Once again Francis is taking a swipe at Faithful Catholics who adhere to sound doctrine and who understand that the teaching of the Living God is immutable.
Religion News Service reports:
"Pope Francis is calling for ordinary Catholics to live holy lives in whatever they do, stressing that the 'saints next door' are more pleasing to God than religious elites who insist on perfect adherence to rules and doctrine."
Really?
As Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand has reminded us:
"The attempt to make man the absolute center of the universe has in reality led to a progressive blindness toward the true nature of his dignity. The attempt to make a god out of man ended in making of him a more highly developed ape. The idolatry of great achievements shares the same fate...
When confronting the worship of great achievements, it is imperative to recall man's primary vocation. Great as is the range of values which man is capable of realizing, moral values hold a unique position in man's life. They alone are indispensable for every human being, whatever his special gifts and talents may be. They alone belong to the unum necessarium. Man is called above all to glorify God by his justice, his purity, his veracity, his goodness. 'Be you perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.' (Mt. 5:48). Moral disvalues are an incomparable evil; they alone offend God; moral goodness reflects and glorifies God more than any achievement whatsoever....Compared with this vocation, the noblest talents and the creation of the greatest impersonal goods are secondary. Progress in the domination of nature, inventions, great achievements in science, cultural activities, and even the creation of masterpieces in art - great as they are in themselves, much as they manifest man's greatness - do not constitute man's primary vocation. No excellence in these fields can be compared at all with the value embodied in a saint." (Dr. Dietrich von Hildebrand, The New Tower of Babel, pp. 181-182, Sophia Institute Press).
Archbishop Sheen once noted that, "Christian love bears evil, but it does not tolerate it. It is not broad-minded about sin."
The great Archbishop also made an important distinction: "Tolerance applies to the erring, intolerance to the error." And again: "Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant."
What Francis rails against, referring to as "rigidity" as "sickness," is authentic Christian love, as defined by 1822 of the Catechism.
Before labeling others as sick, Francis should reflect prayerfully on the fact that his one-time Superior General in the Jesuits referred to him as a "sociopath." See here.
We can better understand why Francis does not appreciate Contemplatives. He is more concerned with this world than the next.
ReplyDeleteBut Our Lord said it best:
"Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.' The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Like 10: 40-42.
Lord knows how the contemplatives continue to pray for the Popes intentions. I have kinda given up that and pray for his conversion. Even that is difficult these days.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's funny about all of this along these lines, Paul?
ReplyDeleteThe late, *great*, Fr. John Hardon, S.J., once received a phone call from an irate bishop who was castigating him about some recent conferences Fr. Hardon had given in the bishop's diocese.
The bishop was lighting into Fr. Hardon saying, "All you care about, Fr. Hardon, is following rules and regulations!"
To which Fr. Hardon replied, "Bishop, I do not know what you think you just said to me, but that is the greatest compliment anyone has ever given me."
The bishop hung up on Fr. Hardon! LOL (Could we imagine Fr. Hardon would say the same to PF in a given situation? hmmmm.....)