their at our death; but for now the furthest thing from our daily lives. -- 3/30/02
Woe to us when we begin to reduce the Gospel of Jesus to a liturgical rite, a legal code, a creed, an ethic, a philosophy, a theology, a parish plant, a school, a social service program, etc. While commitment to Jesus as Lord may involve any or even all of these, they are accidental, non essential. They could (theoretically) all be well in place and the life Jesus came to bring be missing. And all of these things can be absent and still a person can be in a saving relationship with the incarnate Word of God and participating in a life of the Most Holy Trinity. - 11/10/02
An important part of Paul's "obedience of faith" (Rm. 1:5, 16:26) is simply the submission to and acceptance of the circumstances of our lives because of our certitude of and confidence in the fact that they are God's will for us. - 12/17/02
One of the basic difficulties Christians face in evangelizing and in catechizing, is the fact that they are trying to pass on something they themselves do not fully possess or comprehend. They are testifying to a mystery and a reality not only bigger and better than anything any human being can conceive, imagine, or experience: they are really trying to encourage others (as well as themselves) to surrender completely to this living God they proclaim. So to authentically speak with the authority of Jesus, is more to humbly bow before the Truth, than it is to pontificate with dogmas, shout theatrics, dazzle with oratory or posture with scholarship. -- 11/28/03
Christians must constantly repent of loving and serving their image of Jesus and the Trinity rather than who God is in Himself. Our faith needs constant purification from personal, ecclesiastical, and cultural (ethnic) overlays. -- 6/16/05
How much of our Christianity is mere "window dressing?" -- something that we do more for show than from deep inner conviction? --a language we've adopted but not a life-giving force we've deeply assimilated? -- a habit and manner of life we've come to acquire but not the primary motivating force in our lives? -- 12/11/05
For the most part, the Christian faithful are a smoldering mass of tinder giving off some smoke, a little heat, and no light to amount to anything. Then comes along a Saint, filled with the Holy Spirit, and by his burning zeal, sets fire to the mass which blazes up in glory for a while, only eventually to settle down once again to a smoking, uninspired routinzation of the Christian life. -- 5/23/06
A serious problem the church has faced since its beginning is that the followers of Jesus have not been satisfied with just presenting the Faith' they have also tried to explain it (both to those inside and to those outside of the church) through catechesis, apologetics, philosophy, etc. Jesus never explained anything beyond drawing out the meaning of a few of His parables. He merely presented the truth and then let the chips fall where they may, as for example in the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. The Mystery of God's love cannot be analyzed, rationalized, or categorized, without destroying its beauty and integrity. The truth either penetrates the depth of ones being and makes one a new creation, or it remains a superficial ornament one wears like a suit of clothes. -- 12/24/08
JESUS/GOD/TRINITY
Does too much talk about God tend to reduce Him to our more manageable size? Isn't it more important, authentic, respectful and spiritually healthy, to just "stand in His presence," "wait upon Him in fear," "surrender to His majesty and immensity?". -- 10/21/01
In the Old Covenant God first revealed the extent of His faithfulness, justice, and power. Then, in the New Testament, He showed the depth of His Love, mercy, and meekness. Thus we have a glimpse of both His transcendence and His immanence. -- 2/27/02
What difference does it make if God is a Trinity of Persons or not? All the difference in the world. The Difference between heaven and hell; between eternal happiness and eternal misery. If God is not a Trinity, then there is no salvation, no hope for man -- all man's efforts at righteousness are to no avail; he will be locked into his sin and punishment forever. The Gospel of Jesus is not something one can take or leave without serious consequences. God revealed Himself to us, not on a whim or just to give us some fringe benefit. He knew that only the revelation of His Trinitarian love could set us free from the bondage of our sin and separation from the source of eternal life. If God is not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then man's life on earth is all there is and we are worse off than the animals who at least when they die have no more pain. Having immortal souls, our pain of separation from God would torment us for all eternity. -- 11/23/02
God actually "gave up" on the world He created; the race descended from Adam and Eve. He had tried with Abraham, Moses and David to get it back on track, but each time His chosen servants failed Him. He had to start all over; He made a new Adam, Jesus (1 Cor. 15:45), to become the head of a new race -- the race of the redeemed; those who died to their fallen, Adamic, human nature, and rose with a new divinized life in Christ. -- 7/14/03
To let the crucified Christ love you completely is devastating to ones life; it means you will be conformed to Him completely -- even in His suffering: you too will be crucified out of Love. -- 8/21/03
SALVATION
CHRISTIAN
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