timeforINRI

 Besides affecting our eternal salvation, Christ's crucifixion affects us every  day of our lives. God's way of being among us is to get down to our level, to enter the humiliation of death, to share the persecution and the pain, to  get into our skin and go through these things with us. It's impossible to take the truth of the gospel and divorce it from the way of the gospel. We're not allowed to pick and choose among the truths of the Bible and not make up a private anthology of comforting sayings. Jesus is the Way as well as the Truth. And the way is crucifixion. Suffering is part of that reality. It's comforting to know I can get beneath God. Wherever I am, however low I get, he has been there and is with me there and longing for fellowship with me there. Eugene H. Peterson Turn Up The Volume

We should be thankful that the Catholic Church has kept Latin alive through its worship services and prevented Latin from becoming completely a dead language. We should also give thanks to Pope Francis, who certainly ranks among the most progressive Christians to lead the Catholic Church—and one wishes him all the best as he struggles to lead the church hierarchy closer to following the true message of the Gospels and Christ. The following is a Latin version of The Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster), the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him how to pray, and the prayer which is the Rosetta Stone for understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We suggest that it be read out loud for full appreciation. THE OUR FATHER PRAYER IN LATIN PATER noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.

 I know there are some among you who are so full of themselves they never listen to anyone let alone me. They don't think I'll ever show up in person. But I'll be there sooner than they think, God willing, and then we'll see if they're full of anything but hot air. God's way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life. So how should I prepare to come to you? As a severe disciplinarian who makes you walk the line? Or as a good friend and counsellor who wants to share heart-to-heart with you? You decide. Eugene H. Peterson As You Find Me