I wanted to talk about how much I love Pope Benedict XVI. The love I have for him is inexpressible. The moment he came out on the balcony, I was so excited that I cried.
When Pope John Paul II died, and I was watching the funeral Mass, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) was saying Mass. I asked my mom if he was going to be Pope, and she said no, it won’t be him. Yet sure enough, he became our Papa.
Since I love the Pope so much I am going to give ten reasons why I love him.
1. His voice. His voice is the most beautiful, musical voice I have ever heard. I could listen to it all the time.
2. He is German. It makes me so happy to know he is German because I am. It used to make me mad to know that I am German, on account of World War II. Yet since our Pope is German, I am proud to be German, too.
3. His hands. I love when he raises his hands in greeting, he wiggles them in the air as if he was playing piano because he does play piano.
4. His smile. His bright smile makes me so happy.
5. His red shoes. I love the red shoes he wears. They are so awesome.
6. His walk. When I watch him walk it makes me smile. His walk is so confident.
7. His confidence. It makes me smile to see how comfortable he is wherever he goes.
8. His reason. The reason he gave to Pope John Paul II’s “Be Not Afraid” is because “Christ Is Our Hope.” This is so awesome. It makes me happy.
9. His white cap. I think it is so awesome.
10. Pope Benedict XVI. I love everything about him! (As you can see, he makes me smile a lot!)
Viva La Papa!
Comments
I'm not even Catholic (never
I'm not even Catholic (never have been) and I like Pope Benedict. He seems refined, truly in pursuit of God, possessed of an inner strength, and humble. I know Protestants have traditionally not liked the pope (that would be to put it lightly), but I would disagree. I might theologically differ from him, but theology is, most of the time, a dividing wall to mask how similar we really are and to excuse religious persecution. Thanks for sharing, Elizabeth.
Taylor
I respect your admiration
I respect your admiration for the leader of your faith, and I'm glad that you have someone that you can look up to. But I do have to say that I think that you should question what it is that you should be loving about your faith. I am a Baptist Chistian, and looking from the outside, in, I think that maybe you should turn your admiration and love over to God, who is the real person that we should all worship. I don't want to knock you down, but I do think that you should reconsider.
"Inconceivable!!"-Vizzini
So, another hapless writer
So, another hapless writer falls into the ranks of the Monthlies... :) JK it's tons of fun! Congrats, Elizabeth!
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"Weddings? I love weddings! Drinks all around!" -Jack Sparrow
I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. --The Book Thief
Though you may never get a
Though you may never get a Protestant to admit this, while we do not have a Pope, per se, we have many replacements for him: pastors, elders, deacons, early church fathers, Martin Luther, and so on, etc. In our distrust of the authority of the Pope over the entirety of Catholicism, a distrust I myself might harbor in the slightest degree, we have rushed to enstate where once sat a Pope, now sits our pastor, or the leader of our movement away from Catholicism, Martin Luther.
Yes, we should love God and devote ourselves wholly and completely to Him and Him alone, but surely that does not disclude us from also honoring, from admiring, a fellow disciple of Christ for his faithfulness to the faith, for his devotion to the One to whom we both, equally, owe our allegiances? It is not worship, but rather, as you put it, admiration for personal qualities that we value and hope to one day find ourselves emulating. Much like a younger brother might look up to an older sibling for his courage, determination, or strength, we look to spiritually older disciples of Christ to find a personal example to follow in our path towards becoming more like Christ.
Taylor
well spoken Taylor
well spoken Taylor
Yes
Yes, we all need someone who we can ask for guidance. But if you really think about what she has written, this is not praise for a human being, but for a god. Her reference to his different qualities, sound more like something that has been said of God.
I do think that we need someone to lead us and teach us more about God, I mean, good grief my dad's a pastor. However, we do need to be careful that we don't listen so much to our leaders that we would do whatever they tell us to, even if it's something we shouldn't.
I must say Taylor, you write very well and can express your opinions with great competence. You are very good. Do you have anything major you plan to do after school?
"Inconceivable!!"-Vizzini
Message Board
I think this conversation goes on the message board...
Peace,
Euphrasia
?
I don't mean to sound stupid, but I'm new on this, so could you explain to me what the message board is?
"Oh. Oh, yeah. It sounded like an absolute BURK asking a lot of dumb questions." 101 Dalmatians (Horris)
...
If you look right below the Comments board, it says Message board. If you click on it, it'll bring you to a message board of a bunch of other homeschoolers, and there is a place where you can discuss these sorts of things. :)
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"We have been created for greater things. Why stoop down to things that will spoil the beauty of our hearts?" ~Mother Theresa
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Okay. Thanks. So if I go look at it, where would I click to find this sort of thing?
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
Haha, Brit... I love your
Haha, Brit... I love your signature. :D Yay Captain Jack!
If you copy and paste this into your searcher you can get a full list of quotes. :D
www.reelmovienews.com/quotes/characters/jack-sparrow/
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"Weddings? I love weddings! Drinks all around!" -Jack Sparrow
I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. --The Book Thief
To Anna
Thanks, I was running out of quotes.
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
...
You would have to become a user first. So you would click sign up, and then you once you're a user you can see different boards. One of which is a discussion board where you would be able to start a new discussion topic, or find an old one that was talking about basically the same topic.
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"We have been created for greater things. Why stoop down to things that will spoil the beauty of our hearts?" ~Mother Theresa
love it!!!!!!!!!!
i love it! and as you know i love the Pope to!!!!!
luv,
BERNADETTE
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"my brother, my captain, my king," Boromir.
Yay for the Pope!!! I didn't
Yay for the Pope!!! I didn't know if I was going to like him so very much at first, but I love him now A LOT!!! & the red shoes are so cool.
But I have to say, the Pope is very dear to us Catholics. That doesn't take any of our love away from God, though. Does loving your family and friends take love away from God? What about loving music and pets and books? Didn't God make these things for us? Would He give us the capacity to love each other and all the earth if we weren't supposed to? That's all, people.
I love, love, love the Pope. And I love God so much that there isn't even a word for it: Love isn't a strong enough word to describe what I feel.
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If it were, it could be, if it was, it would be, but as it is, it isn't. That's logic!
--Tweedledee and Tweedledum
Love
And what is love? Love is a commitment, a state of mind which includes unselfishness given by one person to another or given between two people. This is why we can have a personal, meaningful, and sometimes painful (but always good) relationship with Christ - because of his love for us.
But this is not the kind of love being spoken of in this essay. The kind of love in this essay is more along the lines of infatuation. It is mainly concerned with the pope's public image. In fact, every point listed, save point 8, has nothing to do with spiritual or admirable qualities. And point 8 refers to something that every Christian should understand anyway.
Considering this, ‘loving’ the pope’s public image in this way makes him into an idol (by the second dictionary definition). And I’m certainly not attacking the Pope; assuming that he has studied the scriptures, he would probably agree with me. But any kind of idol, be it a movie star, an athlete, a musician, or the Pope, is useless if you don’t really know the person.
And Hannah, 'loving' your family and friends to excess can take away from your relationship with God, if this loving prevents you from having a one-on-one, personal relationship:
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple" - Luke 14:26
The “Love” expressed in this essay is actually “Admiration.” And it resembles the kind of admiration that one would have for a movie star rather than the kind that one would have for a spiritual leader.
That is why Protestants always have been and always will be wary of the Pope. He is given a measure of devotion by many that belongs only to Christ. Protestants have also given this to some of their ‘leaders’ in the past, but they have been wrong in doing so.
"There are no great men of God. There are only pitiful, sorry men whose God is great beyond measure." - Paul Washer [originally Jonathan Edwards]
Ezra, I think you are
Ezra, I think you are supporting me, but I'm not sure and don't want to assume.
Oh never mind, I can't remember what I was going to say anyway...Oh, yeah! I am not attacking the Pope, but rather the way people view him. Remember, the Pope is also a human being. Therefore he will be prone to the same thoughts and actions as the rest of us. He is not God.
Okay, not really how I wanted to say that, but it will work (or will have to anyway).
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
There is a saying that many
There is a saying that many Catholics uphold, concerning love:
"God is first.
My neighbor is second.
I am third."
To Catholics, the Pope represents Christ, in a unique and powerful way. We believe that the Pope is the straight successor of Simon Peter, who was appointed by Christ to be the first Pope, the leader of the Church. Therefore, although of course we love and adore and worship God above all else, we love and respect and admire the Pope as the leader, head and father of our Church, here on earth.
Elizabeth thus shows in her essay that she loves Pope Benedict because of his position in the Church and because of the great and holy love of God he shows to all people.
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"Ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?...Morons."
-Vizzini
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"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins [The Lord of the Rings]
No one person can represent
No one person can represent God! What makes the Pope any better than any other person?! What about "all men are created equal"?
You may say that you are not worshiping the Pope, but whather you realize it or not, you ARE! We do not kiss the hand of someone and consider it an honor, unless we are worshiping that person (actually, this does not apply to every situation, but it does apply to this). All of you are saying that you put God first, but if that is the case why didn't you write about God in this way?!
Yes, of course we have people to lead us, and of course we should respect them, but that does not mean praising voices or hands!
I'm sorry if I offend any of you, but at least listen and then think about what has been said.
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
I appreciate the fact that
I appreciate the fact that you are trying not to offend and are stating what you honestly believe. :)
The Pope is not better than any other person; we just give him great honor and respect [and love] because of the important position he holds as leader of our Church.
If you say, that we should write about God in this way if we state that we love Him above all else, why not say that when somebody writes about their love for their mother, their father, their brother, their sister? Or even their friend or some famous person they look up to? We love Pope Benedict as we would love our father or mother. Less perhaps, in some cases. So that is why Elizabeth wrote about him thus is because she loves him as a father or a brother. All people are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we should love them as such, of course!
If I say that I love a famous person like Mother Teresa because of her hands, the way they caress the poor and the needy and reach out in a friendly manner to all people, am I worshiping her?
Or if I say I love my friend because of the way she talks, or the way she smiles, or the way she loves God, or all the above piled together in one big lump of joy, is that worshiping the friend?
I will think about what you have said and ask you do the same for me.
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"Ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?...Morons."
-Vizzini
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"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins [The Lord of the Rings]
That is a good saying, and
That is a good saying, and I'll have to remember it.
But surely you do not admire and respect all popes? Past popes have been guilty of adultery, ordering (and enjoying) torture, nepotism, murder, frivolous spending, and political meddling. This is not a powerful representation of Christ. And while I am not accusing the current pope of any of these things (of course not), nether has he suffered nor been persecuted for the cause of Christ. He is a smart German theologian living in a palace in Italy because a group of men chose him for the task.
All that I am saying is that to love somebody because of their position is a mistake, and to love somebody because of what they say in public is no better. Saying something on TV, or writing a nice statement, or reaching out to a group of people is not really great and holy love unless it requires a good deal of sacrifice (Jesus demonstrates this).
Paul himself warned against earthly allegiances in Corinthians:
“What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?”
There have been times in the past when people had to leave the Pope in order to seek after God. And yet a document recently issued by the Vatican (with the Pope's blessing) states:
"Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century... do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense."
Historically, however, it was the reformation which forced the Vatican to make massive reforms of its doctrine and practices (the counter-reformation). When we finally meet our Savior, he will not ask us what spiritual leader we followed (Paul, Apollos, Peter, Luther, Calvin, or the Pope). Rather, he will care about whether we sought after his truth and sought to worship him with our lives.
And I'm sorry for being so long-winded :P I'm bored out of my mind right now wating for my sea year to begin...
"There are no great men of God. There are only pitiful, sorry men whose God is great beyond measure." - Paul Washer [originally Jonathan Edwards]
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Good job! I'll let you have the last word! I need to study more and then I'll write my own essay.
On a side subject...I just saw the announcement that Obama is the next President. I am almost in tears! How can people be so selfish? They only voted for him either because he's black, or because he is going to (or at least says he's going to) give them money. I am so disappointed in Americans, that they don't even think about what he is saying!
Ever since I can remember, we've had a republican Presidant. It is sad that this will be my first experience with a democratic Presidant.
How could an American hero lose to someone who I personally believe is a muslim.
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
Don't forget absolute truth
I'd just like to point out something here. I know that we're a community of friends here, and we don't want to offend each other (which is good). But nevertheless, there is absolute truth involved. Is the Pope the representative of Jesus, the rightful head of the Church, and infallible whenever he officially speaks about church doctrine?
He either is, or he isn't. If he is, then Protestants (particularly evangelicals of the more fundamentalist stripe) are wrong for rejecting his authority. However, if there is no apostolic succession, and Jesus never intended for there to be a man representing him on earth, then the office of the Pope is a shameful fraud, even if the man himself is good and sincere. If the Papacy is legitimate, then the Pope is the head of the church, to everyone, because we all live in the same reality. Whatever the truth of the matter is, it will apply to everyone equally, whether we believe rightly about it or not.
Truth is not relative; I think we can all agree on that. We may have to agree to disagree on the issue of the Pope, but at the same time, we must acknowledge for the sake of truth that this disagreement has significant implications. Whoever believes wrongly about it stands in a precarious position; it is no use trying to talk around this fact.
Also, a note on the election. Folks, it is disappointing. I believe Obama is a committed Marxist and will do great damage to this nation, especially with the leftists he will nominate to the court. But don’t despair. Whether the Obama administration works for good or evil, God is in control, and he works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
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"The idea that we should approach science without a philosophy is itself a philosophy... and a bad one, because it is self-refuting." -- Dr. Jason Lisle
Alright, I'll let you have
Alright, I'll let you have the last word. Good points. I feel kind of stupid with you two (among others)around.
On Obama: I guess these are encouraging words, but then I think about the things that are probably going to happen, and then.....(don't be fooled, I'm usually a pretty optimistic person, if you don't believe me, ask my sister).
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
I know. It's hard.
That's why we trust not in government or society. Although a society that lives by godly standards is nice, and a society that at least lets us live by godly standars without persecuting us is preferable, we will still survive this. Our fellow believers are being persectued all over the world, and have been repeatedly throughout history. God will give us grace to weather this. Obama may destroy the U.S., but he cannot destroy our faith. It is depressing, realizing what he will do to this nation. It will be worse than what Jimmy Carter did, and may not be reversable. But God still reigns over everything. He'll take care of us.
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"The idea that we should approach science without a philosophy is itself a philosophy... and a bad one, because it is self-refuting." -- Dr. Jason Lisle
"The king's heart is in the
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases."
Proverbs 21:1 (NIV)
Personally, I'm kind of scared that Obama is voted in. But God planned this out, and I'm going to trust him.
I have nothing to say about the Pope. I don't want to get tangled into it...
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"Weddings? I love weddings! Drinks all around!" -Jack Sparrow
I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. --The Book Thief
Yeah, my dad says that
Yeah, my dad says that Christians always do better under difficult times. Actually I'm feeling better about the whole thing today. Obama can't do nearly as many things as says he can. Your right, James. It will some how work for God.
"....So we're all men of our word, really, except Elizabeth who is in fact a woman." Captain Jack Sparrow
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It's good to remember that the Pope is just working as God's servant, and leader of God's Church. Just to clear something up, we Catholics do not believe that the Pope's humanity is infallible, because the nature of humanity is prone to sin, and is very fallible. His private ideas are not infallible either. But we believe that when he solemnly teaches on faith and morals while he is the Pope, that is infallible.
Guys, these would be great discussions for the message board. But I don't think they have anything to do with commenting the piece. :) Lets bring it back, okay?
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"We have been created for greater things. Why stoop down to things that will spoil the beauty of our hearts?" ~Mother Theresa
Um, hello?
Um, hello? How did we get on the subject of Obama? Can we take that somewhere else, please? This is Elizabeth's thing on the Pope. Go argue about the next president on something that actually has to do with that, or on the message board or whatever. Please & thank you.
secondly, yes there have been some not-so-great Popes. But there have also been some not-so-great leaders of other things, including the dear old USA. Does that make our country a bad place? No. So do past Popes who have done wrong make Catholics bad? Nope.
By the way, Pope John Paul II opened the Vatican archives so that people would learn the truth about some of the bad things that happened wither Popes and the Inqisition and everything. He did not run from the past. So he chose to d the right thing, even if it would show people all these bad things.
So now let's spare Elizabeth's poor essay on the Pope and move on. At least leave Obama out of this.
Over & out,
Hannah W.
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Knowledge is limited. Imagination encompasses the world.
--Albert Einstein
I luv Papa Ben
Oh, Elizabeth, POPE BENEDICT IS AWESOME!!!! I LOVE HIM TOO!! You went to Washington D.C. to see him, didn't you? Because we did, and I was like only fifteen feet away from him!! It was so exiting!!
But anyway, great essay!!!
Love,
Clare
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"Ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?...Morons."
-Vizzini
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"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." -Bilbo Baggins [The Lord of the Rings]