Ephesians 4:29-32
29
Never let evil talk pass your lips; say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them.
30
Do nothing that will sadden the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed against the day of redemption.
31
Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind.
32
In place of these, be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God as forgiven you in Christ.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1274
The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (“Dominicus character”) “for the day of redemption.”
“Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life.” The faithful Christian who has “kept the seal” until the end,
remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life “marked with the sign of faith,”
with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God – the consummation of faith – and in the hope of resurrection.
The Ecumenical Council of Vatican II
(1962-65) declared in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), 14, November 21, 1964:
This sacred Synod turns its attention first to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon sacred Scripture and tradition, it teaches that the Church,
now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. For Christ, made present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator
and the unique Way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5) and thereby affirmed
also the necessity of the Church, for though baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was
made necessary by God through Jesus Christ, would refuse to enter her or to remain in her could not be saved.
Early Church Fathers,
a quote from Aphraates the Persian sage, the oldest of the Fathers of the Syrian Church, a bishop, born 280 A.D., died after 345 A.D.
Therefore, dearly beloved, we too have received of the Spirit of Christ; and Christ dwells in us, accordingly as it is written that the Spirit
said through the mouth of the prophet as follows: “I will dwell among them, and will walk about among them.”
1
Let us, therefore, prepare our
temples for the Spirit of Christ; and let us not grieve Him, so that He will not depart from us. Remember the words of the Apostle, when he warns us,
“Grieve not the Holy Spirit, in whom you have been signed unto the day of redemption.”
2
For from Baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ.
At that same moment in which the priests invoke the Spirit, heaven opens, and He descends and rests upon the waters; and those who are baptized
are clothed in Him. For the Spirit is absent from all those who are born of the flesh, until they come to the water of re-birth; and then they
receive the Holy Spirit.
(Source for quote: The Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 1, Treatises, #683, William A. Jurgens, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, copyright 1970)
1
Lev 26:12
2
Eph 4:30 (Saint Paul)
Saint Clement of Rome,
our 4th
pope, wrote:
This world and the world to come are two enemies. Therefore, we cannot be friends to both.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
said:
You cannot bypass the crucifixion to get to the resurrection.
Deacon John W. Beckmann
November 13, 2003
Life is about discovering the truth and making choices based on those truths.