I think it's fair to say that he gives us few opportunities to show our obedience. All we hear from him is guff about climate change (Vatican II said that a pope must not appropriate the authority of his office for prudential matters) and worship of idols and now he's approving of blessing sodomy; and insults for those of us who cling to the eternal truths of our faith-we're 'rigid' and 'backwardist'. When did he come out with a serious statement that was faithful and inspiring?
Yes it reminds me of Topav's Rabbi. The Jewish Villager asks the Rabbi for a prayer and blessing for the Czar and the Rabbi replies, 'May God Bless and keep the Czar far away from us!'. Rome is 1630.1 miles from were I sit. Far away but not far enough. Still it will have to do.
No, I didn't say that much criticism is simply political. I think that some of the criticism comes from people's political allegiances. The criticism of his advocacy for refugees and his apparent support of open borders seems to have some political influence. I'm simply trying to understand why he acts as he does. Achieving Christian unity and reunion between Catholics and Orthodox has been getting more attention especially since Vatican 11. Pope John Paul went so far as to ask the Orthodox whether he was a stumbling block. I don't think that anyone in the Church believes that the Orthodox will change their position on divorce. So, then, what would a reunified Church look like? Orthodox dioceses would allow divorce and married priests. Eastern Catholic dioceses would allow married priests but not divorce. Latin Catholic dioceses would have neither married priests nor divorce. I don't know what is the Orthodox position on a female diaconate. I'm not sure whether they have female deacons or are considering reinstating a female diaconate, and I don't know whether it would involve the Sacrament of Holy Orders. These are just a few examples of how, in a unified Church, pastoral practice would vary across regions and dioceses. Previous Popes must have been aware of that, yet they still pursued reunification with the Orthodox. I'm not saying that any of it is right. I'm just trying to see things from the perspective of someone who doesn't share my strict understanding of what it means to be Catholic, and I think that my understanding is in line with yours.
Such a difficult conundrum for all Catholics. I wrestle with it. I have friends who LOVE this pope. They can't imagine why I wouldn't be ecstatic about this synod. Sigh. A priest told me in confession recently that JPII and BXVI put laws before people. But PF is putting people before laws. He is a sweet man and a sincere priest so I said nothing but I was very discouraged with his point of view. I am an old fashioned Catholic. I do not subscribe to the "10 Suggestions" as opposed to the 10 Commandments. I have a soul to save. I need clarity. Not waffle words.
It’s up to God to reunify. The whole point of the Great Schism was that the Orthodox would not accept allegiance to the Papacy in Rome. That’s it in a nutshell. We can’t reunify until they do. I have Orthodox relatives and old family friends. To tell the truth, I think they look on being Orthodox as being the easier, softer way than being a practicing Catholic. I can say that on a forum where my identity is mostly protected. Just my feeling.
I had a holy old director who told me to “pray for the bastard” when I resented someone so much I could not pray for them. That made it easier.
I love the lyrics if some on the old popular love songs. I often think of them as love prayers to Christ and His Body, the Church Upon Earth. My maternal grandmothers favourite song was, “Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms.” It was written by Thomas Moore in 1808 about the changes in his wife who was wasting away with illness and his enduring love for her. Perhaps those who mourn the Church as wasting away can see the change through Moore’s eyes, Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Like fairy-gifts fading away,— Thou wouldst still be ador'd as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will; And, around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still! It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofan'd by a tear, That the fervour and faith of a soul can be known, To which time will but make thee more dear! Oh! the heart, that has truly lov'd, never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close; As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets, The same look which she turn'd when he rose!
She wasn't dying. Her face was disfigured with Smallpox and he told her he would love her forever anyway.
Another was a favourite of my dad, “The Rose of Tralee” which I have often read as a love song to Mary our Mother and Holy Mother the Church The Rose of Tralee The pale moon was rising above the green mountain The sun was declining beneath the blue sea When I strayed with my love to the pure crystal fountain That stands in beautiful vale of Tralee. She was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me Oh no! 'Twas the the truth in her eye ever dawning That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee. The cool shades of evening their mantle were spreading And Mary all smiling was listening to me The moon through the valley her pale rays was shedding When I won the heart of the Rose of Tralee. Though lovely and fair as the rose of the summer Yet, 'twas not her beauty alone that won me Oh no! 'Twas the the truth in her eye ever dawning That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee. As with The Church this Truth and its beauty can never change.
Sometimes it is enough to understand that the things people do can sometimes be purest evil and the reason they do them is because they themselves are evil. Great evil , like great goodness can resolve themselves into a great pure simplicity. Great goodness and great evil being sometimes there only sole motive.
Saint Augustine points this out in his , 'Confessions. ' He gives an instance of when he and his little friends robbed an apple garden. He goes on to say that if they had robbed the Garden for the Apples themselves it would only have been a small sin. But the fact that they robbed the apples out of pure badness made it evil and a very,very serious sin. So it is with the people who are destroying the Church. They do not do it out of desire for power for they already have that power. They do it simply for the sake of the destruction, out of the hated they bear towards the Church. This is the very purest kind of evil. The only gain they stand to collect is to see what they hate destroyed.
'See now, let my heart confess to you what it was seeking there when I was being gratuitously wicked, having no inducement to evil but the evil itself. It was foul, and I loved it.' Saint Augustine
