Posted on 06/16/2013 4:57:33 PM PDT by NYer
(Vatican Radio) Let us say Yes to life and not death. These were the words of Pope Francis during his homily on Sunday morning for Evangelium Vitae Day, a day celebrating the Gospel of Life.
An estimated 200,000 people were in Saint Peters Square for Holy Mass and the Angelus that followed with Pope Francis to mark the Year of Faith event dedicated to the Gospel of Life.
In his homily, the Pope noted how the Scriptures continuously tell us how God is the Living One who bestows life.
However, he said that all too often, people do not choose life, they do not accept the Gospel of Life but let themselves be led by ideologies and ways of thinking that block life, that do not respect life, because they are dictated by selfishness, self-interest, profit, power and pleasure, and not by love, by concern for the good of others.
The Holy Father went on to say that people dream of building a new Tower of Babel, a city of man that is without God. They believe that the rejection of God, the message of Christ, the Gospel of Life, will somehow lead to freedom, to complete human fulfillment.
As a result, the Pope continued, the Living God is replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis called on the faithful to say Yes to the God who is love, life and freedom, and who never disappoints.
In his Angelus address following Mass, Pope Francis pointed to a perfect example of one who followed the Gospel of Life. He called attention to Saturdays beatification of a husband and father of seven from Capri Italy who was killed in a concentration in 1944 for witnessing to his faith. Blessed Oduardo Focherini had saved countless lives from Nazi persecution before losing his own.
The Holy Father also greeted participants in a Harley-Davidson rally, marking 110 years of the manufacturer of the iconic American motorbike. Over 100,000 bikers had gathered in Rome this weekend; 1,400 of them had their bikes blessed by the Pope following the Angelus prayer.
They already have. It's called the World Wide Web.
-— As a result, the Living God is replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death. “ ——
Few ideas have done as much damage as the false, modern idea of freedom. True freedom is not license, but paradoxically, obedience to the Will of God.
The Web is still relatively anarchical. The oft spoken of New World Order would be more to the description, I believe, and the uniting of the world in false peace in the end times is something that is common to both Roman Catholic and Protestant/evangelical theologies though differing in details.
True as far as it goes. It’s also powered by the love in God’s heart. We can draw closer and closer to God’s heart and harvest more and more love there, but we can’t generate an ounce of love on our own... not a mite. Ever.
Also, we really aren’t free in the sense of the modern liberal anyhow. Man is spiritual. Man’s spirit needs some kind of power. Whether that’s God’s power or Satan’s power is the fundamental question. World and flesh are waypoints for Satan’s work in the form of idols, and when viewed with eyes of grace they are seen as truly silly idols too.
The Web is the ruled by the iron fist of peer pressure underpinned by the subtle awareness that every bit is recorded on some database somewhere.
“The Web is still relatively anarchical.”
You have that right. The world wide web is way, way too broad and wide to ever, ever be controled. To believe otherwise is to believe in conspiracy theory.
God Bless Pope Francis!
Section 3 is so brilliant in its succinct diagnosis of the problem and proclamation of the cure. After Benedict announced his resignation, I briefly wondered if the next Pope would have the abilities of John Paul and Benedict. Those fears have been allayed in very short order.
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