Homily for the 12thSunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
Based on Lk 9:18-24(Gospel), Zec
12:10-11 (First Reading) andGal 3:26-29 (Second Reading)
From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
PETER’S
PROFESSION OF FAITH
The Gospel narrative for this 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
is taken fromLk 9:18-24. The first episode for this gospel from verses 18 to 21 is about Peter’s profession of faithc Footnote c says “Lk has left out a whole section of Mk
(6:45-8:26)”.
Verse 18 says: Now one day when he was praying alone in the
presence of his disciples he put this question to them, “Who do the crowds say
I am?”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Mt 16:13-20 - When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this
question his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? (v. 13)”And
they said, “Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah
or one of the prophets(v. 14)‘But you’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ (v.
15) Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are
the Christ’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’d(v.16) Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a
happy man! Because it was not flesh and bloode that revealed this to
you but my Father in heaven (v. 17).’ So I now say to you, you are Peterf
and upon this rock I will build my Church.gAnd the gates of the
underworldhcan never hold out against it (v.18). I will give you the
keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever you bind on earth shall be considered
bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in
heaven.i(v.19).” Then he gave his disciples strict ordersnot to tell
anyone that he was the Christj (v.20). Footnote dsays“In Mt Peter acknowledges not only that Jesus
is the Messiah but also that he is the Son of God: this second title is not
found in Mk and Lk. Cf. also 14:33 with Mk 6:51f. Cf Mt 4:3+”;Footnote e
says“The expression indicates man,
emphasizing his material, limited nature as opposed to that of the spirit
world, Si 14:18; Rm 7:5+; 1 Co 15:50; Ga 1:16; Ep 6:12; Heb 2:14; cf. Jn 1:13”; Footnote fsays“Neither the Greek word petrosnor even, as it seems, its Aramaic equivalent kephas (rock)
was used as a person’s name before Jesus conferred it on the apostles’ leader
to symbolize the part he was to play in the foundation of the Church. This
change of name had possibly been made earlier, cf. Jn. 1:42; Mk. 3:16; Lk.
6:14”; Footnote g says“The
Hebr. qahal which the Greek renders
ekklesia means ‘an assembly called together’; it is used frequently in the OT
to indicate the community of the Chosen People, especially the community of the
desert period, cf. Ac. 7:38. Certain Jewish groups (among them the Essenes of
Qumran) regarded themselves as the chosen remnant of Israel (Is. 4:3+), which
was to survive in the latter days. These had also used the term that Jesus now
adopts to indicate the messianic community, the community of the ‘new alliance’
sealed with his blood, Mt. 26:28+; Ep. 5:25. By using the term ‘assembly’ side
by side with that of the kingdom of heaven, Mt. 4:17+, Jesus shows that this
eschatological community (community of the end times) is to have its beginning
here on earth in the form of an organized society whose leader he now appoints,
Cf. Ac. 5:11+; 1 Co. 1:2+”; Footnote hsays “Greek: Hades: Hebrew: Sheol, the dwelling place of the Dead, cf. Nb.
16:33 +. Here its personified ‘gates’ suggest the powers of evil which first
lead man into the death which is sin and then imprison him once for all in
eternal death. The Church’s task will be to rescue the elect from death’s
dominion, from the death of the body and above all from eternal death, so that
it may lead them into the kingdom of heaven, cf. Col 1:13; 1 Co 15:26: Rv. 6:8;
20:13. In this the church follows its Master who died, descended into the
underworld, cf. 1 P. 3:19+, and rose again. Ac. 2:27,31”; Footnote isays
“The City of God, like the City of Death,
has its gates too; they grant entrance only to those who are worthy of it. Peter
has the keys. It is his function, therefore, to open or close to all who would
come to the kingdom of heaven through the Church. ‘bind’ and ‘loose’ are
technical rabbinic terms; primarily they have a disciplinary reference; one is
‘bound’ (condemned to) o ‘loosed’ (absolved from) excommunication. Their
secondary usage is connected with doctrinal or juridical decisions: an opinion
is ‘bound’ (forbidden) or ‘loosed’ {allowed). Of the household of God Peter is
controller (the keys symbolize this, cf. Is. 22:22). In that capacity, he is to
exercise the disciplinary power of admitting or excluding those he thinks fit;
he will also, in the administration of the community, make necessary decision
in questions of doctrinal belief and of moral conduct. The verdicts he deliver
or the pronouncements he makes will be ratified by God i heaven. Catholic
exegetes maintain that these enduring promises hold good not only for Peter
himself but also for Peter’s successors. This inference, not explicitly drawn
in the text, is considered legitimate because Jesus plainly intends to provide
for his Church’s future by establishing a regime that will not collapse after
Peter’s death. Two other texts, Lk. 22:31f and Jn. 21:15f, on Peter’s primacy
emphasize that its operation is to be in the domain of faith; they also
indicate that this makes him head not only of the Church after the death of
Christ but of the apostolic group then and there; and Footnote j
says“Vulg. ‘Jesus Christ’.
2.
Mk 8:27-30 - Jesus and his disciples left for
the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his
disciples, “Who do people say I am? (v. 27)”And they told him, ‘John the
Baptist,’ they said ‘others Elijah’,
others again,one of the prophets (v. 28).’“But you,’ he asked,‘who do you say I
am?” Peter spoke up and said to him, “You are the Christ (v. 29)”. Then he
warned them not to tell anyone about him (v. 30).
Verses 19 and 20 say: And they answered, “John the Baptist;
others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life’
‘But you,’ he said them, “who do you say I am?” It was Peter who spoke up, ‘The
Christ of God’ he said.
Parallel text for
verse 19 is from Lk 9:8 that says: Others
that Elijah had appeared, still others thatone of the ancient prophets had come
back to life.
Verse 21 says: But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone
anything about this.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 2:26 -
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death
until he had set his eyes on the Christ of the Lord.iFootnotei
says‘the Christ of the Lord’ is the one
whom the Lord anoints, cf. Ex 30:22+, i.e. consecrates for a saving mission:
the king of Israel, God’s chosen prince, is thus consecrated and thus,
pre-eminently, the messiah who is to establish the kingdom of God’.
2.
Lk 23:35 - The people stayed there watching him.
As for the leaders, they jeered at him, “He saved others’ they said, let him save himself if he is the Christ of
God, the Chosen One.”
3.
Mk 1:34 - And he cured many who were suffering
from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out many devils, but he
would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he was.iFootnote
isays“Jesus forbids the news
that he is the Messiah to be spread by the devils, 1:25,34; 3:12, by those he
cured, 1:44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, even by the apostles, 8:30; 9:9. The silence is
not to be broken till after his death, Mt. 10:27+. Since the prevailing idea of
the Messiah was nationalistic and warlike, in sharp contrast with his own
ideal, Jesus had to be very careful, at least on Israelite soil, cf. 5:19, to
avoid giving a false and dangerous impression of his mission, cf. Jn. 6:15; Mt.
13:13+. This policy of silence (‘the messianic secret’) is not an invention of
Mk’s, as some have claimed, but is in fact Christ’s own, though Mark has given
it a special emphasis. With the exception of Mt. 9:30, Mt. and Lk. record the
injunction to silence only in passages which are parallel with Mk, frequently
omitting it even in these cases.”
The second episode in this gospel in verse 22 is about First
prophecy of the Passiond
Verse 22 says: “The Son of
Man’he said, is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and to beput to death and to be raised up on the
third day.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Mt 16:21 - From
that timek, Jesus began to make clear to his disciples that he was
destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders,
and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised on the third day. Footnote k
says“Jesus has just elicited from his
disciples the first explicit profession of faith in him as Messiah. At this
crucial moment he tells them for the first time of his coming Passion: he is
not only the glorious Messiah, he is also the suffering servant. Within the
next few days this teaching method will be pursued in a similar situation: the
glorious transfiguration will be followed by an injunction to silence and a
prediction of Passion, 17:1-12. It is Christ’s way of bracing the disciples’
faith for the approaching crisis of death and resurrection”.
2.
Mk 8:31 - First prophecy of the Passion:And he
began to teach them that the Son of Man` was destined to suffer grievously, be
rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to
death, and after three days to rise again.
3.
Lk 9:44 - From your part, you must have these
words constantly in your mind:the Son of Man is going to be handed over into
the power of men.”
4.
Lk 12:50 - There is a baptism I must still
receive, and how great is my distress till it is over!
5.
Lk 17:25 - But first he must suffer grievously
and be rejected by this generation.
6.
Lk 18:31 - Then
he taking the Twelve aside he said to them, “Now, we are going up to Jerusalem
and everything written by the prophetsd about the Son of Man will be
fulfilled. Footnote d says “Lk
often remarks that the Passion was foretold by th prophets, Lk. 24:25,27,44; Ac
2:23+; 3:18,24+; 8:32-35; 13:27; 26:22f”.
7.
Lk 24:7,26,44 - That the Son of Man had to be handed over to sinners and be crucified,
and rise on the third day (v. 7). Was it
not necessary that the Messiah should suffer* these things and enter into his glory?
(v. 26) Thenk he told them, “This is what I meant when I said while
I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and
in the Prophets and in the Psalms, has to be fulfilled (v. 44)”Footnote ksays“The impression given is that all these
events took place on the same day of the resurrection. See Mt. 28:10+”.
The Third episode in
this gospel narrative from verses 23 to 24 is about the Condition
of following Christ. Verse 23 says: Then to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him
renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 14:27 - Whoever does not carry his own cross
and come after me cannot be my disciple.
2.
Jn 12:26 - If
a man serves, he must follow me, whenever I am,e my servant will be
there too. If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him. Footnote e says“In the glory of the Father, cf. 14:3; 17:24.”
Verse 24 says: For anyone who wants to save his life will
lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 17:33 - Anyone who tries to preserve his life
will lose it, and anyone wholoses it
will keep it safe.
2.
Mt 10:39 - Whoever
finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find itn.
Footnote n says “In Mt this
dictum is given in a more archaic form than in Mk or Lk: ‘find’ covers the idea
of ‘winning’ ‘securing for oneself’, cf. Gn 26:12; Ho 12:9; Pr 3:13; 21:21. See
Mt. 16:25.”
3.
Jn 12:25 - Anyone who loves his life loses it;
and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.
First Reading: Zec
12:10-11
Verse 10 says: But over the house of David and the
citizens of Jerusalem I will pour a spirit
of kindness and prayer. They will look on the one whom they have
pierced;ethey will mourn for him as for an only son, and weep for
him as people weep for a first-born child. Footnote esays ‘the one’ Theodotion, Jn.
19:37; ‘me’ Hebr. The death of the Pierced
Oneoccurs in an eschatological context (cf. Rv. 1:7), ch. The raising of
the siege of Jerusalem, the national mourning, vv. 10-14, the opening of the
fountain of salvation, 13:1. The messianic age thus depends on a passion and a
mysterious death comparable to the sufferings of the servant in Is.
52:13-53:12. Jn. 19:37 sees is this passage the figure of the passion of
Christ, the ‘only son’ and the ‘first-born’, cf. Jh. 1:18,; Col. 1:15, whose pierced body will be
‘looked on’ with the saving eye of faith, cf. Jn 3:14+; Nb. 21:8-9. And whose
opened side is a fountain of salvation, Jn. 19:34; 7:38.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Mt. 24:30 - And then the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in heaven;o then too all the peoples of the earth will
beat their breasts; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory.pFootnote o says“For the Fathers this ‘sign’ was Christ’s
cross but possibly it is Christ himself proving by the triumph of his kingdom
on earth that he has truly risen and is in glory”; and Footnotepsays“In these words Daniel foretold the
establishment of the messianic kingdom by a Son of Man coming on the clouds.
The cloud is the usual accompaniment of both OT and NT theophanies: Ex. 13:22+;
19:16+; 34:5+; Lv 16:2; 1 K 8:10-11; Ps 18:11; 97:2; 104:3; Is 19:1; Jr.
4:13Ezk 1:4; 10:3f; 2 M 2:8. For NT, cf. Mt 17:5; Ac 1:9,11; 1 Th 4:17; Rv 1:7;
14:14”.
2.
Jn. 3:14 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up
3.
Jn19:37 - And again in another place scripture says: They will look on the one
whom they have pierced.vFootnote vsays ‘They will look’, in
the Johannine sense of ‘see and understood’, cf. 3:14+. For Jn, the Roman soldier
symbolizes the pagans who will be converted cf. 12:20-21,32, and notes.
Similarly, Mt. 27:54+ and Mk 15:39+. Cf. also Lk 23:47,48; Mt 24:30; Rv 1:7.
4.
Rv. 1:7 - It is he is coming on the
clouds,everyone will see him, even those
who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is
the truth. Amen.
Verse 11 says: When that day comes, there will be great
mourning in Judah, like the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Am 8:10 - I
am going to turn your feasts into funerals, all your singings into lamentation;
I will have your loins all in sackcloth, your heads all shaved.kI
will make it a mourning like the mourning for an only son,as long as it lastsit
will be like a day of bitterness.Footnote
ksays “Signs of
mourning”.
2.
Jn 3:16 - Yes, God loved the world so much that
he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost
but may have eternal life.
3.
Col 1:15,18 - Christ is the head of all creationeHe is the image of the
unseenGod, and the firstborn of all creation (v. 15), for him were created all
things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers - all things were created through
him and for him (v. 16). Before anything was created, he existed, and heholds
all things in unity (v.17). Now the church is his body, he is the head, fAs
he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should
be first in every way(v.18). Footnote esays “In this poem Paul introduces two ways in
which can claim to be the ‘head’ of everything that exists:1. He is the head of
creation, of all that exists naturally, vv. 15-17; 2. He is head of the new
creation and all that exists supernaturally through having been saved, vv.
18-20. The subject of the poem is the pre-existent Christ, but considered only
in so far as he is manifest in the unique historic person that is the Son of
God made man, cf. Ph 2:5+. It is as the incarnate God that Jesus is the ‘image
of God’, i.e. his human nature was the visible manifestation of God who is
invisible, cf.Rm 8:29+, and it is as such, in this concrete human nature, and
as part of creation, that Jesus is called the ‘first born of creation’ - not in
the temporal sense of having been born first, but in the sense of having been
given the first place of honor”; Footnote f says“On the church a Christ’s body, cf. 1 Co.
12:12f, he is called the ‘head’ of his own body both in a temporal sense (v.
18, i.e., he was the first to rise from the dead) and in a spiritual sense (v.
20, i.e. he is the leader of all the saved).”
Second Reading: Gal
3:26-29
Verse
26 says: And
you are, all of you, n sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Footnoten
says“All, i.e. not only ‘we’, who are
Jews, but ‘you’, who are pagans.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ga 4:5-7… to redeem the subjects of the Law and
to enable us to be adopted as sons.d
(v. 5). The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of
his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, “Abba, Father” (v. 6), and it
is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave anymore; and if God has made you a son then he has
made you an heir (v.7).Footnoted says“The two aspects of redemption, negative and positive: the slave attains
freedom by becoming a son. First and foremost the adoption to sonship is not
simply a legal right to inherit, v. 7, but the real and inward giving of the
Spirit, v. 6.”
2.
Jn 1:12 - But to all who did accept him he gave
power to becomei children of God,to all who believe in the name of
himj. Footnotei – says “Var. ‘to be called’”; Footnote jsays ”‘to those who believe in his name’ omitted by
many of the Fathers.”
3.
Rm 8:14f,29 - Everyone movedh by the
spirit is a son of God (v. 14).The spirit you received is not the spirit of
slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it
makes us cry out ‘Abba, Father!’I(v. 15). They are the ones he chose
especially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son,q
so that the Son might be the eldest of many brothers (v. 29)Footnoteh
says“‘led’ seems inadequate: the Holy
Spirit is much more than one who inwardly admonishes, he is the principle of a
life truly divine, cf. Ga. 2:20”; Footnoteq says“Christ, the image of God in the primordial
creation, Col 1:15+; cf. Heb. 1:3, has now come, by a new creation, 2 Co 5:17+,
to restore to fallen man the splendor of
that image which has been darkened by sin, Gn 1:26+, 3:22-24+; Rm 5:12+. He
does this by forming man in a still more splendid image of a son of God (Rm
8:29); thus, sound moral judgment is restored to the ‘new man’, Col 3:10+, and
also his claim to glory which he had sacrificed by sin, Rm 3:23+. This glory
which Christ as the image of God possesses by right, 2 Co 4:4, is progressively
communicated to the Christian, 2 Co 3:18, until his body is itself clothed in
the image of the ‘heavenly man, 1 Co 15:49”.
Verse 27 says: All baptized in Christ,o you have
all clothed yourselves in Christ.Footnoteo
says“Faith and baptism are not being
contrasted, one involves the other, cf. Rm. 6:4+”.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Rm 6:4 - In other words, a when we were
baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, b
so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might
live a new life.Footnote a says“Lit. ‘therefore’; var. ‘for’”; Footnoteb says“Baptismis not separated from faith but goes with it,
Ga. 3:6f, Ep. 4:5, Heb. 10:22, cf. Ac. 12f,37, 16:31-33, 18:8, 19:2-5, and
gives it outward expression by the operative symbolism of the baptismal ceremonial.
For this reason, Paul ascribes to faith and to baptism the same effects (cf.
Ga. 2:16-20 and Rm. 6:3-9). The sinner is immersed in water (the etymological
meaning of ‘baptize’ is ‘dip’) and thus ‘buried’ with Christ, Col. 2:12, with
whom also he emerges to ‘resurrection’, Rm. 8:11+, as a ‘new creature’, 2 Co.
5:17+, a ‘new man’, Ep. 2:15+, a member of the one Body animated by the one
Spirit, 1 Co. 12:13, Ep. 4:4f. This resurrection will not be complete or final
until the end of time, 1 Co. 15:12+ (but cf. Ep. 2:6), but is already taking
place in the form of a new life lived ‘in the Spirit’, vv. 8:11,13, 8:2f, Ga.
5:16-24. The death-resurrection symbolism of baptism is particularly Pauline,
but this initial rite of Christian life, Heb. 6:22, is also spoken of in the
NT, as a cleansing bath, Ep.5:26, Heb. 10:22, cf. 1 Co. 6:11, Tt. 3:5, a new
birth, Jn. 3:5, Tt. 3:5, cf. 1 P. 1:3, cf. Ep. 5:14. On the baptism of water
and the baptism of the Spirit, cf. Ac. 1:5+;
these two aspects of the consecration of the Christian are apparently
the ‘anointing’ and the seal’ of 2 Co. 1:21f. According to 1 P. 3:21, the ark
of Noah is an antetype of baptism.
2.
Rm 13:14 - Let your armor be the Lord Jesus
Christ; forget about satisfying your bodies with all its cravings.
3.
Ep 4:24 - so that you can put on the new self that has
been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.nFootnoten says“Each human being should ‘put on the New
Man’, Ep 2:15+, (here, as in v. 22, translates ‘self’), so as to be re-created
in him, cf. Ga 3:27; Rm 13:14. In some places Paul talks in the same way about
the ‘new creature’, 2 Co 5:17+.”
Verse 28 says: and there are no
more distinctions between Jews and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but
all of you are one in Christ Jesus p.Footnote psays“Var.
‘you are all of Christ Jesus’”.
Parallel Texts are:
1.
Rm 10:12…it makes no distinction between Jews
and Greeks: all belong to the same Lord who…
2.
1 Co 12:13 - For in one Spirit we were all
baptized, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was
given for us all to drink.
3.
Col 3:11 - And in that image there is no room for
distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the
uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free men. There is
only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.fFootnote f - The new
creation will not be divided into races and religions and cultures and social
classes in the way the present creation has been since the Fall: the whole
world will be reunited in Christ.
Verse 29 says: Merely by
belonging to Christ you are the posterity of Abraham, the heirs he was promised.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Jn 17:21f - Maythey all be one, may they be one
in us as you Father, are in me and I in you, so that the world may believe that
it was you who sent me.
2.
Heb 6:12…never growing careless, but imitating
those who have the faith and the perseverance to inherit the promises.
3.
Jm 2:5 - Listen,
my dear brothers, it was those who are poor according the world that God chose
to be rich ine faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he
promised to those who love him?Footnote e says“i.e. poor in money”.
Peter’s Profession of
Faith
HOMILY FOT THE THEME “CHURCH”
1.
Two dimensions of the Church:
The church has two dimensions or shape: the material
and the spiritual dimension (2 Co. 4:16-1; 5:16).
The material dimension is called “visible church”, or the manifested Church, which is here on earth
being composed of people and things, like rituals or sacraments that are
subject to the laws of time and space and respond to material description and
physical law (1 Co. 12:27; Ef. 4:11-12).
The spiritual dimension is also called the “invisible
church”, or the unmanifested church, that has spiritual composition like
doctrines, teachings, and discipline that are implemented inside the church (Breviary
IV, p. 521; Dt. 32:8, 43; Job 38:7; Sal. 82:1; Dan. 7:10; Heb. 12:22-23; Apo.
4:2-5:15).
These two compositions of the Church, the material and
the spiritual, only shows the two compositions or nature of the person of Jesus
Christ who “was known in the flesh, but that is not what we know of him
today" (2 Co. 5:16).
It is true that the original state of Jesus Christ is
the divine, or spiritual, state, but he manifested himself in the material
state and remove his divine state so as redeem man from his sinful state and to
save him from the chastisement for sin (Phil 2:6-11).
Because of this, he restored back the Church, which is
the manifested sacrament of his glorious body, so that he could put all those
people whom God wants to save (Ac 4:47), from the evil world.
The Church being the Mystical Body of Christ whose
head is himself and all the members are its parts, form just one reality which
is “the Church united to his spouse who
is Christ, meanwhile she remains the
fruitful spouse who brings forth the children of God on earth” (Eph.
5:23-25).
The work of Jesus Christ in saving his own body does not merely consist of putting every one
inside the church under his charge, but to remove his church from the material
estate to her spiritual state.
Even if Jesus Christ took to flesh and assumed a physical,
or material, body, this happened in order to erase the material state and to
redeem it to become a glorious spiritual
body.
It is the same with the Church. Even if it is said
that she exists under physical or
material law, and under the law of the flesh, but she clearly shows the effort
of saving Christ’s Body from its material shape and state to its spiritual, or
heavenly, home, and to erase all material and physical things (2 Co. 4:16-18).
This is the result of our knowledge of the affairs of the
Church in the course of history as a human society, that, while the Church is
composed of living people on earth, she lives according to her spiritual
reality, she is pure and sincere in her spiritual work of teaching and
explaining the teachings of Christ. But if she lives according to the material
reality, what happened in the Church is her apostasy from the ideal, or
spiritual, teaching of religion and she surrendered herself under the influence
and lifestyle of this world which she should repudiate for the sake of the
superior teaching of the heavenly reality or religion (A religion is called
heavenly if this came from heaven itself, and was not founded by any man).
But he have a big hope in God, that even if our Holy
Mother Church has apostatized from the pure and spiritual teaching of Christ
and the apostles and turned to paganism, as the Apostle John narrated in his
book of the Apocalypse, about the Prostitute Woman who followed the power of
the dragon who was thrown down from heaven, but this woman had hoped for the
mercy of God like what happened to the prostitute Rahab (Jos 2:1-21; 6:17,
22-25; Hebr. 11:31; Jas. 2:25) who was saved from the fall of Jericho and united
to the children of God, who were the chosen people of Israel.
In the same way, this Church who apostatized since the
year 313 AD, which is the Constantine Church, that if she return back to God
and change from her pagan ways and from being used by the Dragon and his beasts
as their instrument, then she can return back to her being our Holy Mother
Church, our original Christian Church and the Church of God so that she can
return back into being his chosen people, the glorious heavenly Jerusalem, who
is the spouse of Christ. This renewed Church is what the Vatican Council II of
1962 AD would like to bring about.
2.
Regarding the saying “Outside the Church, there
is no salvation”:
According to the decree of Vatican Council II on
Ecumenism (UR), “For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church, which is the
all-embracing means of salvation, that the fullness of salvation can be
obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, which Peter is the head, that
we believe our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order
to establish on earth the one body of Christ” (UR 3). The custody and
proclamation of the word of revelation has been entrusted by Christ to the
Church, so that the salutary truths of his life, death and resurrection would
remain historically present in the world.”
Kun siring, an Sta. Iglesia natutubod asin nagtutukdo
na sa luwas kan Iglesia mayo nin kaligtasan sosog naman sa deklarasyon kan
banal na kasuratan na nagsasabi na “Sinda gabos nagkatiripon sa danay na
pamibi, kaiba an nagkapipirang babae, kaiba si Maria na ina ni jesus, asin an
saiyang mga tugang na lalaki…Sarong aldaw, nagtindog si Pedro tanganing
magtaram sa mga katugangan - igwa duman nin masyuento-beyteng persona sa
kongregasyon” (Gibo 1:14-15).
“An gabos na nag-aapod sa ngaran kan Kagurangnan
makakaligtas” (Gibo 2:21; 4:12; Rom. 10:9).
“Sa aldaw na iyan maabot sa tres mil katawo an
naidagdag sa saindang bilang. Nag-omaw sinda sa Dios asin tinitingara sindang
lambing saro. Aro-aldaw idinudugang sa saindang komunidad idtong nakadestinong
iligtas” (Gibo 2:41, 47).
An pinaka-tradisyonal asin pinakaharaning simbolo
tanganing malinaw na ikapaliwanag an katotoohan kan kasabihan na ini iyo an
dahong ni Noe na nagligtas kan pito katawo na miyembro kan pamilya niya sa
Dakulang Dilubyo (Gen. 6:14; Kad. 10:4; 2 P. 2:5; 1 P. 3:20; Gen/ 7:7). An arka
iyo an nagligtas sa pamilya ni Noes a dakulang baha asin idtong mga masumbikal
na tawo nasa luwas kan arka nagkaralamos asin napuho gabos.
Siring kaini an ladawan kan Sta. Iglesia. Siya sarong
dahong na pailihan kan mga tawong boot nin Dios na ikaligtas sa makasalan na
kinaban, asin idtong mga tawong habong magtubod sa Dios asin minadanay na nasa
luwas kan Sta. Iglesia namemeligrong magadan asin mapuho.
An Sta. Iglesia igwa nin misyon na magsapod kan mga
tawo hale sa dakulang baha nin pagkakasala, asin darahon an gabos na tawo
pasiring sa laog kan Iglesia. Huli kaini, an Iglesia nagigin sarong tanda, o
sakramento, unibersal nin kaligatasan (Konstitusyon Pastoral kan Konsilyo
Vaticano II dapit sa Iglesias a Modernong Kinaban - GS 40, 45, Brebyaryo, IV,
p. 403) Hilnga man an Ad Gntes 4-5, Breb, IV, pahina 1762). Dapit sa trabaho
(serbisyo) asin misyon kan Sta, Iglesia, an mga ini iyo an tutukaron sa
pag-abot kan temang “Ministeryo asin Misyon” para sa bulan na Nobyembre 2000.
3.
Pagtalikod kan Sta. Iglesia:
An pagtalikod kan Sta. Iglesia dai nangangahulugan na
an Sta. Iglesia an naitalikod o nagtalikod kundi an mga miyembro sana. Hilnga
Juan 6:66; 16:32; Mt. 26:30-31, 56)
An Sta. Iglesiang tunay na pinamamayohan ni Kristo dai
nanggad naitalikod nin siisya pa man sosog sa Mt. 16:16 na iyo an pangako ni
Kristo para sa Sta. Iglesia.
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