The Pope spoke of courage today.
"Jesus - to put it in stronger terms - challenges us to prayer and says this:' Whatever you ask in my name, I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son '. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it ... But this is really powerful! We must have the courage to go to Jesus and ask him: 'But you said this, do it! Make the faith grow, make evangelization move forward, help me to solve this problem... Do we have this courage in prayer? Or do we pray a little, when we can, spending a bit' of time in prayer? But that courage, that parresia even in prayer ... "
"When the Church loses courage, the Church enters into a ‘lukewarm’ atmosphere. The lukewarm, lukewarm Christians, without courage ... That hurts the Church so much, because this tepid atmosphere draws you inside, and problems arise among us; we no longer have the horizon, or courage to pray towards heaven, or the courage to proclaim the Gospel. We are lukewarm ... We have the courage to get involved in our small things in our jealousies, our envy, our careerism, in selfishly going forward ... In all these things, but this is not good for the Church: the Church must be courageous! We all have to be courageous in prayer, in challenging Jesus!"- Pope Francis homily.You can change. You can. I think that is all God wants me to tell you with this blog.
However, you must ask - and trust. Sometimes it takes many years. You fall - you get up. You fall away - you come back. You come back, you fall again. You get up and ask again. You keep asking, seeking, knocking. It gets better. In the process we learn how deeply we are loved and how deeply we are called to respond in love. We learn from our mistakes that God is a loving, merciful Father... we see Him in the Son.
"Prayer is the trap door out of sin."
I know I have changed because of Christ and His Church. The trouble, of course, is that I revert back from time to time. But one thing I never do is claim that my sinful ways are okay, or seek to have the Church stop saying they are wrong. I fall and it causes scandal among other things. But I go to confession to start over again. I never give up fighting and say, "no, the Church is wrong here." I know what it is like to live without my particular sin. It is so good and wonderful.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to do, but I have to be committed to the fact that the desire to sin will never fully fade, nor will I ever have to stop fighting. Some times it is easy, some times it is not.
But damn it all, where else could I go? I believe Christ is God. What else is there that I could do but fight to be with Him forever?
That's the ticket! Thanks Jericho.
ReplyDeleteTerry
Terry, out of topic, but was just wondering how do I email you? I'm assuming there's a way since you have the disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
ReplyDeleteTerry, I was just about to ask you what Some Random Guy asked because I have misplaced or wrongly deleted you from my contacts and your G profile now takes us to G+.
ReplyDeleteIn case we miss each other in passing, here's the image from FB I wanted to send to you - chances are you've seen it but in case not, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=535744216469280&set=a.334934033216967.75879.334931296550574&type=1&relevant_count=1
I hope youre ok. Miss seeing your posts.
ReplyDelete