“Beneath rigidity there is something else, there is often wickedness” [Catholic Caucus]

Vatican Insider La Stampa ^ | October 24, 2016 | DOMENICO AGASSO JR

[ebb tide]

At this morning’s mass in St. Martha’s House, the Pope said rigid people lead a “double life”, they seem good but they often aren’t; they are strangers to God’s freedom, “slaves of the law”. “How they suffer”!

Beneath the rigid exterior of a person who is not free because he or she is a slave to the law, is a double life, something hidden, some sort of disease. Often wickedness. By contrast, the Lord gives freedom, in addition to meekness and kindness, Pope Francis said in this morning’s homily in St. Martha’s House.

In today’s Gospel story, Christ heals a woman on a Saturday, stirring feelings of contempt and protest in the synagogue chief who claimed the “Law of the Lord” was violated: “It is not easy,” the Pope remarked, “to walk in the Law of the Lord,” it is “a grace we need to ask for”.

The Son of God calls the synagogue chief a hypocrite, a word “he uses so often to refer to those who are rigid and unyielding in their insistence on applying the law down to the last letter”. These people are not free, “they are slaves of the Law”. But “the Law was not made to enslave us but to set us free, to make us children” of the Lord. “Beneath rigidity there is something else, always! This is why Jesus says: hypocrites!”

Francis said: “beneath rigidity there is something hidden about a person’s life. Rigidity is not a gift of God. Meekness is; kindness is; benevolence is; forgiveness is. But rigidity is not! Beneath rigidity there is always something hidden, in many cases a double life; but there is also some sort of disease lingering there. How the rigid suffer: when they are sincere and they acknowledge this they suffer! Because they are unable to feel the freedom that God’s children feel; they do not know what it is like to walk in the Law of the Lord and they are not blessed. And they suffer so much!” They seem “good because they follow the Law; but beneath that there is something not so nice about them: either they are bad or they are hypocrites or they are ill. They suffer!”

The Bishop of Rome recalled the parable of the Prodigal Son: the elder son’s attitude of indignation shows what lies behind some forms of goodness; “The arrogance of believing oneself to be right”. “Beneath one’s good actions lies arrogance. He knew he had a father and in his darkest hour he went to his father; he had only ever seen his father as a master not as a father. H ewas rigid; he walked in the Law in a rigid way. The other one set the Law aside and went off without the law, against the Law but there came a point when he remembered his father and came back. And he was forgiven. It is not easy walking in the Law of the lord without drifting towards rigidity.”

The Pope concluded by invoking God and inviting faithful to pray “for our brothers and sisters who believe that walking in the Law of the Lord means becoming rigid. May the Lord show them that He is the Father and He likes mercy, tenderness, kindness, meekness and humility. May he teach us all to walk in the Law of the Lord, adopting all of these attitudes”.

[ebb tide]

Once again, Bergoglio confuses "rigid" with "orthodox", "obedient", "faithful", "Ten Commandments", and "Catholic".

[maro]

I interpret him to be referring to someone who is rigid in affect as well as professed morals. I think, based on my personal experience, that he is onto something.

[G Larry]

Hmmm....Yes, that is today’s Gospel.

But let’s look at the First Reading from Paul and then Psalm 1:

Reading 1 Eph 4:32–5:8

Brothers and sisters:
Be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.

Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
that is, an idolater,
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
for because of these things
the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
So do not be associated with them.
For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

R. (see Eph. 5:1) Behave like God as his very dear children.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.

[ebb tide]

Once again, Bergoglio is referring to orthodox Catholics as “wicked”; yet he has never declared the muslim religion, nor its (rigid) islamist terrorists as being wicked.

[faithhopecharity]

I’ve always wondered how it came to be that the Church follows Paul and not Jesus on such matters as God’s “Law”

when the (Pauline) converts suppressed and eventually eliminated the “Jerusalem church” (direct apostles, people who knew and followed Jesus in life, and followed God’s “Law” as Jesus taught them/us to do...)...when that change came in around year 200 or maybe 300..... then what remained were the trimphant Pauline converts....so that’s the creedal package that Constantine picked up on....

well, that could be a bit over-simplified but its pretty accurate insofar as it goes anyways...

worth what you paid for it.
smile
smile

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[ebb tide]

I’ve always wondered how it came to be that the Church follows Paul and not Jesus on such matters as God’s “Law”.

So what "church" of your's follows Jesus?

[faithhopecharity]

perhaps all churches should follow Jesus, just saying...

[ebb tide]

There’s only One Church, just saying...

[nickcarraway]

Interesting paradox. Isn’t rigidly rejecting rigidity, a rigidity itself?

[heterosupremacist]

I don’t have a problem with what the Pope said in this instance: will you elaborate?

[faithhopecharity]

fine and dandy,

[marshmallow]

"Rigid rant" du jour.

Whatever happened to "who am I to judge"? Here, the Pope has no qualms about diagnosing, vilifying and judging "rigid" people ( a word which is never defined nor illustrated with examples) as "sick" and "wicked". Sorry Francis, "the gate is narrow" (Matt 7:13) and the mission of the Church and its pastors is to guide the sheep through that narrow gate, not to rage and curse about the gate's width or to attempt to widen it. Furthermore, Jesus said, "if you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

This brings us to the real issue here; we don't change the Gospel....the Gospel changes us. Too much of Francis' pontificate is devoted to raging against those who insist in the unchanging truth of the Gospel and the power of God's grace which allows us to live it. Instead, Francis wants to soften the "hard sayings" of Jesus and so he demonizes those who oppose his faithless endeavors as "rigid". The "wickedness" is all his. It's faithless, arrogant and proud to presume to change that which has been handed down to us from the Apostles.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, docile obedience to Church doctrine was seen as an indication of humility, the cornerstone of sanctity. What gives Francis the right to judge those who embrace Catholic doctrine in its entirety as "rigid" and "sick"? Just who are these "sick" people whom he constantly reviles?

So many of Francis' allocutions have a "you suck!" theme to them. There's a constant strand of negativity and uncharitableness which runs through them. Pope's (at least in my lifetime) have never spoken like this. Some of his homilies barely rise above the level of internet combox invective and venting. They're just awful eruptions of bile.

Stand back and look at the history of the Catholic Church over the last 50 years. Francis speaks as if it's been overrun by "rigid" Jansenists when the exact opposite is the case. It's been turned upside down by anarchists, dissenters and modernists and he's ranting about "rigid" people? This is not the same planet on which I live.

[ebb tide]

fine and dandy,

I'm sure it is for you.

Will you be joining Bergoglio this All Hallows's Eve with his fellow heretics to celebrate Luther's revolt?

[faithhopecharity]

i am avoiding this discussion beacause you have a tendency to misundestand me

and i am just not up to it, but thanks anyway

it could be the way i type, try to express myself...too.... this medium of little typed boxes of short sentences is NOT especially well -suited to intelligent discourse, especially regarding complex topics like theology. so, in view of this obvious limiation and perhaps my own limitations expressing myself clearly, also.... I will pass.
but, thanks anyways

[ebb tide]

Certainly, as long you first elaborate on what Bergoglio means by “rigid”.

[Rashputin]

[Catholic Caucus] is meaningless to you, right?

[Rashputin]

How nice, engage the jerk and help make the [Catholic Caucus] designation meaningless.

[faithhopecharity]

you seem to have mis-directed your comment, FYI

Best,
fhc

[ebb tide]

And what did you just do in your post #17? Did you not engage the jerk?