Monday, February 4, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog: Autonomous, Hebrews 11:32-40, Psalms 31:20-24, Mark 5:1-20, Saint Joan of Valois, Sisters of the Annunciation, Bourges Cathedral, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 1:1:3 The Almighty

Monday, February 4, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:

Autonomous, Hebrews 11:32-40, Psalms 31:20-24, Mark 5:1-20, Saint Joan of Valois, Sisters of the Annunciation, Bourges Cathedral, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 1:1:3 The Almighty

Good Day Bloggers!  Happy Mardi Gras!
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!

Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013

P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.

The world begins and ends everyday for someone.  We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will, make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...

"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012

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February 2, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:

"Dear children, love is bringing me to you - the love which I desire to teach you also - real love; the love which my Son showed you when He died on the Cross out of love for you; the love which is always ready to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. How great is your love? My motherly heart is sorrowful as it searches for love in your hearts. You are not ready to submit your will to God's will out of love. You cannot help me to have those who have not come to know God's love to come to know it, because you do not have real love. Consecrate your hearts to me and I will lead you. I will teach you to forgive, to love your enemies and to live according to my Son. Do not be afraid for yourselves. In afflictions my Son does not forget those who love. I will be beside you. I will implore the Heavenly Father for the light of eternal truth and love to illuminate you. Pray for your shepherds so that through your fasting and prayer they can lead you in love. Thank you."

January 25, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. May your prayer be as strong as a living stone, until with your lives you become witnesses. Witness the beauty of your faith. I am with you and intercede before my Son for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
 

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Today's Word:  autonomous   au·ton·o·mous  [aw-ton-uh-muhs]

Origin: 1790–1800;  < Greek autónomos  with laws of one's own, independent, equivalent to auto- auto-¹  + nóm ( os ) law, custom + -os  adj. suffix

adjective

1.Government  
a. self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only.

b. pertaining to an autonomy.

2. having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent: a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit.

3. Biology  
a. existing and functioning as an independent organism.

b. spontaneous. 

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Today's Old Testament Reading -  Psalms 31:20-24

²⁰ Safe in your presence you hide them, far from human plotting, shielding them in your tent, far from contentious tongues.

²¹ Blessed be Yahweh who works for me miracles of his faithful love (in a fortified city)!

²² In a state of terror I cried, 'I have been cut off from your sight!' Yet you heard my plea for help when I cried out to you.

²³ Love Yahweh, all his faithful: Yahweh protects his loyal servants, but he repays the arrogant with interest.

²⁴ Be brave, take heart, all who put your hope in Yahweh.

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Today's Epistle -  Hebrews 11:32-40

³² What more shall I say? There is not time for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, or of David, Samuel and the prophets.

³³ These were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what was upright and earned the promises. They could keep a lion's mouth shut,

³⁴ put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders.

³⁵ Some returned to their wives from the dead by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life.

³⁶ Some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison.

³⁷ They were stoned, or sawn in half, or killed by the sword; they were homeless, and wore only the skins of sheep and goats; they were in want and hardship, and maltreated.

³⁸ They were too good for the world and they wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines.

³⁹ These all won acknowledgement through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised,

⁴⁰ since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.

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Today's Gospel Reading - Mark 5:1-20

They reached the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and when he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit at once came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain, because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones.

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God's name do not torture me!' For Jesus had been saying to him, 'Come out of the man, unclean spirit.' Then he asked, 'What is your name?' He answered, 'My name is Legion, for there are many of us.' And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district.

Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, 'Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.' So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned.

The men looking after them ran off and told their story in the city and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there -- the man who had had the legion in him -- properly dressed and in his full senses, and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.

As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, 'Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.' So the man went off and proceeded to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed. 

Reflection

 

• In today’s Gospel, we meditate on a long text on the expulsion of a devil which was called Legion and which oppressed and tortured a person. Today there are many people who use the texts of the Gospel which speak of the expulsion of the devils or impure spirits in order to frighten others. This is a sin! Mark does the opposite. As we will see, he associates the action of power of evil to four things: a) With the cemetery, the place of the dead. Death which kills life! b) With the pork which was considered an unclean animal. The impurity which separates from God! c) With the sea, which was considered as a symbol of the chaos which existed before creation. Chaos which destroys nature . d) with the word Legion, a name given to the army of the Roman Empire. The empire which oppresses and exploits people. Well, Jesus overcomes the power of evil in these four points. The victory of Jesus had a very great outreach for the community of the years 70’s, the time in which Mark wrote his Gospel. These communities lived being persecuted by the Roman Legions, the ideology of which manipulated the popular beliefs concerning the devils in order to frighten people and to obtain submission from them.

• The power of evil oppresses, ill-treats and alienates persons. The initial verses describe the situation of the people before the arrival of Jesus. In the way of describing the behaviour of the possessed person, Mark associates the power of evil to the cemetery and to death. It is a power without any purpose, threatening, without control and destructor which makes everybody afraid. It deprives the person of conscience, of self control and of autonomy.

• In the presence of Jesus the power of evil disintegrates itself, and breaks into fragments. In the way of describing the first contact between Jesus and the possessed man, Mark stresses the total lack of proportion that exists! The power which at the beginning seemed to be very strong, melts and is broken, fragmented before Jesus. The man falls on his knees, asks not to be expelled from that district and finally says its name is Legion. With this name, Mark associates the power of evil with the political and military power of the Roman Empire which dominated the world through its Legions.

• The power of evil is impure and has no autonomy nor consistency. The devil has no power in its movements. He only manages to enter into the pigs with the permission of Jesus! Once he has entered into the pigs, they charged down the cliff into the sea. There were 2000! According to the people the pig was a symbol of impurity, the impurity which prevented the human being to enter into relationship with God and to feel accepted by Him. The sea was the symbol of chaos which existed before creation and which according to the belief of the time, threatened life. This episode of the pigs which threw themselves into the sea is strange and difficult to understand, but the message is sufficiently clear: before Jesus the power of evil has no autonomy nor consistency. The one who believes in Jesus has already overcome the power of evil and should not be afraid, should have no fear!

• The reaction of the people of the place. On the advice of the herdsmen who took care of the pigs, the people of the place ran to see the man who had been liberated from the power of evil, now “in his full senses”. But the Legion entered the pigs! And for this reason they ask Jesus to leave. For them, in fact, the pigs were more important than the human person who had just returned to be himself. The same thing happens today: the neo-liberal system gives very little importance to persons. What is important for it is gain!

• To announce the Good News means to announce “what the Lord has done for you!”. The man who was liberated wanted to “follow Jesus”, but Jesus tells him: “Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you”. Mark addressed this phrase of Jesus to the communities and to all of us. For the majority of us “to follow Jesus” means: “Go to your house, to your people, announce to them what the Lord has done for you!” 

Personal question

 

• Which point of this text pleased or struck you the most? Why?
• The man who was cured wanted to follow Jesus. But he should remain at home and tell everybody what Jesus has done for him. What has Jesus done for you which can be told to others?

Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.

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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Ipad Cases by LitanyLane

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Saint of the Day:  St Joan of Valois

Feast Day:  February 4
Patron Saint:  none
Attributes: crowned Annunciation abbess, usually with cross and rosary, or holding the hand of the Christ-child who is himself holding a basket; Annunciation abbess with basket of bread and cup of wine; with Blessed Gabriel Mary; having a ring placed on her finger by the Christ-child

St Joan of Valois

Joan of Valois (French: Jeanne de France, Jeanne de Valois) (23 April 1464 – 4 February 1505) was briefly Queen consort of France as wife of King Louis XII of France, in between the death of her brother, Charles VIII, and the annulment of her marriage. She was canonised a saint on 28 May 1950 and is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Sainte Jeanne de Valois. 

Biography

Born at Nogent-le-Roi (Eure-et-Loir) on 23 April 1464, she was the second daughter of King Louis XI of France and his second wife Charlotte of Savoy; her surviving siblings were King Charles VIII of France and Anne of France.

On 8 September 1476, at the age of twelve, Joan was married for political reasons to her father's second cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans, later king Louis XII of France. However, when Louis acceded to the throne after the death of Joan's brother Charles VIII in April 1498, he annulled the marriage in order to marry the former king's widow, Anne of Brittany, in the hope of annexing the Duchy of Brittany to the French Crown. Described as "one of the seamiest lawsuits of the age",^[1]  Louis did not, as might be expected, argue the marriage to be void due to consanguinity (the general excuse for the dissolution of a marriage at that time): though he could produce witnesses to claim that the two were closely related due to various linking marriages, there was no documentary proof, merely the opinions of courtiers.  Likewise, Louis could not argue that he had been below the legal age of consent (fourteen) to marry: nobody was certain when he had been born, with Louis claiming to have been twelve at the time, and others ranging in estimates between eleven and thirteen. Since there was no proof, however, he was forced to make other excuses.

Accordingly, much to the horror of the Queen, Louis claimed that she was physically malformed, providing a rich variety of detail as to how she was malformed, and that he had therefore been unable to consummate the marriage. Joan, unsurprisingly, fought this uncertain charge fiercely, producing witnesses to Louis boasting of having "mounted my wife three or four times during the night."^[1] Louis also claimed that his sexual performance had been inhibited by witchcraft; Joan responded by asking how, in that case, he was able to know what it was like to try to make love to her.^[2] Had the Pope been a neutral party, Joan would likely have won, for Louis' case was exceedingly weak. Unfortunately for the Queen, Pope Alexander VI was committed for political reasons to grant the annulment, and accordingly he ruled against the Queen.^[3] The annulment was granted on the grounds that Louis did not freely marry but was forced to marry on the insistence of Joan's father Louis XI. The annulment was pronounced on 15 December 1498. Outraged, Joan reluctantly stepped aside, saying that she would pray for her former husband. She was made Duchess of Berry and retired to Bourges (Cher).

Religious life and sainthood

Supposedly deformed, and sickly through her life, Joan had developed a devotion to the Virgin Mary in her early childhood. At Bourges, she founded the Catholic Franciscan contemplative Order of the Annonciades in 1502. She died on 4 February 1505 and was buried in the chapel of the Annonciades convent. Her grave was desecrated and her body burned by the Huguenots during the sack of Bourges on 27 May 1562.^[4] Soon after her death, miracles and healings attributed to her were said to have occurred, and, on 21 April 1742, Pope Benedict XIV declared her "blessed". She was canonized on 28 May 1950 ^[5] by Pope Pius XII and is known to Roman Catholics as Sainte Jeanne de Valois.^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hale, p.15
2. ^ Hale, p.16
3. ^ Hale, p.16 "The King's case was so weak that if the Pope, Alexander VI, had not been committed to granting the annulment for political purposes, he would have lost it."
4. ^ St. Ambroise church site at Bourges (French)
5. ^ "Pope Pius XII". http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintp0m.htm. Catholic Forum website
6. ^ "St. Jeanne de Valois". http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj34.htm. Catholic Forum website

Bibliography

• Hale, J. R., Renaissance Europe: Individual and Society, 1480-1520, New York: Harper & Row, 1972.
• Jones, Terry. "Patron Saint Index". Catholic Forum website. http://saints.sqpn.com/indexsnt.htm.Retrieved 27 June 2008

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Featured Items Panel from Litany Lane

 

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Today's Snippet I:   Sisters of the Annuciation

The Sisters of the Annunciation (Sœurs de l'Annonciade) are a religious congregation of Franciscan contemplatives formed in honour of the Annunciation at Bourges by Joan of France in 1501.

In 1501 Joan founded the order since, in her own words, "on earth, each of us, well knowing our own deficiencies, must even so conform to the life of the Virgin Mary, to the honor of God and the health of the world." She headed the order and it was approved by Pope Urban VI in 1502. She gained so much help in founding the community from her confessor, Father Gabriel-Maria (c.1462 - 27 August 1532), a Franciscan monk, that he is sometimes considered its co-founder.

Monasteries

It currently has five monasteries in France and two abroad:

• Brucourt (Calvados)
• Thiais (Val-de-Marne)
• Saint-Doulchard, near Bourges (Cher), since 16 June 1988 the monastery has housed 8 sisters of Thiais
• Villeneuve-sur-Lot (Lot-et-Garonne)
• Peyruis (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), now transferred to Alajuela (Costa Rica)
• Menton (Alpes-Maritimes) since 2000.
• Westmalle (Belgium)

References

• Hale, J. R., Renaissance Europe: Individual and Society, 1480-1520, New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

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Today's Snippet II:  Bourges Cathedral

Bourges Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges) is a Roman Catholic cathedral, dedicated to Saint Stephen, located in Bourges, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Bourges.

The site occupied by the present cathedral, in what was once the northeastern corner of the Gallo-Roman walled city, has been the site of the city's main church at least since Carolingian times and probably since the foundation of the bishopric in the 3rd century. The present Cathedral was built as a replacement for a mid-11th-century structure, traces of which survive in the crypt.

The date when construction began is unknown, although a document of 1195 recording expenditure on rebuilding works suggests that construction was already underway by that date. The fact that the east end protrudes beyond the line of the Gallo-Roman walls and that royal permission to demolish those walls was only granted in 1183 shows that work on the foundations cannot have started before that date. The main phase of construction is therefore roughly contemporaneous with Chartres Cathedral (begun 1194), some 200 km to the northwest.

As with most Early- and High-Gothic cathedrals, the identity of the architect or master-mason is unknown. The choir was in use (though not necessarily complete) by 1214 and the nave was finished by 1255. The building was finally consecrated in 1324. Most of the west façade was finished by 1270, though work on the towers proceeded more slowly, partly due to the unfavourable rock strata beneath the site. Structural problems with the South tower led to the building of the adjoining buttress tower in the mid-14th century. The North tower was completed around the end of the 15th century but collapsed in 1506, destroying the Northern portion of the façade in the process. The North tower and its portal were subsequently rebuilt in a more contemporary style.

Important figures in the life of the cathedral during the 13th century include William of Donjeon who was Archbishop from 1200 until his death in 1209 (and was canonised by the Pope in 1218 as St William of Bourges) as well as his grandson, Philip Berruyer (archbishop 1236-61), who oversaw the later stages of construction.

Following the destruction of much of the Ducal Palace and its chapel during the revolution, the tomb effigy of Duke Jean de Berry was relocated to the Cathedral's crypt, along with some stained glass panels showing standing prophets, which were designed for the chapel by André Beauneveu.

Generally the cathedral suffered far less than some of its peers during the French Wars of Religion and in the Revolution. Its location meant it was also relatively safe from the ravages of both World Wars. The cathedral was added to the list of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1992.

Dimensions and structure

The cathedral's nave is 15 m wide by 37m high; its arcade is 20m high; the inner aisle is 21.3 m and the outer aisle is 9.3 m high. The use of flying buttresses was employed to help the structure of the building. However, since this was a fairly new technique, one can easily see the walls were still made quite thick to take the force. Sexpartite vaults are used to span the nave.

Features

Plan and Elevation

Floorplan of the cathedral

Bourges Cathedral is notable for the simplicity of its plan, which did without transepts but which adopted the double-aisled design found in earlier high-status churches such as the Early-Christian basilica of St Peter's in Rome or in Notre Dame de Paris. The double aisles continue without interruption beyond the position of the screen (now largely destroyed though a few fragments are preserved in the crypt) to form a double ambulatory around the choir. The inner aisle has a higher vault than the outer one, while both the central nave and the inner aisle have similar three-part elevations with arcade, triforium and clerestory windows; a design which admits considerably more light than one finds in more conventional double-aisled buildings like Notre-Dame.^[1] This design, with its distinctive triangular cross section, was subsequently copied at Toledo Cathedral and in the choir at Le Mans.^[2] The flying buttresses surrounding the cathedral are relatively slender and efficient, particularly compared to the contemporary but much heavier flyers at Chartres. Their steep angle helps to channel the thrust from the nave vaults and the wind loading on the roof to the outer buttress piers more effectively.

Portals and Facades

A mid-19th-century engraving of the west façade

The west façade is on a particularly grand scale when compared to earlier cathedrals. The four side aisles and central nave each have their own portal reflecting the scale of the spaces beyond. As is often the case with Gothic churches, the central portal carries sculpted scenes related to the Last Judgement, whilst the south portals are dedicated to the lives of saints - here St Ursinus and St Stephen. The north portals were destroyed when the tower collapsed but surviving fragments indicate that their sculptural programmes were dedicated to the life and death of the Virgin. Unifying all five portals is a dado screen of gabled niches which stretches the whole width of the façade. The spandrels between these niches feature an extended Genesis cycle which would originally have told the story from the beginning of Creation to God's Covenant with Noah.

Romanesque carved portals from about 1160-70, probably intended for the façade of the earlier cathedral, have been reused on the south and north doors (occupying the spaces normally reserved for transept portals). Their profuse ornamentation is reminiscent of Burgundian work.

Stained Glass

Apart from the axial chapel, Bourges Cathedral retains most of its original ambulatory glass, which dates from about 1215 (around the same time as Chartres Cathedral). The glazing programme includes a famous Typological window (similar to examples at Sens and Canterbury), several hagiographic cycles, the story of the Old Testament patriarch, Joseph and symbolic depictions of the Apocalypse and Last Judgement. Other windows show the Passion and three of Christ's parables; the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and the story of Dives and Lazarus. The French art historian Louis Grodecki identified three distinct masters or workshops involved in the glazing, one of whom may also have worked on the windows of Poitiers Cathedral. 

References

1. ^ Branner, Richard, The Cathedral of Bourges and its Place in Gothic Architecture, Paris (1962)
2. ^ Bony, Jean (1985). French Gothic Architecture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, p. 212. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05586-1.
3. ^ Bayard, Tania, Thirteenth-Century Modifications in the West Portals of Bourges Cathedral, in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Oct., 1975), pp. 215-225
4. ^ Louis Grodecki. A Stained Glass Atelier of the Thirteenth Century: A Study of Windows in the Cathedrals of Bourges, Chartres and Poitiers, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 11, (1948), pp. 87-111

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Catechism of the Catholic Church

Part One: Profession of Faith, Sect 2 The Creeds, Chapter 1:1:3

CHAPTER ONE

I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER

198 Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last,Cf. Is 44:6 The beginning and the end of everything. the Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works.

Article 1
"I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"

Paragraph 3. THE ALMIGHTY

268 of all the divine attributes, only God's omnipotence is named in the Creed: to confess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it "is made perfect in weakness".Gen 1:1; ⇒ Jn 1:3; ⇒ Mt 6:9; ⇒ 2 Cor 12:9; cf. ⇒ I Cor 1:18 "He does whatever he pleases"Ps 115:3/

269 The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God. He is called the "Mighty One of Jacob", the "LORD of hosts", the "strong and mighty" one. If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth", it is because he made them.^{Gen 49:24; ⇒ Is 1:24 etc.; ⇒ Pss 24:8-10; ⇒ 135 6} Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will.Jer 27:5; ⇒ 32:17; ⇒ Lk 1:37 He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm? Wis 11:21; cf. Esth 4:17b; ⇒ Prov 21:1; ⇒ Tob 13:2

"You are merciful to all, for you can do all thing"Wis 11:23

270 God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"):2 Cor 6:18; cf. ⇒ Mt 6:32 finally by his infinite mercy, for he displays his power at its height by freely forgiving sins.

271 God's almighty power is in no way arbitrary: "In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect."St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 25, 5, ad I

The mystery of God's apparent powerlessness

272 Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."1 Cor 1:24-25 It is in Christ's Resurrection and exaltation that the Father has shown forth "the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe".Eph 1:19-22

273 Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power.^{2 Cor 12:9; ⇒ Phil 4:13.} The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Lk 1:37, ⇒ 49

274 "Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Once our reason has grasped the idea of God's almighty power, it will easily and without any hesitation admit everything that [the Creed] will afterwards propose for us to believe - even if they be great and marvellous things, far above the ordinary laws of nature."Roman Catechism I, 2, 13

IN BRIEF

275 With Job, the just man, we confess: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted" (⇒ Job 42:2).

276 Faithful to the witness of Scripture, the Church often addresses her prayer to the "almighty and eternal God" (“omnipotens sempiterne Deus. . ."), believing firmly that "nothing will be impossible with God" (⇒ Gen 18:14; ⇒ Lk 1:37; ⇒ Mt 19:26).

277 God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. "God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness. . ." (Roman Missal, 26th Sunday, Opening Prayer).

278 If we do not believe that God's love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us and the Holy Spirit sanctify us?

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