Posted on 03/14/2013 12:38:34 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In his first public Mass, Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church on Thursday to stick to its Gospel roots and shun modern temptations, warning that it would become just another charitable group if it forgot its true mission.
In a heartfelt, simple homily, the Argentinian pope laid out a clear moral path for the 1.2-billion-member Church, which is beset by scandals, intrigue and strife.
Addressing cardinals in the frescoed Sistine Chapel the day after his election there, Jorge Bergoglio said the Church should be more focused on the Gospels of Jesus Christ.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
warning that it would become just another charitable group if it forgot its true mission.
***Sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. I wonder how much he can do about the apostacy slide he sees happening.
This man is Holy Spirit led without a doubt. I am very impressed with this Christian.
Not all are children of God;
John 1:12
All who seek God will find him. We (society) may not all be disciples, because some people are not believers... but all believers are disciples, according to the word of God.
Here are the 3 lines of Pope Francis’ homily for context, the lead extract gives only the last line.
“We can walk all we want, we can build many things, but if we don’t proclaim Jesus Christ, something is wrong. We would become a compassionate NGO and not a Church which is the bride of Christ.”
“When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly”
“We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.”
He is challenging us to live our faith and to be true to what Jesus taught, not what we “think” Jesus should have taught to be a 21st century man. Read the entire Reuters article
From the Catholic Bible...
1 There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,
2 who came to Jesus by night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.’
3 Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.
4 Nicodemus said, ‘How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?’
5 Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;
6 what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.
8 The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
9 ‘How is that possible?’ asked Nicodemus.
10 Jesus replied, ‘You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!
11 ‘In all truth I tell you, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence.
12 If you do not believe me when I speak to you about earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things?
13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man;
14 as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up
15 so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
16 For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.
18 No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God’s only Son.
19 And the judgement is this: though the light has come into the world people have preferred darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.
20 And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, to prevent his actions from being shown up;
21 but whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God.’
22 After this, Jesus went with his disciples into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptised.
____
I hope the Bishop of Rome would preach being “born from above” aka Born Again... (it is interesting the word “again” and “from above” is the only significant difference between the Catholic version and the King James version for first 22 verses of John chapter 3 and yet the interpretation of those words are potentially important).
At the risk of being accused of spam, I intend to post the entire text of his (brief) homily ... that we may compare it to the reporting offered by various media outlets.
Here it is:
In these three readings I see that there is something in common: it is movement. In the first reading, movement is the journey [itself]; in the second reading, movement is in the up-building of the Church. In the third, in the Gospel, the movement is in [the act of] profession: walking, building, professing.
Walking: the House of Jacob. “O house of Jacob, Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” This is the first thing God said to Abraham: “Walk in my presence and be blameless.” Walking: our life is a journey and when we stop, there is something wrong. Walking always, in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness, which God asks of Abraham, in his promise.
Building: to build the Church. There is talk of stones: stones have consistency, but [the stones spoken of are] living stones, stones anointed by the Holy Spirit. Build up the Church, the Bride of Christ, the cornerstone of which is the same Lord. With [every] movement in our lives, let us build!
Third, professing: we can walk as much we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, nothing will avail. We will become a pitiful NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When one does not walk, one stalls. When one does not built on solid rocks, what happens? What happens is what happens to children on the beach when they make sandcastles: everything collapses, it is without consistency. When one does not profess Jesus Christ - I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy – “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.” When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil.
Walking, building-constructing, professing: the thing, however, is not so easy, because in walking, in building, in professing, there are sometimes shake-ups - there are movements that are not part of the path: there are movements that pull us back.
This Gospel continues with a special situation. The same Peter who confessed Jesus Christ, says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. This has nothing to do with it.” He says, “I’ll follow you on other ways, that do not include the Cross.” When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.
I would like that all of us, after these days of grace, might have the courage - the courage - to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord: to build the Church on the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one glory, Christ Crucified. In this way, the Church will go forward.
My hope for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it.
Thanks for the ping. I read the entire article, and I more and more like what I see about this man.
Good News
It’s some clever word play akin to doing something “over” Nicodemus plainly takes the meaning to be “born a second time.” Jesus clarifies that he means someone who is born of spirit and water (which comes from the Heavens as rain). But the Catholic Church does not teach that Nicodemus’ understanding was wrong, either: it insists that being born of spirit and water means re-birth through confirmation and baptism, which come from above.
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