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J
jeanannemarie
Guest
I found this a very inspiring article. The things Pope Francis said are just what I am always wondering about. I need help treading the true path as a Christian. I do not want to be lukewarm and it is all so difficult! Perhaps more clear leadership will be forthcoming from my shepherds, as all this comes from our Pope.
G
gracepoole
Guest
Amen.
And I think it’s worth noting, too, that Pope Francis used the word Christian rather than Catholic.
J
JMJSHJ
Guest
The article is a little too brief for me. For instance what does the Pope mean when he says the following:
S
Stylteralmaldo
Guest
JMJSHJ:
It seems to me that it means that there are too many claiming to be Christian that are too mournful in their outlook. True Christians are the most joyful people you could know…or that is the way it ought to be. Sure, this is a sad world with many things going wrong. But for the Christian, we are not sad and mournful for we believe in the Resurrection. Praised by Jesus Christ!
Personal sadness envelops us all in our everyday life, but that is different than being mournful and dejected. We must always give a reason for our hope. Being rigid (inflexible) in our dealings with people because they don’t necessarily sees things our way can make us mournful because they may not see the Truth of Jesus Christ as we may see it.
It seems to me that it means that there are too many claiming to be Christian that are too mournful in their outlook. True Christians are the most joyful people you could know…or that is the way it ought to be. Sure, this is a sad world with many things going wrong. But for the Christian, we are not sad and mournful for we believe in the Resurrection. Praised by Jesus Christ!
Personal sadness envelops us all in our everyday life, but that is different than being mournful and dejected. We must always give a reason for our hope. Being rigid (inflexible) in our dealings with people because they don’t necessarily sees things our way can make us mournful because they may not see the Truth of Jesus Christ as we may see it.
J
JMJSHJ
Guest
Thank you Stylteralmaldo.JMJSHJ:
It seems to me that it means that there are too many claiming to be Christian that are too mournful in their outlook. True Christians are the most joyful people you could know…or that is the way it ought to be. Sure, this is a sad world with many things going wrong. But for the Christian, we are not sad and mournful for we believe in the Resurrection. Praised by Jesus Christ!
Personal sadness envelops us all in our everyday life, but that is different than being mournful and dejected. We must always give a reason for our hope. Being rigid (inflexible) in our dealings with people because they don’t necessarily sees things our way can make us mournful because they may not see the Truth of Jesus Christ as we may see it.
P
PetrusRomanus
Guest
It’s really the same thing. Any one who is a Christian, a Christ follower, is a Catholic.
L
livingwordunity
Guest
Catholics are the original Christians.
G
gracepoole
Guest
Where have you both been? I’ve been wondering how long it would be for someone to make that claim.
F
fix
Guest
Why is that worth noting?
F
fix
Guest
I have no reason to believe he intentionally chose to not use it. What is your point?
F
fix
Guest
What is the poster’s point? Why is this distinction worth mentioning?
F
fix
Guest
Sorry, I fail to see why the poster raised her point. I think posters on a Catholic form are aware of this distinction.
E
edwest2
Guest
There is an American phrase: talk the talk and walk the walk.
If we mourn at everything, we are frozen in place and cannot walk and cannot act.
If we simply talk but don’t act, we cannot do what God wants us to.
If we act as the Bible and the Church teaches, we are guided by God and no matter what is going on around us, including the great desire of some to teach us to do wrong or be hopeless or seek only temporal things, will be seen for what it is. The world needs salt and light. If we are neither then we must turn to God and ask for His guidance.
Hope is not something we hear about very often. Anger, yes. Death, yes. But hope, peace and honest cooperation? Not that much.
We all struggle. Some of us greatly, and God understands. Pray. And pray. Seek and you shall find. God wants you to trust Him.
Peace,
Ed
If we mourn at everything, we are frozen in place and cannot walk and cannot act.
If we simply talk but don’t act, we cannot do what God wants us to.
If we act as the Bible and the Church teaches, we are guided by God and no matter what is going on around us, including the great desire of some to teach us to do wrong or be hopeless or seek only temporal things, will be seen for what it is. The world needs salt and light. If we are neither then we must turn to God and ask for His guidance.
Hope is not something we hear about very often. Anger, yes. Death, yes. But hope, peace and honest cooperation? Not that much.
We all struggle. Some of us greatly, and God understands. Pray. And pray. Seek and you shall find. God wants you to trust Him.
Peace,
Ed
T
Teelynn
Guest
From your lips to God’s ears!!!
G
gracepoole
Guest
P
Portrait
Guest
Dearly beloved friends,
Cordial greetings and a very good day.
The Holy Father’s homily is jolly timely and highly relevant, especially for us Christians who live in the Western world, for our lot is cast in days of Laodicean lukewarmness where worldly conformity is, I regret to say, all too common. Multitudes of the faithful have adopted a hand in hand with the world type of religious practice, a sort of ‘Catholicism Lite’, and apparently see no harm in descending to the level of those whose minds and outlook is manifestly circumscribed by that which is temporal (cf. II Cor. 4: 4, 18). Rather than living on the high mountain land above their whole mental horizon is bounded by a deep attraction to earthly pleasures and comforts, making them virtually indistinguishable from their pagan neighbours. According to St. Paul “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phillip. 3: 20); Heaven is the true homeland of the faithful, not this fallen world. As aliens who have no continuing city in this world, the faithful should avoid a life rooted in earthly things to which they owe no allegiance. To have one’s affections deeply centred on this world, being wholly captivated by that which is purely transient, is surely an indication that one is only “floating on the surface of the Christian life”, to quote Pope Francis.
It is certainly very true, dear friends, that our most holy religion was not designed to make us melancholic and there is no reason for us to look as if we are in “perpetual mourning”. Innocent merriment and wholesome leisure pursuits are plainly not forbidden by Holy Mother Church, but we should not be duped into thinking that every man who has a smile upon his face necessarily has a smile upon his heart. Moreover, much of what is termed ‘having fun’ today is very superficial and merely a form of escapism from the harsh realities of life. If anything, the biggest problem among contemporary Catholics in the West is not being disposed to “perpetual mourning”,or adopting a “rigid approach” to religion, but a half-hearted, earthbound lukewarmness that refuses to face up to the call to personal sanctity and self-denial (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, paras. 2013-2015). Living the Christian life as God and the Church intends is serious business, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12: 14). Our confession of faith has separated us unto God and so it is incumbent upon us that we live a life that befits those who are so separated (cf. Rom. 6: 19, 22). Far too much nonsense has been spoken about being “world affirming rather than being world denying”, simply to excuse a flabby and shameful unspiritual outlook. There is very little risk nowadays of the faithful being overscrupulous or behaving in such a way as to make the religion of Christ appear unattractive or harsh, for materialistic values dominate the Church almost as much as they do the world. The urgent need of the hour is surely a greater emphasis upon the call to holiness, renunciation of the world and spiritual battle. This, along with the necessity of “ascesis and mortification”, is something that we need to hear more of in the preaching of our pastors, not less, so as to counteract worldly conformity, especially among the youth.
Alas, dear friends, rather than striving to keep themselves “unstained from the world” (Jam. 1: 27), many of the faithful seem intent on clinging on to as much worldly pleasure as possible. You would never think that they were men who understood that the entire course of this mortal life was a state of probation and that they must give all diligence to make their calling and election sure. Perhaps men do need to mourn a great deal more than they do - mourn about their failure to live up to the arduous requirements of our most holy religion and to lead a life of sanctity and godly separation from the world. A penitential mourning, rather than a call to be happy, seems to be what is called for today in the materialistic West. Christians need to repent of their shameful worldliness and of not providing a vibrant Christian counter-culture that dares to be different. Let us remember that the Church of Christ has always achieved more in the world when it has been most unlike the world, refusing to compromise with the godless spirit of the age and a lowered public opinion.
God bless.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
Pax
Cordial greetings and a very good day.
The Holy Father’s homily is jolly timely and highly relevant, especially for us Christians who live in the Western world, for our lot is cast in days of Laodicean lukewarmness where worldly conformity is, I regret to say, all too common. Multitudes of the faithful have adopted a hand in hand with the world type of religious practice, a sort of ‘Catholicism Lite’, and apparently see no harm in descending to the level of those whose minds and outlook is manifestly circumscribed by that which is temporal (cf. II Cor. 4: 4, 18). Rather than living on the high mountain land above their whole mental horizon is bounded by a deep attraction to earthly pleasures and comforts, making them virtually indistinguishable from their pagan neighbours. According to St. Paul “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phillip. 3: 20); Heaven is the true homeland of the faithful, not this fallen world. As aliens who have no continuing city in this world, the faithful should avoid a life rooted in earthly things to which they owe no allegiance. To have one’s affections deeply centred on this world, being wholly captivated by that which is purely transient, is surely an indication that one is only “floating on the surface of the Christian life”, to quote Pope Francis.
It is certainly very true, dear friends, that our most holy religion was not designed to make us melancholic and there is no reason for us to look as if we are in “perpetual mourning”. Innocent merriment and wholesome leisure pursuits are plainly not forbidden by Holy Mother Church, but we should not be duped into thinking that every man who has a smile upon his face necessarily has a smile upon his heart. Moreover, much of what is termed ‘having fun’ today is very superficial and merely a form of escapism from the harsh realities of life. If anything, the biggest problem among contemporary Catholics in the West is not being disposed to “perpetual mourning”,or adopting a “rigid approach” to religion, but a half-hearted, earthbound lukewarmness that refuses to face up to the call to personal sanctity and self-denial (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, paras. 2013-2015). Living the Christian life as God and the Church intends is serious business, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12: 14). Our confession of faith has separated us unto God and so it is incumbent upon us that we live a life that befits those who are so separated (cf. Rom. 6: 19, 22). Far too much nonsense has been spoken about being “world affirming rather than being world denying”, simply to excuse a flabby and shameful unspiritual outlook. There is very little risk nowadays of the faithful being overscrupulous or behaving in such a way as to make the religion of Christ appear unattractive or harsh, for materialistic values dominate the Church almost as much as they do the world. The urgent need of the hour is surely a greater emphasis upon the call to holiness, renunciation of the world and spiritual battle. This, along with the necessity of “ascesis and mortification”, is something that we need to hear more of in the preaching of our pastors, not less, so as to counteract worldly conformity, especially among the youth.
Alas, dear friends, rather than striving to keep themselves “unstained from the world” (Jam. 1: 27), many of the faithful seem intent on clinging on to as much worldly pleasure as possible. You would never think that they were men who understood that the entire course of this mortal life was a state of probation and that they must give all diligence to make their calling and election sure. Perhaps men do need to mourn a great deal more than they do - mourn about their failure to live up to the arduous requirements of our most holy religion and to lead a life of sanctity and godly separation from the world. A penitential mourning, rather than a call to be happy, seems to be what is called for today in the materialistic West. Christians need to repent of their shameful worldliness and of not providing a vibrant Christian counter-culture that dares to be different. Let us remember that the Church of Christ has always achieved more in the world when it has been most unlike the world, refusing to compromise with the godless spirit of the age and a lowered public opinion.
God bless.
Warmest good wishes,
Portrait
Pax
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