Benedict Said So

From Left Footer, an excerpt of Benedict XVI's comment on Nostra Aetate:

Thus, in a precise and extraordinarily dense document, a theme is opened up whose importance could not be foreseen at the time. The task that it involves and the efforts that are still necessary in order to distinguish, clarify and understand, are appearing ever more clearly. In the process of active reception, a weakness of this otherwise extraordinary text has gradually emerged: it speaks of religion solely in a positive way and it disregards the sick and distorted forms of religion which, from the historical and theological viewpoints, are of far-reaching importance; for this reason the Christian faith, from the outset, adopted a critical stance towards religion, both internally and externally."

Rev. George W. Rutler writes of the naivete of leaders towards cruel regimes, quoting Benedict XVI:

“Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul…. God is not pleased by blood—and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats.… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death….”

Hastening the End

I often see commenters post a lot of tlig.org links in Catholic FB pages and blogs. One such poster seems like a faithful Catholic. So active, then, in posting news but also with the private messages from the tlig link. They even have prayer groups but I was uncomfortable with private revelations of uncertain origins. He was eventually banned from the page. Apparently, it is a group following a mystic and speaker Vassula Ryden who continues to receive divine messages supposedly from our Lord and our Blessed Mother since 1985. She must have a strong following all over the world but I leave it to the Church to decide its merits and veracity.

Vassula Ryden, from Wikipedia

What I am curious about is an article posted on a blog: Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi Speaks on Why the TLIG Messages are so Important. Dated, October 14, 2012.

As in the past, so today Christ comes to us through his prophet Vassula with a message of unity. He wants us to join under the one banner of Jesus Christ. Christ is calling all of us to unite through these the TLIG messages by way of love. However, he asks us all to bend. He reminds us that he would never break our human will. Therefore, he wants us to freely bend our wills so that we might choose unity, and in so doing, forge together our love and compassion in order to join under the one banner of Christ.

Now, this unity doesn’t in any way denigrate the independent rites of different denominations of the Orthodox, of the Protestants, or of the Catholics; it respects these rites. Such rites are encouraged to continue, but we are to join in our common belief. Why? Because Satan’s dictum is “divide and conquer”, whereas Jesus’ dictum is “unite and conquer”! So in uniting in one belief, we will stave off the impending disaster that threatens our world today and the faith of our children. If we unite, we will have more impact in the political world and in religious arena, and dispose ourselves for the era of peace that our Lady prophesied at Fatima.

Therefore, we can respect and eagerly embrace the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which they look to in many respects as a font of revelation, and to their profoundly rich patrimony of literature on “divinization” and mystical union with the Trinity; we can respect and embrace the scriptural contributions of the Protestants and their well-preserved charismatic gifts that enable us to deepen our faith and develop our gifts received in Confirmation. In sum, the Catholics, the Orthodox, the Protestants, all of us who are in God’s eyes Christian brothers, are asked by the Son of God himself to join NOW under the one banner of Jesus Christ. Without placing superiority or inferiority on these different roles that we all occupy in the Church, we can humbly acknowledge that we are all equal in God’s eyes, while carrying out different roles. And all we need to do is freely bend our human wills so that God’s Divine Will can reign in us. All it takes is two things: intention and desire; we have to have an intention to unite and a desire to make it happen. Then, little by little, we will begin to establish on earth the New Jerusalem, the New Heavens and the New Earth.

I wonder how much influence this private revelation has on the Church today with its mission of unity packaged in ecumenism. They are so in sync with Pope Francis.

Ecumenical Family

Evangelicals, unchurch, voluntarist, Baptist, Catholic. That's my ecumenical family. We do not disown each other. We attend Weddings, Baptism, funeral. We pray together when we eat together. Sunday worship, Holy Week, and Christmas, it is to each religion. Occasionally, we discuss the Bible. Occasionally, debating the usual issues of images, Mary, and papacy.

There is no pretension, each one wants to win the other to his/her faith. There really is no going around it. For as long as each one holds on to his/her faith tradition, we are not yet in "one spirit and truth". Yet, we are not trying hard in being together. We don't hide images because they will be around. They are not going to switch channel from 700club to a secular show. They will get offended when they are called Protestants. We will get offended when they call themselves Christians as if we were not.

Ecumenical prayer rally against RH bill or against abortion, I can understand and it should be so. However, the ecumenical inter-religious dialogue doesn't make much sense to me, especially with emphasis that there is no desire for converting anyone. If it is about respect for each other's faith, then might as well have an interfaith rally or political pact for religious freedom. Sometimes trying hard to be ecumenical will rub the differences even more. A rubbing that creates friction and resentment.

For now, my family and friends may be proclaiming Truth differently. We do have our fights and misunderstanding. Still, we love each other and we will be there for each other.