Monday, December 15, 2008

2Thes 3, 14-15 Admonish him as a brother

(2Thes 3, 14-15) Admonish him as a brother
[14] If anyone does not obey our word as expressed in this letter, take note of this person not to associate with him, that he may be put to shame. [15] Do not regard him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother.
(CCC 1829) The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence; it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest (St. Augustine, In ep. Jo. 10, 4: PL 35, 2057). (CCC 2045) Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ (Cf. Eph 1:22), Christians contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and their moral lives. The Church increases, grows, and develops through the holiness of her faithful, until "we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13; cf. LG 39). (CCC 2046) By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, "a kingdom of justice, love, and peace" (Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the King). They do not, for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love.

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