Take the red hat, but leave the 'spiritual box' behind, Pope tells cardinals [CNA]

[CNA_News]

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/i...15_2015_Credit_Lauren_Cater_CNAjpb.jpgVatican City, Feb 15, 2015 / 04:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After elevating 20 new cardinals, Pope Francis reminded them that true honor is found in service, and urged them to follow Jesus in breaking rigid ways of thinking and touching society’s marginalized.

“Jesus is not afraid of scandal! He does not think of the closed-minded who are scandalized even by a work of healing, scandalized before any kind of openness, by any action outside of their mental and spiritual boxes,” the Pope said Feb. 15.

Rather than seeking to conform to the norms of others or adhere to a ritualistic purity, Jesus seeks to “reinstate the outcast, to save those outside the camp.”

The logic of Jesus and therefore of the Church is “not only to welcome and reinstate with evangelical courage all those who knock at our door, but to go out and to seek, fearlessly and without prejudice, those who are distant,” he said.

“Total openness to serving others is our hallmark, it alone is our title of honor…Truly the Gospel of the marginalized is where our credibility is found and revealed!”

Pope Francis addressed his words to the 20 new cardinals created in yesterday’s Feb. 14 consistory, which followed a two-day meeting in which cardinals from around the world gathered with the Pope to discuss the reform of the Roman Curia.

They celebrated Mass with the Roman Pontiff Feb. 15 to wrap-up the consistory events.

In his homily, Francis focused on the compassion of Jesus in the Gospel, taken from Mark, in which he heals a leper who approaches him and asks to be “made clean.”

After doing this Jesus could no longer go about the town freely, and had to remain on the outskirts, since lepers were considered unclean and were therefore ostracized, the Pope noted.

By healing the leper, Jesus not only shows the man compassion, but seeks to reinstate him into society, and identifies with the man’s shame and suffering by becoming marginalized himself, Francis said.

Although Moses’ law confined lepers to the outskirts of society in order to “safeguard the healthy,” Jesus fulfills that law by showing that welcoming and healing the leper not only kept the healthy safe, but also gave them a new brother.

“Jesus revolutionizes and upsets that fearful, narrow and prejudiced mentality. He does not abolish the law of Moses, but rather brings it to fulfillment,” the Pope said.

By answering the leper’s plea without thinking of the potential consequences, Jesus shows that what is most important is “reaching out to save those far off,” and he is not afraid to scandalize the closed-minded who are stuck inside the rigid confines of the law.

Pope Francis noted that there are two ways of approaching the faith in this regard, saying that the first is to think like the doctors of the law, who fear losing those who are already saved, and therefore cast out the diseased.

The second approach, he said, is to think like God, who embraces and welcomes the diseased man with mercy, and seeks to turn evil into good by reinstating him into society.

The path of the Church, the Pope observed, is not to “condemn anyone for eternity, (but) to leave her four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, those on the ‘outskirts’ of life.”

“It is to adopt fully God’s own approach, to follow the Master who said: ‘Those who are well have no need of the physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call, not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’”

Jesus, by healing the leper, does not harm the healthy but rather frees them from fear, Francis explained. Jesus does not devalue the law, but rather places greater value on those for whom it was given.

Charity, the Pope said, “cannot be neutral, indifferent, lukewarm or impartial! Charity is infectious, it excites, it risks and it engages! For true charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous!”

He noted that charity must always be creative in finding the right ways of approaching those considered to be “untouchable,” adding that “contact is the true language of communication.”

feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/catholicnewsagency/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA
http://forums.catholic-questions.or...r/catholicnewsagency/dailynews/~4/b5SMY5U-7mU

Full article…

 

[gilliam]

excellent!

 

[Pulvis]

And once repented, once the marginalized and outcast are brought back into the Body of Christ, what then? For even the protestants are good at going to the margins, seeking out the lost. But what then? If you do not teach, preach and exhort the fulness of the totality of the Faith, what will keep them? Read the epistles. Look at St. Pauls letters to the early Churches. Every letter is an exhortation to live the entirety of Faith. In all charity. Read His epistles to St. Timothy. Read St. Peters letters. Teach the whole Faith, the written and the oral tradition, full and complete. I respect the Holy Fathers desire to reach out. We have, in some areas been lax in this. But to desintegrate the Church, to marginalize the edifice of the Church and all that it entails, is in my mind counter productive. This generation is no different than in 50 a.d. The sins are no different, the empty and broken are no different. What all men need are the same now as it has ever been. They need Jesus Christ crucified preached, and the way of salvation taught, in all fulness and sincerity, with charity and clarity. This is what built and grew the Church. And that is how it will be restored.

 

[White_Orchid]

I agree with the Pope. And what about those that have been brought in?.. easy, teach them to do what you are doing. That is the essence of how Mother Teresa of Calcutta did her ministry. That is how most out reach ministries work. In doing so you are teaching them to have compassion and how to live out the faith.

You don’t just give a hungry man a fish, you teach him how to fish. Once he gets that down then you teach him to reach out to another hungry man and do the same thing.

That is called Discipleship. And this is what the Pope is talking about.

I was raised in the protestant evangelical faith (I’m now and Catholic) and you can preach fire and brimstone all want but unless you teach life (a life of Love and Hope) after the cross, all you will get is a people filling pews because they are scared of dying and going to blazes. And after the fear dies down you get pew fillers that are “asleep” and Lazy in their faith.

If you are going to church and trying to live out your faith because of obligation you are doing it wrong. Its an Act of Love. It was an Act of Love that Jesus died for you!

It’s about the Love of God and how to share it.
It’s about “give freely as it was freely given to you.”
It’s about getting creative in your loving of others, because everyone seeks love in different ways.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

And once repented, once the marginalized and outcast are brought back into the Body of Christ, what then? For even the protestants are good at going to the margins, seeking out the lost. But what then? If you do not teach, preach and exhort the fulness of the totality of the Faith, what will keep them? Read the epistles. Look at St. Pauls letters to the early Churches. Every letter is an exhortation to live the entirety of Faith. In all charity. Read His epistles to St. Timothy. Read St. Peters letters. Teach the whole Faith, the written and the oral tradition, full and complete. I respect the Holy Fathers desire to reach out. We have, in some areas been lax in this. But to desintegrate the Church, to marginalize the edifice of the Church and all that it entails, is in my mind counter productive. This generation is no different than in 50 a.d. The sins are no different, the empty and broken are no different. What all men need are the same now as it has ever been. They need Jesus Christ crucified preached, and the way of salvation taught, in all fulness and sincerity, with charity and clarity. This is what built and grew the Church. And that is how it will be restored.

What sentence which the Pope spoke do you disagree with?

When did the Pope say we should ditch our doctrines?

 

[NeedsMercy]

 

[otjm]

And once repented, once the marginalized and outcast are brought back into the Body of Christ, what then? For even the protestants are good at going to the margins, seeking out the lost. But what then? If you do not teach, preach and exhort the fulness of the totality of the Faith, what will keep them? Read the epistles. Look at St. Pauls letters to the early Churches. Every letter is an exhortation to live the entirety of Faith. In all charity. Read His epistles to St. Timothy. Read St. Peters letters. Teach the whole Faith, the written and the oral tradition, full and complete. I respect the Holy Fathers desire to reach out. We have, in some areas been lax in this. But to desintegrate the Church, to marginalize the edifice of the Church and all that it entails, is in my mind counter productive. This generation is no different than in 50 a.d. The sins are no different, the empty and broken are no different. What all men need are the same now as it has ever been. They need Jesus Christ crucified preached, and the way of salvation taught, in all fulness and sincerity, with charity and clarity. This is what built and grew the Church. And that is how it will be restored.

It is interesting that you seem to posit the issue as you do.

For starters, your comment about “once the marginalized are brought back in” sets up a false dichotomy.

In 2,000 years, we have not achieved “once… brought back in” as if at some point the Church is going to accomplish the task. It is an on-going task, and is the essence of what Christ tried to show.

Not to make too fine a point of it, but the Pharisees were exceedingly excellent at defining and upholding the Mosaic Law, down to it’s finest parsing. But the Pharisees had a very clear idea of who was in and who was not in, and sought no longer to deal with the marginalized, the sinners, the outcasts, the unclean… and Christ truly scandalized them when he dined with known sinners, failed to pick up the stone and execute the woman caught in adultery; broke the Sabbath laws…

Catechesis was far, far more concentrated on doctrine than it was on practice, prior to the throwing out of the Baltimore Catechism. Then we went through the “catharsis”, if you will, of throwing that out, and failing to teach any doctrine at all, or so it appeared (and given the knowledge base of all too many Catholics in the 30 to 50 year age range, that is not exactly an overstatement).

I would submit, however, that contrary to what you seem to posit, that doctrine is important; however, if doctrine and practice are not united, and we only focus on doctrine itself, we open ourselves to the Pharisaic error of judging.

I have read enough of the Gospels that I am fully aware that Christ forgave sinners, and told them to sin no more.

What I can’t find, is that Christ said anything about not associating with them if they did. Yes, sinning no more is critical; and the reality is that we do sin again, and again, and again…

Nobody is disintegrating the Church. People are leaving, and have been doing so since Christ ascended. but no one, and in particular the Pope is not, disintegrating the Church.

I am reminded of the scandal of so many, and all the electrons discombobulated, when Pope Francis went on Holy Thursday to the juvenile detention center and washed the feet of the kids there, including the Muslim girl. People went so far as to say that the Pope didn’t have the authority to do such; that it was a violation of liturgical law, and the stew went on for several weeks. There was more than just a slight odor of Pharisee in the air, people scandalized by the Pope just as Christ scandalized the Pharisees over the violation of Sabbath laws. And many, if not most of those who expressed such angst had no clue as to what the Holy Father was trying to teach; the only focus could be that these criminals in no way represented the Apostles and that the liturgy was being treated as something like a game, and would lead to gross disintegration of liturgical law.

It seems we cannot see the forest for the trees, and can only think in either/or categories. I am not arguing for looseness in liturgy in any way; I am simply saying that we can get so hidebound in looking at law, that we forget why there is law, and we become blind to what Christ taught us - which was not the Pharisaic way of following law, but the law of Love, as God loves us. True love does not do away with Law, but neither does it put Law before Love.

The Pope has made ample statements that doctrine is not going to be done away with, nor is the moral law. Perhaps, as we needed to hear what was being taught on that Holy Thursday, we need to speak less, and ponder more as to what we are to be taught now.

And it wouldn’t hurt to pray to the Holy Spirit, not only for guidance of the bishops, cardinals and the Pope in the next round of the synod, but also for the faithful, that they might hear what God truly wants us to hear, and not just what they perceive is the message.

The message of Christ is far, far more than just “sin no more”. There is no question that “sin no more” is an integral and critical part of the message. But it s by no means the only message; Christ did not found the Church for the well, but for the sick. A point we seem to overlook.

 

[Lucy107]

And once repented, once the marginalized and outcast are brought back into the Body of Christ, what then? For even the protestants are good at going to the margins, seeking out the lost. But what then? If you do not teach, preach and exhort the fulness of the totality of the Faith, what will keep them?
/…/
But to desintegrate the Church, to marginalize the edifice of the Church and all that it entails, is in my mind counter productive.

I’m not sure if I am understanding you correctly here, but reading your post made me think that it may be bad for the Church to try to integrate the marginalized and the outcasts. Because it’s not likely that such people will ever become normal citizens. Chances are that they will always be poor and have troubles in their lives. Chances are they will not be very able to materially support the Church, and will always need far more than they can give.
So, realistically, is it worth investing in such people?

I’m sorry if this sounds brutal, but such is the material reality of life.

 

[LongingSoul]

I agree with the Pope. And what about those that have been brought in?.. easy, teach them to do what you are doing. That is the essence of how Mother Teresa of Calcutta did her ministry. That is how most out reach ministries work. In doing so you are teaching them to have compassion and how to live out the faith.

You don’t just give a hungry man a fish, you teach him how to fish. Once he gets that down then you teach him to reach out to another hungry man and do the same thing.

That is called Discipleship. And this is what the Pope is talking about.

I was raised in the protestant evangelical faith (I’m now and Catholic) and you can preach fire and brimstone all want but unless you teach life (a life of Love and Hope) after the cross, all you will get is a people filling pews because they are scared of dying and going to blazes. And after the fear dies down you get pew fillers that are “asleep” and Lazy in their faith.

If you are going to church and trying to live out your faith because of obligation you are doing it wrong. Its an Act of Love. It was an Act of Love that Jesus died for you!

It’s about the Love of God and how to share it.
It’s about “give freely as it was freely given to you.”
It’s about getting creative in your loving of others, because everyone seeks love in different ways.

This is so beautifully said. My three sisters/brother in laws are converts from Protestantism when they married into the family. It’s a pleasure to witness their appreciation for the faith as adults who have finally found home. Sometimes I observe a strange hardness of heart on the boards here from Protestant converts which is hard to understand.

God bless. Beautifully articulated.

 

[FollowChrist34]

Sounds fine to me. I always thought we were all poor weak sinners before Christ anyway; I hope we are not getting broken up into “preferred” and “lesser” groups for the spiritual attention of the Church leaders. Who needs more help in the eyes of God, the Pharisee or the publican? We are all brothers and sisters, no? Am I missing something?

 

[beleg]

Although I have no problem with what the Pope has said here, I do wish that he were a bit more careful with his words, since I just know that the media is going to twist it into something that will make the faithful panic.

(I also wish the media would just leave us alone already…)

 

[ProVobis]

I was raised in the protestant evangelical faith (I’m now and Catholic) and you can preach fire and brimstone all want but unless you teach life (a life of Love and Hope) after the cross, all you will get is a people filling pews because they are scared of dying and going to blazes. And after the fear dies down you get pew fillers that are “asleep” and Lazy in their faith.

That’s a good way of putting it.

 

[Vasallus]

Take the cannoli. Leave the gun.

 

[White_Orchid]

Take the cannoli. Leave the gun.

I like that one! LOL

 

[White_Orchid]

That’s a good way of putting it.

Thank you. I try to be kind as possible, I have a passion for the Lord.

 

[White_Orchid]

This is so beautifully said. My three sisters/brother in laws are converts from Protestantism when they married into the family. It’s a pleasure to witness their appreciation for the faith as adults who have finally found home. Sometimes I observe a strange hardness of heart on the boards here from Protestant converts which is hard to understand.

God bless. Beautifully articulated.

Thank you! I think sometime people convert for the wrong reasons or they have not fully converted.

I think it is possible to go through RCIA and join and still not have given your heart fully to all the church teaches. Some are carry baggage from their spiritual past, whether its bitterness from being forced into by a loved one or because they are still battling the teachings that they had bonded with in their old church home.

Some Protestant churches can be very critical of Catholics, they don’t believe they are Christians. I personally, lost a few friends and got told off by a few when they found out I had joined. I had one tell me that they would be praying for me. And in not so many words told me I was endanger my soul.

Those kinds of comments from people you care about hurt, they cut you deeply. Not to mention make you really wonder if you have made a wise choice. That can harden your heart in a lot of ways if you are not strong on your foundation.

When I saw this happening to me, I started going to confession more and prayed, and studied my Bible to know from it how to make a stand for my faith. That builds faith and softens your heart.

I hope & pray that, the others you know who are suffering that way can learn what I have. If they are afraid to talk to their priest, deacons are wonderful helpers too.

I know, my God Father is also the deacon of our parish!

 

[ProVobis]

Sometimes I observe a strange hardness of heart on the boards here from Protestant converts which is hard to understand.

I’ll confess that I am one who hods this skeptism, if only that most Protestants (and ex-Catholics too) find Catholicism to be very strict and therefore why would they want to convert to a more strict religion unless they want to straighten us all out from the inside?

But I only make observations, not try to judge.

 

[White_Orchid]

For my husband, it was not others but himself that he was trying to “fix” was his motivation for joining a stricter faith.

I did not want to join at 1st it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I work at a Christian Bookstore that is owned and run by Protestants. I am their only Catholic staff member. I was very afraid of losing my job, my friends.

I asked the Deacon to be my God Father because I didn’t trust anyone else. I prayed and fasted all through Lent. I was to have major surgery the day after I joined. And being outside of God’s Good Graces was not where I wanted to be! LOL

The night before I joined I begged God to tell me if I was doing the right thing in joining because if He did not, I’d put it off. I had a dream that night and the Lord let me know through that, I was doing the right thing in joining and He was offering this to me as a gift.

Its because of this I have peace in my soul. But I’m sure there are others who do not have that peace and still battle inside and out. And they have become hard hearted because of it.