My brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a man with gold rings on his fingers and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please,” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs? - James 2
Or say a poor Pope comes in clad in the same vestments every week...
Recall when everyone in the Bolgdom of God seemed to hang onto every word Pope Benedict said? As soon as a tweet, a statement, a homily, or an address was made, Catholics blogged about it. Yet now it is almost as if we have no Pope. Many of the 'holiest' of bloggers do not even mention the Pope - except to point out something negative. One esteemed EF blogger, who used to praise just about every word Benedict said, has just one post up where the only mention of Francis is the label for the post. Many EF Catholics seem to take refuge in their separate calendar, only to miss what the Holy Spirit says to the Church.
An exaggeration? I'm not so sure.
I hope the new Pope will do something to end one of the liturgical 'false dichotomies' that exist, and establish one calendar for the the Roman ritual - let there be an EF and an OF - but it seems to me the calendars have to be united - so that we are all on the 'same page' as it were.
Excerpts from today's homily by Pope Francis at St. Paul Outside the Walls...
I would like all of us to ask ourselves this question: You, I, do we worship the Lord? Do we turn to God only to ask him for things, to thank him, or do we also turn to him to worship him? What does it mean, then, to worship God? It means learning to be with him, it means that we stop trying to dialogue with him, and it means sensing that his presence is the most true, the most good, the most important thing of all. All of us, in our own lives, consciously and perhaps sometimes unconsciously, have a very clear order of priority concerning the things we consider important. Worshipping the Lord means giving him the place that he must have; worshipping the Lord means stating, believing – not only by our words – that he alone truly guides our lives; worshipping the Lord means that we are convinced before him that he is the only God, the God of our lives, the God of our history.
This has a consequence in our lives: we have to empty ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we take refuge, on which we often seek to base our security. They are idols that we sometimes keep well hidden; they can be ambition, a taste for success, placing ourselves at the centre, the tendency to dominate others, the claim to be the sole masters of our lives, some sins to which we are bound, and many others. This evening I would like a question to resound in the heart of each one of you, and I would like you to answer it honestly: Have I considered which idol lies hidden in my life that prevents me from worshipping the Lord? Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.
Dear brothers and sisters, each day the Lord calls us to follow him with courage and fidelity; he has made us the great gift of choosing us as his disciples; he sends us to proclaim him with joy as the Risen one, but he asks us to do so by word and by the witness of our lives, in daily life. The Lord is the only God of our lives, and he invites us to strip ourselves of our many idols and to worship him alone. May the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Paul help us on this journey and intercede for us. - Vatican Radio
