Expounding on Ephesians 5, etc.

“For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love.”

     ~CASTI CONNUBII, PIUS XI, 1930
Casti Connubii (31/12/1930), Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Christian Marriage

Election, Predestination, and the Catechism

So is this:

CCC 600 in part:  "When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of "predestination", he includes in it each person's free response to his grace."

irreconcilable with this:

Romans 9:21-24

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 

***God's "plan" before the choice, incorporates the choice in his election and predestination!***

CCC 600 To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of "predestination", he includes in it each person's free response to his grace: "In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness.

The overarching problem...

...is not theologians "talking past each other."   that is the problem NOW because those theologians don't believe there is a Church to appeal to to settle the issues.

The problem is that the theological justifications people had for leaving the Church (and staying out) are (1) poor and (critically) (2) infused with lots of passion and pride.  After all, we're talking about major multi-national organizations here which provide lots of jobs.

What I hear from people who left the Church is, in essence, "I didn't like it". Meaning, my personal appetite wasn't met.  What I don't hear are good theological reasons (after a meaningful consideration of the Biblical bases of Catholicism) for leaving the Church.

Do you disagree?  How else do we explain the splintering of Christendom?  Each "camp" ha their own smart people perpetuating division.  Who do we follow?  Who has the authority?  Is this the theological agnosticism?

Mary in Heaven, crowned

Revelation 11:19 - 12:2

"Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.  And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery."

I asked before.  Where does the Bible say the woman of Revelation 12 is NOT Mary?

The answer is, it doesn't.  So what we know is a woman, in heaven, with a full body, "crowned" with 12 stars, is giving birth to Jesus. Who could that be?

The Non-Catholic says "Only Israel.  It can only be Israel, and not Mary, because to say it's Mary may mean Catholics got another one right."

Really?  Is Mary in Heaven?  Yes.  What other woman bore Christ to the world?

Maybe she looks like this? (photo)

Or maybe she has more of a tan.

So maybe Mary really IS crowned (as a queen) in heaven.

Those Catholics have another good Bible reason for their Marian Theology (no she's not GOD, but she surely is a powerful instrument of God.  And the Mother of our Lord God, Jesus Christ)

SUNDAY BIBLE REFLECTIONS BY DR. SCOTT HAHN November 4th 2012 - Thirty-first Sunday Ordinary Time

St. Paul Center For Biblical Theology

Dr. Brant Pitre's "The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology"

I am currently listening to Brant Pitre's course on Pauline Theology. The Apostle Paul: Unlocking the Mysteries of His Theology.

Highly recommend (as I recommend all of his CD sets). They are excellent for the busy man or woman who finds no time to read as much theology as they would like, but can get through a lot of CDs in their car or truck going to or from work, etc. I will edit this post later with more commentary. But for now, go see Brant's stuff. It's all excellent. See Storefront for Catholic Productions for all of Brant's CD sets: Catholic Productions' Brant Pitre Page You should also check out Brant's excepts and outlines for all of his talks. Excerpts and Outlines

"You Catholics lift Mary up way too high!!!" Well, John the Apostle has her head in the stars...

THE WOMAN OF REVELATION 12: MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH