“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:16-19)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:9,10
“Are you going to believe the Word of God or the word of man?”
ARTICLE 2
THE WAY OF PRAYER
Para 2663
“In the living tradition of prayer, each Church proposes to its faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures, iconography. The Magisterium of the Church(15) has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ. (15 – Cf. DV 10).
Prayer to the Father.
Para 2664
There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we pray “in the name” of Jesus. The sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father.
“Come, Holy Spirit”
Para 2670
“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”(21) Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action.
If the Spirit should not be worshiped, how can he divinize me through Baptism? If he should be worshiped, should he not be the object of adoraton?(22) (21 – 1 Cor 12:3). (22 – St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 31, 28: PG 36, 165).
In communion with the Holy Mother of God
Para 2673
In prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the person of the only Son, in his glorified humanity, through which and in which our filial prayer unites us in the Church with the Mother of Jesus.(27 – Cf. Acts 1:14)
Para 2674
Mary gave her consent in faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever since, her motherhood has extended to the brothers and sisters of her Son, who “still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties.”(28) Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him; she “shows the way” (hodigitria), and is herself “the Sign” of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West. (28 – LG 62).
Para 2675
Beginning with Mary’s unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the person of Christ manifested in his mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons expressing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the first “magnifies” the Lord for the “great things” he did for his lowly servant and through her for all human beings;(29) the second entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of Jesus, because she now knows the humanity which, in her, the Son of God espoused. (Cf. Lk. 1:46-55).
Para 2676
This twofold movement of prayer to Mary has found a privileged expression in the Ave Maria.
Full of grace, the Lord is with thee: These two phrases of the angel’s greeting shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. The grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace. “Rejoice…O daughter of Jerusalem…the Lord your God is in your midst.”(31) Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is “the dwelling of God…with men.“(32) (31 – Zeph 3:14, 17a). (32 – Rev 21:3).
Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. After the angel’s greeting, we make Elizabeth’s greeting our own. “Filled with the Holy Spirit,” Elizabeth is the first in the long succession of generations who have called Mary “blessed.”( 33) “Blessed is she who believed…”(34) Mary is “blessed among women” because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord’s word. Abraham, because of his faith, became a blessing for all the nations of the earth. Mary, because of her faith, became the mother of believers, through whom all nations of the earth receive him who is God’s own blessing: Jesus, the fruit of thy womb.”(33 – Luke 1:41,48) (34 – Luke 1:45)
Para 2677
Holy Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”(36) Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can trust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: “Let it be to me according to your word.”(37) By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: “Thy will be done.”(36 – Luke 1:43). (37 – Luke 1:38).
Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the “Mother of Mercy,” the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives, and our trust broadens further, already at the present moment to “surrender the hour of our death” wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son’s death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing(38) to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise. (38 – Cf. John 19:27)
Para 2679
Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus’ mother into our homes, for she has become mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.(40 – Cf. LG 68-69).
Para 2682
Because of Mary’s singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary, to magnify with her the great things the Lord has done for her, and to entrust supplications and praises to her.
ARTICLE 3
GUIDES FOR PRAYER
A cloud of witnesses
Para 2683
The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom,(41) especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were “put in charge of many things.”(42) Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. (41 – Cf. Heb 12:1). (42 – Cf. Mt 25:21).
Servants of prayer
Para 2687
Many religious have consecrated their whole lives to prayer. Hermits, monks, and nuns since the time of the desert fathers have devoted their time to praising God and interceding for his people. The consecrated life cannot be sustained or spread without prayer; it is one of the living sources of contemplation and the spiritual life of the Church.
Para 2690
The Holy Spirit gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith, and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer.
According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should “take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son.” And further: “In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced…if the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them.”(47 – St. John of the Cross,The Living Flame of Love, stanza 3, 30, in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross eds K. Kavanaugh OCD and O. Rodriguez OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979), 621.
Places favorable for prayer
Para 2691
The Church, the house of God, is the proper place for the liturgical prayer of the parish community. It is also the privileged place for adoration of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
–For personal prayer, this can be a “prayer corner” with the Sacred Scriptures and icons, in order to be there, in secret, before our Father.(48 – Cf. Mt 6:6).
CHAPTER THREE
THE LIFE OF PRAYER
Para 2698
The Tradition of the Church proposes to the faithful certain rhythms of praying intended to nourish continual prayer. Some are daily, such as morning and evening prayer, grace before and after meals, the Liturgy of the Hours. Sundays, centered on the Eucharist, and kept holy primarily by prayer. The cycle of the liturgical year and its great feasts are also basic rhythms of the Christian’s life of prayer.
Para 2699
The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each believer responds according to his heart’s resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative.
ARTICLE 1
EXPRESSIONS OF PRAYER
II. MEDITATION
Para 2705
Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not want for them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great book of creation, and that of history–the page on which the “today” of God is written.
Para 2708
Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversation of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
III. CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
Para 2709
What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: “Contemplative prayer [Oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”(6)
Contemplative prayer seeks him “whom my soul loves.”(7) It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself. (6 – St. Teresa of Jesus, The Book of Her Life, 8, 5 in the Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, tr. K. Kavanough, OCD, and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976), I. 67. (7 – Song 1:7; cf. 3:1-4).
Para 2710
The choice of the time and duration of the prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes the time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always meditate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work, or emotional stress. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty and in faith.
Para 2711
Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we “gather up” the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed.
Para 2714
Contemplative prayer is also the pre-eminently intense time of prayer. In it the Father strengthens our inner being with power through his Spirit “that Christ may dwell in (our) hearts through faith” and we may be “grounded in love.”(10 – Eph 3:16-17)
Para 2715
Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus, “I look at him and he looks at me” : this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the “interior knowledge of our Lord,” the more to love him and follow him.(11 – Cf. St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, 104).
Para 2717
Contemplative prayer is silence, the “symbol of the world to come”(12) or “silent love.”(13) Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the “outer” man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus. (12 – Cf. St. Isaac of Nineveh, Tract myst. 66). (13 – St. John of the Cross, Maxims and Counsels, 53 in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanough, OCD, and O. Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979),678.
Para 2718
Contemplative prayer is a union with the prayer of Christ insofar as it makes us participate in his mystery. The mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in contemplative prayer so that our charity will manifest it in our acts.
ARTICLE 2
THE BATTLE OF PRAYER
Para 2725
Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. The great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints, and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, from union with God.
I. OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER
Para 2726
In the battle of prayer, we must face in ourselves and around us, erroneous notions of prayer. Some people view prayer as a simple psychological activity, others as an effort of concentration to reach a mental void. Still others reduce prayer to ritual words and postures. Many Christians unconsciously regard prayer as an occupation that is incompatible with all of the other things they have to do: they “don’t have the time.” Those who seek God by prayer are quickly discouraged because they do not know that prayer comes also from the Holy Spirit and not from themselves alone.
II. HUMBLE VIGILANCE OF HEART
Para 2729
The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart; for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.”(16 – Cf. Mt 6:21, 24).
III. FILIAL TRUST
Para 2736
Are we convinced that “we do not know how to pray as we ought”?(23) Are we asking God for “what is good for us”? Our Father knows what we need before we ask him,(24) but he awaits our petition because the dignity of his children lies in their freedom. We must pray, then, with his Spirit of freedom, to be able truly to know what he wants.(25) (23 – Rom 8:26). (24 – Cf. Mt 6:8). (25 – Cf. Rom 8:27).
Para 2737
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”(26) If we ask with a divided heart, we are “adulterers”;(27) God cannot answer us, for he desires our well being, our life. “Or do you suppose that it is in vain that the scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us?’ “(28) That our God is “jealous” for us is the sign of how true his love is. If we enter into the desire of his Spirit, we shall be heard.
Do not be troubled if you do not immediately receive from God what you ask him; for he desires to do something even greater for you, while you cling to him in prayer.(29)
God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what he is prepared to give.(30) (26 – Jas 4:3; cf. the whole context: Jam 4:1-10; 1:5-8; 5:16). (27 – Jas 4:4). (28 – Jas 4:5) (29 – Evagrius Ponticus, De oratione) (30 – St. Augustine, Ep 130, 8, 17: PL 33, 500).
Para 2741
Jesus also prays for us–in our place and on our behalf. All our petitions were gathered up, once for all, in his cry on the Cross and, in his Resurrection, heard by the Father. This is why he never ceases to intercede for us with the Father.(32) If our prayer is resolutely united with that of Jesus, in trust and boldness as children, we obtain all that we ask in his name, even more than any particular thing: the Holy Spirit himself, who contains all gifts. (32 – Cf. Heb 5:7; 7:25; 9:24).
ARTICLE 3
THE PRAYER OF THE HOUR OF JESUS
Para 2749
Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time.
SECTION TWO
ARTICLE 1
“THE SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE GOSPEL”
Para 2763
All the Scriptures –the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms–are fulfilled in Christ.(10) The Gospel is the “Good New.” Its first proclamation is summarized by St. Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount;(11) the prayer to our Father is at the center of this proclamation. It is in this context that each petition bequeathed to us by the Lord is illuminated.(10 – Cf. Lk 24:44). (11 – Cf. Mt 5-7).
ARTICLE 2
“OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN”
Para 2782
We can adore the Father because he has caused us to be reborn to his life by adopting us as his children in his only Son: by Baptism, he incorporates us into the Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from the head to the members, he makes us other “Christs.”
God, indeed, who has predestined us to adoption as his sons, has conformed us to the glorious Body of Christ. So then you who have become sharers in Christ are appropriately called “Christs.”(34 – St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 3, 1: PG 33, 1088A).
Para 2783
Thus the Lord’s Prayer reveals us to ourselves at the same time that it reveals the Father to us.(36)
O man, you did not dare to raise your face to heaven, you lowered your eyes to the earth, and suddenly you have received the grace of Christ: all your sins have been forgiven. From being a wicked servant you have become a good son…Then raise your eyes to the Father who has begotten you through Baptism, to the Father who has redeemed you through his Son, and say: “Our Father…” But do not claim any privilege. He is the Father in a special way only of Christ, but he is the common Father of us all, because while he has begotten only Christ, he has created us. Then also say by his grace, “Our Father,” so that you may merit being his son.(37) (36 – Cf. GS 22 § 1) (37 – St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 19: PL 16:450-451).
Para 2791
For this reason, in spite of the divisions among Christians, this prayer to “our” Father remains our common patrimony and an urgent summons for all the baptized. In communion by faith in Christ and by Baptism, they ought to join in Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples.(50 – Cf. UR 8; 22).
Para 2798
We can invoke God as “Father” because the Son of God made man has revealed him to us. In this Son, through Baptism, we are incorporated and adopted as sons of God.
Para 2813
In the waters of Baptism, we have been “washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”(79).
By whom is God hallowed, since he is the one who hallows? But since he said, “You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy,” we seek and ask that we who were sanctified in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be.(81) (79 – 1 Cor 6:11). (81 – St. Cyprian,De Dom,orat. 12: PL 4, 527A; Lev 20:26).
“Surely you know that the wicked shall not receive God’s Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral, or worship idols, or adulterers, or homosexual perverts, or who rob, or are greedy, or are drunkards, or who slander others, or are thieves–none of these will receive God’s Kingdom. Some of you were like that. But you have been cleansed from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – Sacred Heart League Catholic New Testament – SHLCNT)
“Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God. And such some of you were; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – DRV)
“First he said, “You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings, or with animals burned on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins.” He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law. Then he said, “Here I am, God, to do what you want me to do.” So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place. Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all made clean (sanctified) from sin by the offering that he made of his own body, once and for all. (Hebrews 10:8-10 – SHLCNT)
“In saying before, Sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin thou wouldest not, neither are they pleasing to thee, which are offered according to the law. Then said I: Behold, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish that which followeth. In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.” (Hebrews 10:8-10 DRV)
“The Jewish High Priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp. For this reason Jesus also died outside the city gate in order to cleanse (sanctify) the people from sin with his own blood.” (Hebrews 13:11,12 – SHLCNT)
“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the holies by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate.
II. THY KINGDOM COME
Para 2820
By a discernment according to the Spirit, Christians have to distinguish between the growth of the Reign of God and the progress of the culture and society in which they are involved. This distinction is not a separation. Man’s vocation to eternal life does not suppress, but actually reinforces, his duty to put into action in this world the energies and means received from the Creator to serve justice and peace.(93 – Cf. GS 22; 32; 39; 45; EN 31).
Para 2821:
This petition is taken up and granted in the prayer of Jesus which is present and effective in the Eucharist; it bears its fruit in the new life in keeping with the Beatitudes.(94 Cf. Jn 17:17-20; Mt 5:13-16; 6:24; 7:12-13).
III. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN
Para 2824
In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world, “Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.”(99) Only Jesus can say: “I always do what is pleasing to him.”(100) In the prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: “not my will but yours be done.”(101) For this reason Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.(102) And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (99 – Heb 10:7; Ps 40:7). (100 – Jn 8:29). (101 – Lk 22:42; cf. Jn 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). (102 – Gal 1:4).
Para 2827
“If anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.”(110) Such is the power of the Church’s prayer in the name of her Lord, above all in the Eucharist. Her prayer is also a communion of intercession with the all-holy Mother of God(111) and all the saints who have been pleasing to the Lord because they willed his will alone. (110 – Jn 9:31; cf. 1 Jn 5:14). (111 – Cf. Lk 1:38; 49).
Para 2832
As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth “rise” by the Spirit of Christ.(119) This must be shown by the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and economic relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just.” (119 – Cf. AA 5).
Para 2835
There is a famine on earth, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”(124) For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: The Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.(125) (124 – Amos 8:11) (125 – Cf. Jn 6:26-58)
Para 2837
“Daily” (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of “this day”(128) to confirm us in trust “without reservation.” Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence. (129) Taken literally (epi-ousios: “super essential”), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the “medicine of immortality,” without which we have no life within us.(130) Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: “this day” is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharist liturgy to be celebrated each day.
The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive…This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these things are necessities for our pilgrimage.(131) The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.(132) (128 – Cf. Ex 16:19-21) (129 – Cf. 1 Tim 6:8). (130 – St. Ignatius of Antioch Ad Eph. 20, 2: PG 5, 661; Jn 6:53-56) (131 – St. Augustine, Sermo 57, 7: PL 38, 389). (132 – St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67: PL 52, 392; cf. Jn 6:51).
V. “AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US”
Para 2839
With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him.(133) Our petition begins with a “confession” of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”(134) We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church.(135) (133 – Cf. Lk 15:11-32; 18:13). (134 – Col 1:14; Eph 1:7). (135 – Cf. Mt 26:28; Jn 20:23).
Para 2845
The communion of the Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relationship. It is lived out in prayer, above all in the Eucharist.(148 – Cf. Mt 5:23-24; 1 Jn 3:19-24).
VI. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
Para 2846
This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to “lead” us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both “do not allow us to enter into temptation” and “do not let us yield to temptation.”(150) “God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.”;(151) on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle “between flesh and spirit”; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.
Para 2852
“A murderer from the beginning…a liar and the father of lies,” Satan is “the deceiver of the whole world.”(165) Through him sin and death entered into the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be “freed from the corruption of sin and death.”(166) Now “we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.”(167) (165 – Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9). (166 – Roman Missal Eucharistic Prayer IV. 125). (167 – 1 Jn 5:18,19).
Para 2853
Victory over the “prince of this world” was won once for at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is “cast out.”(170) “He pursued the woman”(171) but had no hold on her: the new Eve, “full of grace” of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). “Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring.”(172) Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: “Come, Lord Jesus,”(173) since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One. (170 – Jn 12:31; Rev 12:10). (171 – Rev 12:13-16). (172 – Rev 12:17). (173 – Rev 22:17,20).
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
The sacrifice of the Mass is the very heart of Roman Catholic faith. It is the most beautiful, the most sacred part of Catholic worship. “It is the secret of her holiness and vitality.” Saint Francis De Sales said it is “the mainspring of devotion.” According to Pope Urban, if the angels could envy man anything, it would be his power to offer the Holy Sacrifice. Cardinal Newman called it “the greatest action that can be on earth.”
OFFICIAL CATHOLIC TEACHING
The Church of Rome teaches –(1) that at the Last Supper, Christ instituted the Mass, a true, visible, sacrifice…; (2) that Christ bequeathed the Mass to His Church…to be of avail for the remission of sins and the punishment due them, and the benefit of the living and the dead; (3) that Christ established a special priesthood for its celebration; (4) that Christ, through the ministry of His priests, offers Himself in the Mass as He offered Himself on the cross; but that, whereas He offered Himself in a bloody manner on the cross, He offers Himself in an unbloody manner in the Mass; (5) that, this difference apart, the sacrifice of the Mass is the same sacrifice as that of the cross, for there is the same Priest, the same Victim and the same Offering. Rome teaches that just as the sacrifice of Calvary was prefigured in the Jewish sacrifices, so it is continued in the Mass in its essentials as a sacrifice. Catholic doctrine teaches that through the sacrifice of the Mass a friend of God receives the appeasement of God’s anger, the extinction of the debt of temporal punishment and the reception of blessings, which include an increase of Sanctifying Grace, Through the Mass, one’s acts of adoration, praise, thanksgiving, atonement, satisfaction and petition receive a new and special efficacy. In the sacrifice of the Mass one is said to receive, more surely that through any other means, the grace of contrition in the hour of need, the grace of more perfect sanctity, and all temporal blessings not in conflict with one’s spiritual well-being.
FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE CREED OF POPE PIUS IV
“I profess likewise that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. And that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially the blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood, which conversion of the Catholic Church calleth Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament.”
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
The canons of the Council of Trent on this subject passed in session xxii. cap. ii are as follows:
1. “If any one shall say, that in the Mass there is not offered to God a true and proper sacrifice, or that what is offered is nothing else than Christ given to be eaten, let him be anathema.”
2. “If any one shall say that in those words, This do in remembrance of Me, Christ did not make the apostles priests, or did not ordain that they themselves and other priests should offer His body and blood, let him be anathema.”
3.”If any one shall say that the sacrifice of the Mass is only of praise and thanksgiving, or a bare commemoration of the sacrifice performed on the cross, but not propitiatory; or that it is of benefit only to the person who takes it, and ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be accursed.”
4. “If any one shall say that a blasphemy is ascribed to the most holy sacrifice of Christ performed on the cross by the sacrifice of the Mass, or the latter derogates from the former, let him be accursed.”
PRONOUNCEMENT FROM VATICAN II
“At the Last Supper…our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross…” p. 154, The Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, S. J.
CATHOLIC PROOF – TEXTS EXPLAINED
Malachi 1:11: “From the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering.”
Roman Catholic authorities claim that this prophecy is fulfilled in the sacrifice of the Mass. However, a close look at the meaning of this verse indicates not a literal, external offering, but a spiritual, internal offering. David declared in Psalm 51:17 that “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.” Peter admonished the people of God to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5), praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (v. 9). The author of Hebrews speaks of spiritual sacrifices as praise, thanksgiving and alms-giving (13:15,16). The Christians in Rome were admonished to present their bodies (i.e. their whole being) as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). Catholic authorities say that the Hebrew word for offering (mincha) refers to the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, but in 1 Samuel 2:17 the word mincha is used in reference to a bloody sacrifice and in Isaiah 66:20 the company of God’s people constitutes the mincha. One cannot, therefore, use this verse to substantiate evidence in favor of the sacrifice of the Mass.
Romans 15:16b: “…that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost…”
Again the offering of the Gentiles was a spiritual, internal sacrifice, that of obedience in word and deed (v. 18).
Genesis 14:18: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was a priest of the most high God.”
One cannot assume that this verse speaks of a sacrifice offered to God. Melchizedek was a priest of God and he brought bread and wine, not for a sacrifice but for the refreshment of Abram and his men returning from battle. Cyprian was the earliest of the post-apostolic fathers to teach that Melchizedek was a sacrificer but there is no Biblical reference of Melchizedek offering sacrifice (see Hebrews 7).
1 Corinthians 11:24b: “This do in remembrance of me.”
Catholics are taught that in this verse Jesus was, in effect, saying, “As I have now offered My body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine as a sacrifice, so must you offer in sacrifice My body and blood in every celebration of this sacrament.” Rome teaches that with these words Jesus made the apostles priests and gave Himself as a perpetual victim whom they were to sacrifice daily. It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 sacrifices offered on Roman altars around the world each day of the week. What a perversion of the common expression “this do” which in this context simply means that God’s people are to partake of the bread and wine as a reminder (not a perpetuation) of Christ’s atonement.
John 19:30: “It is finished.”
According to a Roman Catholic priest, Richard W. Grace, in his book, “The Sacrifice of Christ,” “These words do not declare that His sacrifice was finished, but that He had finished His former, normal, earthly life and was now fixed in the state of a victim…He then began His everlasting career as the perpetual sacrifice of the New Law.”
According to Rome, the sacrifice of Christ was completed on Calvary, but not finished, i.e. He must be perpetually sacrificed in the Mass. However, it is not the blood sacrifice of the Cross that is repeated, but the so-called unbloody sacrifice of the upper room, the sacrifice of His flesh and blood under the appearance of bread and wine. It was the shedding of Jesus’ blood that brought remission of sin. That sacrifice was finished as He said and Hebrews 9:22 later tells us that apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Therefore, what took place in the upper room was not a sacrifice but an explanation of the sacrifice that was to take place and since admittedly, there is no blood in the sacrifice of the Mass, it cannot be a sacrifice for sin.
John 6:54-55: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” Meat is to satisfy hunger and in verse 35 Jesus said “he that cometh to me shall never hunger.”
Therefore, to come to Him is to eat. To drink is to satisfy thirst and again in verse 35 Jesus said “he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Therefore, to believe is to drink. No one can say that here Jesus was establishing the eating and drinking of a sacrifice for sin, especially not after what he said in verse 63: “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” In Levitical law, not only was the blood never eaten, but the sin offering was never to be eaten. Yet Catholics believe that they really eat Christ’s body and drink His blood in their communion. If they insist on a literal meaning in this verse, then they must take literally the whole statement and also believe that all who receive their communion are saved (will live forever) and they do not believe that. Without doubt, to consistently literalize this passage involves some impossible interpretation for the Catholic.
Matthew 26: 26 and 28: “This is my body…this is my blood.”
No one can deny that here we have figurative language. Jesus did not say, touto gignetai (this has become or is turned into) but touto esti (this signifies, represents or stands for). In another passage he said “this cup is the new testament.” For one thing, “the cup” refers to its contents and certainly neither the cup nor its contents constitutes the new covenant, but symbolizes it. Throughout Scripture we find similar metaphorical language: Jesus referred to Himself as “the door,” “the vine,” “the light,” “the root,” “the rock,” “the bright and morning star” as well as “the bread.” If I were to show someone a photograph of my son and say, “this is my son,” they would not take these words literally. The Scripture is written with such common language that it is obvious to any observant reader that the Lord’s Supper was intended primarily as a memorial and in no sense a literal sacrifice. In taking Biblical statements literally, we must be sure that doing so is consistent with the context and not in contradiction to other clear teaching.
THE FINALITY OF CHRIST’S SACRIFICE
The Bible teaches that the priesthood of Jesus Christ is unique:
“Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4 and Hebrews 7:17); “but this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood (i.e. it cannot be transferred to another)” (Hebrews 7:3b and 24); “there is…one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
There is an obvious superiority in Jesus Christ, the one who is approachable and can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). The human sacrificing priesthood was weak and unprofitable being made up of “many priests” and men of infirmity, but Christ was holy, undefiled and separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:23 and 28). Roman Catholicism teaches that her priests discharge the priesthood of Jesus Christ, that they are other Christs (Alter Christus). This explains the extravagant adulation and exaltation heaped upon the Roman priest. The French Catholic saint, J. B. M. Vianney said that
“Where there is no priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no sacrifice there is no religion…Without the priest the death and passion of our Lord would be of no avail to us…See the power of the priest!” By one word from his lips, he changes a piece of bread into a God! A greater feat than the creation of a world.”
He also said:
“If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I would salute the priest before saluting the angel. The angel is a friend of God, but the priest holds the place of God…Next to God Himself, the priest is everything!”
What humiliation for Jesus Christ (the one who is to have preeminence in all things). All mankind must say with John the Baptist:
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
The epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the once for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross, not a daily sacrifice on altars. It cannot be argued exegetically that the Mass is a real and true sacrifice of reconciliation and that Christ still sacrifices Himself daily by the hands of the priest (Council of Trent) as the Bible repeatedly affirms in the clearest and most positive terms that Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary was complete in that one offering. And that it was never to be repeated is set forth in Hebrews, chapter 7, 9, and 10. There we read:
“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peoples: for this he did once, when he offered up himself (7:27).
“…by his own blood he entered in once, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (9:12).
“…and without shedding of blood is no remission…Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself…So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (9:22-28).
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every high priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin: But this man, after he had offered onesacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (10:10-14).
Dr. Loraine Boettner, in his classic book “Roman Catholicism,” asks the reader to:
“Notice that throughout these verses occurs the statement ‘once for all,’ which has in it the idea of completeness, or finality, and which precludes repetition. Christ’s work on the cross was perfect and decisive. It constituted one historic event which need never repeated and which in fact cannot be repeated. The language is perfectly clear: ‘He offered one sacrifice for sins forever’ (Hebrews 10:12). Paul says that ‘Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more’ (Romans 6:9); and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that ‘By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified’ (10:14)…We are told that Christ has sat down as token that His work is finished. Depend upon it. He never descends from that exalted place to be a further sacrifice upon Rome’s altars or on any other; for of such sacrifice there is no need. …Thank God that we can look back to what our Lord did on Calvary and know that He completed the sacrifice for sins once for all, and that our salvation is not dependent on the whim or arbitrary decree of any priest or church. Any pretense at a continuous offering for sin is worse than vain, for it is a denial of the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice of Christ on Calvary.”
PAGAN ORIGIN
It is shocking for Roman Catholics to learn that the proposal of the Lord’s Supper as a sacrifice was first made by a Benedictine monk, Radbertus, in the ninth century and was the subject of many fierce verbal battles by the bishops until Pope Innocent III declared it an official Roman doctrine in 1215 A.D. The very principles found in the bloodless sacrifice of the Mass as it is in the church of Rome today can be traced back through the labyrinth of paganism to the fountain of idolatry, ancient Babylon. Rome’s most blasphemous and massive religious fraud originated in Chaldean idol worship and will continue until the time of the end when, according to Revelation 17 and 18, amid the wonder and admiration of the world, Rome will be judged with violence and be thrown down and shall be found no more at all, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
HAS THE MASS REALLY CHANGED?
Today many are expressing hope that Rome is turning toward Scriptural Christianity. Many are thrilled with her changes while failing to realize that they are only superficial. For example, the Church of Rome will never reject the sacrifice of the Mass–just streamline it enough to fool the unlearned in the Scriptures (the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth). Pope John XXIII made it clear that his church is bound “to all the teachings of the Church in its entirety and preciseness, as it still shines forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and First Vatican Council…” (The Documents of Vatican II, Abbott, S.J.)
CONCLUSION
Based on the authority of the Bible, we must conclude that the Roman Catholic sacrifice of the Mass is a mockery, a deception, a fraud, an abomination before God. As we have shown, it is not the same sacrifice as that of Calvary, regardless of what the priests may say. Yet, under the threat of eternal condemnation, Catholics are, forced to believe what their church teaches, even though it contradicts the Scriptures and reason. The Bible says to “come now, let us reason together,” but Rome demands that her people accept as true that which they know to be false and practice traditions of men which can never bring them to salvation.
Because there are thousands of nominal Roman Catholics who do not believe all that their church requires, we are pleased to announce that they are not Roman Catholics at all, for according to Pope Paul VI, no one may claim to be a member of the Roman Catholic church if he does not maintain fidelity to the churches’ magisterium (teaching authority). On August 24, 1977 he said:
“People who say they are part of the Church and yet are not faithful remain outside.”
Our earnest prayer and expectation is that our beloved Roman Catholic friends will study the Scriptures with an honest desire to know and obey God’s Word to us. The Holy Spirit will then convict them with truth and give them the courage and integrity to separate from false teaching (John 12:46, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, II Timothy 3:5, II Corinthians 6:14-17, Ephesians 5:11, II John 10, Revelation 18:4) and join fellowship with the truly born-again believers in Bible teaching, Christ honoring churches where they can grow in grace and in the knowledge of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. [End of tract.]
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3 – DRV)
“And you, employing all care, minister in your faith, virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; And in knowledge, abstinence; and in abstinence, patience; and in patience, godliness; And in godliness, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity. For if these things be with you and abound, they will make you to be neither empty nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that hath not these things with him, is blind, and groping, having forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (2 Peter 1:5-9 – DRV)
“And so he is able, now and always. to save those who come to God through him, because he lives forever to plead with God for them. Jesus, then, is the High Priest that meets our needs. He is holy; he has no fault or sin in him; he has been set apart from sinful men and raised above the heavens. He is not like other high priests; he does not need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins first, and then for the sins of the people. He offered one sacrifice, once and for all,when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:25-27 – SHLCNT)
“When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, he did not take the blood of goats and calves to offer as sacrifice; rather he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of the burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and make them clean by taking away their ritual impurity. Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our consciences clean from useless works, so that we may serve the living God.” (Hebrews 9:12-14- SHLCNT)
“Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. In the same manner, Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27,28 – SHLCNT)
“Every Jewish priest stands and performs his services every day and offers the same sacrifices many times. But these sacrifices can never take away sins. Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is good forever, and then sat down at the right side of God. There he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet. With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are clean from sin. And the Holy Spirit also gives us his witness. First he says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come,”says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and write them on their minds.” And then he says, “I will not remember their sins and wicked deeds any longer.” So when these have been forgiven, an offering to take away sins is no longer needed. We have, then, brothers, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain–that is, through his own body. We have a great priest in charge of the house of God. Let us come near to God, then, with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been made clean from a guilty conscience, and bodies washed with pure water.”
(Hebrews 10:11-22- SHLCNT)
“And every priest indeed standeth daily ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth on the right hand of God, From henceforth expecting, until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. And the Holy Ghost also doth testify this to us. For after that he said:
And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord. I will give my laws in their hearts, and on their minds will I write them:
And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
Now where there is a remission of these, there is no more an oblation for sin. Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ; A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, And a high priest over the house of God: Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water.” (Hebrews 10: 11-22 – DRV)
For Christ himself died for you; once and for all he died for sins, a good man for bad men, in order to lead you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18 – SHLCNT)
“Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18 DRV)
“But Christ, being come an high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:11-14 – DRV)
“For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:5,6 – DRV)
“For Jesus is not entered into the holies made with hands, the patterns of the true: but into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holies, every year with the blood of others: For then he ought to have suffered often from the beginning of the world: but now once at the end of ages, he hath appeared for the destruction of sin, by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment: So also Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many; the second time he shall appear without sin to them that expect him unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:24-28 – DRV)
“Are you going to believe the Word of God (Scripture), or the word of man (Catholic Tradition)?
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“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:16-21)
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:7-14)
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9,10)
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:8-19)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)
“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:4-10)
“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21)
“Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” (John 6:28,29)
“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
11 He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-14)
“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all people.” (1 Timothy 2:1-6)
“We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about His Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:9-13)
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15)
“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:16-21)
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:7-14)
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9,10)
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:8-19)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. ” (1 Timothy 2:5,6)
Mary Dalke - Living4HisGlory
Living4HisGlory 