non-Catholic Christians - "Did You Know"?

[guanophore]

What you don’t see in the passages you quote in regards to the prayers of the saints is someone on earth praying directly to any of these saints. Secondly the context is describing evients that are seemingly in the future and not necessarily meant to be taken literally.

Jesus and His Apostles taught us that we are One Body in Christ, and that those in Christ never die. There is no reason we should think that we are separated from the love of God by death, nor are those on this side of the veil of flesh separated by those who have passed on to their heavenly reward separated from one another by death. All the members of the body are members one of another, and all that we do affects every other part. This is the Apostolic Teaching.

But, let us suppose, for the sake of discussion, that Revelation is speaking of some future time. When do you consider this to be? At what point will the saints in heaven be able to pray?

 

[davia]

Hello Davia,

God Bless you and good luck in your Faith Journey. I hope and pray that one day that you will ‘fully join” the Roman Catholic Church and receive Communion (the Eucharist). Some are so overwhelmed by this, that they weep every time that they receive Communion. This is called the “gift of tears”. I personally find it overwhelming as times.

That Catholic Church has been around for two thousand years and in another two thousand years, I am sure that our enemies will find something else to use against us, because of an action or actions by some of our members. I hope this helps and you no longer find what you posted, an accuse not to become a “full” member of the Catholic Church.

Take Care,

hi Jimmy, thanks for responding Actually, I completely agree with what you said. I just wanted to mention that the “scandal” is not the reason I can’ t join the church* (yet)* . My marriage hasn’t been blessed yet and we are trying to overcome some issues before doing so. the priest at my parish has advised me on it and says we have to be blessed before i can enter into the church. Thank you for your prayers that I may enter the church and soon. I really hope that as well.

 

[climer97007]

I just wanted to mention that the “scandal” is not the reason I can’ t join the church… My marriage hasn’t been blessed yet and we are trying to overcome some issues before doing so. the priest at my parish has advised me on it and says we have to be blessed before i can enter into the church. Thank you for your prayers…

Hello! Welcome to the Catholic Church, even if only by a Holy desire at this point.

I am wondering out loud about your assertion that you can not enter the church before having your marriage blessed?

Many years ago, before I married my wife, she had been “married” three times, and each resulted in a legal divorce. She was raised Catholic, but, never was actually considered married by the Church.

At that point, she was beginning to think that she was incapable of marriage. Of course, that was before she understood what actual marriage was in the first place. After the third divorce, she returned to Sunday Mass, and then even to daily mass. However, she did not go forward for Communion.

After several months of attending daily mass, and not going forward for Communion, a fellow church member who noticed this pulled her aside and talked to her. She told him about her situation, the failed mariages, living as a single parent, etc…

The friend introduced her to the Priest and she learned that the only thing keeping her from Holy Communion was a good confession. She was not living with anyone. She was not remarried. She was living as a single parent. She had already dealt with the invalidity of her previous marriages. Because she was never married within the Church, and she never asked for a dispensation, she was not considered validly married before. She did not have to go through an annulment, but, did have to submit some other peperwork.

Anyway, I can not think of a single reason why a Priest would say that you can not enter the Church. The Church is open to everyone. There is the question of your living arrangement, but, that is your choice, not the Priests choice.

In other words, since the Church understands you to still be married to your first wife, there is the appearance of a scandal. Since the Church still sees you as being married to your first wife, you are now living with a second wife. Since in the eyes of the Church, a legal divorce does not change the status of a previous marriage in the eyes of God and of the Church. But, then, I am sure the Priest has talked with you about all that.

Anyway, what I am getting to is that couples in your position are often encouraged to live as brother and sister, abstaining from relations with each other, until the issue of their freedom to marry is resolved. Given that pre-condition, there is no reason why you could not enter the Church without reservations. The choice then would be yours to make, not the Priests. You can choose to put Christ first in your life now, and choose to live a Holy life now, or you can choose to continue to live as a husband with two wives.

I am not sure if your Priest has talked to you in these terms or not. And please dfon’t be offended by my directness, or if I have the facts wrong. I am writing sort of hypot=hetically here since I don’t know the details of your situation.

In any case, you might consider choosing Holiness, both now, and forever. You can ask God to bless your choice for holiness, both now, and forever. And then when you are free to marry, you can again ask God to bless your union with your wife, and your communion together as with Christ in Holy Communion with Him. In this respect, then, you will be able to enjoy the entire sign and reality of your union in Christ and as true husband and true wife.

Gene

 

[NDfan]

Hello NDfan, thank you, you are correct and I know your comments are well intended.

And they were my brother

I am still working on many of my posts, gradually going back, and making corrections. I am glad that College degrees and SAT scores are not required to get into heaven.

When I wrote my "Letter to Mary”, I was posting my thoughts and not writing an essay.

I have never claimed to be the greatest at typing, writing, or proofreading. I usually rush myself and I am more concerned with expressing my thoughts, than I am with the use of 'proper" English and the use of the ‘Preview Post” button… Thank you for putting up with me, I will try to slow down a little.

You’re in good company on this one.

I know that I am a horrible writer and typer and a lazy proofreader but I do like to read. I am just a dumb, old broken dog, who is trying to do my best to defend my Catholic Faith, within my own limitations. Please forgive me.

I appreciate your spirit. Forgiveness always given.

I am not trying to “pick a fight”; I have tried to be friendly, charitable and factual in my posts here. Moreover, as stated, I am simply attempting to defend my Roman Catholic Faith, which is and has been under attack. When you defend your positions here, I do not assume that you are trying to “pick a fight.”

If I may suggest then. Usually your threads start kind of shaky. By that I mean when I see a title like “Early church more Catholic than Protestant” I think obviously this is going to start an argument. And since you post with such a big font it usually ends up being like 2-3 pages of quotes from scripture, early church fathers, then your own words which sometimes can be slightly condescending. Like you are trying to hit the Protestants over the head with things they have never seen before. Don’t take that personally my brother Everyone does it. But I can assure you every single person on this site on both sides has seen the same quotes and made the same arguments over and over and over… But for some reason we continue to do it. Like some type of revelation is going to happen I would rather have some healthy discussion about why our interpretations of scripture differ and hear your personal feelings than read a bunch of quotes. If we agree to disagree then so be it. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from each other.

I do believe that Jesus Christ wants us to defend Him and his Church, which I believe is the Roman Catholic Church.

I believe that Jesus wants us to stay strong to our Faith and never give in. As far as defending, our goal should be to evangelize the non-believer like all church fathers did. The person who doesn’t know Christ. Your Faith is in Christ which puts you in HIS church. That doesn’t have a label of Roman Catholic. That title didn’t even exist for several hundred years. I believe Ignatius said wherever Jesus is, there is the “Katholicos” (universal) church. Using this to describe the universality of Jesus church. Now Jesus says where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am there among them: Matthew 20:20.

So given this, those gathered in Christ’s name have Christ there with them. According to Ignatius this constitutes the Katholicos church of Jesus. The universality of it.

I seem to be getting more and more comments from “Protestants” here, similar to your comments that seem to have a greater emphasis on critiquing me personally and less of an emphasis on a biblically supported apposing exegesis.

I’m not critiquing you personally. I merely asked a point blank question. Maybe the personal critique is coming because of the type of threads you create. If you have strict confidence on your position of the RCC then you should be responsive to those that attack it. But that doesn’t mean creating a thread that invites someone to oppose you so that you can then defend it. There’s a big difference. Personally I’m very secure in my Faith. So no one here can convince me that I need to be Roman Catholic. Even though I grew up Roman Catholic. But I’m not here to find out if I should be. I’m curious to find out what other people’s beliefs are and that’s why I stay in the non-Catholic forums. It still amazes me though how many Roman Catholics will come into this section and argue. Very puzzling.

Thank you for your post.

God Bless

Thanks Brother. GOD Bless you too

 

[NDfan]

Hello historyb,

I do not 'argue" with fellow Catholics, even Catholics who assume that I am not familiar with the word”denomination".:doh2: I do not usually use this word to define the many sub-divisions of non-Catholic Christian and “Protestant” “religions”, because a new “religion” is started almost daily, some with a total membership of one or two guys. :banghead:

I am sorry, but I cannot let this “fact” slip under the radar. Like I wrote in my earlier posts, the total number of non-Catholic Christian and “Protestant” religions is estimated at “36,000“, as if 1500 hundred isn’t 1500 too many. :whacky: Here are the facts regarding non-Catholic Christian and “Protestant” “Denominations”, from a credible source (you can even by the books):

This source put the number at 33820 as of 2001,

More information here.

I hope this helps, take care,

Hello again Jimmy. Actually this is a false fact. Denominations do not number in the 30 thousands. They are listed that high because of the categorical nature. Under the definitions used for the 30 thousand, the Roman Catholic church would have several hundred denominations. For instance a Canadian Presbyterian church is counted as a separate denomination than a US Presbyterian church. The author of this data is just flat out wrong. We could create a local Lutheran church and that would get counted as another denomination even if we are aligned to the Lutheran church itself… The distinct number is closer to like 1500 as the previous poster replied.

PEACE

 

[CentralFLJames]

The distinct number is closer to like 1500 as the previous poster replied.

PEACE

That’s a fair assessment.

But do you think The Church is supposed to be One Church with many members or one Church with many members and many branches?

I think the vine imagery of The Church is more accurate than the tree imagery with many branches. At least that way we get one kind of grape and wine. That seems better than getting different shades of light depending on how high up one goes into the tree or how far out on a limb one wants to go before risking breaking away.

I admit that I tend toward idealism. But it just seems natural that there can only be one truth and it can not float about the mean average consensus held in a the plurality of 1500 or so seperate sects. Assuming that one faith has it right somewhere that means that there are over 1500 wrong faiths (of all kinds) for people to place their bets on and lose. That has terrible implications for how many souls are really “saved”. Given that we have only one soul to bet with and only one roll on “the wheel of life” those are terrible odds to be betting into.

What we need are some sects to become charitable and start being honest about themselves. We need a bunch of them to start voluntarily standing themselves down to improve the odds for everyone.

James

 

[climer97007]

The distinct number is closer to like 1500 as the previous poster replied.

I agree with another poster. 1,500 is just awful. The outward division of the Body of Christ is an incredibly poor witness to the Unity which the Christian Church is called to by Christ Himself.

No mere rationalization can excuse the pain Christ is suffering in His Body because of this. This too is part of reason Jesus suffered and was crucified. This too is part of the weight of His cross as He carried it. This too is part of why He was crowned with thorns and wrapped in purple. This too is part of why His hands were nailed through, and His feet, as He allowed His Body to suffer open humiliation. This too is why He bled on the Cross, had His side pierced and ultimately died.

The Church’s public suffering due to this division is part and parcel of the suffering of Christ on Calvary.

Gene

 

[Jimmy_B]

I agree with another poster. 1,500 is just awful. The outward division of the Body of Christ is an incredibly poor witness to the Unity which the Christian Church is called to by Christ Himself.

No mere rationalization can excuse the pain Christ is suffering in His Body because of this. This too is part of reason Jesus suffered and was crucified. This too is part of the weight of His cross as He carried it. This too is part of why He was crowned with thorns and wrapped in purple. This too is part of why His hands were nailed through, and His feet, as He allowed His Body to suffer open humiliation. This too is why He bled on the Cross, had His side pierced and ultimately died.

The Church’s public suffering due to this division is part and parcel of the suffering of Christ on Calvary.

Gene

Your post and the four or five preceding it, by others here, are all excellent posts. Thank you all and God Bless you guys. I will try to heed some of the advice given here, thank you.

BTW, I am sorry about the large font at times, it makes it easier for me to see/read. I wish everybody used “Arial - 3” here, but that’ just me.

 

[justasking4]

Originally Posted by justasking4
It has to do with the nature of the Scriptures themselves as being inspired-inerrant. Only the Scriptures are sufficent to base doctrines and practices and not traditions.

guanophore
This might be true, if the Scriptures themselves did not emerge from Tradition in the first place!

Do the Scriptures derive their inspiration and inerrancy from the Traditions?

 

[justasking4]

guanophore;3367875]
Originally Posted by justasking4
What you don’t see in the passages you quote in regards to the prayers of the saints is someone on earth praying directly to any of these saints. Secondly the context is describing evients that are seemingly in the future and not necessarily meant to be taken literally.

guanophore
Jesus and His Apostles taught us that we are One Body in Christ, and that those in Christ never die. There is no reason we should think that we are separated from the love of God by death, nor are those on this side of the veil of flesh separated by those who have passed on to their heavenly reward separated from one another by death. All the members of the body are members one of another, and all that we do affects every other part. This is the Apostolic Teaching.

The scriptures do teach i.e. state– in Romans 8:39 that “…will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What Paul is specifcally refering to here is not a separation from each other ( we are separated either by death or geography) but nothing shall be able to “separate us from the love of Christ”. This distinction is crucial to keep in mind.
Secondly, there is nothing in this passage about communication between the departed in Christ (who are not separated from the love of Christ) and we who are alive here in this world. These 2 parties are separated from each other.

But, let us suppose, for the sake of discussion, that Revelation is speaking of some future time. When do you consider this to be? At what point will the saints in heaven be able to pray?

Revelation is one of the most difficult books to understand in Scripture. I think it does in part refer to future events before the return of Christ. I somethimes think that these kinds of events could happen quite rapidly.
In regards to when the saints in heaven will be able to pray i really don’t know. The whole book certainly gives the impression that something is going on beyond this world and those in heaven have some awareness of the ramifications of the seals being broken as having some serious signiifcance for those on earth.

What do you think?

 

[NDfan]

That’s a fair assessment.

But do you think The Church is supposed to be One Church with many members or one Church with many members and many branches?

I do think and pray that it could be one church. In my heart I see us as one big church under Christ with some differences of opinion on some doctrine. I think if an effort was made to really overcome this then it would be like a domino effect. Sooner or later the only reason to not unite would be pride.

I think the vine imagery of The Church is more accurate than the tree imagery with many branches. At least that way we get one kind of grape and wine. That seems better than getting different shades of light depending on how high up one goes into the tree or how far out on a limb one wants to go before risking breaking away.

Well remember Paul uses the analogy of the olive tree that the gentiles were grafted into all sharing and nourishing one root. So you may like the grape vine image but Paul uses the tree image. Read Romans.

With regard to the amount of light differing on a tree, it’s the same thing on a grape vine. A grape vine will actually grow like a tree and to control the amount of light that the grapes receive they will prune back some leaves and branches to create a reflection of light. In the wine iundustry this is called “sunflex”. So technically speaking there’s no difference in your analogy because both grow in a similar way. By the way I’m sort of a wine expert in case you didn’t notice

I admit that I tend toward idealism. But it just seems natural that there can only be one truth and it can not float about the mean average consensus held in a the plurality of 1500 or so seperate sects.

I agree that there is one truth. That truth is Jesus. We all agree on that. As far as being one truth on all doctrine, that can also be true if everyone sees the interpretation of scripture the same way. If not then how do you resolve it? In looking at history doctrinal decisions were not made in a vacuum by a group of teaching magisterium and one Bishop. It was a large council. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit will guide just one person or one small group of people so only they will possess the truth. I’ve met plenty of Roman Catholics that aren’t even aware of half the RCC doctrines. The ones they are aware of don’t get agreement 100%. This isn’t a knock on the RCC. I think this is true of all denominations. My in-laws are Presbyterian. They don’t agree with all doctrines of the Presbyterian church. But every true Christian I meet has accepted Jesus as their savior and I think that’s what unites us.

Assuming that one faith has it right somewhere that means that there are over 1500 wrong faiths (of all kinds) for people to place their bets on and lose. That has terrible implications for how many souls are really “saved”. Given that we have only one soul to bet with and only one roll on “the wheel of life” those are terrible odds to be betting into.

I agree with you 100% and love your spirit on this. But let me ask you this one question. If you and I die tonight. How will Jesus judge both of us? Will HE examine what’s in our hearts to see if we have really given HIM our true deserved Faith? Or will HE look at the Christian denomination that we belong to? Will HE take you to Heaven because you are Roman Catholic and I’m not even though my Faith is true?? That just doesn’t seem like Jesus and is not consistent at all with John 3:16.

What we need are some sects to become charitable and start being honest about themselves. We need a bunch of them to start voluntarily standing themselves down to improve the odds for everyone.

When you say standing down. What should they stand down for or to? That’s a tough one because you’re suggesting that they examine themselves and start being honest. About what for instance?

PEACE Brother

 

[climer97007]

Revelation is one of the most difficult books to understand in Scripture… In regards to when the saints in heaven will be able to pray i really don’t know… What do you think?

Yeah, well, how can you NOT understand something in scripture if scripture itself is all that you need to understand it?

Gene

 

[justasking4]

Originally Posted by justasking4
Revelation is one of the most difficult books to understand in Scripture… In regards to when the saints in heaven will be able to pray i really don’t know… What do you think?

climer97007
Yeah, well, how can you NOT understand something in scripture if scripture itself is all that you need to understand it?

Gene

Not sure where you are getting this. Just because a person believes in Sola Scriptura doesn’t mean that person has exhaustive understanding of a passage or verse. I wish i did. Keep in mind that no pope, council or church leaders have a complete and exhaustive understanding of the scriptures either.

 

[NDfan]

I agree with another poster. 1,500 is just awful. The outward division of the Body of Christ is an incredibly poor witness to the Unity which the Christian Church is called to by Christ Himself.

No mere rationalization can excuse the pain Christ is suffering in His Body because of this. This too is part of reason Jesus suffered and was crucified. This too is part of the weight of His cross as He carried it. This too is part of why He was crowned with thorns and wrapped in purple. This too is part of why His hands were nailed through, and His feet, as He allowed His Body to suffer open humiliation. This too is why He bled on the Cross, had His side pierced and ultimately died.

The Church’s public suffering due to this division is part and parcel of the suffering of Christ on Calvary.

Gene

Climer that was very emotional. But let me say this to you. I don’t think Jesus is upset because the church has different denominations. All denominations think they are trying their best to get to Christ. To the contrary I think this pleases Jesus.

Let me tell you what I think makes Jesus sad. There are over 6 billion people in the world and only 2 billion professed Christians. So 66.6% of the world is not getting it when it comes to Jesus.

Now here are some more interesting facts. Although about 80-85% of the people in the USA declare themselves to be Christian, only about 15% of them attend church weekly. I don’t know the breakdown between RCC/Protestant. But let’s just say it’s 50-50 to be nice. There are approximately 301,139,947 people in the USA as of July 2007. So that means only 38,395,343 people are partaking in the Lord’s Supper each week. That’s using the 85% number to start. The remaining 263 million give or take only attend during special times i.e. weddings, funerals, holidays etc. And guess what? It’s trending downward. 3200 churches in the USA closed last year alone. Even though some new ones were built, it’s not enough to keep pace with the population growth. So Christianity in the USA may have some rough roads ahead. With all these liberals wanting to get rid of school prayer, and now wanting to shut down sunday christian radio and TV programming it’s absolutely disgusting.

I’m sure this is what makes Jesus very very sad. Not some stupid denominational divisions.

PEACE

 

[NDfan]

Your post and the four or five preceding it, by others here, are all excellent posts. Thank you all and God Bless you guys. I will try to heed some of the advice given here, thank you.

BTW, I am sorry about the large font at times, it makes it easier for me to see/read. I wish everybody used “Arial - 3” here, but that’ just me.

Jimmy GOD Bless you brother. I’m sure as one of LA’s finest there were probably days when the only thing that got you through it besides your family was your Faith.

As far as the large font. I actually like it too. Easier to read so please keep using if you like

PEACE my Brother

 

[climer97007]

Climer that was very emotional. But let me say this to you. I don’t think Jesus is upset because the church has different denominations… To the contrary I think this pleases Jesus.

Here is another very emotional image. This is a quote taken from a book written by Anne Catherine Emmerich. Anne suffered a great deal in her earthly life. This is part of what she learned in the process of her suffering:

"The signification of my sufferings in all my limbs was explained to me in the following vision: I saw a gigantic human body in a horrible state of mutilation, and raised upwards towards the sky.

There were no fingers or toes on the hands and feet, the body was covered with frightful wounds, some of which were fresh and bleeding, others covered with dead flesh or turned into excrescences.

The whole of one aide was black, gangrened, and as it were half eaten away. I suffered as though it had been my own body that was in this state, and then my guide said to me,

“This is the body of the Church, the body of all men and thine also.”

Then, pointing to each wound, he showed me at the same time some part of the world; I saw an infinite number of men and nations separated from the Church, all in their own peculiar way, and I felt pain as exquisite from this separation as if they had been torn from my body.

Then my guide said to me: "Let thy sufferings teach thee a lesson, and offer them to God in union with those of Jesus for all who are separated. Should not one member call upon another, and suffer in order to cure and unite it once more to the body?

When those parts which are most closely united to the body detach themselves, it is as though the flesh were torn from around the heart.

In my ignorance, I thought that he was speaking of those brethren who are not in communion with us, but my guide added: “Who are our brethren? It is not our blood relations who are the nearest to our hearts, but those who are our brethren in the blood of Christ–the children of the Church who fall away.”

He showed me that the black and gangrened side of the body would soon be cured; that the putrified flesh which had collected around the wounds represented heretics who divide one from the other in proportion as they increase; that the dead flesh was the figure of all who are spiritually dead, and who are void of any feeling; and that the ossified parts represented obstinate and hardened heretics.

I saw and felt in this manner every wound and its signification. The body reached up to heaven. It was the body of the Bride of Christ, and most painful to behold. I wept bitterly, but feeling at once deeply grieved and strengthened by sorrow and compassion, I began again to labour with all my strength."

After reading her words, one can hardly stand it to read some of the comments that well meaning Christians of one sort or another make in ignorance toward one another.

In the love of Christ, in His most Precious Body and Blood!

Gene

 

[ChristianRoots]

It has to do with the nature of the Scriptures themselves as being inspired-inerrant. Only the Scriptures are sufficent to base doctrines and practices and not traditions.

What doctrines and practices were followed immediately after Jesus’ Ascension then? (The New Testament was not penned yet.)

 

[justasking4]

Originally Posted by justasking4
It has to do with the nature of the Scriptures themselves as being inspired-inerrant. Only the Scriptures are sufficent to base doctrines and practices and not traditions.

ChristianRoots
What doctrines and practices were followed immediately after Jesus’ Ascension then? (The New Testament was not penned yet.)

They had the OT and the oral teachings of the apostles which later came to be written down. There were already letters of Paul before 50 AD.

 

[davia]

Hello! Welcome to the Catholic Church, even if only by a Holy desire at this point.

I am wondering out loud about your assertion that you can not enter the church before having your marriage blessed?

Many years ago, before I married my wife, she had been “married” three times, and each resulted in a legal divorce. She was raised Catholic, but, never was actually considered married by the Church.

At that point, she was beginning to think that she was incapable of marriage. Of course, that was before she understood what actual marriage was in the first place. After the third divorce, she returned to Sunday Mass, and then even to daily mass. However, she did not go forward for Communion.

After several months of attending daily mass, and not going forward for Communion, a fellow church member who noticed this pulled her aside and talked to her. She told him about her situation, the failed mariages, living as a single parent, etc…

The friend introduced her to the Priest and she learned that the only thing keeping her from Holy Communion was a good confession. She was not living with anyone. She was not remarried. She was living as a single parent. She had already dealt with the invalidity of her previous marriages. Because she was never married within the Church, and she never asked for a dispensation, she was not considered validly married before. She did not have to go through an annulment, but, did have to submit some other peperwork.

Anyway, I can not think of a single reason why a Priest would say that you can not enter the Church. The Church is open to everyone. There is the question of your living arrangement, but, that is your choice, not the Priests choice.

In other words, since the Church understands you to still be married to your first wife, there is the appearance of a scandal. Since the Church still sees you as being married to your first wife, you are now living with a second wife. Since in the eyes of the Church, a legal divorce does not change the status of a previous marriage in the eyes of God and of the Church. But, then, I am sure the Priest has talked with you about all that.

Anyway, what I am getting to is that couples in your position are often encouraged to live as brother and sister, abstaining from relations with each other, until the issue of their freedom to marry is resolved. Given that pre-condition, there is no reason why you could not enter the Church without reservations. The choice then would be yours to make, not the Priests. You can choose to put Christ first in your life now, and choose to live a Holy life now, or you can choose to continue to live as a husband with two wives.

I am not sure if your Priest has talked to you in these terms or not. And please dfon’t be offended by my directness, or if I have the facts wrong. I am writing sort of hypot=hetically here since I don’t know the details of your situation.

In any case, you might consider choosing Holiness, both now, and forever. You can ask God to bless your choice for holiness, both now, and forever. And then when you are free to marry, you can again ask God to bless your union with your wife, and your communion together as with Christ in Holy Communion with Him. In this respect, then, you will be able to enjoy the entire sign and reality of your union in Christ and as true husband and true wife.

Gene

Hi Gene, actually let me say a little more. my husband and I got married civally (no religious ceremony). So, it’s not really like we have any of those obstacles about previous marriage or anything like that. We do have a son and we were going to get blessed when he was baptized at the same time, but he was born early and it was a situation in which we could not be blessed at that time. Also, because of some issues in the marriage, the priest advised we are 100% sure because blessing the marriage is not to be taken lightly (of course) and things should be resolved b4 blessing it.

The priest had said that because the marriage wasn’t blessed I couldn’t go through confession or something to that effect and that keeps me from being able to join. Maybe I am wrong, or not understanding what he was saying and I was/am under the impression I can’t join yet. I would hope that’s false. Thank you for writing.

Jen

 

[Deacon110]

Here is another very emotional image. This is a quote taken from a book written by Anne Catherine Emmerich. Anne suffered a great deal in her earthly life. This is part of what she learned in the process of her suffering:

"The signification of my sufferings in all my limbs was explained to me in the following vision: I saw a gigantic human body in a horrible state of mutilation, and raised upwards towards the sky.

There were no fingers or toes on the hands and feet, the body was covered with frightful wounds, some of which were fresh and bleeding, others covered with dead flesh or turned into excrescences.

The whole of one aide was black, gangrened, and as it were half eaten away. I suffered as though it had been my own body that was in this state, and then my guide said to me,

“This is the body of the Church, the body of all men and thine also.”

Then, pointing to each wound, he showed me at the same time some part of the world; I saw an infinite number of men and nations separated from the Church, all in their own peculiar way, and I felt pain as exquisite from this separation as if they had been torn from my body.

Then my guide said to me: "Let thy sufferings teach thee a lesson, and offer them to God in union with those of Jesus for all who are separated. Should not one member call upon another, and suffer in order to cure and unite it once more to the body?

When those parts which are most closely united to the body detach themselves, it is as though the flesh were torn from around the heart.

In my ignorance, I thought that he was speaking of those brethren who are not in communion with us, but my guide added: “Who are our brethren? It is not our blood relations who are the nearest to our hearts, but those who are our brethren in the blood of Christ–the children of the Church who fall away.”

He showed me that the black and gangrened side of the body would soon be cured; that the putrified flesh which had collected around the wounds represented heretics who divide one from the other in proportion as they increase; that the dead flesh was the figure of all who are spiritually dead, and who are void of any feeling; and that the ossified parts represented obstinate and hardened heretics.

I saw and felt in this manner every wound and its signification. The body reached up to heaven. It was the body of the Bride of Christ, and most painful to behold. I wept bitterly, but feeling at once deeply grieved and strengthened by sorrow and compassion, I began again to labour with all my strength."

After reading her words, one can hardly stand it to read some of the comments that well meaning Christians of one sort or another make in ignorance toward one another.

In the love of Christ, in His most Precious Body and Blood!

Gene

I share your passion really I do. But I think this vision is talking about our brothers and sisters in Christ that fall away never to return. I know people who were once believers that now call the church a crutch for weak people. That the church weakened them and now they are stronger being away.

And I agree with the ignorance part of your comment. We see it on these forums all the time.

PEACE GOD Bless and let’s pray for one another