Friday, October 31, 2008

Phil 3, 3-6 We who worship through the Spirit of God

(Phil 3, 3-6) We who worship through the Spirit of God
[3] For we are the circumcision, we who worship through the Spirit of God, who boast in Christ Jesus and do not put our confidence in flesh, [4] although I myself have grounds for confidence even in the flesh.If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. [5] Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, [6] in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law I was blameless.
(CCC 829) "But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary" (LG 65; Cf. Eph 5:26-27): in her, the Church is already the "all-holy." (CCC 828) By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly pro claiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors (Cf. LG 40; 48-51). "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history" (John Paul II, CL 16, 3). Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal" (CL 17, 3).

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