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|    alt.religion.christianity    |    Christianity general discussions    |    141,674 messages    |
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|    Message 140,245 of 141,674    |
|    Rich to All    |
|    Few miracles done because of their unbel    |
|    07 Aug 23 01:05:25    |
      From: richarra@gmail.com              Few miracles done because of their unbelief               "It seems to me that the production of miracles is similar in some       ways to the case of physical things. Cultivation is not sufficient to       produce a harvest of fruits unless the soil, or rather the atmosphere,       cooperates to this end. And the atmosphere of itself is not sufficient       to produce a harvest without cultivation. The one who providentially       orders creation did not design things to spring up from the earth       without cultivation. Only in the first instance did he do so when he       said, 'Let the earth bring forth vegetation, with the seed sowing       according to its kind and according to its likeness' (Genesis 1:11).       It is just this way in regard to the production of miracles. The       complete work resulting in a healing is not displayed without those       being healed exercising faith. Faith, of whatever quality it might be,       does not produce a healing without divine power.'        by Origen of Alexandria (excerpt from the COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10.19)               <<>><<>><<>>       August 7th – St. Cajetan of Thienna, Confessor       from the Liturgical Year, 1901              Cajetan appeared in all his zeal for the sanctuary at the time when       the false reform was spreading rebellion throughout the world. The       great cause of the danger had been the incapacity of the guardians of       the holy City, or their connivance by complicity of heart or of mind       with pagan doctrines and manners introduced by an ill-advised revival.       Wasted by the wild boar of the forest, could the vineyard of the Lord       recover the fertility of its better days? Cajetan learned from Eternal       Wisdom the new method of culture required by an exhausted soil.              The urgent need of those unfortunate times was that the clergy should       be raised up again by worthy life, zeal, and knowledge. For this       object men were required, who being clerks themselves in the full       acceptation of the word, with all the obligations it involves, should       be to the members of the holy hierarchy a permanent model of its       primitive perfection, a supplement to their shortcomings, and a       leaven, little by little raising the whole mass. But where, save in       the life of the counsels with the stability of its three vows, could       be found the impulse, the power, and the permanence necessary for such       an enterprise? The inexhaustible fecundity of the religious life was       no more wanting in the Church in those days of decadence than in the       periods of her glory. After the monks, turning to God in their       solitudes and drawing down light and love upon the earth seemingly so       forgotten by them; after the mendicant Orders, keeping up in the midst       of the world their claustral habits of life and the austerity of the       desert: the regular clerks entered upon the battle-field, whereby       their position in the fight, their exterior manner of life, their very       dress, they were to mingle with the ranks of the secular clergy; just       as a few veterans are sent into the midst of a wavering troop, to act       upon the rest by word and example and dash.              Like the initiators of the great ancient forms of religious life,       Cajetan was the Patriarch of the Regular Clerks. Under this name       Clement VII., by a brief dated 24th June, 1524, approved the institute       he had founded that very year in concert with the Bishop of Theati,       from whom the new religious were also called Theatines. Soon the       Barnabites, the Society of Jesus, the Somasques of St. Jerome Emilian,       the Regular Clerks Minor of St. Francis Carracciolo, the Regular       Clerks ministering to the sick, the Regular Clerks of the Pious       Schools, the Regular Clerks of the Mother of God, and others, hastened       to follow in the track, and proved that the Church is ever beautiful,       ever worthy of her Spouse; while the accusation of barrenness hurled       against her by heresy, rebounded upon the thrower.              Cajetan began and carried forward his reform chiefly by means of       detachment from riches, the love of which had caused many evils in the       Church. The Theatines offered to the world a spectacle unknown since       the days of the Apostles; pushing their zeal for renouncement so far       as not to allow themselves even to beg, but to rely on the spontaneous       charity of the faithful. While Luther was denying the very existence       of God's Providence, their heroic trust in It was often rewarded by       prodigies.                     Saint Quote:       He who trusts in himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.       -- Saint Alphonsus Liguori              Bible Quote:       Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is       faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you       are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be       able to bear it. (1 Cor. 10:13) DRB                     <><><><>       Jesus! my Lord, my God, my All! How can I love Thee as I ought?       And how revere this wondrous gift, So far surpassing hope or thought?              Had I but Mary's sinless heart To love Thee with, my dearest King!       O, with what bursts of fervent praise Thy goodness, Jesus, would I sing!       Sweet Sacrament! We Thee adore! O, make us love Thee more and more!              --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05        * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)    |
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