Bet you haven't heard this one

[Brooklyn]

The priest today gave a sermon on the mercy of God, and how God will forgive anyone for anything. A nice concept, and certainly a true concept, although he did not go into the fact that we do have to repent before we can be forgiven. I’ll let that go for right now.

But the priest made a statement that made my head spin a bit. To illustrate how merciful God is, he said it was his opinion that when Jesus Christ went to heaven after being resurrected, the first thing he did was hug Judas! So the priest is basically saying Judas was saved, and is in heaven!

I think it will be a cold day in h*ll before I start praying to him!

Mary

 

[CARose]

We had a guest priest say Mass today and he focused on how the brother who was ticked that his dad had slaughtered the fattened calf for his ner do well brother’s return was like the “goody-two-shoes” who thinks that he’s in God graces just because he does everything the church teaches.

He then spent a good bit of his homily on how the younger brother knows all about his father’s love because he sinned and now realizes how much he needs his father and he fully appreciates his fathers mercy, because he truly needed it.

True enough, but he also, put more emphasis on the Sinner is Loved, regardless. And he further confused the point by emphasizing that the one who lives right isn’t all that good, is he? Isn’t he just like the pharasees?

I feel that the emphasis should be that it was the brothers inability to love the sinner that was wrong, but certainly not all who see the sin fail to love the sinner. And perpetuating this prejudice through calling them “goody-two-shoes” is unfortunate, especially during Mass.

There are times when it is our Christian duty to inform someone we love that they are not behaving in accord with Christ’s love or the teachings of the Church. It can be especially difficult to get it through to them that we totally LOVE them, even though we don’t stand by their error. A homily like this doesn’t help!

CARose

 

[Brooklyn]

I feel that the emphasis should be that it was the brothers inability to love the sinner that was wrong, but certainly not all who see the sin fail to love the sinner. And perpetuating this prejudice through calling them “goody-two-shoes” is unfortunate, especially during Mass.

There are times when it is our Christian duty to inform someone we love that they are not behaving in accord with Christ’s love or the teachings of the Church. It can be especially difficult to get it through to them that we totally LOVE them, even though we don’t stand by their error. A homily like this doesn’t help!

CARose

That does make you wonder. If we are obeying God, or doing our best to obey God, are we just a “goody two shoes”? That doesn’t seem to be the point Christ was making at all. As the father in the parable says to the obedient son: “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.” It sounds to me that he is commending this son for his obedience, but just telling him that now that “we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

It seems many priests want to put emphasis only on God’s mercy and love and not on our part in it. The priest at the Church where I attended today actually said that the prodigal son never said he was sorry! Oh yea, then what is “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.” Sounds like repentance to me.

Mary

 

[CARose]

I agree!

My pastor is excellent, and I know that this particular spin is not what we would have heard had he been at the ambo.

Oh well. I will take to heart to remember to let my love of the sinner shine forth, even with in a difficult situation with someone I love doing something seriously wrong.

Ultimately, it’s God I need to answer to and no-one else.

I’ll seek the wisdom of the Church for my answers and the counsel of a wise and faithful spiritual director.

CARose

 

[Pious_Mat]

Sounds to me like another priest trying to sweep the reality of Hell under the carpet, since, afterall, if Judas isn’t in Hell, nobody is.

It seems that this priest has adopted the “Gopsel of Judas” modernist theory that Judas was only following orders. If this were true, then we would be living in states of absolute predestination, which is certainly not true.

Judas willfully committed his terrible crime, which was far worse than anyone else’s involvement, since he fully grasped who Jesus was, and had ackowledged him as Lord and Saviour through following him.