Fools in the World

In his daily homily on Thursday, Sept. 4, Pope Francis spoke on the importance of having an encounter with Christ, saying without it one becomes lukewarm and unable to evangelize.

“If a Christian is not able to feel themselves a sinner and saved by the blood of Christ, this crucified one, they are a half-way Christian, a tepid Christian,” Pope Francis told mass attendees.

“When we find decadent churches, when we find decadent parishes, decadent institutions, surely the Christians who are there have never encountered Jesus Christ or have forgotten about this encounter with Jesus Christ.”

Pope Francis took his cue from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians in the first reading when he says that “If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.”

In my experience there are many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who all-too-readily consider themselves wise in this age, when in reality they display foolishness in God’s eyes in violation of His rights, all while proclaiming to know how he views what amounts to “foolishness”. This is most clearly seen in the current assault on traditional marriage by many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

There are many Catholics and non-Catholics who claim to know what Francis thinks, and feel he will be an agent of change. Let them heed the Pope's words. Speaking to those gathered in the chapel of the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse, the pontiff referred to how the apostle tells us that “the power of the Word of God, which changes the heart, which changes the world, which gives us hope, which gives us life,” is not found “in human wisdom.” There are many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike who have never really repented of their selfish, presumptuous airs, and changed their hearts, as their faith in their own wisdom, rooted in pride, precludes them from thinking as God thinks.

“It's not a nice talk or to say nice things with human intelligence. No. This is foolishness,” the Pope said. “The strength of the Word of God comes from another part.”

Drawing attention to how St. Paul himself states that “I can only boast of my sins” and “I can only boast in Christ and this crucifix,” Francis explained that to say this “is scandalous.”

“The strength of the Word of God is in that encounter between my sins and the blood of Christ, which saves me,” he said, “and when there is no encounter, there is no strength in the heart.” For many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, this personal encounter is woefully lacking

“When we forget that encounter that we had in life, we become worldly, we want to speak about the things of God with human language, and this is not good: it doesn't give life.”

Pope Francis then turned his attention to the day’s Gospel reading, taken from Luke, in which Peter tells Jesus “Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man” following the miraculous catch of fish. It is precisely in this moment, the Pope explained, when Peter finds salvation.

“The privileged place for an encounter with Jesus Christ are precisely our sins,” he observed, stating that “If a Christian is not able to feel themselves a sinner and saved by the blood of Christ, this crucified one, they are a half-way Christian, a tepid Christian.” There are many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. They claim to know how God views their foolish thinking and feeling, and in this, they are fools. Pope Francis concluded his reflections saying: “The strength of the Christian life and the strength of the Word of God are precisely in that moment were I, a sinner, encounter Jesus Christ.” “And that encounter renews my life, changes my life...and gives me the strength to announce salvation to others.” There are many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, to whom God in His wisdom, love and infinite mercy calls to this repentance….

Comments

This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News

DANCING WITH MR. D: This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News : 'via Blog this'

Dancing With Mr. D: Grooming the Little Children

A former pro-transgender activist said she regretted her previous work in pro-transgender activism, adding she felt she was "indoctrinated" on gender ideology in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I started to realize that what I had been doing at my job at the LGBT Center, it was grooming," Kay Yang, a former employee of a location in New York, said. Grooming in this context means "to get into readiness for a specific objective." Kay works as a 'deprogrammer' to help parents and children who have been 'indoctrinated' by the 'cult-like' transgender agenda. Yang herself previously went by they/them and worked as a 'trans educator' in schools for years. Listen to her testimony.

A Series on Spiritual Warfare

In The Screwtape Letters , C.S. Lewis’ use of irony exemplifies distinctions between God and Satan’s attitude toward human beings; Lewis does this through the use of innuendos, sarcasm, and ironic inversions. I recently stumbled on a three-part series which builds on the truth in Lewis' writing here , here and here . Good Advent reflection!

Liberal Catholics, Conservative Catholics, and Holy Catholics

In Smoke , I wrote of two modifications of "Catholic" in popular parlance these days: Lest we forget, there were indeed reform-minded Council Fathers who responded to Pope John’s vision of the Church growing in spiritual riches as a fruit of the Council under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the hope that the faithful might through grace be aided in turning hearts and minds toward heavenly things. Given what has been said thus far, it should not surprise the reader that many “liberal Catholics” view the pontificate of John Paul II as too “conservative,” and out of touch with the modern world, while the traditionalists view the writings and teachings of the Holy Father as modernist! Dr. Jeff Mirus of Catholic Culture has rightly linked Pope Francis's view of Vatican II as synonymous with those of his predecessors, who were in attendance.

Libido Redux: On Transgerderism

W hat Christianity shares with Judaism (and Islam, for that matter) is a belief that God created all things (though all three religions understand God differently). We are creatures. We owe our being, our existence, to Him. We are stewards of His creation, stewards, even, of our own bodies. Acknowledgement of God’s creative power leads to religious awe, a sense of the sacred. This means that each creature/creation has a nature, a manufacturer’s (God’s) instruction manual. Masculinity and femininity are aspects of that nature for human beings. When belief in God becomes irrelevant, we can throw away this instruction manual and refuse to see ourselves as a creature who has responsibilities to God and to society. To understand ourselves, we need to start at the beginning. What kind of being are we? The traditional answer–originating with the Greeks, continuing in the Middle Ages, and persisting into our own time -- and the answer given by common sense intuition -- is ...

Blogging Disciples!

To promote a book I spent years in writing , I began this blog. I am a baby boomer who knows all too little about blogging and the latest techie stuff. As I was perusing various Catholic blog sites, I noticed a post by Fr. Longenecker entitled, "The Smoke of Satan." If one troubles oneself to read Fr.'s quite accurate assessment, and becomes interested in just exactly how, according to the Pope who coined the phrase "Smoke of Satan" the Devil made his entrance into the post-Vatican II Church in the U.S., then my book is just what the Savior may have ordered, so why don't you!?

About the Author II

In the years prior to the Second Vatican Council, I also remember attending daily Mass before elementary school, which, because we had fasted for three hours, allowed us to eat breakfast in Mr. Sullivan’s math class. I remember bellowing out Tantum Ergo at Wednesday Evening Benediction, which I was in the habit of attending with my Mom, siblings and “Gramp,” (her Dad, John). I also remember looking forward to participating in the praying of that most sublime form of prayer, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with my St. Joseph’s Daily Missal. With Pope Benedict’s having granted permission for priests to offer the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, we hear much ado in the form of reaction against this from Catholic “progressives,” and about how the Council placed a new emphasis on the laity’s participation at Mass, the implication being that Catholics did not actively participate at Mass prior to Vatican II, opting for such devotions as the praying of the Rosary or Holy Car...

Dancing with Mr. D: Gender Ideology

In a private conversation with Bishop Andreas Laun on January 30 as part of the Austrian bishops’ ad limina visit , Pope Francis strongly condemned “gender ideology.” In so doing he follows the example of Pope Benedict, who is on record as saying that gender ideology is “a negative trend for humankind,” and a “profound falsehood,” which “it is the duty of pastors of the Church” to put the faithful “on guard against.” Bishop Laun The Austrian bishop stated, “In response to my questioning, Pope Francis said, ‘Gender ideology is demonic!’” As I have chronicled on these pages, the Holy Father often refers to the work of the devil. Of gender ideology, Bishop Laun explained that “the core thesis of this sick product of reason is the end result of a radical feminism which the homosexual lobby has made its own.” “It asserts that there are not only Man and Woman, but also other ‘genders’. And furthermore: every person canchoose his or her gender,” he added. “Today,” he said, ...

Libido Redux: Porn Stats

If one types "Libido Redux" on this blog's search engine, you will see various events which corroborate Pope Paul VI's prophecy that the human libido is a "crack" through which Satan can play havoc with souls. Here is the latest in the series, which should enlighten the reader, the stats on children and Christians in particular. From one who knows the truth of Paul's prophecy: "I have posted on a number of other articles about porn, but I wanted to post here as well to reach out to anyone else who, like me, is a porn addict. I tried for the first 9 years of marriage to stop looking at porn, and I could not. I asked God to help me stop, I went to confession, I received the Eucharist daily, but I could not stop. It was not enough for me to do it on my own with God. I had to ask for help from other people, see a counselor, and get into a 12-step recovery program, and that is how God is healing me. I believe the numbers here because I understand ...

Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbor

Tucker Carlson: The Biden Scandal Is Real And Not Going Away Posted By Ian Schwartz On Date October 30, 2020 TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: It's been obvious for decades now that the Biden family has gotten rich from selling influence abroad. Joe Biden held a series of high level jobs in the U.S. government. Based on that fact and that fact alone, Biden's son and brother approached foreign governments and companies, sovereign wealth funds, energy conglomerates, Third World oligarchs and dictators, and they offered to exchange favors from Joe Biden for cash. The polite term for that practice is influence-peddling. Sometimes it is legal under American law, sometimes it is not. But it has always been the economic engine of the Biden family. They've never done anything else. Until recently, no one debated this fact. Several liberal news organizations, in fact, have written detailed stories about the Biden secret business dealings over the years. Look them up, assuming you still c...

Search This Blog