Jesus is our companion on the journey who gives us what we ask... Francis
That's the poorest definition of Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King and Savior, that I've ever heard.
Posted on 10/09/2014 4:08:32 PM PDT by NKP_Vet
Vatican Radio) We ask for a lot of things when we pray, but the greatest gift that God can give us is the Holy Spirit. This was Pope Francis’ reflection Thursday morning at Mass in Santa Marta, commenting on the Gospel of the day, which presents the parable of the man who gets what he needs because of his persistence.
Pope Francis began his homily by noting that “God has so much mercy” and observing that in the Collect we begin by asking God for forgiveness and to “obtain what prayer does not dare to hope for”:
“This got me thinking: it is precisely the mercy of God not only to forgive – we all know that – but to be generous and give more and more … We asked: ‘And obtain what prayer does not dare to hope for’. When we pray we might ask for this [intention] or that [intention] and He always gives us more, much more!”.
The Pope underlined three key words in the Gospel: “Friend, the Father and gift”. Jesus shows the disciples what prayer is. It is like a man who goes to a friend at midnight asking for something. In life – he observes – “There are truest friends” who really give their all. “There are others who are good friends more or less”, but the Bible tells us, ‘one, two, or three … no more!’. Then, others who are friends, but not like these”. And even if we are demanding and intrusive “the bond of friendship means that we are given what we ask”.
“Jesus goes a step further and speaks of the Father: What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?’”.
The Pope continued – “not only the friend who accompanies us on our journey of life helps us and gives us what we ask, but Our Father in heaven” who “loves us so much and of whom Jesus said that He cares about feeding the birds in the field. Jesus wants to awaken faith in prayer” and says: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened “. “This – says Pope Francis – is the prayer: ask, seek and knock at the heart of God.” And the Father “gifts the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”.
“This is the gift, this is God’s added extra. God never gives you a gift, something that you ask for, without wrapping it up well, without adding something extra to make it even more beautiful. And that little bit more that the Lord, the Father gives us, is the Spirit. The true gift of the Father is the one that prayer does not dare to hope for. ‘I ask for this grace; I ask for this, I knock and pray so much… I only hope that you will give me this’. And He who is Father, will give me that and more: He will give me the gift of the Holy Spirit”.
“You pray – said the Pope – with a friend, who is your companion on life’s journey, you pray with the Father and you pray in the Holy Spirit. The friend is Jesus”:
“He accompanies us and teaches us to pray. And our prayer should be Trinitarian. So often [people ask]: ‘But do you believe?’: ‘Yes! Yes! ‘; ‘What do you believe in?’; ‘In God!’; ‘But what is God for you?’; ‘God, God’. But God does not exist: Do not be shocked! So God does not exist! There is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, they are persons, they are not some vague idea in the clouds … This God spray does not exist! The three persons exist! Jesus is our companion on the journey who gives us what we ask; the Father who cares for us and loves us; and the Holy Spirit is the gift, the extra gift from the Father, that our consciousness does not dare to hope for”.
That’s pretty garbled, but as I understanding it, he’s saying that a generalized, nonspecific “God” doesn’t exist. A specific God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, exists.
He seems to be speaking against a kind of vague, “Yeah, there’s something out there ...” spirituality, and instead pointing to the specific, detailed, concretely-in-history truth claims of Christianity.
“Can anyone tell me what the Pope is saying in the last paragraph?”
It’s probably a translation issue...
Message to Pope Francis - Please, please shut up.
“This got me thinking:...
When Francis gets to "thinking", Katy bar the door.
He’s come out of the closet. He’s a radical.
That’s pretty much how I read it also.
When my family read the lectionary this morning, the main point for me was, “How much more will your Father give you the Holy Spirit, if you ask.” I don’t ask nearly enough!
We always laugh about this Gospel, because our family is into weird pets. The children would much rather have a snake than a fish, or a scorpion than an egg, although they’d probably pick bread over a stone, if it was a boring stone and they were really hungry.
Doesn’t seem to jibe with Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical on the Holy Spirit.
“Jesus is our companion on the journey who gives us what we ask; the Father who cares for us and loves us; and the Holy Spirit is the gift, the extra gift from the Father, that our consciousness does not dare to hope for”. - Pope Francis
“The Church is accustomed most fittingly to attribute to the Father those works of the Divinity in which power excels, to the Son those in which wisdom excels, and those in which love excels to the Holy Ghost.”
DIVINUM ILLUD MUNUS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON THE HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus is our companion on the journey who gives us what we ask... Francis
That's the poorest definition of Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King and Savior, that I've ever heard.
Lol! I love your kids and I dont even know them.
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Thank you. We also like spiders. “Give it a name, make it a friend.” You know your ecology education is a success when your 2-year-old wants to cuddle a tarantula.
Salvation,
You have falsely accused me of being a sede and/or SSPX before.
Drop it.
My younger son would say to us, “But some prople keep snakes as pets,” when we’d suggest that he should be happy with our two dogs.
It's a beauty. Does his main theological frame of reference reside in his imagination?
My teenagers are nagging for a new snake. My co-leader in Cub Scouts is a snake breeder, and he said he’ll give us a ball python if we want one, and then a friend of Tom’s will sell something else ... a “spider morph”? ... for $20.
The problem is that a python lives up to 20 years, and these kids will all be leaving home in the next 5, if God loves me at all.
How is quoting an inane statement by Pope Francis, an indictment?
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