Posted on 12/06/2016 3:52:36 PM PST by ebb tide
“Those who refuse to be caressed by the Lord are lost! Those who do not know the Lord’s caress do not know Christian doctrine!” The Pope said this at this morning’s mass in St. Martha’s House. “This is the good news, this is the sincere joy that we want today. This is joy, this is the consolation that we seek: the coming of the Lord by his power, which is his caress, to visit us, to save us, as with the lost sheep and to bring us into the fold of his Church.”
The Pope’s homily today focused on the parable of the lost sheep and the joy at God’s consolation, which never stops seeking out men and women. The Lord “is like a judge,” Francis explained, “but a judge that caresses, a judge who is full of tenderness: He does everything to save us”. “He does not “condemn but saves”, He looks for all of us, loves us personally, “He does not love the indistinct mass, “but” loves us by name, He loves us as we are.”
The lost sheep “did not get lost because he wasn’t carrying a compass,” the Pope recalled. “He knew the way”. He got lost because he “had a bad heart,” blinded by an “inner dissociation” and so he ran off in order “to get away from the Lord, to satiate the inner darkness that led to his double life”: being part of the flock and running away into the darkness. God “knows these things” and “goes out to look for him”.
Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus is “the icon of the lost sheep,” which the shepherd goes in search of. Judas was a man who always, always had something bitter in his soul, something to criticize of others, who always distanced himself. He did not know the sweetness of gratuity that comes from living with everyone else. And always, since he was not satisfied with this sheep - Judas was not a happy man! - he fled. He ran away because he was a thief. Others are lustful, others ... But they always flee, run away because the darkness in their heart separates them from the herd. That is the double life, the double life of many Christians, even with pain, we can say, of priests, bishops ... And Judas was a bishop, he was one of the first bishops, no? The lost sheep. Poor things! Our poor brother Judas as Don Mazzolari called him, in that beautiful sermon: ’Brother Judas, what happens in your heart?’ We need to understand the lost sheep. What’s more we all have a little something, little or not so little, of the lost sheep”.
“What makes a lost sheep,” the Pope stressed, “is not so much a mistake as a disease that’s in the heart and that the devil uses. So, Judas, with his divided, “dissociated heart” is “the icon of the lost sheep,” whom the shepherd goes out in search of. But Judas did not understand and “at the end when he saw what his double life did to the community, the evil that it has sown, with its dark interior, which led him to run away forever, looking for the lights that were not the light of the Lord, but lights like Christmas decorations”, “artificial light”, that are “desperate.”
Francis underlined: “There is a word in the Bible - the Lord is good, even for these sheep, He never stops looking for them - there is one word that says that Judas hanged himself, hanged and ’was repentant’. I believe that the Lord will take that word and will it bring with Him, I do not know, perhaps, but that word makes us doubt. But what does that word mean? That until the end of the love of God he was working in that soul, until the moment of despair. And this is the attitude of the Good Shepherd with the lost sheep. This is the message, the good news that Christmas brings us and asks us for this sincere gladness that changes hearts, which leads us to let us take comfort in the Lord, and not the consolations that seek to let off steam, to escape from reality, escape from the inner torture, internal division.”
When Jesus finds the lost sheep, he does not reproach him, although he had behaved very badly. In the Garden he calls Judas “friend.” These are God’s caresses. “Those who do not know the Lord’s caress do not know Christian doctrine! Those who refuse to be caressed by the Lord are lost! This is the good news, this is the sincere joy that we want today. This is joy, this is the consolation that we seek: the coming of the Lord by his power, which is his caress, to visit us, to save us, as with the lost sheep and to bring us into the fold of his Church.”
The Pope finished with an invocation: “May the Lord give us this grace, to await Christmas with our wounds, with our sins, sincerely recognised, to wait for the power of this God who comes to console, who comes with power, but his power is tenderness, caresses that were born from His heart, which was so good that he have his life for us”.
Here Francis once again contradicts the very words of Jesus Christ:
21 And whilst they were eating, he said: Amen I say to you, that one of you is about to betray me. 22 And they being very much troubled, began every one to say: Is it I, Lord? 23But he answering, said: He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me. 24 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born. Matthew Chapter 26.
More who can’t tell sheep from goats.
I think you misinterpreted Jesus words as words of vengeance which is not in Jesus...God is not about evil, but about love. I think the Pope nailed it very eloquently. And I am no fan.
Remember, Jesus Christ was born to bring each of us Salvation through his crucifixion. Judah did as he was destined to do. But, as you know...he suffered greatly and took his own life...probably wishing he was never born. I am sure Jesus mourned for his troubled soul.
Do you think God was kidding and that everyone is saved?
I merely quoted Christ's own words in the Bible and you claim that's a misinterpretation on my part?
Guess you missed all the other descriptions of Judas’ character. John 6:70 and 12:6 come to mind. Acts 1:16-25 has a lot to say as well, showing how the Apostles regarded him.
You did more than that...you put your interpretation into it.
The Apostles are men...Jesus Christ is man/God
Jesus Christ brought the new covenant to the world. It is a covenant of Salvation...think about it.
Where?
I quoted what Bergoglio said and I quoted what Jesus Christ said. It seems you are the one who’s trying to square the circle, as does Bergoglio with the Bible.
Kumbaya!
So you are accusing the Apostles of sin in that? If it were, then God would have rejected all of them as they were praying, and praying they were, asking God to choose a replacement for Judas.
[13] Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. [14] How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! [15] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew Chapter 7.
Since Francis now believes there are only nine commandments (and maybe one suggestion), perhaps he ought to listen to his own words about knowing Christian doctrine.
The Lord “is like a judge...He does not “condemn but saves...”
Francis does believe in hell, doesn't he?
That is the double life, the double life of many Christians, even with pain, we can say, of priests, bishops ... And Judas was a bishop, he was one of the first bishops, no? The lost sheep. Poor things!
Is Francis condescendingly aiming this at the four cardinals? Whoa.
“The lord’s caress”?! Yikes!
I think you are a little confused about the Apostles...they were sinners...they were human. Their imperfection is important to understanding our own hope for Salvation.
There you go accusing them of sinning in this prayer to God again. If they were sinning in this, God would have sent correction instead of an immediate answer.
And that relates to your misinterpretation of God’s “vengance” how? You do realize God was not referring to His vengance but His people’s vengance which He did not want to consume them...leads to satan. God does not revenge...He Judges.
On the contrary, God sets Himself up as sole avenger and forbids it to His servants. Read Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19 and Hebrews 10:30.
What part of "Revenge is mine" do you not understand?
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