logo
Indice > Dialoghi Interconfessionali > M-RC > Paris (Singapore) Rep. 1991 | CONT. > Part One
 
  (PREFACE) - selezionare
  (INTRODUCTION) - selezionare
Part One - Sez. 1 menu
  sezione 2 (PART TWO) - selez.
  (CONCLUSION) - selez.
FULL TEXT

IV. The Pattern Of Christian Life



1. The Gift of New Life

   39. Faith in Jesus Christ involves assent to the truths of the Gospel. In confessing these truths we likewise confess our new identity as sons and daughters of God. As our minds are filled with the truths of the Gospel, they are transformed, and that transformation brings about a new life. St. Paul tells his converts to be "transformed by the renewing of their minds" (Rom 12:2). Through the hearing of and response to the Gospel a crucial change of both heart and mind takes place. So it is that Paul prays to God for his new converts "that you may be filled with knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in knowledge of God" (Col 1:9-10).

   40. Through Christ's death and resurrection the way is opened for reconciliation to the Father in the Holy Spirit. Baptism, the sacrament of faith, is the sign of that new life which the Father gives us through Christ in the Spirit. Christ's death has put to death sin in our lives; it has freed us from the bondage of sin and death. The new life that replaces the old is a life of love: it is a sharing in the inner life of God that is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). This love is pure gift, and in virtue of it we are drawn ever more deeply into the inner life of God and are able to cry "Abba, Father" (Gal 4:6). It is other-centered and boundless in its range and scope, directed to the whole world. In particular, it pushes us out to the poor, the weak and the unloved. It is love without preference and without distinction since, because of the work of Christ, there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Gal 3:28).



2. The Challenge of New Life

   41. This gift is also call and responsibility. Paul tells the Colossians that it is precisely because they have died and been raised to new life that they must put to death those features of their old way of life which still persist. They must put away their old garments and "put on the garment of God's chosen people" (cf. Col 3:12). The obligation of Christians to change their lives is rooted and grounded in what God has done for them. For a few, the transformation comes quickly, as John Wesley noted in his "Plain Account of Christian Perfection". But for most the putting-to-death of the old way of life and the taking on of the new involves Christians in a long and painful process of maturing in love. It is a costly journey and inevitably involves suffering since the pattern of Christian life will reflect the pattern of Christ's dying and rising. It was the constant concern of Paul to foster and nurture this growth. Individuals, then, are changed by the saving action of God in Christ that is appropriated through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the bestowal of the gift of new life on individuals constitutes a new principle of unity. The baptised share together in the life of love, and this sharing is a vital dimension of the koinonia which is the Church.



3. The Communion of New Life

   42. By allegiance to Christ the believer becomes part of the community in which Christ is remembered (anamnesis). Christ's words to his disciples are relevant here. The Christian is brother, sister, mother to Christ in community with others (Mk 3:31-35, Mt 12:46-60; Lk 8:19-21).

   43. The early Christian believers were part of a community where life was lived in common with others, the disunity of Babel being reversed by the events of and after Pentecost (Acts 2:44; 4:32). In Acts 2:42 we read of the four fundamental elements in their life together: hearing the teaching of the apostles; communion (koinonia); breaking of bread; and the prayers.

   44. In their worship on the Lord's day they experienced his presence and renewing grace as they celebrated the Eucharist together. In the service itself the profound nature of their relation to each other was manifested in the giving of the peace and, pre-eminently, in the Holy Communion: "The bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread" (1 Cor 10:16-17). The Eucharist remains the focus where the pattern of life specific to Christians is shown forth.

   45. It has been customary to state that Methodists regard the preaching of the Word as the central act of worship, while for Catholics the Eucharist is "the center and culmination" of Christian life (Vatican II, Presbyterium ordinis, 5). This contrast should not be put too strongly. In the beginnings of Methodism, the Wesleys encouraged and practice a much more frequent observance of the Lord's Supper than was customary in the Anglican Church of the time, and in recent decades Methodists are increasingly appreciating the centrality of the Eucharist and Catholics the fundamental importance of the preaching of the Word.



4. The Source of New Life

   46. By baptism we are received into the community of belief and are nurtured there as the faith is passed on to us ("traditioned" to us) through the family and the Church. Unless this "traditioning" takes place, we receive little of the Christian faith. Each generation and each person must claim for themselves the life of faith. We receive the faith in more explicit terms through hearing the preached Word, Sunday schools, catechism classes, first communion classes, confirmation classes, and Church-sponsored schools. Sustained growth in the Christian faith requires time spent in study of the Scriptures and in prayer based on the Scriptures. The faith is nourished in both our traditions by devotional life that plays a significant part in its growth. There are also many ways in which the spiritual life has been nurtured among us, e.g., Christian family life, Methodist class meetings, various lay apostolates and renewal movements in the Catholic Church, the practice of retreats, ecumenical house groups and marriage enrichment courses. In all these situations "heart speaks to heart" (cor ad cor loquitur).



5. The Practice o f New Life

   47. The Christian hope is that humanity will one day be gathered into Christ when the Gospel has been preached to all nations (Mt 24:14; 28:19). In the widest sense of the mission of the Church, there is the mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners, welcome the stranger (Mt 25:31-46). These "works of mercy" belong to the Christian mission in the widest sense and Catholic-Methodist cooperation has often been most successful in this area. In particular, both churches have tried to promote true Christian community without respect of race, sex or class. In places that are hostile to Christianity, missionary endeavor has been difficult, and fidelity to the Gospel has proved very costly. The picture in Hebrews of the saints who watch from heaven and encourage us is pertinent here (Heb 12:1).

   48. The proclamation of the Gospel by words is an essential task for each generation of believers. Christians also bear witness when they seek to let their light shine before others so that their conduct as well as their words may bring others to glorify God (Mt 5:16; 1 Pt 2:12). Personal evangelism contributes to the corporate mission and is vitally important in making new believers.

 
 

 
 
Indice | Attivitą del Centro | Corsi | Pubblicazioni | Conferenze
Settimana di Preghiera | Biblioteca | Dialoghi Interconfessionali
Direttorio dei Centri di Studi Ecumenici | Society of the Atonement
Guest Book | Credits | Site Map


1999-2004 © - Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Inc.
Remarks to Webmaster at webmaster@pro.urbe.it