Pope again denounces 'doctors of law,' focus on rules rather than God's mercy [CC]
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gilliam
Guest
Do I believe I have “earned” salvation? Or do I recognize I was saved by Christ thanks to limitless, merciful love of God?
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LongingSoul
Guest
A lovely question from Pope Francis. An ecumenical question even.
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R_H_Benson
Guest
I am continually hurt and confused by the Holy Father’s words as I try to live my Faith no differently than generation upon generation before me: by keeping God’s commandments and seeking sacramental confession when I fall. “If you love me you will keep my commandments”. Catholics love God’s laws and precepts because in them are truth and mercy and by faithfully observing them we dispose ourselves to the graces that merit salvation.
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1neophyte
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Isn’t this the same perspective held by those who opposed Jesus during His time on earth? They were so hurt and confused by Him that they put Him to death. The very laws and precepts of God that Catholics love ARE His boundless mercy and love! The commandments that we are called to keep are all rooted in showing that same relentless mercy to everyone we encounter. THAT’S what it means to “be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.”
The gospel readings for the past two Sundays are so illuminating in this regard. The rich young man was hurt and confused by Jesus’ words, because he did not want to give up all that he owned. It might be even harder for us to give up our attachment to our own alleged faithfulness, but that’s exactly what we must do. The graces that merit salvation are given freely, not in exchange for faithfulness. We are only disposed to receive them when we understand that we did nothing to earn them. The Holy Spirit is working through Pope Francis to drive this point home to those whose faith is in their own action, rather than God’s. Sometimes it’s good to be hurt and confused, because it disposes us to the poverty of spirit we need in order to live in the Kingdom of God.
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LongingSoul
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RHBenson, I really believe you could find consolation and clarity in the diaries of St Faustina. It’s a challenge to trust in her incredibly liberal accounts of the unlimited nature of Gods mercy… but she is a saint and speaks of the right way forward.
“Tell souls not to place within their own hearts obstacles to My mercy, which so greatly wants to act within them. My mercy works in all those hearts which open their doors to it. Both the sinner and the righteous person have need of My mercy. Conversion, as well as perseverance, is a grace of My mercy.” (1577)
“Let Souls who are striving for perfection particularly adore My mercy, because the abundance of graces which I grant them flows from My mercy.” (1578)
“I have opened my Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death.” (1520)
“Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write about My mercy towards tormented souls. Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more graces than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable mercy. Write: before I come as a just judge, I first open wide the door of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice…” (1146)
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Ron_in_minden
Guest
So do I, or do I not, need to keep the commandments? Or should I just presume on God’s mercy whether I do, or do not?
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phil19034
Guest
Watch Bishop Barron’s keynote address at the World Meeting of Families. He does a great job of explaining this.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oYL5dW7c13k
If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing (it’s 53 minutes), start it here at minute 35: youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oYL5dW7c13k#t=2104
God Bless!
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phil19034
Guest
Watch Bishop Barron’s keynote address at the World Meeting of Families. He does a great job of explaining this.
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oYL5dW7c13k
If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing (it’s 53 minutes), start it here at minute 35: youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=oYL5dW7c13k#t=2104
God Bless!
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1neophyte
Guest
Yes, you need to keep the commandments. But do you? Every time we go to confession, we are saying that we don’t. Every time we go to MASS, we are saying that we don’t, through our own most grievous fault. And yes, we presume on God’s mercy every single time.
I have never experienced a failing in His mercy. Have you?
I don’t have a fraction of an ounce of doubt in my mind that that I will sin again in my lifetime. Do you expect that you will never sin again?
I have zero doubt that God will be merciful to me in every circumstance I face throughout the rest of my life. Do you?
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kozlosap
Guest
I think that Papa means it is far easier to be a legalistic type Pharasee than to learn to be merciful and walk in the footsteps of Jesus. 
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LongingSoul
Guest
Very good explanation by Bishop Barron but my gosh I wanted to jump on the stage and straighten up his zucchetto!
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IBombAtomically
Guest
I agree, and I thank you for that beautiful thought. God’s mercy is great!
How would you differentiate between the above idea, and presumption?
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
And yet --of course I’m just one person in just one place at just this time–I have never met these legalistic Pharisees either in church or outside of church. I haven’t seen my priests, bishops, lay people etc in the last 40 odd years insisting on ‘rules’.I think that Papa means it is far easier to be a legalistic type Pharasee than to learn to be merciful and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
And I can’t help but notice that you couch your proposition as if there are ONLY two possible positions --as if the ‘legalistic type’ (i.e., those who even talk about rules) are the diametric opposites of ‘those who are merciful and walk in the footsteps of Jesus’.
Isn’t that rather unfair?
Were there no Christians whose mercy and following in Christ’s footsteps coexisted with them pointing out that one must ALSO strive to abide in the boundaries God Himself gave us, lest we wander away into the wilderness?
Wait, that was pretty much all Christians until ‘modern’ times. . .
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Ron_in_minden
Guest
Great, that’s what I thought. When I read your first post it was my impression that you were saying-"…forget about it, God’s mercy is gonna save us all anyway, just be nice".
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LongingSoul
Guest
It isn’t really ‘diametric opposites’ in general terms. They are the positions that the Pope talks about in relation to yesterdays gospel about the Pharisees/doctors of the law. He is saying do you think you have to ‘earn’ mercy? So to me he talking about the attitude which is even common today, here and now… that one has to earn mercy. The Pharisees wouldn’t let the people believe in Jesus because perhaps He didn’t make logical sense to them. After He left them they plotted how to trick Him up.
Today, there are some that won’t let people believe in the boundlessness of Gods mercy because they want to strictly stick to a scoreboard of worthiness. They don’t want people to get something they don’t deserve because that isn’t how their world works.
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edwest2
Guest
Precisely true. I watched as a group of wolves spoke peace and freedom while selling us corruption. Gradually, while increasing the volume of their false preaching, too many are now living as they wanted us to live when they started. To lose respect for all authority - the Church, priests, parents and even good neighbors.
I was not offended to hear “You should be ashamed of yourself,” from others. Now, for some, shame, guilt and sin no longer exist. Right and wrong are not set truths. The Dictatorship of Relativism says “my will be done.” So true communities cannot exist because everyone is going in their own direction, seeking pleasure that is temporary and not the good that is everlasting.
Yes, I am saved by faith through grace. I am humbled by God. Mercy? Yes. But over the decades, falsehoods have turned mercy into false compassion. Boundaries? One cable channel’s branding phrase is “No Limits.”
Ed
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R_H_Benson
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Then I guess I don’t understand who the Holy Father is attacking. We must live the Law if we wish to keep Christ’s commandments. Yet, it seems that he continuously attacks those of us who do so, accusing us of being Pharisaical. So what does he want us to do? Just live as we please and as long as we are “good” people we can be assured of God’s mercy? The Law requires that we love God and our neighbor - the Pope himself stated this in the article. This is the greatest commandment. It is a Law. Just what is the Pope saying? Why can’t he be more clear when he speaks? Why on one hand does he emphasis the sacrament of confession, and then on the other continue to hold “mercy” as if it is a concept entirely disjointed from the moral law? Who would even desire to seek mercy if he didn’t have the guilt of the violation of the law on his conscience? I am longing for real, solid, unequivocally clear Catholic doctrine to flow from Rome like it did in the past. What is going on over there?
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Thomas_White
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What Pope Francis is actually quoted as saying is that “some people take on the attitude of the ‘doctors of the law’ and so the fight for control over salvation…did not end with Jesus and Paul.” I think this means that this attitude, one insisting on legalism, resists the message of Christ. (emphasis added)
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Art321
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From what I have seen, this issue always seems to come up with Pope Francis and I believe many people truly seem confused as it seems that he isn’t as clear and many of his words are always left open to interpretation. Of course, I do seem to understand to what he is trying to say. I believe he is warning all Catholics that we must not only become obsessed with the Law, because if we do so we shut out the possibility of someone’s conversion to the Faith! Yet, I feel I need to elaborate on the words mercy and love as these two have truly become misused throughout our Modern Age.
To truly love authentically in the Catholic/Christian sense, we must have mercy and truth! By mercy, I mean we must have empathy towards a fellow sinner and once we understand their afflictions, we follow with true mercy. The reason I say “true mercy” is because once this virtue is given it means that repentance must follow! This is the prime distinction that many Catholics as well as Christians overall have failed to see as they only mean we accept them as they are in their sins. The reason this is a false sense of compassion and mercy itself is because we rob them of their potential to grow in their spiritual life. It must also be stressed that when individual Catholics admonish the sinner, it must be done with compassion and a gentle heart. If we do it in a condescending way, we undermine our whole mission to begin with!
And by truth, I do of course mean we must proclaim the Word/Church Doctrines. What I believe Pope Francis was referring to in the article seems to be legalism meaning that Catholics only use the Law without Mercy to bring people to Christ! That truly is wrong and should be avoided at all costs. The Law itself is very good and it should be said because many people in our Modern Age love to bash on it because they feel as it only restricts their lives in every aspect and respond with claims that Christ Himself would accept them as they are. The same Christ that said “Love your enemies and pray for those that prosecute you” also said “Whosoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me”. The only way I would respond is that we must promote the Law (Truth) as Bishop Barron so kindly said in that we must never view it as restricting, but rather through a second lens that truly sets us free and moves us towards a path of perfect grace. Someone already post the video in which he does this at the World Meeting of the Families.
And so in conclusion when we do these two fundamental things is when we come to love authentically as our Lord Jesus Christ did here on Earth. I hope I made sense of this whole thing and its ok if we fail sometimes. The important thing is to rise again and keep up the good fight in this regard!
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