From: your-daily-tripod@googlegroups.com
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:56:48 +0000
Subject: [Your Daily Tripod] Digest for
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- In No Way Can a Man Redeem Himself September 16, 2011 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/1adabb83817dbd8e
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Topic: In No Way Can a Man Redeem Himself September 16, 2011
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/t/1adabb83817dbd8e
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From: The Lighthouse Keeper <dxfaro@cox.net>
Date: Sep 15 06:45PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/your-daily-tripod/msg/467d199ce2e3255
Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian,
bishop and martyr
By Mel Rigney
Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain. For we brought
nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything
out of it. (1 Timothy 6:6-7)
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself, or pay his own ransom to God;
too high is the price to redeem one's life; he would never have enough
to remain alive always and not see destruction. (Psalms 49:8-9)
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and
proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were
the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and
infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone
out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many
others who provided for them out of their resources. (Luke 8:1-3)
Piety
Lord, let my decisions be guided by Your will, not by what is popular
or politically correct.
Study
Sometimes, the middle ground, guided by prayer and measured in love
and God, is the right position, even if it gets you into trouble. Even
if you die for it.
St. Cornelius became pope, a job he really didn't want, in 251 A.D.,
fourteen months after the previous pope, Fabian, had been martyred
during the Emperor Decius's persecution of Christians, which included
the requirement of public sacrifices to the gods (or purchase of
certificates in their place). Two factions existed in the young Church—
those who wanted to welcome back easily and freely the Christians who
had been apostasized, and those who said had renounced Christianity
could never return.
Cornelius took the middle ground, welcoming the apostates back, but
with appropriate penances. Despite the support of Cyprian, the bishop
of Carthage, and most Eastern and African bishops, an internal battle.
And as the internal battle raged, external evil re-emerged. After only
about two years as pope, Cornelius was exiled and died in 253, the
year the next Roman emperor required Christian clergy to sacrifice to
the gods.
Following Christ in the third century was fraught with peril, just as
it was in the first century when all but two of the original twelve,
Paul, and countless others were martyred, and just as it is today for
those spreading the Word in places like North Korea, Iran, Eritrea,
China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. It is even sadder and more sobering when
we as Catholics or we as Christians focus too much on pleasing or
currying favor with our friends or political bases and not enough on
dialogue and doing the job the way Christ desires. For when we stake
out positions based on our ego and not on His teachings, we provide
fertile ground for valid criticism—and an opportunity for the evil to
grow.
Action
As the political rhetoric heats up this fall, consider whether you are
supporting a candidate whose positions are based on political
calculations—or whose positions are informed by Christ's teachings,
easy or hard.
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