It seems to you that is what he is doing, but you don’t really know what is behind his sermons, only he knows, and it could as simple as just what he is saying. Take it for what it is right now, which is God’s message and be glad. No one knows what is to come, but have faith it is God’s plan.
I am not sure what you are trying to say or imply. But I will say that in just taking it for what it is I see Him allowing God to work His plan through Him. In opening himself up to allow God to work His plan through him would mean that it is his plan as well because he wants what God wants and that is I believe that they want to save souls.
:hearteus Caritas Est by Pope Benedict XVI
“On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf.* Jn* 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf.* Jn* 19:34).”
“Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me…”.
“No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love.”
“Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (*1 Cor *15:28).”
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html
(bold is mine)
It’s easy to forget that by encouraging us to care for the poor, Pope Francis is ministering to the whole flock, the givers and the receivers, not just the visibly needy. Many of us seemingly have all the stuff we need. It could be material stuff or spiritual stuff… that stands between us and God. In divesting oursleves of this uneeded stuff for the sake of others, we aid our own salvations, don’t we?
I did EMHC ministry at hospital and nursing home for several years and initially considered myself to be ministering to poor unfortunates in a rather superior and detached manner. In time I began to wonder who the truly needy one is… The poor unfortunate that has only Holy Communion and the Our Father for comfort, or me, who is clinging to a world full of worries.
excellent point clem456…and good of you to make it:getholy: I’ve had a similar experience visiting my sister who is in a hospital for the chronically ill. I have been brought to tears of wonder by the physically ‘broken’ (paralized, legless, spastic)who talk to me, telling me how they love and praise God, even though some are depressed/crying alot of the time, but still…His Grace sustains them and they witness to His love and power.
