I Need Help with Poem of the Man-God

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Lux_et_veritas:
This may be true for you and me and everyone else since the fall of man. However, it is not true prior to the fall. …
Pride was the first sin and it came in the form of disobedience to God. That is what the CCC teaches. I’d like to see your Catholic source that states or even suggests sex was the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve took advantage of. Something tells me I won’t see anything from either of you because it doesn’t exist. The teaching is in the CCC - read carefully and study up on sanctifying grace.
I really am not an expert on the theology of sex. Sometime I am going to read JP2’s Theology of the Body or a commentary on smae and then I will have a good foundation. (See, and you thought I wsn’t interested in foundations!)

I do not feel qualified to comment on that section of The Poem. I skimmed it only becaue i sensed a depth there that I was not prepared to dwell on when I racing thru the volumes to get a better understaninding of the life of Jesus. I also sensed it was very theological, and needed some slow and deep thought. I skimmed it, though, aware that expert Church officials with advanced theology degrees said that the book is theologically correct. I saw new ideas, as did the theological experts - they saw new insights yet did NOT accuse the book of going against Chruch teachings.

I have some rudimentary thoughts on this topic but I do not feel prrepared to discuss them and I am not in a position to report on what The Poem has said about them. And you are even less prepared.
 
Pio wrote: "…If the Lord speaks to you through these volumes than how can you claim this is of Satan? If you feel an urge to attend Mass more regularly, how can you claim this is of Satan? If you are drawn to regular confession, how can you claim this is of Satan? If you are drawn to increased prayer with the Lord, how can you claim this is of Satan?"
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trustmc:
This is Satan’s oldest trick in the book. Satan, the Great Deceiver, would do quite well allowing those whom he has deceived to puff themselves up with a sense of righteousness as a way to convince them of his lie…
Mike
I think Pio has a real good point here. What are the fruits?? Jesus told his detractors they should know Who He is by His fruits.

Maybe you haven’t seem the fruits. More Daily Mass, more Confession, greater committment to Christ. Those are the fruits I see over and over. I have not seen any bad fruit yet. Only good.
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trustmc:
As for your first statement above, I have mentioned before that I don’t have to read books like the Satanic Bible to “answer in an educated manner” praises for such rubbish.
Mike
Its hard to take seriously statements that use this ridiculous comparison. That of shame by association. Don’t we all suffer that from the detractors of the Catholic Chruch, because of the Priest scandal. Yes, we must have been swayed by Satan to belong to a Church that has Priests like that. 😦
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trustmc:
…I wouldn’t be surprised if such reasoning may likely be the result of a deceptive spirit that has taken root in pio’s heart.

Mike
:sleep: And I have heard this a million times before in my old faith tradition. “That person must have a deceptive spirit!” :sleep:
 
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Eliza10:
Its hard to take seriously statements that use this ridiculous comparison. That of shame by association. Don’t we all suffer that from the detractors of the Catholic Chruch, because of the Priest scandal. Yes, we must have been swayed by Satan to belong to a Church that has Priests like that. 😦
Since you still haven’t grasped the simple parallel in this analogy, then allow me to modify it: I don’t have to read the Book of Mormon to make an educated guess as to its origin. I’ve left that judgement to the rightful agents in the Catholic Church and heed their warnings against it like a good Catholic should.
Eliza 10:
:sleep: And I have heard this a million times before in my old faith tradition. “That person must have a deceptive spirit!” :sleep:
After reading your posts, I’m not at all surprised at how many time you’ve heard this.

Mike
 
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trustmc:
Since you still haven’t grasped the simple parallel in this analogy, then allow me to modify it: I don’t have to read the Book of Mormon to make an educated guess as to its origin. I’ve left that judgement to the rightful agents in the Catholic Church and heed their warnings against it like a good Catholic should.
Maybe I mistunderstood you. I thought you were saying that the Satanic Bible was on the list with The Poem for a time some years back and therefore the books on the list had a relation by association. This seems not to be the point you are making. And i agree, you don’t need to read the book of Mormon to discount it. There are enough good reviews on it to make a choicde about that.

And, don’t read The Poem if the reviews make you feel that way. But I do think the adament detractors of The Poem who also have not read the book should be aware that within our Catholic heirarchy there are solid positives as well as negatives. Cardinal Radzinger said there is nothing wrong in faith and morals, and its all about faith and morals. So those of us reading it finding food for faith and morals are doing it for good reason! To feed our faith! Don’t pick about our food!

There is good reason right there not to slander label and attack your Catholic brothers and sisters who take heed to these Chruch authorities. Why tear apart the Body of Christ over this?
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trustmc:
After reading your posts, I’m not at all surprised at how many time you’ve heard this.

Mike
:tsktsk: Sigh.
 
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Lux_et_veritas:
I almost can’t believe the gumption here. I provide a paste of a full length letter from Cardinal Ratzinger which says one thing and get a partial paste back of someone’s opinion of what Ratzinger says, and I’m the one not following the Church?

Please show me a full length letter from Cardinal Ratzinger himself that says that the “Poem” is of divine supernatural origin? But you don’t want ot answer that. You are still bent on arguing that there are no errors in the thing. Once again, you are protecting the house while not defending your foundation. You are treating this material as if it were of divine supernatural origin, in all that you have written thus far, but yet you refuse to address this major issue. Instead, you keep trying to sidestep the issue.

If writings are not of supernatural origin, and it has been labeled a badly fictionalize novel of the life of Christ, then it would be prudent to set it aside.
I don’t have the full length letter of Radzinger - like you - I have what was provided on the net. The full length letter from the Bishop is here on Pio’s post. The Bishop has no reason to lie. Do you think his word is not enough?

It seems to me you ONLY want to consider arguemtns against The Poem and you do not want to look at ANY arguemnts for the Poem, no matter what their source!
 
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Eliza10:
I really am not an expert on the theology of sex. Sometime I am going to read JP2’s Theology of the Body or a commentary on smae and then I will have a good foundation. (See, and you thought I wsn’t interested in foundations!)

I do not feel qualified to comment on that section of The Poem. I skimmed it only becaue i sensed a depth there that I was not prepared to dwell on when I racing thru the volumes to get a better understaninding of the life of Jesus. I also sensed it was very theological, and needed some slow and deep thought. I skimmed it, though, aware that expert Church officials with advanced theology degrees said that the book is theologically correct. I saw new ideas, as did the theological experts - they saw new insights yet did NOT accuse the book of going against Chruch teachings.

I have some rudimentary thoughts on this topic but I do not feel prrepared to discuss them and I am not in a position to report on what The Poem has said about them. And you are even less prepared.
My comment has nothing to do with the Theology o fthe Body. It has to do with the basic catechism on the Fall of Man (how Adam and Even “fell from grace”).

It is one thing to not have a deep theological understanding of a concept. It is quite another to have ignorance aout a basic area of catechism, and then hold to one’s position without looking into it.

What I asked you to explore or learn is the role sanctifying grace played in the life of Adam and Eve before they fell from that grace. I provided a link to one of the best sources of catechetical information - Theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon S.J. If you don’t want to take his word for it, find another theologian, whose works are in communion with Rome, that talks about sanctifying grace prior to the fall and why the first sin could not have been lust.

You don’t feel qualified to comment on a particular section of The Poem, but you feel qualified to vigorusly stand your ground? While you take issue with the many pastes I have made, it is good practice to cite one’s source when commenting. If I provide an answer that can be backed up by the CCC I will provide a link to that section and paste what I can for ease of reading. If I reference a letter, I either paste the entire letter or provide a link to that specific work - something that has not been reciprocated by those defending The Poem.

In another forum, the moderator-priest taught us to do this so that we could help others to understand our position and to back up our position.

I get the impression that you disagree with the “Church’s posiiton” as outlined by Cardinal Ratzinger several times in a full length letter from 1993 - that these writings cannot be of supernatural origin.

Find me a qualified church official who, after May 11 1993 has published anything to refute Cardinal Ratzinger and Bishop Boland claim that these visions and dictations were not of supernatural origin when they told Mr. Colafrancesco he had to have the disclaimer in there about supernatural origin - the church’s position. Most of what you reference, if not all, comes from prior to that date.
 
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Eliza10:
I don’t have the full length letter of Radzinger - like you - I have what was provided on the net. The full length letter from the Bishop is here on Pio’s post. The Bishop has no reason to lie. Do you think his word is not enough?

It seems to me you ONLY want to consider arguemtns against The Poem and you do not want to look at ANY arguemnts for the Poem, no matter what their source!
Good grief - I provided the full length letter, which is available to anyone on the net. It is pasted in full further up the thread.

Please, allow me to edit my post to include the post number once I get it.
 
It was post #59 and the source is embedded in that or the previous post.

Here it is again. Please find me someone of competent authority on par with, or above, Cardinal Ratzinger, who said anything to reverse the underlined statement below. Contrary to what you believe, this IS “the Church” talking here, not a theologian in some wayward Catholic university.

SACRED CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

Prot. N. 144/85 Roma, 31 January 1985

Most Reverend Eminence,

With a letter of 18 May [1984], Father …] asked of this Sacred Congregation a clarification about the writings of Maria Valtorta, collected under the title of “The Poem of the Man-God”, and if there exists any evaluation of the Church’s Magisterium on the publication in question with the corresponding bibliographical reference.

**On this subject I have the honor of expressing to Your Eminence – you will judge the opportuneness of informing the Father …] – that in fact the Work in question was placed on the Index on 16 December 1959 and defined by “L’Osservatore Romano” of 6 January 1960, as “A Badly Novelized Life of Jesus.” The provisions of the Decree were re-published with an explicit note again in L’Ossservatore Romano of 1 December 1961, as can be reviewed in the documentation herewith enclosed. **

Since some have subsequently held that after the abrogation of the Index, the printing and diffusion of the Work in question is licit, L’Osservatore Romano (15 June 1966) had presented what was published in A.A.S. (1966) Acta Apostolicae Sedis]: **that, although abolished, the “Index” retained “all its moral value,” for which [reason] the diffusion and recommendation of a Work is not held to be opportune when its condemnation was not taken superficially, but after weighing its purposes, to the end of neutralizing the damages which such a publication could bring to the more unprepared faithful. **

With gratitude for your every kind arrangement, I profit by this occasion to confirm my sense of profound esteem

For Your Most Reverend Eminence,
Most Devotedly,
(signed) Joseph Card. Ratzinger (with enclosure)
 
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Eliza10:
I think Pio has a real good point here. What are the fruits?? Jesus told his detractors they should know Who He is by His fruits.
The actual verse is: “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit.” (Matt 7:15-16). You seem to see only the fruit you want to see. Among the supporters of Valtorta on this thread I see nothing but the pits, to include only qualified obedience to the Church, immature appeals to emotion, side-stepping of difficult arguments, changing the subject, justification for committing sin, and avoidance of theological issues with which you disagree.

Let me put Lux’s arguments in simple terms you can understand regarding Eve, as this was also my critique of Valtorta’s book in my first post. Eve’s original sin could not have been motivated by lust because lust did not exist prior to the original sin. Yes, sex existed for the purpose of procreation, but the motivation for sex was marital love between Adam and Eve, not lust. Lust was a result of the original sin, not the cause of it.

When I originally objected to Valtorta’s depiction of Eve having sex with the serpent, it was not only because of the vulgarity of such imagery, but because the underlying lust in such an act would have been impossible. That this was “revealed” to her made me suspect the work to be of dubious origin. This is the type of subtle error against Church teaching that are ubiquitous in Valtorta’s volumes. That you and pio didn’t catch it or any other error only makes my point more clear. We cite this error frequently because it should be most obvious to even those who are poorly catechized, but apparently it is not.

Mike
 
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Eliza10:
The full length letter from the Bishop is here on Pio’s post. The Bishop has no reason to lie.
No, the Bishop has no reason to lie, but I’ve already pointed out how you took his words out of context and then went completely off the rails from there in order to support your own claims. It is you who has every reason to do this. And you have yet to respond to my rebuttle I might add.

Mike
 
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Eliza10:
Cardinal Radzinger said there is nothing wrong in faith and morals, and its all about faith and morals. So those of us reading it finding food for faith and morals are doing it for good reason! To feed our faith! Don’t pick about our food!
Miss Manners’ Book of Etiquette also has nothing wrong against faith and morals, but this doesn’t mean the book is divinely revealed. The main point to our objections is that the Church has already refuted the claim that this book is of a supernatural origin and can be harmful to those who aren’t well-versed in the faith. I stand with the Church on this. Do you?

Mike
 
Took the Bishops words out of context. When I took English class “out of context” meant you removed a section of the sentence phrase that pertained to what you wanted it to. I am not sure but I think I poste the whole thing.
 
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Lux_et_veritas:
It was post #59 and the source is embedded in that or the previous post.

Here it is again. …letter of 18 May [1984], …** defined by “L’Osservatore Romano” of 6 January 1960,**** as “A Badly Novelized Life of Jesus.”**
Arrrrgh!!!

You cut and pasted this letter again!!!

Diane, you must proscribe to the school-of-broken-record-debate. I am sick of seeing this letter reposted here - how many dozen times? No one has missed it! Its been discussed, but I guess you’ve missed the discussions?

i don’t think its profitble to reasonable adult discussion to keep cutting and pasting the same old same old things, over and over and over again. Can you just cut that out of the debate?

As I have said, this letter quoting a 1960 statement is your theme song. We get it.

And we know, if L’Osservatore Romano makes a misstatement they will not be retracting it. Thats the traditon. And if the comment has been disproven, we can expect silence on the issue. Which there has been. Any comment on that??

Did you really think I was asking to see this letter again???
 
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Lux_et_veritas:
Good grief - I provided the full length letter, which is available to anyone on the net. It is pasted in full further up the thread.

Please, allow me to edit my post to include the post number once I get it.
Maybe you misunderstood?? You asked me for more proof - it seems you wanted a direct quote from a full letter becaue the full letter from Bishop Danylak concerning Cardinal Radzingers coments was not enough? I told you that I had what you had - that is what is available on the net on the subject.

You misinterpreted that to mean I wanted to see the letter again that is on this thread a dozen times already.

It seems to me you have plenty of proof that the Church does not teach that Poem of the Man-God is detrimental to our faith and morals, but you don’t want to even consider any proof that does not support your hypothesis.

To protect yourself from having to consider an opposing viewpoint on this matter, you sidestep the evidence to be considered because the quote is not direct enough?

That is why I asked, isn’t the word of Bishop Danylak enough? Do you think he would publish a letter lying about the words of Cardinal Radzinger?
 
son of pio:
Took the Bishops words out of context. When I took English class “out of context” meant you removed a section of the sentence phrase that pertained to what you wanted it to. I am not sure but I think I poste the whole thing.
I wasn’t refering to you. I was refering to Eliza 10. She took the quote from your post out of context and assigned meanings to words that were incorrect. See post #169.
 
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Eliza10:
And we know, if L’Osservatore Romano makes a misstatement they will not be retracting it. Thats the traditon. And if the comment has been disproven, we can expect silence on the issue. Which there has been. Any comment on that??
Yes there has been comment on that. It appears you’ve just chosen to ignore it. (#169).

Mike
 
Eliza10,

Diane asked you to read the underlined section of the letter that she posted…

First of all, the letter is from Cdl. Ratzinger, and bears a protocol number from CDF; it’s addressed to a bishop who has requested an authoritative statement from CDF regarding the licit publication of Valtorta’s book.

Cdl. Ratzinger says that the book was placed on the Index in 1959. He then says, in par. 3, that although some people hold that since the Index is now abolished the diffusion of Valtorta’s book is therefore now licit, that is not the Church’s view. He points out that L’Osservatore Romano printed, in 06/66, what had already been published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1966), that the Index still retained its moral force.

Cdl. Ratzinger then continues…“for which reason the diffusion and recommendation…is not held to be opportune…”

The point is that the head of CDF had that to say about the book, and his opinion has not been contradicted by any higher authority.

I think that Diane has provided you excellent source material…
 
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trustmc:
The actual verse is: “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit.” (Matt 7:15-16). You seem to see only the fruit you want to see. Among the supporters of Valtorta on this thread I see nothing but the pits, to include only qualified obedience to the Church, immature appeals to emotion, side-stepping of difficult arguments, changing the subject, justification for committing sin, and avoidance of theological issues with which you disagree.
Honestly Mike, don’t you think you and Diane are only seeing the fruit you want to see? I dont’ think I am following qualified obediance.

I think you think any appeals to the emotion are mature. It seems to me you think any appeal to emotion is immature. That all decisions of faith are feeling-free.

Am I correct?
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trustmc:
Let me put Lux’s arguments in simple terms you can understand regarding Eve, as this was also my critique of Valtorta’s book in my first post. Eve’s original sin could not have been motivated by lust because lust did not exist prior to the original sin. Yes, sex existed for the purpose of procreation, but the motivation for sex was marital love between Adam and Eve, not lust. Lust was a result of the original sin, not the cause of it.
I am side-stepping this argument because I feel unqualified to comment on it. And I think you are too. As I what is said in the book takes more than a skim to grasp. And you haven’t read it at all. You are not in a position to comment on what the book said about this because you never read it or even saw a paragraph from the book on the subject.

The detractors of he book have done a lot of twisting about whats in the book. eve does ntohave sex with the serpent!

I don’t know if The Poem says that the Original sin ws motivated by lust or if it is intertwined by it or comes immediately after. So why argue about what the book says about it if we don’t know thats what it says?

Thats why I am sidestepping it.
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trustmc:
When I originally objected to Valtorta’s depiction of Eve having sex with the serpent, it was not only because of the vulgarity of such imagery, but because the underlying lust in such an act would have been impossible. That this was “revealed” to her made me suspect the work to be of dubious origin. This is the type of subtle error against Church teaching that are ubiquitous in Valtorta’s volumes. That you and pio didn’t catch it or any other error only makes my point more clear. We cite this error frequently because it should be most obvious to even those who are poorly catechized, but apparently it is not.

Mike
I read the book Mike, and Eve doesn’t have sex with the serpent. I absolutely am sure this was in the book. I skimmed that section and I know that wasn’t in there! i wouldn’t have noticed that!So you are therefore battling windmills with this argument.

yes and I agree the imagery is vulgar. But its not in the Poem!

It does say he caressed her. A brief touch which is all it takes to arouse lust. I don’t know at what point the caress occured. I make sure that this is outrageous to some as its not in the Bible. But the details aren’t in the Bible. Its esy to refute something you hear out of context, but not accurate. You andI would both have to rad the context to have an intelligent discussion on it.

You say the idea that a caress occured or that tere ws lust in Eve is contrary to Church’s teaching. But I think the word of Cardinal Radzinger supercedes yours, when he says there is nothing in the book against faith and morals. He either has read it or he is trusting well-educated faithful theologians of the Church, who were well aware of the discusion on Eve.
 
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trustmc:
I wasn’t refering to you. I was refering to Eliza 10. She took the quote from your post out of context and assigned meanings to words that were incorrect. See post #169.
I did? I will have to look at this another time. I check it out later.
 
Hello Tominellay! Thank you for weighing in.
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Tominellay:
Eliza10,Diane asked you to read the underlined section of the letter that she posted…
I think you mean that one letter, that one peice of evidence that Diane has reposted here at least a dozen times maybe lots more.

So if this is the letter you think is excellent source material, pleaes know its already been thoroughly discussed here!

I have addressed what she had to say about that letter that in a number of ways. But I will go back later and reread Diane’s recent posts to see if she is now saying I missed something on it. Both comment you mde on that post have already been discussed. I asked, but have not heard, what Diane has to say about the fact explained by Bishop Danylak that it is common traditiion for official church authoriies to make wrong statements and when the wrong is pointed out to them they never publically retract it.

Here is clear evidence on how the Church operates when it makes these decisions, and it is also evidence that there is room for discussion when something is said in 6/66, and quotedonce inhe 80’s by Cdl Radzinger - who later said in 1993 said that the work was without error in faith and morals.

I have not recieved any comment on that from any of the detractors who simply keep reposting the same tired letter.

Perhaps this thread has just gotten too fast-paced and they need to catch up*.* It is too fast paced for me now.
 
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