J
JReducation
Guest
I just finished reading Light of the World. It is absolutely incredible. I’m about to begin reading it again, this time more slowly. The Holy Father addresses several points that often come up on TC Forum: Bishop Williamson, the liturgy, Fatima, the role of the pope and papacy, culture of moral relativism, Islam and a few other interesting subjects that don’t come up here.
He’s also very candid about his daily life, his feelings about being pope, his vision for the Church and his vision of the world. His vision of the world is incredible. He looks at it through a completely different set of lenses than most of us do.
As a Franciscan, I have to admit that I have a bias. He is a hybrid between Franciscan and Augustinian. His approach to his answers uses the method of that school, not the classic Thomistic school. The good thing is that the Augustinian/Franciscan method is user friendly. It’s easy to read. The difficult part is that it is very nuanced just as were Augustine and Bonaventure. Every word has three or four meanings, so you can’t just read a sentence and say, “I understand.” No, you probably don’t. As is typical of these two schools, you have to read the thesis from beginning to end. Fortunately, he does not deal a lot in doctrine. He deal a lot in morals and ecclesiology.
He clarifies what he meant when he spoke at Fatima. Most people on CAF read that one wrong too. It’s hard to explain it in brief. But he specifically says that he is not expecting any extraordinary occurrence to happen between now and the 100th anniversary of Fatima. He is hoping for the conversion of hearts. In that way, the Immaculate Heart will triumph and he goes on to say some beautiful things about Our Lady. Just awesome!
He is very candid too. He admits the mistakes that were made, but is unapologetic. He simply says that mistakes were made and explains what went wrong, but life goes on. I found this very helpful, because it communicates a trust in God’s providence. God is driving the bus, not us. It also communicates that if we do the best we can, with what we have at the time, God will take care of the rest. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to be faithful.
A few points made me chuckle. He said that if people don’t like the pope, they should blame it on the cardinals who did the electing. On another point he was asked if he could speak a little more simply, for the common man . He says that he’s not about to “dumb down theology”. He minces no words in expressing his reservations about Bishop Williamson. He even says that had he known more about him, he would have separated him when lifting the excommunications. He would not have been included.
He has an interesting take on the way that the world uses the term “conscience”. I loved that one too. It made me chuckle, not because he’s being comical, but because he’s so dead on that it’s a wonder why so many people cannot see it.
He speaks about the countries that he has visited and what he has found there. He is very simple in his approach to everything. Despite his genius, his faith is that of a child, which is refreshing. Basically he goes with a very simple prayer, “You fix it.” Then he goes out and does what he has to do, trusting that God will use whatever he does to fix the problem.
Just in case anyone doubts the content. The Introduction confirms that the Pope read the final script before it went to press and edited a few things. It says what he wanted to say.
Has anyone else finished it?
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
He’s also very candid about his daily life, his feelings about being pope, his vision for the Church and his vision of the world. His vision of the world is incredible. He looks at it through a completely different set of lenses than most of us do.
As a Franciscan, I have to admit that I have a bias. He is a hybrid between Franciscan and Augustinian. His approach to his answers uses the method of that school, not the classic Thomistic school. The good thing is that the Augustinian/Franciscan method is user friendly. It’s easy to read. The difficult part is that it is very nuanced just as were Augustine and Bonaventure. Every word has three or four meanings, so you can’t just read a sentence and say, “I understand.” No, you probably don’t. As is typical of these two schools, you have to read the thesis from beginning to end. Fortunately, he does not deal a lot in doctrine. He deal a lot in morals and ecclesiology.
He clarifies what he meant when he spoke at Fatima. Most people on CAF read that one wrong too. It’s hard to explain it in brief. But he specifically says that he is not expecting any extraordinary occurrence to happen between now and the 100th anniversary of Fatima. He is hoping for the conversion of hearts. In that way, the Immaculate Heart will triumph and he goes on to say some beautiful things about Our Lady. Just awesome!
He is very candid too. He admits the mistakes that were made, but is unapologetic. He simply says that mistakes were made and explains what went wrong, but life goes on. I found this very helpful, because it communicates a trust in God’s providence. God is driving the bus, not us. It also communicates that if we do the best we can, with what we have at the time, God will take care of the rest. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to be faithful.
A few points made me chuckle. He said that if people don’t like the pope, they should blame it on the cardinals who did the electing. On another point he was asked if he could speak a little more simply, for the common man . He says that he’s not about to “dumb down theology”. He minces no words in expressing his reservations about Bishop Williamson. He even says that had he known more about him, he would have separated him when lifting the excommunications. He would not have been included.
He has an interesting take on the way that the world uses the term “conscience”. I loved that one too. It made me chuckle, not because he’s being comical, but because he’s so dead on that it’s a wonder why so many people cannot see it.
He speaks about the countries that he has visited and what he has found there. He is very simple in his approach to everything. Despite his genius, his faith is that of a child, which is refreshing. Basically he goes with a very simple prayer, “You fix it.” Then he goes out and does what he has to do, trusting that God will use whatever he does to fix the problem.
Just in case anyone doubts the content. The Introduction confirms that the Pope read the final script before it went to press and edited a few things. It says what he wanted to say.
Has anyone else finished it?
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
What heresy; in fact, I dare say that’s even a form of apostasy! How can anyone possibly be an Augustinian (or one of those silly Franciscans? 
) after St. Thomas? Ironically, St. Bonaventure is my ‘favourite’ saint after Thomas, and he’ll probably be my Confirmation saint. 
It’s a lot of fun when a writer invites you to dialogue with him.