FOR EIGHTEEN CENTURIES THIS PREDICTION HAS BEEN FULFILLED WITH UNCHANGING FAITHFULNESS

Posted on April 24, 2023 by franksantucci

The Church, mother of all Christians, is called to carry in her womb all the peoples of the earth blessed in Jesus Christ… Her divine Founder predicted that “the gates of hell shall never prevail against her” (Mt 16:18) and for eighteen centuries this prediction has never ceased to be fulfilled with unwavering faithfulness.

… How many furious storms has the ship of the Church been battered by, as it moves forward on the stormy waves? It often seems as if it is going to be submerged, and suddenly calm is restored and those who were perishing are saved each time to be saved a thousand times more

Pastoral letter of Bishop de Mazenod to the Diocese of Marseilles for Lent 1847

REFLECTION

“The world has always shown hostility to the message of God – a truth which ought to give some concern to the contemporary church existing for the most part rather comfortably in a world of increasing wickedness.” (Robert Mounce)

{Revelation, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1977, p. 227)

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One Response to FOR EIGHTEEN CENTURIES THIS PREDICTION HAS BEEN FULFILLED WITH UNCHANGING FAITHFULNESS

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    April 24, 2023 at 12:23

    This morning Acts spoke of how some plotted against Stephen, getting others to bear false witness against him; and here Eugene writes of the many furious storms that have battered the ship of the Church.

    Today in this twenty-third century we have a Church that is battered every bit as much from within as from those outside of her. I have friends who have told me that if the “Church” (meaning her bishops) does not change immediately (with respect to women, 2SLGBTQ+ and any other groups that are deemed to be ignored and ‘less than’) they will leave her, they will quit even if it means no longer having access to the sacraments.

    Yesterday with the Gospel from Luke about the disciples on their journey to Emmaus we celebrated how even as “we are walking the wrong way”, away from God in a sense, Jesus was right there walking with them, just as he is with us now…

    Called, not to give up and quit, but rather to walk through our challenges and struggles, with the unwavering faithfulness that Eugene spoke of and that the disciples modelled as they left Emmaus to return to Jerusalem.

    “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent.” (John 6:29) Unfailing faithfulness…

    Reply

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