joy of nine9

Usually I have the good sense to ignore self-righteous bad mouthing in comments but I slipped during the last couple of weeks.  Actually  I made some darn good points and clarified my believes during the exchanges , not that anyone was convinced.  In that sense, it was a complete  exercise in futility.

After writing an article on beautiful insights by Pope Francis on the nature of the Church, I am still appalled, two weeks later by those who misinterpret the pope . These people would love to stone  anyone who disagrees with them, labelling them as sinners, then burn  heretics at the stake and throw out our Spirit filled pope. When I mentioned gospel  attitudes of mercy and forgiveness, I was accused of being a modernist heretic who refuses to stand up for the Catholic Church, a writer who should be banned from CatholicLane.

My main point is that Jesus never commanded his followers to go around pointing out the sins, faults, short comings or failures of others. The only role that pointing out sin plays is to point to Christ’s redemptive act because sin no longer has any power over us. GOD’S CHOSEN ONES had 5,000 years of pointing out sin under the law of Moses AND IT DIDN’T SAVE ANYONE.  It’s awareness of God’s love and salvation for all that saves man.

To the rigid  purists  who think POPE FRANCIS is destroying the Roman Catholic Church:

As we observe this new pope,  I find that it is best to discern what is in the Lord with an open heart, and not with an eye that looks for mistakes. It is interesting to note that Jesus constantly upset the religious experts of his day by seeming to break the letter of the law when in fact, as Love incarnate, He was the fulfilment of the law. Also, Jesus constantly appeared to contradict Himself for those who judged His words only by their surface meaning. Many of Christ’s words seem difficult to reconcile if they are not read spiritually. I find the same holds true with Pope Francis.

In addition, an open, compassionate, INCLUSIVE attitude to “outsiders” does not mean the pope is rejecting the reality of the Body of Christ, or that he does not believe that the Catholic Church holds the fullness of truth. He is building bridges. No one ever saved a non believer by throwing stones of condemnation. with a self-righteous attitude. Jesus was also accused of rejecting the holy, chosen people of God , who obeyed God’s rules, when he hung out with outsiders.

Not all the pope’s prayers, thoughts, intents, actions, words.or letters  make it to the news. We are not privy to his heart’s intent. We are not privy to what God is telling him to do. We cannot judge;  it is impossible to assume that the pope is doing nothing behind the scenes, demanding that the public be informed of all complicated negotiations or correspondence. You can’t assume the worst. It would be more efficacious to pray that he does the will of God