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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

DON'T WORY ABOUT THE LOSS OF CATHOLICS




 Pope at Vespers: The Lord is calling you to bear witness


Pope Francis presides over the celebration of Vespers in Saint Peter’s Basilica to open the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October. In his homily, he urges us to be witnesses in a missionary Church that is always “on the go”.

By Vatican News
1 October is the feast day of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, affectionately known as “The Little Flower”. Although she never left her Carmelite cloister, she is the universal patron of missions, along with Saint Francis Xavier.

Three missionary models

Pope Francis recalled both of them in his homily. Saint Therese, he said, “made prayer the fuel for missionary activity in the world”. Saint Francis Xavier, said the Pope, is perhaps “the greatest missionary of all time, after Saint Paul”.

Together with the Venerable Pauline Jaricot, a French laywoman who helped create the foundations of the Pontifical Missionary Societies, they “give us a jolt”, said the Pope. They challenge us to “emerge from our shell and to renounce our comforts for the sake of the Gospel”.

Using our talents

Pope Francis began by reflecting on Saint Matthew’s Gospel that recounts the parable of the talents. “God has entrusted us with his greatest treasures: our own lives and the lives of others”, he said. God calls us “to make our talents bear fruit, with boldness and creativity”.

This extraordinary Missionary Month, said the Pope, “should jolt us and motivate us to be active in doing good. Not to be notaries of faith and guardians of grace, but missionaries”.

Being a witness

Being a missionary, said Pope Francis, means “living as witnesses”. Witness, in fact, “is the key word: a word with the same root as the word ‘martyr’”. “Martyrs live by spreading peace and joy, by loving everyone, even their enemies, out of love for Jesus”, continued the Pope. “Let us ask ourselves this month: how good a witness am I?”

Mission not omission

Returning to the parable, the Pope noted how Jesus describes the fearful servant as “wicked and lazy”. He was wicked, said Pope Francis, for not doing good: “he sinned by omission”.  “To live by omission is to deny our vocation: omission is the opposite of mission.

Sins against mission

We sin against mission, said the Pope, when we fail to spread joy, “when we think of ourselves as victims, that no one loves or understands us”.  We sin against mission “when we yield to resignation”, or when we complain “that everything is going from bad to worse, in the world and in the Church”.

We sin against mission “when we become slaves to the fears that immobilize us”, or when we live life as a burden and not a gift, putting ourselves at the centre, “and not our brothers and sisters who are waiting to be loved”.

A Church on the go

If the Church “is not on the go, it is not Church”, stated Pope Francis. A Church on the go is a missionary Church “that does not waste time lamenting things that go wrong… a Church that does not seek safe oases to dwell in peace, but longs to be salt of the earth and a leaven in the world”.

We are all missionaries

Today we begin the Missionary Month of October, said the Pope, “accompanied by a religious woman, a priest and a lay woman. They remind us that no one is excluded from the Church’s mission”.

The Lord is calling you

In this month, said Pope Francis, “the Lord is also calling you”, fathers and mothers of families, young people. “You, who work in a factory, a store, a bank or a restaurant; you who are unemployed; you are in a hospital bed… The Lord is asking you to be a gift wherever you are, and just as you are, with everyone around you”.

The Lord is asking you “not simply to go through life, but to give life”, said the Pope, “not to complain about life, but to share in the tears of all who suffer”.

“The Lord will not leave you alone in bearing witness”, concluded Pope Francis. “You will discover that the Holy Spirit has gone before you and prepared the way for you. Courage!”

17 comments:

Mark Thomas said...

I have met many catechumens and converts who have cited His Holiness Pope Francis' witness to Jesus Christ as having spurred their (catechumens and converts) interest in Catholicism.

Pope Francis enjoys their love and respect.

But such is the work of Jesus Christ in Pope Francis' life. Pope Francis' immense holiness in the work of God The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Dan said...

The Holiness of Francis, which Mark Thomas so kindly points out to us, would not be possible without the super deluxe ultra humbleness he also exhibits. A childlike humbleness which exhibits itself in the form of gentle criticisms meant to "evangelize and not proselytize."

Humble, gentle critiques as:

"Rosary counter!"
"Self-absorbed, Promethean 
neo-Pelagian!"
"Mr and Mrs Whiner!"
"Triumphalist!"
"Rigid Christians!"
"Slaves of superficiality!" 
"Museum mummy!"
"Long-faced, mournful funeral Christian"
"Pickled pepper-faced Christian!"
"Creed-reciting, parrot Christian!"

And there are oh so many more examples of the childlike nature of the humble and holy Francis. And not just with the verbal holy critiques, but also in his playful actions.

My favorites are the pulling apart the praying hands of a young boy trying to be reverent and the constant pulling back of his own holy hand when people were trying to show respect to the office of Peter.


TJM said...

Dan,

You are wasting your time on that lefty, troll

johnnyc said...

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths."

That St. Paul.....such a downer.

"The final battle will be the attack on marriage and the family."

What does Our Lady know anyway.....we don't have to listen to private revelation so there.

johnnyc said...

Kinda funny Pope Francis talking about joy. He always seems to be complaining about Faithful Catholics sort of like 'a get off my lawn grumpy'.

Mark Thomas said...

Dan, you failed to provide contexts for the "insults" that you posted.

To begin, people who speak Italian (as well as Spanish) fluently have noted that many supposed "insults" from Pope Francis are lighthearted remarks.

Now, an example of context: I can "prove" that Pope Francis "insulted" families, children, and mothers-in-law, during his Apostolic Visit to Philadelphia.

From Pope Francis' address to families: He said that "plates fly" within families (that is, serious arguments erupt within families), children bring "headaches" to parents, and then he "insulted" mothers-in-law.

But the video of his address in question revealed the context of Pope Francis' remarks in question.

He had joked lightheartedly that plates sometimes fly within families (his audience laughed).

Children sometimes bring headaches to parents (laughter).

Pope Francis added that wouldn't dare say anything about mothers-in-law (additional laughter).

Pope Francis employed lighthearted humor. But somebody could have twisted his remarks in question into insults.

Context, Dan. Context.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas said...

Is it an insult to tell the truth about certain types of people/Catholics.

A major complaint among Catholics is that they often encounter a certain coldness at parishes.

That is stated often by many Catholics who've abandoned the Church for Protestantism. T

They have insisted that sour-faced, unfriendly folks are found too often at Catholic parishes.

Even leading "traditional" Catholic bloggers have stated that the above is true at "traditional" parishes.

Therefore, why is it an "insult" to note that a joyless people/Catholics is a "Long-faced, mournful funeral Christian?"

There are "Rigid Christians!"

There are "Museum mummy!" Christians.

Pope Francis has employed that phrase to exhort Catholics not to remain mired in the past.

The Church moves forward. The Church isn't a museum. She doesn't offer, for example, Penance in the same fashion as She did centuries ago.

I am amazed that use of "Museum Mummy" is considered an insult.

Dan said...

Sure Mark, insults always help when used in context. Dumbasses often think this...

TJM said...

"Context, Dan. Context"

LOL - coming from the person who has no sense of context, history, posting a plethora of non-responsive non sequiturs

Dan said...

My insult wasn't an insult by the way. 'Cause, you know, context.

Mark Thomas said...

I question the interpretative skills of right-wingers — one, in particular, who has compiled the Little Book of Pope Francis' (supposed) Insults...whatever the title.

The folks in question have, for example, promoted endlessly the photo of Pope Francis frowning supposedly when shown a Papal tiara.

Said folks have interpreted said photo as proof that Pope Francis hates God, the Church, Tradition...etc.

What the Pope Francis haters in question have refused to acknowledge is that during that same photo op, Pope Francis smiled as he viewed the Papal tiara.

Father McDonald posted two such photos:

http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2018/01/pope-francis-gladly-receives-papal-tiara.html

But the right-wing Pope Francis haters who have determined that this and that lighthearted remark has constituted a nasty, rotten insult, continue to interpret the supposed "frown" photo as proof of Pope Francis supposed hatred of God and His Church.

Said folks hate Pope Francis. They will twist and misinterpret anything that the Pope says or does to "prove" that Pope Francis is rotten.

They are unreliable interpreters of Pope Francis.

Pax.

Mark Thomas

Dan said...

Please explain what it means to be a "right winger." Especially as it pertains to the Catholic faith. Is it somehow different than believing what the Church has taught? Is the only way to avoid being labeled as a "right winger" is to forget (or not learn) what has been taught, in order to be open to the 'God of surprises' who may give us a pope that goes ahead a reinterprets everything?

If one has always supported the popes, but now is concerned about one claiming to be a pope, is that a "right winger."

This label is thrown out a lot, so I want to know what behaviors and beliefs are being labeled.

Of course, "right winger" is not insultive at all. It kind of like "rigid neo-pelagians" or "coprophagists."

TJM said...

Dan,

MT is a left-winger which means he is not Catholic, because a left-winger believes as an article of faith in abortion on demand and gay marriage. Ignore him.

A right-winger in lefty parlance is someone married to his first wife, supports his children, believes what the Church teaches and goes to Mass on Sunday.

Dan said...

TJM, but only if that "wife" is the opposite sex, right? If same-sex than they think the person is enlightened like themselves. I think I understand now.

TJM said...

Dad,

LOL

TJM said...

Dan,

You notice when MT is challenged he quickly scurries away, never responds but then re-surfaces only to spew his next pile of nonsense?

TJM said...

Mt,

Why don’t you respond to our legitimate questions? Are you afraid because you are a lefty, i. e., a fake catholic?