"Do not become wolves among wolves!"
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The Holy Father is calling Christians to peace, to not “giving in to the temptation of becoming wolves among wolves.”
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According to the Pope, the main contribution Christians can make to the peace cause “is to pray.”
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This prayer should be unarmed, as was that of Jesus and his disciples: As Benedict XVI recalled, Jesus is a “poor king among the poor, he is temperate among those who want to be temperate. In this way, he is the king of peace, thanks to the power of God, who is the power of good, the power of love.”
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He is a king who “brings peace on the Cross, bringing earth and sky together and building a brotherly bridge between all people,” the Pope added. Hence the call for individuals not to become “wolves among wolves.” The Pope expressed his belief that “it is not with power, force or violence that the kingdom of God’s peace is spread, but with the gift of oneself, with extreme love, even towards one’s enemies. Jesus does not win the world with the force of arms but with the force of the Cross, which is the real guarantee of victory.” - Vatican Insider
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And this from CNA:
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"(Christ) did not enter Jerusalem accompanied by a mighty army of chariots and horsemen. He is a poor king, the king of the poor of God,” said the Pope, “he is a king who will make the chariots and steeds of battle disappear, who will break the weapons of war, a king who brought peace on the Cross, uniting heaven and earth and building a bridge between all mankind.”
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And the kingdom of Jesus, the Pope noted, is universal. Its horizon is not “the territorial horizon of a State,” but “the confines of the world,” and wherever Christ is to be found “in the great network of Eucharistic communities covering the earth, wherein the prophecy of Zecheriah re-emerges in splendor.”
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Christians can help expand the bounds of this kingdom of peace “not with the might of war or force of power,” but “with the giving of self, with love carried to its extreme consequences, even towards our enemies,” said the Pope.
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He then turned the pilgrims’ attention to a physical reminder of that attitude, pointing to a statue of St. Paul with a sword in hand—the means by which he was executed in Rome—located on the front of St. Peter’s Basilica.
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St. Paul’s strength “lay in the fact that he did not seek a quiet life,” said the Pope, but rather in the fact that “he was consumed by the Gospel” and “gave all of himself without reserve.” This led to him becoming the “great messenger of peace and reconciliation in Christ.”
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Similarly, he said, Catholics today must be willing “to pay in person,” even if that means suffering “misunderstanding, rejection and persecution.”
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“It is not the sword of the conqueror that builds peace, but the sword of those who suffer and give up their own lives.” - One day before Assisi... CNA
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That's all.
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I wish I was rich, I would fly you and some others up to Alaska and we would have a blog retreat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your candid posts Terry.
"... One day before Assisi... CNA..."
ReplyDeleteNot even the Holy Father has the authority to pronounce all the false religions are Catholic or have some Catholic principals.
Catholicism is not the culmination of the worlds beliefs.
He has invited all at Assisi to pray.
To whom?
All the crucifixes have been removed, and the Holy Name will not be pronounced.
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So I guess Aquinas was wrong to adopt Aristotelian beliefs, or the Fathers were wrong to praise the wisdom of the pagans. And St. Francis was wrong for recognizing te partial truths in Islam. Do you also believe that all the Orthodox saints are in hell?
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing Catholic about what you say. You sound like a Calvinist or a Muslim.
Of course people outside the Church can arrive at some semblance of truth, even if try do not have it all. Even an evil man can be right about some things. You seem to believe Hitler was right about several things, yet he was no Christian and he hated Christ and the Church.
And where, pray tell, is there any evidence that crucifixes will be removed or that the Holy Name will not be said? A rumor website? Do you realize it's a serious charge to accuse the Holy Father of Christ-denial, or heresy?
Joe - I'd love to visit and/or live in Alaska. I'd be a crazy hermit and invite grizzly bears to supper.
ReplyDelete“…And where, pray tell, is there any evidence that crucifixes will be removed or that the Holy Name will not be said?...”
ReplyDeleteA copy of the Papal Address at Assisi is here:
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2011/10/assisi-iii-papal-address.html
Not one mention of the Holy Name of Jesus, as I stated even before his address.
Crucifixes removed at Assisi so as not to offend has a long history:
Pope John Paul II removed all the crucifixes because the Jews and the other ‘good faiths’ were offended by them.
It’s a new Novus Ordo ‘tradition’.
‘…So I guess Aquinas was wrong to adopt Aristotelian beliefs…”
The first man was Adam… God infused knowledge to him that became lost to us after he sinned, because of original sin, we lost much.
The moon was as shiny and pure as a pearl… stars shone brightly in the sky.
But because of original sin, they are not so bright; the moon's face is now pock marked by meteor strikes, everything is now decomposing.
From time to time God grants some of us a glimpse of that which we lost through sin.
A pagan can be given a chrism that he know beauty and knowledge that we may take from them and use in our practical applications.
No one changes Truth. Truth was with God before the world began. No one makes a new Truth; they only say it better than other men have said it before.
There have been pagans that were good and just, and did not lead sinful lives.
God’s mercy perhaps will be with them through invincible ignorance on their behalf.
Does God tell us only those baptized at birth Catholics will be saved?
He leaves the door open to sinners, that they may repent, and become a part of the family of God.
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The name Christ is mentioned. Besides, does the Pope really need people in a combox to critique his speech? He says nothing in there that is wrong. So getting angry because "he should have said something else" seems a bit rash, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThere ARE elements of Catholic truth is all religions, since, Truth is Truth, period. The fullness of Truth exists only in the Church, and there exists no Truth apart from her - that said, the Saints have always found new ways of looking at things from those outside. Not new truths, no. Remember Aquinas was called a heretic because his great inspirations were Moses Mamoindes and Aristotle.
To say the Church is all Truth and all other religions are ignorant superstition, or worse, Satanic demon-worship, is simply not Catholic.
"The name Christ is mentioned...'
ReplyDeleteChrist is a title.
Was the Holy Family named Joseph and Mary Christ?
The Angel declared to Joseph the name would be Jesus; at His name all knees should bend.
Christ is a title.
Christ had a tough time getting the Scribes and Pharisees to believe, properly.
In their hearts, they had no love for anyone but themselves.
They challenged Christ at every inch of the way, those hypocrites that studied day in and day out to the degree of a gnats behind.
The only ones that never challenged Christ were those that looked upon the Blessed Sacrament, and believed.
Those were the poor in spirit.
Christ was the Blessed Sacrament, living and breathing amongst us.
To gaze upon the Blessed Sacrament is to literally be in Heaven.
Christ told the thief "This day you will be with Me in Paradise"
To be with Christ is Paradise.
Blessed Be the Holy Name of Jesus.
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