mediamissionaries

The Vocation and Mission of the People of God: “A Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation” PDF But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were no people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.  (I Peter 2:9-10) Our Lord Jesus Christ continues to call individuals to be his disciples, members of the “holy nation” we call his Church. From the day of Pentecost, this saving relationship with Christ has normally been established through the solemn and joyous event of baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. A sacred rite, rich with deep significance - baptism, in water and in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - ultimately proclaims that the newly baptized is united to Christ and his people, participates in his death and resurrection, personally receives the gift of the Sp...

False Freedom and the Culture of Death   By Richard M. Doerflinger In his 1995 encyclical letter The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), Pope John Paul II sounded an alarm. In the midst of a culture that congratulates itself on being enlightened and progressive on matters of human rights, he said, we are very much in danger of giving in to a "culture of death." Modern debates on abortion and euthanasia are a symptom and leading edge of something more profound and insidious -- an entire view of the world that will lead us to forsake our ideals of human dignity and equality and "revert to a state of barbarism" (EV 14). What could the Holy Father have meant by that? What is the evidence that some kind of consistent ideology is taking hold of our aspirations for human progress and tainting the discussion of very different issues affecting human life? And what kind of challenge does this pose to us as supporters of social justice, and as believers? Two...