 Bishop Blaire and Bishop Pates, please pick up the white courtesy phone! |
Posted on 04/19/2013 5:07:08 AM PDT by markomalley
May God free the Church "from all ideological interpretations" and open her up "to the simple Gospel, to that pure Gospel that speaks of love, which brings love and it is so beautiful." Because "any ideological interpretation is a falsification of the Gospel." A call to pray for the Church and for the conversion of hearts concluded the Mass that Pope Francis celebrated, like every morning, in the chapel of the Casa Sancta Marta. The Pope's reflection, published by Vatican Radio, is centered on the biblical readings on the Conversion of St. Paul and the discourse of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum.
The words of Jesus, Francis says, "pass through our mind and go straight to the heart. Because Jesus seeks our conversion", but there are those who "only want to implement what they understand with their minds of the Gospel." "They are the great ideologues. The Word of Jesus goes to the heart because it is the Word of love, is beautiful word and brings love, makes us love. These block the road of love: the ideologues. And that of beauty". As the doctors of the law who "began to argue sharply among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'. It is all a problem of intellect! And when ideology enters the Church, when ideology enters into our understanding of the Gospel, confusion ensues".
They are the ones who walk alone "on the path of duty": it is the morality of those who claim to only realize what they understand of the Gospel with their minds. They are not "on the road to conversion, that conversion to which Jesus calls us." "And these, on the road of duty, place everything on the shoulders of the faithful. Ideologues falsify the gospel. Every ideological interpretation, from wherever it originates - from one side or the other - is a falsification of the Gospel. And these ideologues - as we have seen in the history of the Church - end up being, becoming, intellectuals without talent, ethicists without goodness. And they do not speak of beauty, because they understand nothing. "
"Instead, the path of love, the path of the Gospel - the Pope says - is simple: it is the path that the Saints understood." "The saints are those who lead the Church forward! The path of conversion, the path of humility, of love, of the heart, the path of beauty ... Today let us pray to the Lord for the Church: that the Lord may free Her from any ideological interpretation and open the heart of the Church, our Mother Church, to the simple Gospel, the pure Gospel that speaks of love, which brings love and is so beautiful! And beautifies us too, with the beauty of holiness. Today let us pray for the Church!. "
Bishop Blaire and Bishop Pates, please pick up the white courtesy phone! |
As a non-Catholic, I’m liking this man more and more. He is good for the Catholic church.
Ahhhhhhh...The Holy Spirit, indeed, chose a good man to be Pope.
;-)
This Pope is really starting to make sense! I’m a died-in- the-wool Baptist, but this Pope Francis is sounding more biblical on issues than some of our leaders!
I understand and agree with what he is trying to say.
But I disagree pretty strongly with his actual wording.
An ideology is a set of conscious and unconscious ideas that constitute one’s goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology is a comprehensive vision of the world.
By definitions everyone has an ideology, even if they aren’t aware of it or haven’t intentiionally chosen it.
The Church should be striving to help people develop an ideology that aligns with God’s Will, not try to get them to think it is possible to function without one. If only because a person who doesn’t concsiously choose an ideology is likely to pick up that of the world around him, which is by definition not Christian.
Ditto. I just wish more evangelicals would follow this same approach of faithfulness to first principles.
Most Catholics are not aware that there are five words in Greek for love, and “agape” was the one at which we were to aim. The kind of love where Christ says we should love our enemies. The kind of love that causes you to sacrifice your life for your friends, or even strangers. The kind of love that built healthy families, societies, nations, and empires.
Too bad there will be many who will misinterpret it. They will think the Pope will then eventually support gay marriage or women's ordination because to oppose them is to not “love” those groups, and they will think he is being disingenuous when he refuses to go along. I agree that the wording leaves a lot to be desired.
I think you mean “dyed in the wool,” unless you’re one of our Zombie FRiends.
(I wouldn’t have mentioned it, except that I think it’s funny in context ;-).
It’s common now for “worldview” to be used to convey the meaning you’re assigning to “ideology.”
Like “discriminating,” “ideology” has taken on a bad connotation unrelated to its dictionary meaning.
Love your tagline!
We all learn from each other - there are exceptional Baptist preachers and evangelical people whose fervor and devotion we can learn from -- it's a joint learning together in Christ.
BTTT!
**every ideological interpretation of the Gospel is a falsification**
Haven’t we Catholics been saying this to other posters on this forum since the early days of our memberships?
What is an “ideological interpretation” of the Gospel? If I notice Jesus said to repent, is that an ideological distortion of ‘love, love, love’?
” “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Perhaps interpreting Jesus' call to love as a call to turn in your guns.
Perhaps interpreting the early Christians sharing as wealth (Acts 4) as a Biblical mandate for socialism and redistribution of wealth at the barrel of a gun.
That's what I would say.
Could be. God has predestined believers to be conformed to Jesus, but I think all of us try to make God conform to OUR image.
Happily, God doesn’t comply..
While I am certainly not qualified to interpret the words of Pope Francis, I wonder if he is referring to the fact that we all are guilty of filtering the gospel a bit to fit our own perpective or ideology. Instead we all need to look at the Gospel message as a personal message to us for our own conversion - not the conversion of someone else.
Of course, that may or may not affect the leftists and convert them in any way. But, I do agree with him that social change takes place person by person.
I say that very thing, almost verbatim, in my Sunday school class (a/k/a CCD) almost every year: God created us in His image and likeness; we did not create God in our image and likeness.
Too bad this pope won’t say, “May God free the Church “from all ideological interpretations of the Second Vatican Council” and open her up “to the all of the past Vatican Councils that speak of Truth, which brings Faith and are so beautiful.”
Can’t interpret the Gospel, yet they’re still trying to interpret VC II. Go figure.
Pope Francis, “But after 50 years, have we done everything that the Holy Spirit said to us in the Council?”
After 50 years, they still can’t figure out what the Council said???
I am very suspicious of anyone who tries to make a political point using biblical excerpts. All sides do it, and it's wrong. After decades of daily bible study, I am more convinced that Jesus didn't care a bit about political matters. He only ever focused on individual relationships with God and our fellow man.
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