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Sunday, October 5, 2014

OPENING MASS IN LATIN FOR THE SYNOD ON THE FAMILY


Rough English translation of Pope Francis' homily:

Today, the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel uses the image of the vineyard of the Lord. The vineyard of the Lord is his "dream", the project that He cultivates with all his love, like a farmer takes care of his vineyard. The vine is a plant that requires much attention!

The "dream" of God and his people: he has planted and cultivated with patient love and faithful, to become a holy people, a people that ports many good fruits of justice.

But both in ancient prophecy, both in the parable of Jesus, God's dream is frustrated. Isaiah tells us that the vineyard, so loved and cared for, "which has produced unripe berries" (5,2.4 ), while God "looked for justice, but here's bloodshed, for righteousness, but heard cries of oppressed" (v.  7).  In the Gospel, on the other hand, are the peasants to ruin the project of the Lord: they do not do their job, but they think their interests.

Jesus, with his parable, is addressed to the chief priests and elders of the people, i.e. , the "wise men", the ruling class. To them in a special way God has entrusted his "dream", i.e. his people, to be cultivated, they care, preserved from wild animals. This is the task of the heads of the people: to cultivate the vineyard with freedom, creativity and industriousness.

Jesus says that those farmers took control of the vineyard; for their greed and pride they want to do with it what they want, and thus deprive to God the opportunity to realize his dream on the people that you have chosen.

The temptation of greed is always present. We find also in the great prophecy of Ezekiel on the pastors (cf. chap. 34), with commentary by St. Augustine in his famous speech that we have just re-read in the Liturgy of the Hours. Greed for money and power. AND to satiate this greed evil shepherds load on the shoulders of people unbearable burdens that they will not move even with a finger (Mt 23,4 ).

We also, in the Synod of Bishops, we are called to work for the vineyard of the Lord. The synodal Assembly does not serve to discuss ideas beautiful, original, or to see who is more intelligent… serve to cultivate and protect better the vineyard of the Lord, to cooperate in his dream, his plan of love for his people. In this case, the Lord asks us to take care of the family, which from its origins and an integral part of his plan of love for humanity.

We are all sinners and even for us we can be the temptation to "snagged" of the vineyard, because of the greed which is never lacking in us human beings. The dream of God always comes up against the hypocrisy of some of his servants. We can be "frustrate" the dream of God if we do not allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives us the wisdom that goes beyond the science, for work generously with true freedom and humble creativity.

Brothers of the Synod, to cultivate and preserve good the vineyard, it is necessary that the our hearts and our minds are to be kept in Jesus Christ by the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding", (Phil 4,7 ).  So our thoughts and our projects will be compliant with the dream of God: form a holy people that belong to him and that it will produce the fruits of the Kingdom of God (Mt 21.43 ).

16 comments:

James said...

It looks either the Pope or Msgr Marini dropped the host at 1:18:39, with the latter bending down to pick it up. Everyone there must be just as nervy about the synod as we are.

Nathanael said...

"Jesus says that those farmers took control of the vineyard; for their greed and pride they want to do with it what they want, and thus deprive to God the opportunity to realize his dream on the people that you have chosen."

Amen.

Anonymous said...

****the following remrks are not uncharitable, they are my opinions, and that doesn't make them u charitable****

Francis is without question a modernist. he has proved this beyond a doubt time and time again. He believes his beliefs are correct and those who dissagree are not only 100% wrong, but are mean spirited and hateful.

He has no problem with divorced "remarried" Catholics receiving communion. That's why he told that adulterous woman it was fine to receive communion. He doesn't believe they need confession because he doesn't believe in adultery. This is why Francis sent Cardinal Kasper was sent around the world to prepare us for what is coming. This is how liberals work.

When Francis tries to change Church teaching on divorce, and he will, the Church will formally split. Cardinal Burke as much as said that when he said he wasn't sure what he would do if this happened. Can anyone 10 years ago have pictured this scenario? What's going to happen isn't good and Francis isn't going to uphold Cathoic teaching. Let's be grown up here and face reality.

You better decide now whether you will listen to Christ who said "A man who puts his wife away and marries nother commits adultery" or if you are going to listen to a man who happens to be pope (who by the way will stop being pope when he officially teaches heresy) basically will say that second marriages are acceptible. It's going to happen and I for one will not follow anyone who betrays Christ.

Anonymous said...

The liberal media believes that Francis is going to change the Church's doctrine on marriage. Francis won't change the doctrines because he can't and still remain pope. He will probably try to institute policies that basically ignore the Church's doctrine. But whatever, when the media sees that he doesn't change anything they will hate him. Because liberals don't what compromise they demand capitulation. Francis is the creation of the media so they can destroy him whenever they wish. What happened to Paul VI after Humane Vitae will happen to him, it will be back to riding that bus in Argentina.

Anonymous said...

I cannot wait until Pope Francis lifts the stain of sin from pornography and masturbation. That will be a most joyus day, and a day of victory!

Anonymous said...

****the following remarks are not uncharitable, they are my opinions, and that doesn't make them u charitable****

Anonymous 1:05 PM is without question a pompous, uncharitable, puffed-up, show-off, pain in the b*tt wacko-jacko...but a self-proclaimed grown up (and maybe a saint...at least BETTER THAN MOST OF US, INCLUDING THE Pope.). Go to confession dude.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 1:05 PM:
It's not the first time the little sheep (or hired shepherds, for that matter) were faced with a choice of not following the lead shepherd. It'd be interesting to read a bit of Church history (how 'bout that time when two different bishops claimed to be Pope? Fun times.) :-)

Православный физик said...

Let us pray for them, not that they'll change Church teaching, but that they won't ignore it or bypass the teachings of Christ and His Church.

That's as charitable as I can be :D

Anonymous said...

Pope Francis: “We must lend our ears to the beat of this era and detect the scent of people today, so as to be permeated by their joys and hopes, by their sadness and distress, at which time we will know how to propose the good news of the family with credibility”.

Juxtaposed against Cardinal Muller:

"We can talk a lot about God, and in the end, do so without faith,” warned Cardinal Gerhard Mueller during a Sept. 28 Mass at the cathedral in Cordoba, where he delivered an address on St. John of Avila.

“We can 'deconstruct' the Gospel and Tradition and remake them to the liking of today's world, making their demands easy and accommodating them to the fragile, superficial, immature and post-modern man.”

However, he cautioned, if we were to deprive ourselves “of the chance to confront our lives with the divine Word, we would also lose the chance to enjoy the authentic happiness that Christ brings, who did not come to take away the crosses of life but to make our burden lighter and to encourage us to always do the will of God.”

The difference is frighteningly obvious ...

Jan

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous 1:05 PM is without question a pompous, uncharitable, puffed-up, show-off, pain in the b*tt wacko-jacko..."

Interesting that you say that person should go to confession when you are the one doing the name calling because you disagree with their opinion. You obviously can't argue your position so you lower yourself by degrading someone else using insulting and derogatory names. I gather you don't approve of self absorbed neo pelagians?

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:42...you left out the cover-all disclaimer that Anon 1:05 showed us. It makes his uncharitable words about the Pope ok, so it makes my words about him (or her) ok. If you just say it's not uncharitable first, then you can say anything and it's all hunky dory...Don't you get it? (Neither do I.) My comment was a JOKE. Anon i:05 was serious...get it? Probably not. Pax vobiscum...

Anonymous said...

"My comment was a JOKE. Anon i:05 was serious...get it? Probably not. Pax vobiscum..."

No, it wasn't a joke. You couldn't reasonably justify your remarks so you had to fall back on the old favorite of modernists " I was joking ".

Gene said...

So, Anonymous at 5:08, when the Pope lifts the ban on porn and masturbation I guess you'll be loading up on Ibuprofen for your elbows and making an appointment with the eye doctor…LOL!

JusadBellum said...

We would do well to read up on the last great schism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism

It's incredible how convoluted the granular history of our Church is since most of us only get a very brief overview of Catholic history without much detail.

Low information folk will thus form opinions about Popes or councils or movements based on very shallow reading of just the headlines.

But think through the implications of the Western Schism - it was the college of cardinals who chose first one, then another anti-pope. It was the cardinals of both sides who eventually settled the disputes.

Politics was involved and passions. Wars fought. Imagine being a Catholic during those days and not knowing which side was truly the successor of Peter!

Since Pope St. Pius X we have been warned about modernism as the synthesis of all heresies and the threat this poses in the form of schism. Thus in the 1980s many of us were alarmed by smarmy theologians talking about "the American Church" as though the US was big enough to challenge Rome.

On the other hand half a dozen Marian apparitions (approved by Popes) have warned of the defection of cardinals and even popes or their death at the hands of evil-doers... meaning that Catholics may well live to see a time when there are no clear guides of our faith at that level and we're really thrown back to witnessing for the faith on the diocesan or even more local level.

Think of our Chinese or Eastern European, or our Middle Eastern or African brethren who have been cut off from the world and put before executioners to bear witness thinking that they are alone in their fidelity to the deposit of faith while all others have abandoned it for the sake of expediency?

People are by nature gregarious. We prefer to run in herds and flocks. It's safer and easier. So we tend to find identity in tribes, clans, ideologies, parties, etc. this is why so much of marketing and sales and politics focuses on band-wagon effects of 'everyone is doing it'.

It takes particular courage to take an unpopular position on anything. Especially when the spin is that the popular opinion is 'winning' history and equipping itself with coercive powers of both economic benefits and state police power to force the issue.

Does one stand firm and risk outright persecution or bend to follow the apparent total victory of a given trend and hope in this tactic to avoid total defeat?

I suspect the answer depends on how much faith we have in the reality of Heaven and spiritual realities beyond the visible world.

Anonymous said...

I may be getting better Jusad. I made it all the way to "half a doze Marian apparitions..."before I dozed. I'll try going to bed earlier...

Gene said...

Anonymous @ 1:54…don't wet the bed.