Friday, December 5, 2008

1Thes 5, 9-11 God did destine us to gain salvation

(1Thes 5, 9-11) God did destine us to gain salvation
[9] For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him. [11] Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.
(CCC 851) Missionary motivation. It is from God's love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, "for the love of Christ urges us on" (2 Cor 5:14; cf. AA 6; RMiss 11). Indeed, God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.

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