Personal Image (c) April 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wizja Piekła Wg św Teresa Z Avila
unit daily
Letter to the Ephesians 4:1-6
The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Ephesus while he is in prison because of the Good News received from Christ. He knows this community, since he already had the opportunity to meet during his third missionary journey in Asia Minor. And when he arrived, there was an uproar among the proclaimers of the Gospel and craftsmen fashioning statues of the temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, temple regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
This short reminder and put this in perspective I think are important for the rest of reflection.
In today's text, Paul emphasizes the unity of faith. Have faith, practice, implies a whole way of living worthy of this new faith to the Ephesians: I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation that was sent to you in all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, you strive to maintain unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace . I find that Paul sets the bar high! Because, believe it or not, in church or in everyday life, in our relationships with our loved ones, colleagues or strangers, it is not always easy to be humble and gentle. It happens to me, but probably you too, out of my hinges!
I think the message of Paul is not an invitation to fall in sentimentality, in a kind of behavior "everyone is good, everyone is nice!" The central message of this paper is that unity in the Spirit and the oneness of God are obvious, the pillars of faith that can not be questioned. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, which is above all and through all and in all.
new vocation to which the believers in Ephesus were called is that of being, these pagans, non-Jews, members of Christ's body, that body which will soon take the name of the Church. Thus, being members of the body of Jesus Christ means to reject all other gods, all idols that have been theirs before. And this is the reminder of the tumult among the craftsmen who fashioned replicas of the temple of Artemis and Paul is important. If we believe in God, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Paul stresses here), we must therefore distract us from the idols of our world and they are numerous, these images made by human hands. Consider for example the money that rules the world financial crisis and that is our society Diving in panic! The desire to win still more, the fear of running out. The social and professional success: acquiring prestige and consideration of others, be recognized, have a certain lifestyle, owning property.
My purpose is not to disparage all that and pretend that it is unhealthy to have a certain comfort. No! What I want to highlight, echoing what Paul is the place we give to these conveniences in our lives. Are these elements become so indispensable that we tend to deify or are they the means to live?
For Paul, just as Christ has said before, he can not serve two masters at once. God is the only master who deserves to be served and followed by the mediator that he has sent into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. This God is so rich fullness that He is, as Paul says: above all, and through all and in all . It fills us with his blessings beyond our expectations and gives us his grace without us by our deeds deserve.
Obviously we're all different, each with its own personality, its strengths and weaknesses. We all own a life that is ours. But believers in one God, we are united to Him and each other by the Holy Spirit. This is not a spirit of rivalry or jealousy, but a spirit of unity and union. In the first letter that Paul addressed the Corinthians, he speaks the body: Thus, the body is not a single member, but it consists of several members ... You are the body of Christ, and you are its members, each for his share.
Being members of the body of Christ is to share one faith, one hope, one baptism, though in fact they can take slightly different forms. Our churches have a heart to live their faith in the unity but not uniformity. It is not erase our peculiarities, to deny us our origins or blend into a sort of "standard religion", but to live together in unity of body, to share together the faith and hope we place in the God of heaven while retaining what makes our own identity. We grow from it!
Before concluding, I would make a nod to John Calvin, the French reformer this year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his birth. Calvin devotes considerable space to the Spirit. For him, faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The latter uses faith as the glue that binds us to Christ. It is also the Spirit, the third form Trinity, which gives us the assurance of being saved not by our own actions, but by the unmerited grace of God alone. But I'll stop here because this topic deserves its own long hours of debate.
Returning to what the apostle to the Gentiles, who has had the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. He exhorts us to live unity in everyday life, we stand to each other, respecting us as we are, each a full member of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also reminds us that it is through peace that we live this unity bestowed by the Spirit. It is not easy, it is not innate. It's a challenge every day! But if we place our trust and hope in the One God and Father of all, recognizing him as the sole master worthy of being served and followed, then we may be living members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, members audacious ready to live a life worthy of the vocation that has been addressed.
Amen.
Image source: personal photo (c) April 2009.
The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Ephesus while he is in prison because of the Good News received from Christ. He knows this community, since he already had the opportunity to meet during his third missionary journey in Asia Minor. And when he arrived, there was an uproar among the proclaimers of the Gospel and craftsmen fashioning statues of the temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, temple regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
This short reminder and put this in perspective I think are important for the rest of reflection.
In today's text, Paul emphasizes the unity of faith. Have faith, practice, implies a whole way of living worthy of this new faith to the Ephesians: I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation that was sent to you in all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, you strive to maintain unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace . I find that Paul sets the bar high! Because, believe it or not, in church or in everyday life, in our relationships with our loved ones, colleagues or strangers, it is not always easy to be humble and gentle. It happens to me, but probably you too, out of my hinges!
I think the message of Paul is not an invitation to fall in sentimentality, in a kind of behavior "everyone is good, everyone is nice!" The central message of this paper is that unity in the Spirit and the oneness of God are obvious, the pillars of faith that can not be questioned. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, which is above all and through all and in all.
new vocation to which the believers in Ephesus were called is that of being, these pagans, non-Jews, members of Christ's body, that body which will soon take the name of the Church. Thus, being members of the body of Jesus Christ means to reject all other gods, all idols that have been theirs before. And this is the reminder of the tumult among the craftsmen who fashioned replicas of the temple of Artemis and Paul is important. If we believe in God, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Paul stresses here), we must therefore distract us from the idols of our world and they are numerous, these images made by human hands. Consider for example the money that rules the world financial crisis and that is our society Diving in panic! The desire to win still more, the fear of running out. The social and professional success: acquiring prestige and consideration of others, be recognized, have a certain lifestyle, owning property.
My purpose is not to disparage all that and pretend that it is unhealthy to have a certain comfort. No! What I want to highlight, echoing what Paul is the place we give to these conveniences in our lives. Are these elements become so indispensable that we tend to deify or are they the means to live?
For Paul, just as Christ has said before, he can not serve two masters at once. God is the only master who deserves to be served and followed by the mediator that he has sent into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. This God is so rich fullness that He is, as Paul says: above all, and through all and in all . It fills us with his blessings beyond our expectations and gives us his grace without us by our deeds deserve.
Obviously we're all different, each with its own personality, its strengths and weaknesses. We all own a life that is ours. But believers in one God, we are united to Him and each other by the Holy Spirit. This is not a spirit of rivalry or jealousy, but a spirit of unity and union. In the first letter that Paul addressed the Corinthians, he speaks the body: Thus, the body is not a single member, but it consists of several members ... You are the body of Christ, and you are its members, each for his share.
Being members of the body of Christ is to share one faith, one hope, one baptism, though in fact they can take slightly different forms. Our churches have a heart to live their faith in the unity but not uniformity. It is not erase our peculiarities, to deny us our origins or blend into a sort of "standard religion", but to live together in unity of body, to share together the faith and hope we place in the God of heaven while retaining what makes our own identity. We grow from it!
Before concluding, I would make a nod to John Calvin, the French reformer this year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his birth. Calvin devotes considerable space to the Spirit. For him, faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The latter uses faith as the glue that binds us to Christ. It is also the Spirit, the third form Trinity, which gives us the assurance of being saved not by our own actions, but by the unmerited grace of God alone. But I'll stop here because this topic deserves its own long hours of debate.
Returning to what the apostle to the Gentiles, who has had the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. He exhorts us to live unity in everyday life, we stand to each other, respecting us as we are, each a full member of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also reminds us that it is through peace that we live this unity bestowed by the Spirit. It is not easy, it is not innate. It's a challenge every day! But if we place our trust and hope in the One God and Father of all, recognizing him as the sole master worthy of being served and followed, then we may be living members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, members audacious ready to live a life worthy of the vocation that has been addressed.
Amen.
Image source: personal photo (c) April 2009.
Wizja Piekła Wg św Teresa Z Avila
unit daily
Letter to the Ephesians 4:1-6
The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Ephesus while he is in prison because of the Good News received from Christ. He knows this community, since he already had the opportunity to meet during his third missionary journey in Asia Minor. And when he arrived, there was an uproar among the proclaimers of the Gospel and craftsmen fashioning statues of the temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, temple regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
This short reminder and put this in perspective I think are important for the rest of reflection.
In today's text, Paul emphasizes the unity of faith. Have faith, practice, implies a whole way of living worthy of this new faith to the Ephesians: I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation that was sent to you in all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, you strive to maintain unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace . I find that Paul sets the bar high! Because, believe it or not, in church or in everyday life, in our relationships with our loved ones, colleagues or strangers, it is not always easy to be humble and gentle. It happens to me, but probably you too, out of my hinges!
I think the message of Paul is not an invitation to fall in sentimentality, in a kind of behavior "everyone is good, everyone is nice!" The central message of this paper is that unity in the Spirit and the oneness of God are obvious, the pillars of faith that can not be questioned. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, which is above all and through all and in all.
new vocation to which the believers in Ephesus were called is that of being, these pagans, non-Jews, members of Christ's body, that body which will soon take the name of the Church. Thus, being members of the body of Jesus Christ means to reject all other gods, all idols that have been theirs before. And this is the reminder of the tumult among the craftsmen who fashioned replicas of the temple of Artemis and Paul is important. If we believe in God, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Paul stresses here), we must therefore distract us from the idols of our world and they are numerous, these images made by human hands. Consider for example the money that rules the world financial crisis and that is our society Diving in panic! The desire to win still more, the fear of running out. The social and professional success: acquiring prestige and consideration of others, be recognized, have a certain lifestyle, owning property.
My purpose is not to disparage all that and pretend that it is unhealthy to have a certain comfort. No! What I want to highlight, echoing what Paul is the place we give to these conveniences in our lives. Are these elements become so indispensable that we tend to deify or are they the means to live?
For Paul, just as Christ has said before, he can not serve two masters at once. God is the only master who deserves to be served and followed by the mediator that he has sent into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. This God is so rich fullness that He is, as Paul says: above all, and through all and in all . It fills us with his blessings beyond our expectations and gives us his grace without us by our deeds deserve.
Obviously we're all different, each with its own personality, its strengths and weaknesses. We all own a life that is ours. But believers in one God, we are united to Him and each other by the Holy Spirit. This is not a spirit of rivalry or jealousy, but a spirit of unity and union. In the first letter that Paul addressed the Corinthians, he speaks the body: Thus, the body is not a single member, but it consists of several members ... You are the body of Christ, and you are its members, each for his share.
Being members of the body of Christ is to share one faith, one hope, one baptism, though in fact they can take slightly different forms. Our churches have a heart to live their faith in the unity but not uniformity. It is not erase our peculiarities, to deny us our origins or blend into a sort of "standard religion", but to live together in unity of body, to share together the faith and hope we place in the God of heaven while retaining what makes our own identity. We grow from it!
Before concluding, I would make a nod to John Calvin, the French reformer this year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his birth. Calvin devotes considerable space to the Spirit. For him, faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The latter uses faith as the glue that binds us to Christ. It is also the Spirit, the third form Trinity, which gives us the assurance of being saved not by our own actions, but by the unmerited grace of God alone. But I'll stop here because this topic deserves its own long hours of debate.
Returning to what the apostle to the Gentiles, who has had the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. He exhorts us to live unity in everyday life, we stand to each other, respecting us as we are, each a full member of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also reminds us that it is through peace that we live this unity bestowed by the Spirit. It is not easy, it is not innate. It's a challenge every day! But if we place our trust and hope in the One God and Father of all, recognizing him as the sole master worthy of being served and followed, then we may be living members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, members audacious ready to live a life worthy of the vocation that has been addressed.
Amen.
Image source: personal photo (c) April 2009.
The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Ephesus while he is in prison because of the Good News received from Christ. He knows this community, since he already had the opportunity to meet during his third missionary journey in Asia Minor. And when he arrived, there was an uproar among the proclaimers of the Gospel and craftsmen fashioning statues of the temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, temple regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
This short reminder and put this in perspective I think are important for the rest of reflection.
In today's text, Paul emphasizes the unity of faith. Have faith, practice, implies a whole way of living worthy of this new faith to the Ephesians: I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the vocation that was sent to you in all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, you strive to maintain unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace . I find that Paul sets the bar high! Because, believe it or not, in church or in everyday life, in our relationships with our loved ones, colleagues or strangers, it is not always easy to be humble and gentle. It happens to me, but probably you too, out of my hinges!
I think the message of Paul is not an invitation to fall in sentimentality, in a kind of behavior "everyone is good, everyone is nice!" The central message of this paper is that unity in the Spirit and the oneness of God are obvious, the pillars of faith that can not be questioned. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, which is above all and through all and in all.
new vocation to which the believers in Ephesus were called is that of being, these pagans, non-Jews, members of Christ's body, that body which will soon take the name of the Church. Thus, being members of the body of Jesus Christ means to reject all other gods, all idols that have been theirs before. And this is the reminder of the tumult among the craftsmen who fashioned replicas of the temple of Artemis and Paul is important. If we believe in God, one Lord, one God and Father of all (Paul stresses here), we must therefore distract us from the idols of our world and they are numerous, these images made by human hands. Consider for example the money that rules the world financial crisis and that is our society Diving in panic! The desire to win still more, the fear of running out. The social and professional success: acquiring prestige and consideration of others, be recognized, have a certain lifestyle, owning property.
My purpose is not to disparage all that and pretend that it is unhealthy to have a certain comfort. No! What I want to highlight, echoing what Paul is the place we give to these conveniences in our lives. Are these elements become so indispensable that we tend to deify or are they the means to live?
For Paul, just as Christ has said before, he can not serve two masters at once. God is the only master who deserves to be served and followed by the mediator that he has sent into the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. This God is so rich fullness that He is, as Paul says: above all, and through all and in all . It fills us with his blessings beyond our expectations and gives us his grace without us by our deeds deserve.
Obviously we're all different, each with its own personality, its strengths and weaknesses. We all own a life that is ours. But believers in one God, we are united to Him and each other by the Holy Spirit. This is not a spirit of rivalry or jealousy, but a spirit of unity and union. In the first letter that Paul addressed the Corinthians, he speaks the body: Thus, the body is not a single member, but it consists of several members ... You are the body of Christ, and you are its members, each for his share.
Being members of the body of Christ is to share one faith, one hope, one baptism, though in fact they can take slightly different forms. Our churches have a heart to live their faith in the unity but not uniformity. It is not erase our peculiarities, to deny us our origins or blend into a sort of "standard religion", but to live together in unity of body, to share together the faith and hope we place in the God of heaven while retaining what makes our own identity. We grow from it!
Before concluding, I would make a nod to John Calvin, the French reformer this year we celebrate the 500th anniversary of his birth. Calvin devotes considerable space to the Spirit. For him, faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The latter uses faith as the glue that binds us to Christ. It is also the Spirit, the third form Trinity, which gives us the assurance of being saved not by our own actions, but by the unmerited grace of God alone. But I'll stop here because this topic deserves its own long hours of debate.
Returning to what the apostle to the Gentiles, who has had the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. He exhorts us to live unity in everyday life, we stand to each other, respecting us as we are, each a full member of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also reminds us that it is through peace that we live this unity bestowed by the Spirit. It is not easy, it is not innate. It's a challenge every day! But if we place our trust and hope in the One God and Father of all, recognizing him as the sole master worthy of being served and followed, then we may be living members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, members audacious ready to live a life worthy of the vocation that has been addressed.
Amen.
Image source: personal photo (c) April 2009.
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