Sunday, October 5, 2008

Eph 4, 31-32 Be kind to one another, compassionate

(Eph 4, 31-32) Be kind to one another, compassionate
[31] All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [32] (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
(CCC 2475) Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24). By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander" (Eph 4:25; 1 Pet 2:1). (CCC 1267) Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ: "Therefore… we are members one of another" (Eph 4:25). Baptism incorporates us into the Church. From the baptismal fonts is born the one People of God of the New Covenant, which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations, cultures, races, and sexes: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor 12:13). (CCC 1268) The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood" (1 Pet 2:5). By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 2:9). Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers. (CCC 1270) "Reborn as sons of God, [the baptized] must profess before men the faith they have received from God through the Church" and participate in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of God (LG 11; 17; AG 7; 23).

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