Pope Francis delivered his homily from a wheelchair in front of the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica on June 5, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jun 5, 2022 / 05:30 am (CNA).
Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost 2022, which was celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 5, 2022.
In the final words of the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus says something that can offer us hope and make us think. He tells his disciples: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all I have said to you (Jn 14:26). “Everything,” “all” – these words are striking; they make us wonder: how does the Spirit give this new and full understanding to those who receive him? It is not about quantity, or an academic question: God does not want to make us encyclopedias or polymaths. No. It is a question of quality, perspective, perception. The Spirit makes us see everything in a new way, with the eyes of Jesus. I would put it this way: in the great journey of life, the Spirit teaches us where to begin, what paths to take, and how to walk.
First, where to begin. The Spirit points out to us the starting point of the spiritual life. What is it? Jesus speaks of it in the first verse of the Gospel, when he says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). If you love me, you will keep … this is the “logic” of the Spirit. We tend to think the exact opposite: if we keep the commandments, we will love Jesus. We tend to think that love comes from our keeping, our fidelity and our devotion. Yet the Spirit reminds us that without love as our basis, all the rest is in vain. And that love comes not so much from our abilities, but as his gift. He teaches us to love and we have to ask for this gift. The Spirit of love pours love into our hearts, he makes us feel loved and he teaches us how to love. He is the “motor” of our spiritual lives. He set it in motion within us. But if we do not begin from the Spirit, or with the Spirit or through the Spirit, we will get nowhere.
The Spirit himself reminds us of this, because he is the memory of God, the one who brings to our minds all that Jesus has said (cf. v. 26). The Holy Spirit is an active memory; he constantly rekindles the love of God in our hearts. We have experienced his presence in the forgiveness of our sins, in moments when we are filled with his peace, his freedom and his consolation. It is essential to cherish this spiritual memory. We always remember the things that go wrong; we listen to the voice within us that reminds us of our failures and failings, the voice that keeps saying: “Look, yet another failure, yet another disappointment. You will never succeed; you cannot do it.” This is a terrible thing to be told. Yet the Holy Spirit tells us something completely different. He reminds us: “Have you fallen? You are a son or daughter of God. You are a unique, elect, precious and beloved child. Even when you lose confidence in yourself, God has confidence in you!” This is the “memory” of the Spirit, what the Spirit constantly reminds us: God knows you. You may forget about God, but he does not forget about you. He remembers you always.
You, however, may well object: these are nice words, but I have problems, hurts and worries that cannot be removed by facile words of comfort! Yet that is precisely where the Holy Spirit asks you to let him in. Because he, the Consoler, is the Spirit of healing, of resurrection, who can transform the hurts burning within you. He teaches us not to harbor the memory of all those people and situations that have hurt us, but to let him purify those memories by his presence. That is what he did with the apostles and their failures. They had deserted Jesus before the Passion; Peter had denied him; Paul had persecuted Christians. We too think of our own mistakes. How many of them, and so much guilt! Left to themselves, they had no way out. Left to themselves, no. But with the Comforter, yes. Because the Spirit heals memories. How? By putting at the top of the list the thing that really matters: the memory of God’s love, his loving gaze. In this way, he sets our lives in order. He teaches us to accept one another, to forgive one another and to forgive ourselves; he teaches us to be reconciled with the past. And to set out anew.
In addition to reminding us where to begin, the Spirit teaches us what paths to take. We see this in the second reading, where Saint Paul explains that those “led by the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14) “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). The Spirit, at every crossroads in our lives, suggests to us the best path to follow. It is important, then, to be able to distinguish his voice from the voice of the spirit of evil. Both speak to us: we need to learn to distinguish the voice of the Spirit, to be able to recognize that voice and follow its lead, to follow the things he tells us.
Let us consider some examples. The Holy Spirit will never tell you that on your journey everything is going just fine. He will never tell you this, because it isn’t true. No, he corrects you; he makes you weep for your sins; he pushes you to change, to fight against your lies and deceptions, even when that calls for hard work, interior struggle and sacrifice. Whereas the evil spirit, on the contrary, pushes you to always do what you want, what you find pleasing. He makes you think that you have the right to use your freedom any way you want. Then, once you are left feeling empty inside – it is bad, this feeling of emptiness inside, many of us have felt it – and when you are left feeling empty inside, he blames you and casts you down. He blames you, becomes the accuser. He throws you down, destroys you. The Holy Spirit, correcting you along the way, never leaves you lying on the ground, never. He takes you by the hand, comforts you and constantly encourages you.
Then again, whenever you feel troubled by bitterness, pessimism and negativity – how many times have we fallen into this! – then it is good to remember that these things never come from the Holy Spirit. Bitterness, pessimism, sad thoughts, these never come from the Holy Spirit. They come from evil, which is at home with negativity. It often uses this strategy: it stokes impatience and self-pity, and with self-pity the need to blame others for all our problems. It makes us edgy, suspicious, and querulous. Complaining is the language of the evil spirit; he wants to make you complain, to be gloomy, to put on a funeral face. The Holy Spirit on the other hand urges us never to lose heart and always to start over again. He always encourages you to get up. He takes you by the hand and says: “Get up!” How do we do that? By jumping right in, without waiting for someone else. And by spreading hope and joy, not complaints; never envying others, never — envy is the door through which the evil spirit enters. The Bible tells us this: by the envy of the devil, evil entered the world. So never be envious! — but the Holy Spirit brings you goodness; he leads you to rejoice in the success of others.
The Holy Spirit is practical, he is not an idealist. He wants us to concentrate on the here and now, because the time and place in which we find ourselves are themselves grace-filled. These are concrete times and places of grace, here and now. That is where the Holy Spirit is leading us. The spirit of evil, however, would pull us away from the here and now, and put us somewhere else. Often he anchors us to the past: to our regrets, our nostalgia, our disappointments. Or else he points us to the future, fueling our fears, illusions and false hopes. But not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit leads us to love, concretely, here and now, not an ideal world or an ideal Church, an ideal religious congregation, but the real ones, as they are, seen in broad light of day, with transparency and simplicity. How very different from the evil one, who foments gossip and idle chatter. Idle chatter is a nasty habit; it destroys a person’s identity.
The Holy Spirit wants us to be together; he makes us Church and today – here is the third and final aspect – he teaches the Church how to walk. The disciples were cowering in the Upper Room; the Spirit then came down and made them go forth. Without the Spirit, they were alone, by themselves, huddled together. With the Spirit, they were open to all. In every age, the Spirit overturns our preconceived notions and opens us to his newness. God, the Spirit, is always new! He constantly teaches the Church the vital importance of going forth, impelled to proclaim the Gospel. The importance of our being, not a secure sheepfold, but an open pasture where all can graze on God’s beauty. He teaches us to be an open house without walls of division. The worldly spirit drives us to concentrate on our own problems and interests, on our need to appear relevant, on our strenuous defense of the nation or group to which we belong. That is not the way of the Holy Spirit. He invites us to forget ourselves and to open our hearts to all. In that way, he makes the Church grow young. We need to remember this: the Spirit rejuvenates the Church. Not us and our efforts to dress her up a bit. For the Church cannot be “programmed” and every effort at “modernization” is not enough. The Spirit liberates us from obsession with emergencies. He beckons us to walk his paths, ever ancient and ever new, the paths of witness, poverty and mission, and in this way, he sets us free from ourselves and sends us forth into the world.
And finally, oddly, the Holy Spirit is the author of division, of ruckus, of a certain disorder. Think of the morning of Pentecost: he is the author… he creates division of languages and attitudes… it was a ruckus, that! Yet at the same time, he is the author of harmony. He divides with the variety of charisms, but it is a false division, because true division is part of harmony. He creates division with charisms and he creates harmony with all this division. This is the richness of the Church.
Brothers and sisters, let us sit at the school of the Holy Spirit, so that he can teach us all things. Let us invoke him each day, so that he can remind us to make God’s gaze upon us our starting point, to make decisions by listening to his voice, and to journey together as Church, docile to him and open to the world. Amen.
[…]
Thanks for a good theological lesson on the relation of the assumption with the Immaculate Conception. And with that Mary’s perfect cooperation with Christ’s grace. With that truth is freedom, the liberum arbitrium of free choice in pursuit of God’s will. Grace doesn’t remove that freedom, as it was similar to Christ’s human nature and the real suffering that included distress, doubt [My God my God why have you forsaken me?]. Sanctity and perfection for Man consists in these anomalies to perfection. Mary’s state was unique, closely related to her son’s human nature. Did Mary suffer alongside our Lord his passion? It’s widely acknowledged for our Mater Dolorosa. In relation may we compare Mary’s state on Earth to her enthronement in Heaven? Again, her cooperation on earth had merit precisely because it was not that of a heavenly enthroned mother with divinely imparted knowledge, as if she were already Seat of Wisdom who knew all the outcomes. We find evidence in her grief when Jesus remains in Jerusalem without her knowledge, when she seems rebuffed when Jesus responds to her request, Who are my mother and my brothers? And the widely acknowledged pain she suffered when at the Cross, Woman! There is your son. Cana and the first miracle portending the Holy Eucharist. Her refusal to accept an apparent no and command [she held a significant position at this wedding banquet] the waiters to return to Jesus and follow his instructions is truly a mysterious event. A sign of her motherly authority, Christ’s obedience to her, aware from experience he was capable of miracles. Was it prescient knowledge of the Passion, the Precious Blood? It appears more the saga of the most noble suffering mother doing what she knows best during her mist enshrouded journey in participation with Jesus and the salvation of Man.
” Was it prescient knowledge of the Passion, the Precious Blood?”…
We can surely think so. After 18 years since the grief of losing him in Jerusalem, was Mary now signaling Christ that, yes, she was now fully ready to go with Him for what was to come?
Grace touches and infuses nature, without annihilating any of it. Mary consents, fully. Such a total bond between Mary and Christ (as now between Christ and His Church), such that both totally understood each other. He waited until she repeated “fiat” a second time. Then, to the wine stewards, we are also invited, “[you too], do whatever He tells you.”
Whatever this is, it isn’t the colorless and collarless (Batzing) marionettes of the German “synodal way” new-church.
Please elaborate on the 18 years.
Lost in Jerusalem as roughly a 12 years old. Then started his ministry approximately age 30. We dont know what happened in Jesus or Mary’s life during those 18 years. Peter above appears to be suggesting I think that Mary came to understand what lay ahead for Jesus during that period.
Carpenter
There is a parallel with the life of Our Lord in the womb of His Mother. We get a glimpse of the beginning — the Annunciation for His life in the womb, the Nativity (and a few events immediately following) for His public life. We get a glimpse partway to the end — the greeting of Elizabeth, the finding in the Temple. Then we have more expansive narration of the end — the Nativity, the Baptism through the Resurrection. I think there’s something to this recapitulation, but I don’t know what that might be.
For that matter, the drying of the waters of the Flood recapitulates the creation. The clouds thin enough for a day/night cycle to become apparent, but the sun, moon, and stars do not become visible until much later, etc. Again, there is a pattern, but the significance is elusive.
Thank you Carl for sharing those beautiful words of Wisdom.
Thanks be to God
Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good, His Mercy endures forever.
Amen
Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
As already said, thank you for another good theological lesson. One thing that I find disconcerting is that few Catholic Churches are offering more than 1 Mass today. I realize than since this is falling on a Monday it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, the mass requirement is not in place. Nevertheless, what is going on, pastors should still have additional Masses, ie evening masses for today, to allow for more attendance at Mass today. We need to have the time to honor Our Blessed Mother, Jesus’ Mother, by going to Mass in her honor.
Morning, noon and night would be good.
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Romans 1:22,23.
Thanks for those verses dealing with idolatry. Has nothing to do with the Assumption of Mary.
Difficult teachings can mould us in to better servants. If we believe Holy Scripture, we honour the one who laid down His life to redeem us from the curse of sin. Examining the following verses will lead us on the Lords path. Is that not best for eternal soul?
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Luke 1:38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Matthew 1:25 But knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Galatians 1:19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.
Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him.
Let us hold the mother of Jesus in high regard and yet, let Holy Scripture be our guide, not trying to draw attention away from Jesus Christ.
Nothing in holding the Mother of Jesus in high regard draws a Catholic’s attention away from Jesus Christ. You should try to venerate her the way Catholics do Brian, you will find your attention and love for Jesus will grow exponentially.
Hello Duane,
God’s word put matters in proper perspective. You will want to add your biblical outlook on this important topic!
Thank you and looking forward to your response.
God bless you,
Brian
Luke 1:48 For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
Luke 8:21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Brian,
When the angel appeared to Mary to let her know that she will become the mother of God, he addressed her as “Full of Grace”.
If grace is what saves us, then even before she conceived the Lord she was already full of it, full of the grace needed to be saved.
Dear Cory:
It is good when brothers in Christ strive together. It might be argued (that through faith we are full of grace). Are we on the level of the Virgin Mary, no indeed and yet God loves us and gives the measure of grace that is needed.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3:24 And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Titus 3:7 So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Blessings in Christ,
Brian
Brian,
You quote: Luke 1:48 For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
Elizabeth also said that she is blessed of all women.
My question to you: Do you follow the Bible and call her blessed?
Luke 8:21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
And who heard the word of God and kept it more perfectly than Mary? Upon hearing the angel’s words she said “Be it done to me according to thy word”. She could have been stoned to death for being pregnant without a husband. That was a real possibility and yet she said: Be it done to me according to your word.
Brian,
Regarding the brothers of Jesus, you might want to have a look at this talk by Dr Brant Pitre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-p38y9cjU
Thank you Cory for suggesting Brant Pitre’s view on the brothers of Jesus. His comments deserve a counterpoint and I am willing to address this with you. Let us take one point at a time, speak to it it and move to the next point.
Bring your first proposition. Alas, I am not a biblical scholar, nor a preacher, bur a layman who loves the Lord Jesus and delights in His word. All the same, we should have a fruitful discussion.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
Blessings of peace and discernment,
Brian Young
Hi Brian,
You say a lot here that does not in any way address the link to Dr Pitre’s video.
In my discussions with Protestants of one denomination or another (I assume you are one) I have found that without exception, when the topic gets hard they evade it and move on to another point or simply quote Bible verses that are not germane to the subject and unfortunately this is what your responses are like.
You assume that by dumping a few Bible verses you have made your point but you haven’t. You have to give an exegesis.
To you response on AUGUST 16, 2022 AT 5:08 PM, it is the same thing.
My point about about the address by the angel is that “Full of Grace” was addressed to Mary even before she conceived the Lord. So if the Lord’s death is the means by which we are saved by grace then clearly that grace was already given to Mary even before that death happened. What ever grace you received you received after you were born and after Christ’s atoning death. But Mary received hers even before the event of that atoning death.
Dear Cory:
Thank you for your thoughts. Rather than “evading” the proposition, I fully invite you to take a point that rings true and present it! It would be a pleasure to dialogue with you. As we attempt to honour God, we seek His light and inspiration to aid our fellow man.
Looking forward to reading your first point in scripture and interacting with you.
In Christ’s name,
Brian Y
We know we are helpless without Jesus so we implore His Mother to intercede on our behalf.
…On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”. Sinless people do not need a savior.
Mary, the creature, did exactly as God, the Creator, told her to do. She obeyed God as she was destined to do before the foundation of the universe….nothing more, nothing less. It is sinful man that is trying to exalt a fellow servant with god-like worship or veneration.
You sound like a broken record of not correlated scripture pieces. The Blessed Virgin Mary, a human creature, was redeemed and freed from any stain of sin at her conception by the grace of the Son of God our Savior who is the I AM – out of time – but eternal. The Son of God willed for Himself an immaculate womb and an all holy mother, and He wants her honored as such. The Church’s doctrines, Immaculate Conception, Mother of God, and her Assumption into heaven, soul and body, and crowned Queen of heaven is the faith of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Alas, you do not seem to be catholic. I recommend praying the holy rosary, the Mother of God will lead you to Jesus and His Truth.
Brian,
Mary is both: saved by God and also sinless.
You can look at it this way. We were all saved after we have fallen into the pit. Mary was saved from falling into the pit. Her sinlessness is not of her own making, it was a singular grace from God.
Many explain this sinless state as not being necessary but more as being fitting to the Son that she would bear.
But I think it is necessary. In Christ and Mary, God was starting anew. Christ is the new Adam, Mary the new Eve. As such they both have to be sinless just as Adam and Eve were – at the beginning of the first creation.
Hello Brian,
Neither of those passages in any way criticizes those who venerate members of the Church Triumphant who heard the Word of God and followed that Word. Since neither of the passages address anything to do with veneration of the Saints, again it is obvious that your interpretation of Scripture is highly flawed.
In the Peace of Christ
Duane
Dear Duane:
Thank you for your comment. Though you have spoken in general, would you take a verse and explain where you feel it is out of place?
Our aim is to glorify God and reveal His truth so that we are assured in His unwavering promises to those who are in Christ.
Blessings of godly wisdom,
Brian
I was thinking that often familiarity with the text can sometimes cause it to fly past us.
As I listened to the Gospel I was struck quite forcefully by this line from the Magnificat : And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
Not cheap mercy. Mercy on those who fear Him.
Be with us O Mary along the way – Guide every step we take. Happy feast of Assumption.
You can definitely see where bad theology can cruelly lead. Can you imagine if Mary was to give birth to Jesus today? We would have 2 of the shining stars of the Catholic faith–Biden and Pelosi—-give their hearty approval and encouragement to abort the Savior and not even reflect on their lifelong Catholic teaching. The best thing to abort is Catholic man-made traditions and trust in the Creator’s Word.
Brian, do you know that before there was a Bible, traditions came first? How did the Gospels come about? Did Jesus come with the New Testament? Did the Bible fall from the sky already bound and divided into verses? Read Luke Chapter 1.
Do not disdain the Catholic man-made traditions because without those, there would have been no Creator’s Word to talk about that is the Bible. Did everyone know how to read and write from the beginning? Did everyone have pen and paper with which to write?*
Who do you think compiled all the 72 books that is now considered the Bible? During Jesus’ time, only the Old Testament was in existence.
And read this: 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
Now don’t quote Mk 7:7-13 because it is totally a different context —when Jesus was talking about the more than 600 laws that the Jews were made to observe like cleaning the outside of the cup but inside is steaming vermin.
For the sake of CHRiST and His Church!
*Oh, and to add a little humor…there was a popular meme about Moses being the first to download from the cloud into two stone tablets. I forgot about that.
Christ is a King in the line of David. In the Davidic Kingdom the queen was the king’s mother, the Gebirah. One of her duties was to be an intercessor between the king and the people. See 1 Kings 2:13-25. Mary was acting like the Queen Mother at the Miracle at the Wedding Feast of Cana. Establishing the Davidic bloodline of Christ is what the genealogies in the New Testament are used for. The Catholic Church has Jewish roots. The Old Testament is in the Bible for a reason. The New Testament is read in conjunction with the Old Testament. Dr. Brant Pitre has done a lot of work on the Jewish roots of Catholicism. He says that when Church teachings appear strange it is because they have Jewish roots that require knowing the Old Testament. The New Testament takes place in a predominantly first century Jewish cultural context. Dr Pitre has many videos on YouTube. Two on this subject are:
*
The Queen Mother:
*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TpjIoec7zQ
*
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary Book (Intro):
*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLeWJ91bahU
Brian, you assume way too much about Biden and Pelosi’s Catholicism. The Lord clearly told us that until the end of time the wheat and the weeds will grow together in the Church and God will sort them out at the judgement.!
You will never understand the Catholic Church if you rely on quoting Scripture out of context. I entered the Catholic Church from a Protestant background over 20 years ago, a gift of grace, Christ’s peace to you.
Welcome HOME, Christine!
Romans 5:12 (ESV)
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV) 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
And, just as Christ came into the world through the perfect faith and womb of Mary, Mary was saved from sin and death through her perfect Son and His divine life. As the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches have all held from the first century on.
Jesus came into the world through the perfect will of the Father. The perfect faith of Mary as an agent is very troubling. Just-because-you-say-so is not a strong recommendation and you left out the need for the cross.
“The perfect faith of Mary as an agent is very troubling.”
How so? It wasn’t troubling to the angel, who declared: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”
Nor to her Son, who clearly highlights Mary’s faith when He says: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Because Mary hears the word and obeys: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And do you think so little of this remarkable declaration by Gabriel?
“Just-because-you-say-so is not a strong recommendation…”
How about the entire witness of 20 centuries of saints, martyrs, and ordinary believers? The same ones who kept and preserved Scriptue.
And how about this:
Those are quotes from Martin Luther.
“…you left out the need for the cross.”
No, you are just assuming the worst of me, as if when I remark on Christ’s saving work I somehow do not include His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension?
Mary Full of Grace then had the possibility to fall from Grace just like the First Eve. The ethereal perfections spoken over Mary rob us of the identification we could have with her as fallen humans. Like relics, and the power pronounced in them (just-because-I-said-so), the rhetorical foundation for the Mary stuff is human in origin so it has that much true power. It has the same persuasion of you are going to hell if you miss Mass.
Awesome image of the BVM at the top.
Your own commentary, all too human and in part less than human; mind, a robber spirit upon you with it. If you ask the BVM to make it go she’ll get it done.
What else would you ask her.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/files.catholicworldreport.com/2018/04/assumption_top-678×375.jpg
Long tradition means we’re stuck with the word “assumption”, but to just about anyone who isn’t Catholic, that means “axiom” or “postulate”. I almost wish we could get away with saying “the Rapture of Mary”, because, regardless of the dodginess of the Protestant idea of “the rapture”, it really did happen to Her. But that would no doubt come with its own set of problems.
“The Blessed Virgin Mary: Sinless by grace, saved by grace, assumed by grace.”
Beautiful🙏✝️💕🌹
You can repeat this all you want, still doesn’t make it true. Scriptures to uphold your position??
Mr Brian there’s more than Scripture. There’s Sacred Tradition.
🙂
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
King James Version (KJV)
Thank you knowall. That’s my favorite version of the Bible even though it’s usually missing several books.
What does it take for lapsed-Catholic trolls,
to stop sticking and stinking to CWR soles?