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St Alexis | Independent Catholic News
St Alexis | Independent Catholic News: Called the 'Man of God'. According to a contemporary account, he was a nameless man who died at the hospital of Edessa in Mesopotami...
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Former Manchester United footballer ordained a priest | Independent Catholic News
Former Manchester United footballer ordained a priest | Independent Catholic News: A former Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer has celebrated his inaugural Mass after ordination to the priesthood last...
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
St. John Jones, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr
St. John Jones, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. arrested, severely tortured and scourged kept in prison for two years, then hanged, drawn, and quartered at Southwark, London. John Jones' dismembered remains were fixed atop poles on roads leading to Newington and Lambeth. Feastday July 12
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
To be a ‘born again’ Christian, then, really is what being Christian is all about: seeing Jesus as God and accepting our calling to a new destiny through Him.
Not only do we have this puzzling language about being ‘born above’—which we have gone at lengths to explain here—but we have talk about seeing the kingdom of God. It seems that Nicodemus and Jesus are talking right past each other. Or are they? As Pope Benedict explains in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, we ultimately must understand the ‘kingdom of God’ in its most profound sense to refer to Jesus Himself: “Jesus himself is the Kingdom; the Kingdom is not a thing, it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he.”
Defined this way, the two statements start to line up. Nicodemus is talking about one way of seeing Jesus—as teacher, miracle-worker, one ‘with’ God. Jesus, in responding, corrects him, explaining that no one can see Him for who He really is—not just one who is ‘with’ God but One who is God unless he have this radical new birth, seeing Jesus with fresh eyes, with the new vision of reality and our destiny that comes with grace. As John Chrysostom puts it,
He says therefore, Except a man be born again, be cannot see the kingdom of God: as if He said, You are not yet born again, i.e. of God, by a spiritual begetting; and therefore your knowledge of Me is not spiritual, but carnal and human. But I say to you, that neither you, nor any one, except he be born again of God, shall be able to see the glory which is around me, but shall be out of the kingdom: for it is the begetting by baptism, which enlightens the mind.
To be a ‘born again’ Christian, then, really is what being Christian is all about: seeing Jesus as God and accepting our calling to a new destiny through Him.
In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;
Gospel, John 3:1-8
1 There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,
2 who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.'
3 Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.
4 Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?'
5 Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;
6 what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.
8 The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
1 There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,
2 who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.'
3 Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.
4 Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?'
5 Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;
6 what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.
8 The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
One thing More.
Gospel, Mark 10:17-27
17 He was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, 'Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
18 Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
19 You know the commandments: You shall not kill; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.'
20 And he said to him, 'Master, I have kept all these since my earliest days.'
21 Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, 'You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.'
22 But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
23 Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!'
24 The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, 'My children,' he said to them, 'how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God.'
26 They were more astonished than ever, saying to one another, 'In that case, who can be saved?'
27 Jesus gazed at them and said, 'By human resources it is impossible, but not for God: because for God everything is possible.'
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