What are the characteristics of the people of God? Are they unique? Today, Jeff discusses the unique characteristics of the people of God and what they mean for how we ought to live our lives. Listen so you can know the unique way in which we are called to live our lives.
Snippet from the Show
“Yes, I do believe that the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth and I am willing to die for it.”
Shownotes
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Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 782
The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history:
- It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one person. But he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”
- One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being “born anew,” a birth “of water and the Spirit,” that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.
- This People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is “the messianic people.”
- “The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple.”
- “Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us.” This is the “new” law of the Holy Spirit.
- Its mission is to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This people is “a most sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race.”
- Its destiny, finally, “is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by him at the end of time.”
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Resources
- Email us at thejeffcavinsshow@ascensionpress.com
- Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get added to Jeff’s shownotes email list
- New Podcast from Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR: The Rosary in a Year
- Visit Jeff’s website at www.jeffcavins.com
- The Great Adventure Bible
- Listen to The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
- Pilgrimages with Jeff
- Jeff’s Daily Gospel Reflections with Jonathan Roumie: www.hallow.com/jeffcavins
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Meet Your Host: Jeff Cavins
Jeff Cavins is passionate about helping people understand Scripture and become disciples of Jesus Christ. Though he was born Catholic, Jeff went to Bible school and served as a protestant minister for twelve years before reverting to the Catholic Faith. Jeff then received his MA in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Since then, he has become a leading Catholic evangelist and author.
Jeff created The Bible Timeline learning system, which revolutionized Catholic Bible Study for millions of Catholics. Since its introduction, Jeff has developed The Great Adventure series of Bible studies to help people better understand Sacred Scripture and its meaning for their lives.
