"...live the Gospel without sedatives" -- Pope Francis

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

From yesterday’s Zenit article:

“The Gospel must be taken without sedatives!” said Pope Francis to Superiors General on November 25, 2016, in the Vatican, appealing to live their religious consecration in all its radicalness. These proposals, which remained private, were published in the Italian edition of L’Osservatore Romano on February 10, 2017. The Pontiff also spoke of the role of religious in the renewal of the Church and of the need to discern the affective maturity of postulants.

The Pope has spoken often to the Church about “worldliness”. While we live “in the world” we must not be “of the world” i.e. choosing to ignore God’s Will to be more acceptable to those of the world, and taking into our lives the world’s values . It is important for him, especially to urge men consecrated by their Religious Profession to realize the tremendous effect their lifestyles can have on those whom they are called to serve. As a professed Jesuit, he knows what it is to live the religious life, himself.

…he continued, “we are called to come out of our zones of comfort and security, of all that is worldliness: in the way of life, but also in thinking of new ways for our Institutes (…). We must recognize personally and communally what our worldliness is.”

Asceticism itself can be worldly, warned Pope Francis: the hair shirt – garment of mortification – “must not help me to show how courageous and strong I am. Veritable asceticism must make me freer.” This is the criteria: “If something helps one, do it, even the hair shirt! But only if it helps you to be freer.”

…An antidote to the “princely” atmosphere

The religious, he assured, can contribute “to the renewal of structures and of the mentality of the Church.” In fact, their example can “destroy the harmful atmosphere,” “worldly and princely” that slips into ecclesial structures. (Underlining is mine)

The complete article can be read HERE

 

[SecretCatholic]

This is a good warning to all those Catholics out there wearing hair shirts…

Is it me or has our Pope lost perspective of the times? Where are all these “rigid”, over-disciplined and over-zealous Catholics?? Most “Catholics” don’t even go to mass! I’m sure, there are all types of people in the Church, but surely this is the inverse of the majority these days.

 

[RPRPsych]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

From yesterday’s Zenit article:

The Pope has spoken often to the Church about “worldliness”. While we live “in the world” we must not be “of the world” i.e. choosing to ignore God’s Will to be more acceptable to those of the world, and taking into our lives the world’s values . It is important for him, especially to urge men consecrated by their Religious Profession to realize the tremendous effect their lifestyles can have on those whom they are called to serve. As a professed Jesuit, he knows what it is to live the religious life, himself.

The complete article can be read HERE

 

[Bonnie]

This is a good warning to all those Catholics out there wearing hair shirts…

Is it me or has our Pope lost perspective of the times? Where are all these “rigid”, over-disciplined and over-zealous Catholics?? Most “Catholics” don’t even go to mass! I’m sure, there are all types of people in the Church, but surely this is the inverse of the majority these days.

Remember, he wasn’t talking to lay people. Even if he were, those “rigid” people could be found right here at CA. They are the ones overly concerned about penance, the validity of the sacraments if the priest utters one word out of place, about saying the right number of prayers, thinking that making a mistake is the same as a mortal sin, and so on.

 

[SecretCatholic]

Remember, he wasn’t talking to lay people. Even if he were, those “rigid” people could be found right here at CA. They are the ones overly concerned about penance, the validity of the sacraments if the priest utters one word out of place, about saying the right number of prayers, thinking that making a mistake is the same as a mortal sin, and so on.

Sure, this can be extreme too. But this doesn’t seem to be a problem for the majority of Catholics, laity and clergy alike. In fact, most seem not to be very concerned at all about sinning or liturgy, etc.

 

[Bonnie]

Sure, this can be extreme too. But this doesn’t seem to be a problem for the majority of Catholics, laity and clergy alike. In fact, most seem not to be very concerned at all about sinning or liturgy, etc.

True. But as I said, he was not addressing lay people.

 

[Origen52]

This is a good warning to all those Catholics out there wearing hair shirts…

Is it me or has our Pope lost perspective of the times? Where are all these “rigid”, over-disciplined and over-zealous Catholics?? Most “Catholics” don’t even go to mass! I’m sure, there are all types of people in the Church, but surely this is the inverse of the majority these days.

I’m with you. Looking at various statistics about 20% of Catholics attend mass, maybe a majority of them are "rigid and over-zealous ", but that’s all he’s got. Rather than constantly hitting them over the head, maybe he could gently explain how and why they need to change. Once these people realize they’re not wanted and turn to a more accepting environment, such as the SSPX, or the Orthodox Church, what will he have left?

All these atheists, remarried Catholics, common law, transsexual, etc. etc. are not going to return to the church. If he wants a look at the future of Catholicism as envisioned in his homilies, he needs to visit England and see how well the Anglican Church has done with its 'Aggiornamento". It now has women, married and gay clergy, allows birth control and sees abortion as a personal choice. Despite all these accommodations with our current culture, church attendance has fallen to 2%.

Furthermore more a list of saints who wore hair shirts includes St. Thomas Moore, St. John the Baptist (what would the pope make of him?). St. Cecilia and St. Francis (someone else who would definitely be listed under the strict column)

 

[RPRPsych]

Remember, he wasn’t talking to lay people. Even if he were, those “rigid” people could be found right here at CA. They are the ones overly concerned about penance, the validity of the sacraments if the priest utters one word out of place, about saying the right number of prayers, thinking that making a mistake is the same as a mortal sin, and so on.

Very true.

 

[RPRPsych]

I’m with you. Looking at various statistics about 20% of Catholics attend mass, maybe a majority of them are "rigid and over-zealous ", but that’s all he’s got. Rather than constantly hitting them over the head, maybe he could gently explain how and why they need to change. Once these people realize they’re not wanted and turn to a more accepting environment, such as the SSPX, or the Orthodox Church, what will he have left?

All these atheists, remarried Catholics, common law, transsexual, etc. etc. are not going to return to the church. If he wants a look at the future of Catholicism as envisioned in his homilies, he needs to visit England and see how well the Anglican Church has done with its 'Aggiornamento". It now has women, married and gay clergy, allows birth control and sees abortion as a personal choice. Despite all these accommodations with our current culture, church attendance has fallen to 2%.

Furthermore more a list of saints who wore hair shirts includes St. Thomas Moore, St. John the Baptist (what would the pope make of him?). St. Cecilia and St. Francis (someone else who would definitely be listed under the strict column)

:hypno:

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear RPRPsych, Origen52, Bonnie and Secret Catholic,

Thank you all for your replies. My intention in posting the excerpt and the link to the entire article was to share Pope Francis’ urging to the Superiors General of the Men’s Religious Orders, but also to encourage all of us among the laity to re-evaluate our own faithfulness to our call to holiness.

The universal call to holiness is enjoined on all of us and it is more than a mere invitation we can regard as “optional”. We have before us a choice between eternal life or eternal death. We may not achieve perfection on this earth, but we MUST choose to serve God first or we will be mastered by the evil one who seeks only to destroy. God gives us grace to strive, to endure, to persevere. There is purification here on earth, and should we need more purification at our death, there is purgatory – but the choice must be made now as to whom we serve.

Consecrated Religious have made serious promises to God which cannot be taken lightly. They have been given grace as we have been given grace at Baptism to live in Christ. They were consecrated also after Baptism as Religious with vows to give themselves to Christ, but not all seem to have heard the Gospel “without sedatives”. The Pope is calling them all to renewal, even as we the laity are called to renewal of our Baptismal vows. All are called to holiness and need continually to pray for the grace to live God’s Truth lovingly in this world for His glory and for the good of all our brothers and sisters.

I think the reference to “hair shirts” was meant to be taken as more symbolic than literal. In the past, we have had great respect for religious priests, brothers and sisters, and some of us have very fond memories (although some have not, I grant you). I was blessed thoughout Catholic schooling from First Grade through Graduate School in having fine teachers and some of them friends to this day. There has been a decline in more than Church attendance over the years.

Pope St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI spoke of the crisis of faith. St John Paul II observed that it was preceded by a decline in devotion to Mary. Pope Benedict saw evil increasing as more and more disciples grew drowsy. The Church depends on all members of the Body living their vocation to holiness. Let us please pray for clergy, religious and laity that all of us may live the Gospel “without sedatives”. Thanks.

 

[Origen52]

MariaChristi said “Let us please pray for clergy, religious and laity that all of us may live the Gospel “without sedatives”. Thanks.”

I would gladly try to do this, if anyone can explain to mean what it means???
Do I have to give up my antidepressant medication? Pope Francis’ main problem, for me, is that I find he doesn’t explain things clearly. He throws out phrases and expects people to understand what he is saying.

I think if I asked ten people what that phrase meant, I’d get ten different interpretations. The church magisterium is there to clarify the message of Jesus and how to live it, not create confusion.

 

[MariaChristi]

MariaChristi said "Let us please pray for clergy, religious and laity that all of us may live the Gospel “without sedatives”. Thanks."

I would gladly try to do this, if anyone can explain to mean what it means???
Do I have to give up my antidepressant medication? Pope Francis’ main problem, for me, is that I find he doesn’t explain things clearly. He throws out phrases and expects people to understand what he is saying.

I think if I asked ten people what that phrase meant, I’d get ten different interpretations. The church magisterium is there to clarify the message of Jesus and how to live it, not create confusion.

Dear Origen,

Perhaps I should have explained the phrase better, but if you read the article, more slowly and more carefully you perhaps will get a better sense of what the Pope said to these Religious Superiors. If you only read my original post, then maybe I should have spent more time in explaining his phrase “…live the Gospel without sedatives” . It was clear to me that he was using “sedatives” as a symbol for the Religious Superiors so they might recognize they and others may want to live the Gospel in a “painless” way. The second paragraph of the article stated:

…In a three-hour exchange with 140 Superiors General of masculine Religious Congregations, the Holy Father encouraged consecrated persons to be “radicals in prophecy.” It is “the famous sine glossa [literally ‘without gloss’], the Rule without gloss, the Gospel without gloss,” he explained. “That is to say, without sedatives! The Gospel must be taken without sedatives. It’s what our Founders did.”

The word “gloss” can be understood as a “veneer” or “glaze” to cover up or conceal. It’s like “window dressing” to hide the reality of something not worth much. The Pope is a Jesuit who knows the founders of Religious Orders suffered a great deal, in their effort to love as Christ loved, and live as Christ lived in this world. The Pope is warning Religious who may not be following the example of Christ as their founders did. The Rules their founders wrote were to help Religious be Christ-like but too many can merely “put on a show”; their religious practices can be hiding a life unlike Christ. They can prefer the ways of the world to the Way of the Gospel. The Pope encouraged them to be “radicals in prophecy”; a prophet is one who speaks for God, and is radical in the sense that he is unafraid to be different when others don’t want to hear or do what they hear in the Gospel. The article continued (and I included this next part of the Pope’s address in my original post because it also applies to laity):

In other words, he continued, “we are called to come out of our zones of comfort and security, of all that is worldliness: in the way of life, but also in thinking of new ways for our Institutes (…). We must recognize personally and communally what our worldliness is.”

The Pope is not asking you to give up your antidepressant. But he has said many times since becoming Pope that the Church needs to beware of “wordliness”. In order for us not to be “worldly”-- we all need prayerfully to listen to all Jesus has told us in His Gospel. How can we live the Gospel if we never take time to read and listen to what Jesus tells us? Each of us needs to ask the Holy Spirit to bring us into all truth “personally” and as the Family of God.

I agree with you: Pope Francis doesn’t always explain his words, and I apologize if I have not explained better what I was trying to share after reading the article. I hope you understand a bit more now. The Gospel is the “Good News” – Jesus, Who is our Way, our Truth, and our Life. We are all called to follow Him in different ways but all of us must be earnest in seeking to live as Christ lived and not always be looking for an easy way to avoid the Cross. Please ask more questions Origen if I’m still not clear. Thanks so much for your reply and your desire to live the Gospel truly.

 

[Origen52]

To MariaChristi

I appreciate your sincere reply, but I need to point out that none of us knows what the pope said in its entirety because all his homilies are given to us in bits and pieces. What we get in this article is Anne Kurian’s perspective on what the pope said. I’m glad that you are able to see everything Pope Francis says as being in communion with two thousand years of church teaching.

I was being flippant when I asked if I needed to give up my antidepressants, sorry about that, I understand you take this very seriously.

You say the Pope wants us to not be worldly, if that is the case why has he sown doubt about Catholics living in sin being able to receive communion without repentance? What is more worldly than allowing people to remain in sin, while clerics assure them that’s the best they can do.

He wants people to be radical prophets, yet everyone who has dared to try to disagree with him in a respectful manner has been publicly rebuked and humiliated. Two examples are, of course Cardinal Burke and less spoken of, Cardinal Sarah.

I also read Italian, so I’m aware of a lot of strange things he has said in his homilies, which have been reported in the Italian press, but have not been picked up in English speaking countries. I won’t go into details, unless you challenge me to, but all this leads me to think that he may have entered an early phase of dementia.

 

[MariaChristi]

To MariaChristi

I appreciate your sincere reply, but I need to point out that none of us knows what the pope said in its entirety because all his homilies are given to us in bits and pieces. What we get in this article is Anne Kurian’s perspective on what the pope said. I’m glad that you are able to see everything Pope Francis says as being in communion with two thousand years of church teaching.

I was being flippant when I asked if I needed to give up my antidepressants, sorry about that, I understand you take this very seriously.

You say the Pope wants us to not be worldly, if that is the case why has he sown doubt about Catholics living in sin being able to receive communion without repentance? What is more worldly than allowing people to remain in sin, while clerics assure them that’s the best they can do.

He wants people to be radical prophets, yet everyone who has dared to try to disagree with him in a respectful manner has been publicly rebuked and humiliated. Two examples are, of course Cardinal Burke and less spoken of, Cardinal Sarah.

I also read Italian, so I’m aware of a lot of strange things he has said in his homilies, which have been reported in the Italian press, but have not been picked up in English speaking countries. I won’t go into details, unless you challenge me to, but all this leads me to think that he may have entered an early phase of dementia.

Dear Origen,

Thanks for your reply. Please know I sympathize with you and share with you difficulties in trying to understand Pope Francis’ meanings in many of the things he writes or says. Language is so important in communications because there can be misunderstanding in translations and also, as you pointed out, if we receive only partial translations from the whole context, we can be missing additional points we need to know. Translators also can make errors in judgment.

Having been so blessed by the clarity and profound simplicity of Pope Benedict XVI’s writing, it is was like a “culture shock” for me to adjust to our new Pope’s manner of writing and speaking. I am greatly saddened also by the harsh and unjustified criticism hurled against the Cardinals, especially Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Sarah for merely asking for clarification – not only for themselves, but for all those among clergy and laity who simply do no know exactly what the Pope is saying in “Amoris Laetitia”. Understanding is critical to the souls of persons seeking to know God’s Truth.

Occasionally, however, as in this instance I do think the Pope is able to “see” something that laity may not see ( or even want to see) among clergy and religious. It is something Pope Benedict saw and spoke about also – especially in setting up a “review” of seminary and religious orders, some years ago. Those communications were more confidential and so I was really glad when Pope Francis came out more “bluntly” if you will, about the worldliness among clergy and religious. As I mentioned, it was not the first time I heard him and Pope Benedict speak of the Church’s need to become Christlike in our stance to be in the world but not “of it”. Somehow this was the strongest I’ve ever heard.

I wasn’t sure if you were being “flippant” or not, but you are right, I do take people more seriously than not. These are such “serious” times for the Church. I pray for all of us in the Church: clergy, religious and laity that we may all take our vocations to holiness seriously. We are all called to holiness, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is Perfect. Please let us pray to the Holy Spirit for all the graces we need. As one member of the Body grows in holiness we all grow, but as one fails, we are all weakened.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

 

[Exiled_Child]

That’s the greatest article I’ve read in ages. Thanks Maria.

 

[MariaChristi]

That’s the greatest article I’ve read in ages. Thanks Maria.

Thanks, Exiled Child,

I appreciate your reply. It struck me as a real “wake up” call to those Religious Superiors General. These men have heavy responsibilities for the formation of young Catholics entering their religious orders. If they are not taught the solid Truth by teachers who know and love the Truth the Church has been given, then what happens? A scripture verse from the Gospel of Matthew comes to mind, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Mt 5:13)

I wanted to post the article for lay persons as well because we need to remember that we too bear the responsibilities of living our own call to holiness given to us in Baptism and strengthened by Confirmation. The Church: clergy, religious and laity – all of us are called to evangelize. Bl. Pope Paul VI wrote: "The Church exists to evangelize. We will all be held accountable for the graces we have been given to “live the Gospel without sedatives”.

You may also be interested in reading my husband’s recent blog article entitled : “Church, will you awaken even now?” See HERE