Posted on 04/29/2013 4:18:02 AM PDT by markomalley
The Confessional is not a ‘dry cleaners’ where our sins are automatically washed away and Jesus is not waiting there to ‘beat us up’, but to forgive us with the tenderness of a father for our sins. Moreover, being ashamed of our sins is not only natural, it’s a virtue that helps prepare us for God's forgiveness. This was the central message of Pope Francis’ homily Monday morning during Mass celebrated with staff from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) and religious present in Casa Santa Marta. Emer McCarthy reports:
Commenting on the First Letter of St. John, which states " God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all," Francis Pope pointed out that "we all have darkness in our lives," moments "where everything, even our consciousness, is in the dark”, but this - he pointed out - does not mean we walk in darkness:
"Walking in darkness means being overly pleased with ourselves, believing that we do not need salvation. That is darkness! When we continue on this road of darkness, it is not easy to turn back. Therefore, John continues, because this way of thinking made him reflect: 'If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us'. Look to your sins, to our sins, we are all sinners, all of us ... This is the starting point. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful, He is so just He forgives us our sins, cleansing us from all unrighteousness…The Lord who is so good, so faithful, so just that He forgives. "
"When the Lord forgives us, He does justice" - continued the Pope - first to himself, "because He came to save and forgive", welcoming us with the tenderness of a Father for his children: "The Lord is tender towards those who fear, to those who come to Him "and with tenderness," He always understand us”. He wants to gift us the peace that only He gives. " "This is what happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation" even though "many times we think that going to confession is like going to the dry cleaner" to clean the dirt from our clothes:
"But Jesus in the confessional is not a dry cleaner: it is an encounter with Jesus, but with this Jesus who waits for us, who waits for us just as we are. “But, Lord, look ... this is how I am”, we are often ashamed to tell the truth: 'I did this, I thought this'. But shame is a true Christian virtue, and even human ... the ability to be ashamed: I do not know if there is a similar saying in Italian, but in our country to those who are never ashamed are called “sin vergüenza’: this means ‘the unashamed ', because they are people who do not have the ability to be ashamed and to be ashamed is a virtue of the humble, of the man and the woman who are humble. "
Pope Francis continued: “ we must have trust, because when we sin we have an advocate with the Father, "Jesus Christ the righteous." And He "supports us before the Father" and defends us in front of our weaknesses. But you need to stand in front of the Lord "with our truth of sinners", "with confidence, even with joy, without masquerading... We must never masquerade before God." And shame is a virtue: "blessed shame." "This is the virtue that Jesus asks of us: humility and meekness".
"Humility and meekness are like the frame of a Christian life. A Christian must always be so, humble and meek. And Jesus waits for us to forgive us. We can ask Him a question: Is going to confession like to a torture session? No! It is going to praise God, because I, a sinner , have been saved by Him. And is He waiting for me to beat me? No, with tenderness to forgive me. And if tomorrow I do the same? Go again, and go and go and go .... He always waits for us. This tenderness of the Lord, this humility, this meekness .... "
This confidence, concluded Pope Francis "gives us room to breathe." "The Lord give us this grace, the courage to always go to Him with the truth, because the truth is light and not the darkness of half-truths or lies before God. It give us this grace! So be it. "
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea: all CATHOLIC churches.
And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,
“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
In context is referring to FALSE PROPHETS.
So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. --Mat 7:17
you mean Sacrament of Repentance, right? What “reconciliation” are you talking about? A real Catholic would know the difference.
if you were Catholic, you'd know it isn't "public shame", rather a private confession, not be revealed.
also, it's not just a Catholic sacrament -- the Orthodox have it as well and many Lutherans have the same sacrament.
Yeah, He isn’t too happy with them, is He?
Invariably such people are political leftists , whose self-righteousness erases any possible shame over bad behavior. Michael Moore feels no shame over not paying union wages to his employees because HE CARES ABOUT THE WORKING MAN, DAMMIT! Sean Penn can slap his wife around because HE'S A FIERCE ADVOCATE FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED, DAMMIT! It explains why Democrats in power like Clinton and Obama are so shamelessly narcissistic. Guilt and shame are for the unanointed.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?17“So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.18“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.19“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20“So then, you will know them by their fruits.
CONTEXT: it's our FRIEND!
Does sound that way - don't it!
But I'm a mere PROTESTant; reading the words on the page.
I'm sure what they REALLY means can only be delivered to me by the CHURCH's teaching.
We also call it reconciliation in my part of the country. Maybe it’s a regional thing.
God worked.
Christ worked.
What’s wrong with work?
What’s wrong if you work for your faith?
Faith and works. Faith and works. Faith and works.
Oh... I learned about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Catholic grammar school. That is what it is called now. I remember it because it is a big word for an eight year old to have to spell.
Ummm.. Then why do you have to confess your sins to a priest?? Yes, I know that it is not supposed to be punishment but it sure seems like punishment. When I was in Catholic grade school, it was treated as such. Bad little children were threatened with having to go to extra Confessions.
And Greek Orthodox and some Lutherans incorporates a small group outside the Catholic Church. The example that I’ll use is a victim of the Shoah. It is impossible for me to imagine God not granting salvation to a twelve year old who died in the gas chambers because he or she didn’t receive Catholic absolution.
Not a thing wrong with good works! EXCEPT...when you presume you can do enough of them to merit the GIFT of God which is eternal life. When your kids give you a present, do you have to pay for it? Would it BE a gift then?
This is bad fruit...man made teachings. And Isaiah, the good prophet, and Jesus, Himself, has told and warned you. Continuing in it only will show who catholics and all those who are under man made teachings - who they choose to serve knowingly. These Scriptures have been posted many times.
"These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Isaiah 29:13
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'" Matt 15:7-9
Faith is an act of the intellect assenting to a truth which is beyond its grasp and is therefore itself an act of the will and a work. If faith is genuine it will be demonstrated in Spiritual and Corporeal Works of Mercy.
Peace be with you
That’s why I repeated “Faith AND works.”
That Catholicism is a "man made teaching" is itself a man made teaching and a work of false prophets. Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling. The Salvation of others will be by the Holy Spirit and not by any quiz administered and graded by members of fringe Protestant sects on the internet.
Peace be with you
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.