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Word of Life – Gal 2:21 (28/1/2018 – 11/2/2018)
Post date: 2018-01-27Autor: BCP
“I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Reflection on Gal 2:21
Post date: 2018-01-27Autor: BCP
What does it mean to set aside the grace of God? It means to disregard it, to misuse it, or not to accept by faith what God gives. He paid so dearly, did His most, and not to make the least effort on our part – i.e. not to accept by faith what God has done for me – is really a grave insult to God. This is setting aside grace! The Apostle says that this is not what he does – he does not set aside grace but rather uses it. And this should be true of each of us – I do not set aside the grace of God!
Reflection on Gal 2:16
Post date: 2018-01-13Autor: BCP
Both in the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul points to the deep truth which concerns our justification from sin. He says that we know that a man is not justified before God by his works but by faith in Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We who have believed in Christ Jesus have been justified from our sins by faith in Him.
Word of Life – Gal 2:16 (14/1/2018 – 28/1/2018)
Post date: 2018-01-13Autor: BCP
“…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
The way of holiness is the way of purification
Post date: 2018-01-01Autor: BCP
The way of holiness is the way of purification. We need to be healed by Jesus, little by little, of all kinds of wounds or bad habits. This mostly concerns our soul. Suffering is usually spiritual rather than physical, but the various sufferings lead to deliverance and healing. We suffer, for example, when we face the truth about ourselves, our neighbours and the world. It is so simple and yet so disguised. In essence, we need to begin to live the Gospel to the full.
Word of Life – Rom 4:13 (31/12/2017 – 14/1/2018)
Post date: 2017-12-30Autor: BCP
“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
Reflection on Rom 4:13
Post date: 2017-12-30Autor: BCP
What does the word heir express? The Word of God says that if we are children, we are also heirs. And how do we become children of God? By receiving Jesus: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (Jn 1:12) Salvation, which Jesus obtained for us through His blood in a hard struggle on Calvary, is given us freely as an inheritance through faith. We should obtain grace for other people too, that they also may receive Jesus and share in the inheritance of eternal life after death.
Word of Life – Rom 4:9-10 (17/12/2017 – 31/12/2017)
Post date: 2017-12-16Autor: BCP
Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
Reflection on Rom 4:9-10
Post date: 2017-12-16Autor: BCP
The Apostle asks: Does this blessedness, stemming from faith, come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? The Jews were very particular about circumcision and related it to the whole religious system of certain rites. The danger has always been that an emphasis on secondary things eliminates the essence – here the essence of salvation, which consists in personal relationship to God. Salvation depends on the saving faith based on the awareness that I am a sinner in the sight of God, which should lead me to humility and at the same time to trustful prayer for the forgiveness of my sins.
The putting off of the old self and the putting on of the new self begins in our mind
Post date: 2017-12-14Autor: BCP
The process of putting off the old self and putting on the new self begins in our mind! Human nature, without respecting the law of the Gospel, reacts in the same way in essence: envy towards others, rivalry, envy when someone has something better, when someone has spiritual gifts, or even when someone carries a cross, and on the other hand self-pity and sulkiness (both before God and people). This all takes the subtlest forms, but it is in essence our “self” which refuses to humble itself, to live in uncertainty, to obey God and to submit to Him.
What to do to let brotherly love abound
Post date: 2017-12-09Autor: BCP
To love means – to humble ourselves again and again, to accept our brother just as he is. His old self exploits us, is jealous of us, enslaves us. But the fact is that we are bound by the same bonds – chains, the only difference being that we easily see it in others but not in ourselves. This is humility: the faults and bad habits of my brother should be like a mirror to me. The old self is essentially the same in everyone, it only has different shades. I need to look at my brother by faith, i.e. to be aware that Jesus is in him, though hungry, thirsty and in prison. But the same is true about me. Jesus is in me too, hungry, thirsty and in prison. One can speak of a law of love which leads to healing and liberation.
Sow in faith
Post date: 2017-12-07Autor: BCP
The time you spend in the place where you are is predestined by God and will never return. What you sow in faith, you and others will reap once. Sow in faith, even if you do not see any results. Sow every day by accepting the situations you face rather than by being dispirited or overwhelmed by them. Accept them in faith and in union with Jesus – learn to abide with Him!
Reflection on Rom 4:3-4
Post date: 2017-12-02Autor: BCP
“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Here the meaning of righteousness is more like ‘justification’. Man does unspeakable injustice to God by sinning. The holiness of God is infinite, and so an insult to God deserves the highest punishment. We can offend God by our sin, but we cannot make amends for the offence by our works. Only the One who is equal to God – the Son of God – can make just reparation for our offence. He did so by His death on the cross. He took on Himself the punishment for our sins, the just punishment.
Word of Life – Rom 4:3-4 (3/12/2017 – 17/12/2017)
Post date: 2017-12-02Autor: BCP
“For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”
On the Day of Judgment our prayers will become manifest
Post date: 2017-11-30Autor: BCP
We should pray in such way as to pull down the strongholds of the forces of darkness and to lift up the mountains of demons in our territory, so that the Holy Spirit may descend, God may show His power, send His blessing, the kingdom of God may come into human souls, and a spiritual breakthrough and change may take place. When and how shall it come?! Let us leave it to the Lord; what we need to do is stand in faith and not doubt in prayer. Then on the Day of Judgment our prayers will become manifest – it will be revealed how we prayed.
The obedience of faith (video)
Post date: 2017-11-23Autor: BCP
The obedience of faith. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
The obedience of faith
Post date: 2017-11-23Autor: BCP
What did the Prophet Elijah say when the fire of the Lord fell on Mount Carmel and consumed the burnt sacrifice? “I have done all these things at Your word.” Nothing more and nothing less. But we often want to add something, because we like it that way, or on the other hand we think that something is extreme. However, God wants us to learn obedience through small things; He teaches us to walk in the Spirit, to follow Christ. Jesus says: “Follow Me.” (Lk 5:27), and He also says: “Father, My food is to do Your will.”
Reflection on Rom 3:25
Post date: 2017-11-18Autor: BCP
Let us realize that God forgives our sins because Jesus became a propitiation. The condition on our part is the faith in Christ who is the Saviour, the Son of God, who paid the just price for my sins by His blood and obtained the forgiveness for me. This is the most important truth, the necessary condition of our salvation. We must know it and put it into practice through faith.
Word of Life – Rom 3:25 (19/11/2017 – 3/12/2017)
Post date: 2017-11-18Autor: BCP
…whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.
Be ready! (+german version)
Post date: 2017-11-11Autor: BCP
Jesus says: “You must be ready, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man is coming.” This is the greatest wisdom – to be ready for death. For we do not know whether or not something bad will happen – we can develop cancer or have a car accident and launch into eternity. We know neither the day nor the hour. We do not know when we will meet our Lord face to face. But we must be mindful of it. We know that it will come. We must not delay our conversion. We must begin today, as God’s Word says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”