Posted on 06/18/2013 4:06:10 AM PDT by markomalley
It is hard to love our enemies, but that is exactly what God is asking us to do, said Pope Francis at Mass Tuesday morning. He said we must pray for those who hate us and have done us wrong, ‘that their heart of stone turned to flesh, that they may feel relief and love’. God lets sun shine and rain fall on the good and the bad, on the just and the unjust and, the Pope added, we must do the same or else we are not being Christian. Emer McCarthy reports:
Pope Francis began his homily, with a series of questions that encompassed some of the most pressing dramas of humanity. How can we love our enemies? The Pope asked, how can we love those who decide to “bomb and kill so many people?" And again, how can we "love those who out of their for love money prevent the elderly from accessing the necessary medicine and leave them to die"? Or those who only seek "their own best interests, power for themselves and do so much evil?" "It seems hard to love your enemy," he noted, but Jesus asks it of us. This current liturgy, he said, proposes "Jesus’ updating of the law", of the law of Mount Sinai with the Law of the Mount of Beatitudes. The Pope also pointed out that we all have enemies, but deep down we too we can become enemies of others:
"We too often we become enemies of others: we do not wish them well. And Jesus tells us to love our enemies! And this is not easy! It is not easy ... we even think that Jesus is asking too much of us! We leave this to the cloistered nuns, who are holy, we leave this for some holy soul, but this is not right for everyday life. But it must be right! Jesus says: 'No, we must do this! Because otherwise you will be like the tax collectors, like pagans. Not Christians. '"
So how can we love our enemies? Pope Francis noted that Jesus, "tells us two things": first look to the Father who "makes the sun rise on evil and good" and "rain fall on the just and unjust”. God "loves everyone." And then he continued, Jesus tells us to be "perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect", "imitate the Father with that perfection of love." He added Jesus "forgive his enemies", "does everything to forgive them”. He warned that taking revenge is not Christian. The Pope asks But how can we succeed in loving our enemies? By praying. "When we pray for what makes us suffer - the Pope said - it is as if the Lord comes with oil and prepares our hearts for peace":
"Pray! This is what Jesus advises us:' Pray for your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! Pray! '. And say to God: 'Change their hearts. They have a heart of stone, but change it, give them a heart of flesh, so that they may feel relief and love '. Let me just ask this question and let each of us answer it in our own heart: 'Do I pray for my enemies? Do I pray for those who do not love me? 'If we say' yes', I will say, 'Go on, pray more, you are on the right path! If the answer is' no ', the Lord says:' Poor thing. You too are an enemy of others! '. Pray that the Lord may change the hearts of those. We could say: 'But this person really wronged me', or they have done bad things and this impoverishes people, impoverishes humanity. And following this libe of thought we want to take revenge or that eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".
Pope Francis reaffirmed, it’s true that love for our enemies "impoverishes us”, because it makes us poor "like Jesus", who, when he came to us, lowered himself and became poor" for us. The Pope noted that some could argue this was not a good deal "if the enemy makes me poorer" and of course, "according to the criteria of this world, it is not a good deal." But this, he said, is "the path Jesus travelled" who from rich became poor for us. In this poverty, "in this Jesus’ lowering of himself – he said - there is the grace that has justified us all, made us all rich." It is the "mystery of salvation":
"With forgiveness, with love for our enemy, we become poorer: love impoverishes us, but that poverty is the seed of fertility and love for others. Just as the poverty of Jesus became the grace of salvation for all of us, great wealth ... Let us think today at Mass, let us think of our enemies those who do not wish us well: it would be nice if we offered the Mass for them: Jesus, Jesus' sacrifice, for them, for those who do not love us. And for us too, so that the Lord teaches us this wisdom which is so hard, but so beautiful, because it makes us look like the Father, like our Father: it brings out the sun for everyone, good and bad. It makes us more like the Son, Jesus, who in his humiliation became poor to enrich us, with his poverty. "
That is a very hard lesson to master. Praying for the Lord to change the heart of enemies from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
> That is a very hard lesson to master. Praying for the Lord to change the heart of enemies from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
Yes it really is with the current state of affairs but I try “one on one” but have a hard time with the whole liberal and “0 can do no wrong” Borg mindset. But I like this Pope a lot better than previous ones. He speaks to the people.
I try this with every person I meet. I respect them until they show me they are not deserving of that respect, after that I just ignore them if they allow me to do that.
It says somewhere that the meek will inherit the earth, I believe they will -— 6 feet of it.
I'm starting to regret this Pope's ascension. This kind of kindergarten, black and white Marxism serves no one well.
I'll be more impressed when he comes out hard against those who advance their own view of heaven on earth by demanding the fruits of the labor of others. I'm sure I'll have to wait a long time.
We all need our hearts changed, to judge by God's criterion: the person of Jesus Christ. How quickly we leap to defend our "right" to stand in enmity with others ... if we believe they've harmed us, or even just if they disagree with us.
Pope Francis is only repeating what Jesus said, as reported in the Gospel. If we're responding, "Oh, no, I can't do that!" then we're in opposition to Christ.
Those who take any teaching too seriously risk self destruction.
To attempt loving Islam/Muslims has, does, and will always result in one of the following:
1. “Submission to Islam”.
2. Being reduced to a submissive slave and taxed for your very existence.
3. Death at the hands of a Muslim.
The Pope forgot the lesson Muslims taught to Christians in Spain.
Hint: It took the Christians 700 years to throw off the slavery Islam imposed on them.
Conclusion: Remembrance is at least as important as forgiveness, because those who do not recognize/understand evil WILL suffer under it.
PS There is a reason the Jews require the following before forgiveness can be asked/granted:
1. Restitution must be offered.
2. A sincere apology must be offered.
3. The apology must be public.
Most important - the restitution and apology must be offered, but it may be refused. Restitution and apology must be offered again, but may be refused a second time.
HOWEVER, when the restitution is offered a third time, it must be accepted or the wronged becomes the wrong doer. This was to prevent feuds.
Jews have dealt with Middle East bastards with weapons for several thousand years. Listen to their accumulated experience or pay the price today’s Muslims are poised to inflict on your craven, “forgiving” selves.
Be a free American or a “slave of Allah”.
That choice Is upon you.
Better think before choosing, because Islam means to rule the world via the sword and Sharia Law.
PPS The Muslim in the White Mosque has installed Muslims throughout the government and in the military and is gradually substituting Sharia Law in place of the Constitution. This substitution is a violation of his Oath of Office.
Those who take any teaching too seriously risk self destruction.
To attempt loving Islam/Muslims has, does, and will always result in one of the following:
1. “Submission to Islam”.
2. Being reduced to a submissive slave and taxed for your very existence.
3. Death at the hands of a Muslim.
The Pope forgot the lesson Muslims taught to Christians in Spain.
Hint: It took the Christians 700 years to throw off the slavery Islam imposed on them.
Conclusion: Remembrance is at least as important as forgiveness, because those who do not recognize/understand evil WILL suffer under it.
PS There is a reason the Jews require the following before forgiveness can be asked/granted:
1. Restitution must be offered.
2. A sincere apology must be offered.
3. The apology must be public.
Most important - the restitution and apology must be offered, but it may be refused. Restitution and apology must be offered again, but may be refused a second time.
HOWEVER, when the restitution is offered a third time, it must be accepted or the wronged becomes the wrong doer. This was to prevent feuds.
Jews have dealt with Middle East bastards with weapons for several thousand years. Listen to their accumulated experience or pay the price today’s Muslims are poised to inflict on your craven, “forgiving” selves.
Be a free American or a “slave of Allah”.
That choice Is upon you.
Better think before choosing, because Islam means to rule the world via the sword and Sharia Law.
PPS The Muslim in the White Mosque has installed Muslims throughout the government and in the military and is gradually substituting Sharia Law in place of the Constitution. This substitution is a violation of his Oath of Office.
You seem to be agreeing with Pope Francis that this commandment of Jesus is very, very hard for men to accept, and entirely contrary to the calculations of worldly reason.
As Msgr. Charles Pope mentions in his article today, with this kind of talk, Jesus got just about everyone against Him.
Sometimes He even lets them become the president of some great nation.
this kind of love is easier:
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of....or...
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
...or...
Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"
...or...
"I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed.
” I’m starting to regret this Pope’s ascension. This kind of kindergarten, black and white Marxism serves no one well.”
Pope Francis: “ The challenge to eradicate poverty cannot be truthfully met as long as the poor continue to be dependents of the State. The government and other organizations should instead work to create the social conditions that will promote and protect the rights of the poor and enable them to be the builders of their own future.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2997269/posts
What you are failing to discern is that he reminds us of the gospel call to share of our wealth without compromise. I have yet to read where he has called on governments to confiscate wealth and distribute it to those who the government deems worthy.
One echos the call of Christ. One its pure socialism.
Dear Tax-chick,
I am disagreeing with the Pope because Christians made a serious error when they assumed Jesus had departed from Mosaic Law regarding forgiveness of evil. Jesus was an Essene, a practicing Jew.
There are rumors that G*d was the source of Jewish law, something about some Commandments given at some remote “Mount Sinai”.
I draw your attention to Jesus intolerance of the minor evils of the “financial service providers” around the Temple and to his actions when facing said evil.
Knowing the falibility of Man, and having acepted the need for forgiveness does not give any Christian reason to cravenly allow evil to continue. I suggest that both Jews and Jesus expected the individual to oppose evil, to exert best possible efforts to stop further acts of evil, and to follow the rules for forgiveness.
Those rules worked.
Perhaps there is a reason Jews have followed that rule, allegedly given to them by G*d, for thousands of years.
I’m not competent to pursue this discussion, because I don’t sufficiently understand the belief system from which your perspective proceeds.
Anyway, have a great Tuesday!
” “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed.”
That reminds me of Second Samuel 22:43.
:-)
the “man after God’s own heart” tells us what he thinks.
Perhaps the problem here is that we all are guilty of immediately associating a love of money to capitalists. Why not associate such love of money with socialists who are living high in Washington DC?
In fact, it is something we must alert the population to - the fact that these dishonest politicians are living the high life like kings and queens in DC while the rest of the country is constantly reacting to their idiotic money-grabbing laws.
GIMME A BREAK:
Jesus ran away from his enemies 3 times:
1. Nazareth when the townspeople wanted to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.
[he didn`t kiss and hug them]
2. Went to Galilee to get away from Jerusalem and the Pharisees, his enemies. [he didn`t kiss and hug them]
3. Went to the coast Tyre and Sidon to get away from his enemies. [he didn`t kiss and hug them]
4. Fled to Egypt via his parents to escape his enemy Herod-
Mary and Joseph, didn`t hug n kiss Herod neither, did not return til he was cold n dead rotting in the ground..
5. He didn`t hug n kiss the Pharisees and their thugs on the Mount of Olives.
Gimme a break.
Actions are stronger than words.
One Mother’s Day I went to church expecting to hear the usual homily about how wonderful mothers are. To my surprise, the priest talked about forgiving your enemies. He said that some people are hard to love, in fact you might even have a neighbor you can’t like, much less love.
Then he explained that we must love the soul that God created, and pray for such a person.
I had just experienced such a person, a neighbor for whom I had done favors for many, many years, and who turned on me when I finally had to say no. Her attitude hurt me greviously. I was deeply suffering. Suddenly, all my suffering was expelled. Yes, my neighbor was on the wrong path, PRAY for her. Pray for healing of all the things that had happened to her in the past.
My own hurt disappeared. All was well.
The Pope is not saying that we must lie down and be overrun by enemies, including the Muslims who want to overtake this country. He’s saying we should pray for their souls.
Remember that Jesus taught that we must forgive if we want to be forgiven. For those of you who say the Our Father (taught by Jesus while on earth), it contains the words, “Forgive us our trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us.” He did NOT say that we shouldn’t defend ourselves. Pray for their souls.
Two best examples I can think of:
Pope John Paul II going to Mehmet Ali Agca’s prison cell to forgive him for attempting to kill him.
Rev. Jerry Falwell cultivating a relationship and trying to help Larry Flynt despite that hideous parody ad in Penthouse.
Could I have done either of those? I pray for the strength, but frankly I doubt it.
A thoughtful and intelligent reply of a sort which is in far too short supply on this board. Thanks
Hardastarboard, it bothers me that when any time a Pope or any Christian says something about helping the poor, he is immediately called a Marxist or a Socialist by some. The Gospels and the entire Bible is filled with admonitions to help the poor. And I say this as a conservative, Pro-Life, Pro-Traditional marriage person.
The fact is true. Many people die because they can’t afford their medications. I don’t want a Socialist State but cutthroat, merciless, survival of the fittest capitalism is almost as repugnant to me.
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.