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CatholicZ09
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Doesn’t this give chills to anyone? I heard this at Mass this past Sunday and I thought it was just beautiful.
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erikd
Guest
These beautiful passages deserve a beautiful commentary from the venerable Pope John Paul II:
*“The image of the new Jerusalem coming down ‘out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband’ (Rev 21:2) is a direct reference to the mystery of the Church and is not irrelevant for building the city of man. It is an image which speaks of an eschatological reality which transcends human possibilities and is a gift of God which will appear in the last days. Yet it is not a utopia: it is a reality already in our midst. This can be seen by the present tense of the verbs which God uses: ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev 21:5), and, as a further clarification: ‘It is done!’ (Rev 21:6). God is already at work renewing the world; the newness of God is already found in Jesus’ Pasch. It is this which brings the Church to birth, inspires her life, and renews and transforms her history. [R] +]
107. This newness begins to take shape first of all in the Christian community, which is even now ‘the dwelling of God with men’ (Rev 21:3), in whose midst God is already at work, renewing the life of all who yield to the Spirit’s breath. The Church is for the world a sign and instrument of the Kingdom which comes about first in human hearts. A reflection of this newness can also be seen in every form of human coexistence inspired by the Gospel. It is a newness that speaks to society at every moment of history and in every place on earth, and in particular to European society, which for so many centuries has heard the Gospel of the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus.” *
ECCLESIA IN EUROPA Pope John Paul II POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION ECCLESIA IN EUROPA OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS MEN AND WOMEN IN THE CONSECRATED LIFE AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL ON JESUS CHRIST ALIVE IN HIS CHURCH THE SOURCE OF HOPE FOR EUROPE
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Layp3rs0n
Guest
I want this read at my future wedding, if it ever happens. I want the entire Mass to point how my marriage is symbolic of Christ and His Heavenly Bride, the Church.
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Huiou_Theou
Guest
I don’t often see wisdom like this. I pray you find a physical bride, if it be within God’s will, whom has the grace, Wisdom, and Understanding to match it.
A symbol; a portion of something which allows one to recognize the whole.
St. Paul says of this wedding that it is a mystery; and so it is:
As Jesus himself attests, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but live like the angels.” when refuting the polyandry that the Saducees were implying marriages after successive deaths of wives would be implied by the resurrection.
eg: serial polygamy, or adultery?
Yet when Jesus set the Pharisees straight on the issue of Divorce by Quoting the basic law: “The Two become one flesh” which Moses modified ***only ***after the symbolic adultery with the golden calf in the desert – to allow those less than priests, god’s own portion – those less than his own, to divorce – which still exists in the law of the Church today, but with the admonition that reconciliation is to be encouraged; and remarriage is not an option.
I can’t help but wonder at the mysterious difference in the nature of marriage in Heaven vs. the nature of marriage on earth; Taken as a symbol or metaphor – heaven is to exceed the shadowy likeness which we have here and now. Yet, here and now, one of the prime marks of marriage is the exclusivity of it – whereas the marriage in heaven all seemingly become one flesh – not through sexual union, so that there is polygamy or adultery – but through communion. Nor do I wish to convey the laughable notion that the Jehova witnesses seem to have when they try to claim that the oneness of the trinity implies confusion – by saying that two people become one flesh in marriage does not confuse the persons. Just so, a marriage in heaven can’t be expected or accused of “confusing” the flesh of all people and nations who make up the new Jerusalem.
We receive Glorified flesh from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ; As the flesh was taken from Adam, so that his wife was not created from scratch – but is flesh and bone from her spouse – so we too receive glorified flesh from the opened side of Jesus the Lord. As it says in Hebrews, he has opened a way for us into heaven through his flesh. And again, where Jesus shows the impossibility of heaven by man’s standards when he says: The only one going to heaven is he who came down from heaven; That is; Jesus reinforces the necessity of being his flesh in order to enter heaven.
Certainly there is no logical way to trap these thoughts under adultery, as the many whom his flesh and blood are poured out for don’t act as individual man and woman entering sexual union; But the “two” becoming one flesh vis-a-vis the “many” whom are the members of Christ’s body seems, somehow, dissonant…
The mystery of which St. Paul speaks is deep – what then are we to make of the many parts; and what is the meaning of the exculsivity which is in marriage.
How does one recognize the whole from such a mystyreous symbol?
Perhaps in a few years God will grant me to understand this better, if not fully.
P.S. If you have a moment to pray for me; Pray both that my insomnia due to my brother’s television broadcasting through a thin wall – and my distress because of the difficulties of my wife (actual); may find rest and peace in some way as I work them out in fear and trembling.
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Cashue
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Yes, these beautiful verses that have already happened in heaven and the death in heaven is no more because death is a seperation from God and those separated from God in heaven have been healed through Christs blood and the tears in heaven which were caused by the angels looking at the suffering on earth is no more since all suffering on earth has ended since Christ came.
We are living the fulfillment of this and it is wonderful. God’s purpose has been fulfilled and there is universal happiness. Isn’t it wonderful.
God Bless
Cashue
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