Isidorans

Evangelization in the Information Age with the loving hospitality and piety of St. Isidore the Farmer and the educative charity of St. Isidore of Seville.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

@ATradCatholic Luke 20:40 "And they no longer dared to ask him any more questions."
Sam is a reflection (through a foggy mirror) of just how intimidating it must have been to challenge Jesus.
Pray for him, that he might persevere in truth.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

@JoshuaBarzon What is a priest without sacrificial works?

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

This is an opinion it is not a church teaching. This is a fallible statement (that does not mean it is untrue, it means it is liable to error).
It is good enough for me to know that God is love and the God is perfectly just. When we die and the mystery is known to us, the answer will be perfect.
However, baptism is a sure sign of salvation, do not hesitate to baptize your children.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

"Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect." This does not mean be without error, it means to fulfil who you were created to be. Greek "Telos" (perfect) means to reach the end for which it is made. A perfect tomato is ripe. How does one who is made in the image and likeness of God become mature/perfect except by becoming the best version of yourself? Like an old Polaroid photo, when it comes out of the camera the image is not seen, yet as you hold it, over time, it becomes a clear image. We are the polaroid picture of developing to reveal the Divine Subject.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Christianity for the sake of reward or avoiding punishment misses the big picture. It's like maneuvering family relations to ensure that you are in the will. Who looks upon the one who only cares for his dying grandpa to be remembered in the will as a good grandson? Moreso, who only obeys the parent so as not to be written out of their inheritance? Is it not better to participate in the family for the sake of love of each member with disinterest towards possible gain or possible loss?

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

@TheMuppetPastor Indeed! I do not wish to be the one who weeps bitterly when the cock crows and I left to face my own hubris. Rather I pray, "A humbled contrite heart, you will not spurn."

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

It is easy to reply to posts like this and declare boldly as Peter did that we would die for Christ. Yet we ought to be wary of hubris lest we also be left weeping bitterly when the cock crows. It is better to say, "Lord, keep us from the test, but if it is your will, help me to fulfill it."

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

A homily is intended to preach on the readings of the day. Very few mention hell. When it is appropriate the preacher should not shirk from addressing it. However, there should always be consideration given to the promotion of imperfect contrition (for fear of hell rather than love of God). While Jesus is clear that the road to heaven is narrow, one might say as narrow as the eye of a needle, we ought to recall that God can make things possible.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

This is an uncharitable response. Did the woman at the well go and "quietly repent"? No, she found the Messiah who treated her with mercy and became an evangelist on the spot. She did not whisper of her previous life, rather fully proclaimed it at the service of helping others recognize the Messiah. "Come see a man who told me everything I have done."
We do not honor Christ by eliminating his wounds or by using his wounds against him. He will bear the holes in his hands and side in heaven as we will bear the wounds of our sins in heaven. Not as things that destroyed us, but as the living signs of the glory of the God who redeemed us. (See St. Bartolo Longo).
While Bree is consumed with a zeal for piety, she has more maturation ahead. I don't think it is helpful or charitable to her to tell her to put a basket over her lamp (i.e. don't be an influencer). Rather, help her grow in understanding of Church teachings so that she might be more effective in her campaigns.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

@5Solas Sure, but I don't seek "Western Civilization," I seek the Kingdom of God. Only one of the two is holy. Protestantism is born of divorce and continues to divide.
The Kingdom of God is not divided against itself.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

It is easy to say, "Where is that in the Bible?" You ask for instruction, but do you have ears to hear the response? Or is the question a rhetorical dismissal.
It is in the Bible from the beginning to the end.
The word church comes from ekklesia which meaning "those who were called out (from)." The prefigured church is Israel who were called out of slavery in Egypt, the sign of this calling were the covenants marked by circumcision.
Christians were likewise called out of slavery from sin, not by passing through the waters of the Red Sea but by the water of baptism. As were the Israelites we united by covenant with God.
How could one know, love, and serve the Lord before Christ except through the covenants God made with the Patriarchs? Who bore those covenants if not the assembly of those who like Joshua said, "As for me and my household, we will follow the Lord."
What is different in the New Testament when the believers in Christ, following "the Way," were kicked out of synagogues and formed assemblies of the New and Everlasting Covenant.
Did St. John not say, "Faith is in hearing." How ought we come by faith without a Church first proclaiming it to us in fulfilment of Matthew 28?
To separate the Church from Christ is to violate the wedding feast of lamb. "What God has joined, let no man put asunder."

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Luke 3:38 "Adam, the Son of God." Adam was not adopted. Did God not make Eve "Mother of all the living." Was she not also a daughter of God, made not begotten. In this way through procreation, we all share in the dignity as sons and daughters of God who are made in the image and likeness of God.
There is a difference between a son of man and a begotten son of God. One is created the other eternally begotten. Does not the first born receive the inheritance? Jesus is the firstborn over all of creation.
The adoption we speak of is achieved through Baptism and we are adopted as co-heirs to the kingdom of God through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ in the unity of the Holy spirit. Jesus reconciled the creature to the divine through His incarnation. This is what allows us to be "Born again" as co-heirs sharing in Christ's divinity. We also share in his humility, "who though he was in the form of God, did not deem equality with God something to be grasped (robbed/exploited).

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

This is merely controversial semantics. As Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David were less than Christ before Christ, so every Christian is less than Christ after. The Christ is the fulness of both deficits. The prefigures and the post-figures are all intended to incline their deficit to the Christ for fulfilment. We see this in the hope of the prophets which Jesus recognized that they yearned to see what the Apostles could see, and also in the blessing of those who have not seen and yet believe (the Christian). Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, he is the figure itself upon which the old pre-figured and the new post-figures.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

This slogan seems to forget about a sincere conscience. This is why I respect you. Though I am a Catholic and you are not, I see a sincerity in your conviction of faith. We Catholics hold it as a work of mercy to admonish a sinner, and yet we are offended when the admonishments don't align with our sincerely held beliefs... I only say that to acknowledge that too many miss the charity that derives from someone whose sincere conscience believes differently.
I can't help but feel a fraternity with you for every theological argument you make is a sign of your desire that I might be saved and can share eternal life together with you. It is my prayer that if we are both humble and sincere, repent and believe, that we might share eternal life together regardless of any errors in our sincere conscience putting faith in the gospel we were taught.
As for me, I have been reinforced in my conviction by the fruit of the work I have seen in ministry. That fruit is very rarely intellectual conversion, but rather the joy of discovering the love of the Lord and its reciprocation in those who have sincerely encountered Christ.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

This rhetorical slogan is negated by the sincere conscience of a man.

CCC 1790 "A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself."

This is why we must always show great charity and respect the conviction of others. We are not going to win converts (nor is the Protestant) by insulting the conscience of others or the understanding of others.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

As a Catholic I believe that Baptism assures my salvation through the bestowal of a State of Grace. I understand that by my own choices I can commit a mortal sin and lose that State of Grace and salvation. I also understand, that while I live, I may be reconciled to Christ through the Sacrament of Confession and have that State of Grace restored. Both Baptism and Confession are free distributions of God's mercy and grace and are the obedient response to the Lord's command to "Repent and believe."

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Why do hypothetical questions need to be framed as "Serious Questions"? What is its value? What if you were die and find yourself faced with Allah? Or Zeus? Or Baal? Would the hypothetical change your faith? I doubt it, so why would it change an Evangelicals whose conscience is clean in their beliefs?

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Luke 7:47 "Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less."
The Catholic church has been clear and consistent on what is a mortal sin and its conditions and what is venial. I.e. What sins are capable of being covered by love and simple repentance and those that require formal reconciliation.
It is important to remember that affection for any sin, mortal or venial, threatens our salvation. In humility we should constantly cry out to Him, "Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner." The judgment of man is not the degree to which he sins, but the degree to which he repents and believes. The proof of this repentance and belief is love.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Is it by this standard that you wished to be judged? Shall you ask our Lord to limit mercy to others while professing that it is but by his mercy that you are saved? Were James and John not rebuked for wanting to call down fire and brimstone? Which is worse, the fire of hell or that of brimstone?
Be mindful of the parables of mercy, that when you have begged and received mercy that you should then turn and deny it to another.
The conversion of the Muslim will be made through a ministry of love, truth, and invitation, not by the imperfect means of a threat of eternal punishment.

[Isidorans @Isidorans]

Intellectual formation is just one of four standard categories for maturation (Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect). Too many people will look at Augustine or Aquinas and measure them by their philosophy or theology. Yet it is love that is the fusion between the human, intellectual, spiritual, and social (pastoral) maturation of the saint. It is their love that makes up for where any area is lacking. Next to love, knowledge is as straw.