Pope Francis rides through St. Peter's Square after Mass on April 28, 2013. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/CNA.
Posted on 09/26/2013 11:52:46 AM PDT by NYer
.- During his daily homily, Pope Francis gave special emphasis to the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, saying that it is not magical act, but an encounter with the living God.
Pope Francis delivered his Sept. 24 homily to those who gathered in the Vatican’s guest house, Santa Marta, for a private liturgy.
The Holy Father drew his reflections from the morning’s reading from the passage in psalms, “We will go with joy to the House of the Lord,” saying to those gathered that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not a “magic rite,” but rather an encounter with Jesus, who is our constant companion in life.
Throughout the history of God’s people, the Pope said, there have been many “beautiful moments which bring joy,” but also moments “of pain, martyrdom and sin.”
However, the Pope noted that “God, who has no History because He is eternal, desired to make History by walking alongside His people.”
“He decided to become one of us, and as one of us, to walk with us through Jesus.”
Pope Francis stressed that this act not only shows us the greatness of God, but also his humility, saying that when his people strayed from him “in sin and idolatry,” he did not abandon them, but “He was there” waiting for their return.
Jesus shows us the same humility, said the Pope, in that “he walks with the People of God, walks with the sinners; walks also with the arrogant,” adding that Jesus did much to “help these arrogant hearts of the Pharisees.”
The Church, stressed the pontiff, can rejoice in the humility of God which accompanies us as “We go with joy to the House of the Lord.”
“We go with joy because He accompanies us, He is with us…and the Lord Jesus, even in our personal lives, accompanies us with the Sacraments. The Sacrament is not a magic rite: it is an encounter with Jesus Christ; we encounter the Lord – it is He w
Pope Francis "isms"
To newly appointed bishops: "Don't be airport bishops" (bishops who spend too much time away from their dioceses)
To pastors: The Confessional is not a 'torture chamber'
The Sacrament of the Eucharist is not a 'magic rite'
He’s absolutely right! People have to remember this every time they go to Communion.
I don’t think a lot of them do, because they’re poorly instructed, alas. Maybe the Pope should take advantage of this moment to try to encourage better catechesis.
If the Eucharist really IS God, then it would have to have ALWAYS been God. Pretty easy theology.
Was Jesus the Incarnation of God made Flesh, or not?
If you believe that He was true God and true Man, then your statement is false.
If you don’t believe that, then you are not considered in the bounds of what is normally considered Christian.
Jesus did not always exist as fully human. Are you saying that Jesus is not God?
yes.
If it looks like a dragon, walks like a dragon, talks like a dragon....
Feed it some crickets.
I agree, Livius, that most have been poorly instructed, but past a certain point, they have a responsibility to seek the truth. I submit this begins after they learn to read.
The problem is that most of them aren’t even aware that they don’t know the truth. I give tours at my cathedral, and I meet Catholics and other Christians from all over the country. They’re always well meaning, but they are completely, utterly ignorant. They can’t identify the statues of a single saint (even St. Patrick!), they don’t know what the Blessed Sacrament is, they aren’t sure what a bishop is or why the church is called a cathedral. Most of them no longer go to mass regularly and some of them attend Protestant churches occasionally. But they are so grateful when I tell them a few things.
I think the important thing is going out and using our tremendous Catholic treasury to impress and intrigue these people, whether people who think they’re Catholic but know nothing, people who believe they’ve left, or just curious people of good will. They’re not going to go seek things out unless somebody gets them interested in the first place, and maybe that’s what Francis is trying to do.
I doubt that those Catholics are poorly instructed...Your Eucharist is after all, the mainstay of your religion...They know what they are taught, they just don't believe it...
If you tell me you are going to change an orange into a bicycle and it still looks, feels and tastes like an orange after you changed it, you'll never convince me a change took place...
And I'll bet a vast majority of Catholics who claim the bread turns into flesh don't believe it either...
And to go further, I would be surprised if there are any priests who actually believe it...
There are also a lot of people over the centuries and today who have not believed and do not believe that God gave Himself a human nature as Jesus. They say that if He looked like a mere human being, sounded like a mere human being, and to all human senses, appeared to be just a mere human being, then of course He had to have only been a mere human being.
They were (and are) wrong.
Same experience at my parish. Our situation is slightly different in that we are an Eastern Catholic Church. 2 weeks ago, I conducted a tour of the church with a large group of active, pro-life, Roman Catholics. I always begin by identifying myself as a Roman Catholic who practices the faith in an Eastern Catholic Church. This puts them at ease. The initial series of questions usually results in interesting reactions:
1. What religion was Jesus? This group had the correct response but I recall asking that of a Knight at a K of C function and he responded, "Catholic".
2. What language did Jesus, His mother and the Apostles speak? Many blank stares. Apparently, they had never considered this question. [Aramaic]
3. Did Jesus ever go to Rome? All blank stares. [No. He no doubt spoke and understood Latin because it was the language of the invaders but He never went to Rome.] Jesus was born, lived, died and resurrected in the Middle East.
I think the important thing is going out and using our tremendous Catholic treasury to impress and intrigue these people, whether people who think they’re Catholic but know nothing, people who believe they’ve left, or just curious people of good will. They’re not going to go seek things out unless somebody gets them interested in the first place, and maybe that’s what Francis is trying to do.
You are absolutely right! The Q & A sessions are an opportunity to address unaddressed questions and clarify misunderstandings. The big surprise for ALL RC visitors is learning that the Catholic Church is comprised of 22 churches, 21 of which are Eastern. Most of them have never heard this before and it is quite the challenge to reassure them that ... YES ... they are all CATHOLIC ... in FULL COMMUNION with the See of Peter. Walk through the front doors of the church and you are greeted by a large photograph of Pope Francis and the papal flag. Those images scream "Catholic" and RC visitors, who should immediately recognize these universal images, are still confused.
Perhaps on the tours of your cathedral, you could pass along this information, thus becoming one more voice in communicating the fact that the Catholic Church breathes with two lungs. Kudos on your work!
Thank you! I am actually Eastern Rite (Russian Usage) too, although there isn’t an Eastern Rite church of any kind near here so I haven’t been to a Byzantine liturgy for years now.
I’ve noticed in recent years that most dioceses in the South have instituted religious education programs, but the problem is that they’re not very interesting and actually not basic enough. They get a little vague and they’re too warm and fuzzy, so men don’t go to them and really the only people who go are older ladies who aren’t going to learn much of anything new.
We did have a good response to Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism” series, although unfortunately the person who was the moderator, I guess you’d call her, is not very knowledgeable herself and I think she did more harm than good.
I wish the priests would go back to doing religious education. Some of them are not extremely orthodox, unfortunately, and others aren’t as well educated as they should be, but they’d still be better than most of the other people and I think it would be good for people to meet them and have some sort of contact with them outside of Mass.
Since that phrase is so popular with you guys can I assume that your priests say that as they pass out the wafer???
There's a huge difference...When Jesus healed the blind guy, the blind guy could actually see afterward...
And when a lame person was told to get up and walk, he didn't crawl away while Jesus told the crowd, 'look, he's healed'...He actually walked...And everyone saw it...
There's nothing, nada, zilch, zero evidence or hint in the scriptures where Jesus said he is going to turn bread into his flesh, nor is there any hint that he did...And that's because he didn't...
If Jesus would have turned bread into flesh, it would have been flesh, not bread...
They say it as part of the Consecration. I would encourage you to attend a Catholic Mass. You won’t melt.
Then it would look more like a seder and less like an invocation of sol invictus. :)
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