“Challenges help us to ensure our faith does not become ideological”
Francisto priests, religious and nuns in Milan: “They save us from a
closed and defined thought and open us to a broader understanding”
HERE WE GO AGAIN! The NWO Plan is to end Dogmatism. Francis is playing his part
“We have to fear a faith without challenges, a faith that feels
complete, all done ... we don’t need this faith. Challenges help us to
ensure that our faith does not become ideological.” Milan’s Duomo is
crowded with priests, nuns and religious, even many ill priests, in a
wheelchair have joined. Among them was Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, whom
Francis greets with great affection. It is a central moment of the
Pope’s pastoral visit to the Ambrosian diocese: the dialogue with the
priests and nuns. In addition to representatives of other Christian
confessions, there is also a small Muslim delegation. Francis, who knew
the questions in advance, had prepared written notes, which he
constantly updates.
Unchained from results
Responding to don Gabriele Gioia’s question, he said: “You know that evangelization is not always synonymous with taking fish. Go and take off, give testimony. Then there is the Lord, He takes the fish, we do not know when, how or where. We are useless tools.” The Pope then urged, “Not to lose the joy of evangelizing because evangelization is a joy. We ask for the grace not to lose it. It is not good being sad, being a sad evangelizer is like not believing that Jesus is joy, that He brings you joy, and when He calls you, He changes your lives and sends you in joy. Even on the cross, but in joy.”
Challenges help faith
“Every period of history, from the earliest days of Christianity, has been continuously subjected to multiple challenges”, therefore, Francis explained, “we need not to fear challenges, they should be taken as the bull, by the horns! Do not fear them. Challenges are good, because they make us grow, are a sign of lively faith, of a lively community that seeks his Lord and keeps eyes and hearts open. “The Pope added: “We should fear a faith without challenges, a faith that feels complete, all done, as if everything had been already said and done. This faith is not needed. Challenges help us to ensure that our faith does not become ideological. Ideologies grow and sprout when one thinks they have a complete faith.” Challenges, “save us from a closed and defined thinking and open us up to a broader understanding of the data revealed.”
For a culture of diversity
“I think the Church - said the Pope - over all her history has much to teach us and help us towards a culture of diversity. The Holy Spirit is the master of diversity. The Church despite being one it is multifaceted. The ecclesial tradition has a lot of experience on how to “manage” the manifold inside its history and life. We have seen and we see great wealth and many horrors and errors.” Francis invited to see the world “without condemning, or sanctifying it, acknowledging its light and dark aspects. As well as helping us to discern the excesses of uniformity and of relativism “. Do not confuse - he continued - “unity with uniformity,” nor “plurality with pluralism.”
What we are trying to do “is to reduce the tension and remove the conflict or ambivalence to which we are subjected as human beings” however “trying to eliminate the channel of tension is like trying to eliminate the way God chose to reveal himself in the ’humanity of his Son.”
Forming the discernment
“The culture of abundance to which we are subjected - said the Pope - offers a horizon of many possibilities, presenting them all as valid and good. Our young people are exposed to a constant zapping. “Francis believes that “it’s good to teach them to discern, so they have the tools and elements to help them walk the path of life without the Holy Spirit’s extinguishing within them.” When you are a kid, he continued, “it is easy for mom and dad to tell us what we must do, and that’s fine. But as we grow, amid a multitude of voices, which are apparently all right, the discernment between what leads us to resurrection and life and not to a culture of death, it is crucial. “
The deacons are not “half priests”
Answering the question of a permanent deacon, the Pope warned against considering “the deacons as half-priests and half-lay. This is a danger, eh! At the end, they are neither here nor there. Considering them like this hurts us and hurts them. “
There is the danger of clericalism, Francesco added, and “sometimes it seems that the deacon is taking the place of the priest.” Another temptation “is that of functionalism: somebody used for certain tasks. No, you - he added - have a clear charism in the Church and you have to keep it. The diaconate is a specific vocation; it is a family vocation that calls service as one of the gifts proper to God’s people. “Since apostolic times, Bishops’ main task is to pray and proclaim the Word. The task reserved to Deacons is their service “to God and to others. Still much need to be done in this regard.” In addition, Bergoglio noted still “there is no altar service, there is no liturgy that does not open to the poor, and there is no service to the poor that does not lead to the liturgy.”
Maybe just a few and elderly, but most certainly not resigned!
Finally Francis answered the question of a religious Ursuline, who spoke of the lack of vocations, of being few and getting older. The Pope spoke of the feeling of resignation. “Without realizing it, every time we think or see that we are few, or in many cases older, we experience the weight, the fragility rather than the splendor and our spirit begins to be eroded by resignation. And resignation then leads to sloth. Just a few ... yes, a minority …yes, old… yes, but most certainly not resigned. “The remedy that “refreshes and gives peace,” he added, is the mercy of God. However, when one gives up and lives off the glories of the past, “those heavy, and now empty, structures begin to feel heavy as we think of selling them to have enough money for retirement. The money we have in the bank is starting to be heavy but where does poverty go? But the Lord is good, when a religious congregation does not go down the road of poverty, usually the Lord sends a bursar that destroys everything, and this is a grace.”
Return to be leaven
The answer is “revisiting the origins, a memory that saves us from whatever glorious yet unreal imagination of the past.” Our founding fathers and mothers - said Bergoglio - “never thought to be the large majority. Our founders felt moved by the Holy Spirit at a particular time in history, to be joyful presence of the Gospel for the brothers; to renew and build up the Church as leaven in the dough, like salt and light of the world. “Our congregations were not born to be the dough, but a bit ’of salt and a little’ yeast, which would have contributed the dough to grow; so God’s people could have that “seasoning” that was missing.” For many years, “we have grown up with the idea that religious families were to occupy spaces more than initiate processes. This is a temptation. “
The last two nuns in Afghanistan
The Pope then invited to read an article in the Osservatore Romano that said “on the last two sisters of Jesus in Afghanistan, who were among the Muslims. They must come back, they are old ... well liked by everyone ... because witnesses, because consecrated to God, Father of all. And I said to the Lord Jesus “why leave these people like this? And I was reminded of the Korean people who in the beginning had only three or four Chinese missionaries, and then for two centuries the message has been carried out by laity! The paths of the Lord are what He wants them to be. It will be good for us to take a leap of faith; He is the one who leads the story.”
Thank you Milan
The Pope then went outside the cathedral to pray the Angelus with the faithful in the square. “I greet you and thank you for this warm welcome here in Milan - said Francesco - the fog is gone, evil tongues say that the rain will come, I do not know, I do not see it yet. Thank you so much, for your love and I ask you to pray for me so that I can serve the Lord and do his will. “
New Age Says Francis "Playing His Part" (TCK Radio)
Unchained from results
Responding to don Gabriele Gioia’s question, he said: “You know that evangelization is not always synonymous with taking fish. Go and take off, give testimony. Then there is the Lord, He takes the fish, we do not know when, how or where. We are useless tools.” The Pope then urged, “Not to lose the joy of evangelizing because evangelization is a joy. We ask for the grace not to lose it. It is not good being sad, being a sad evangelizer is like not believing that Jesus is joy, that He brings you joy, and when He calls you, He changes your lives and sends you in joy. Even on the cross, but in joy.”
Challenges help faith
“Every period of history, from the earliest days of Christianity, has been continuously subjected to multiple challenges”, therefore, Francis explained, “we need not to fear challenges, they should be taken as the bull, by the horns! Do not fear them. Challenges are good, because they make us grow, are a sign of lively faith, of a lively community that seeks his Lord and keeps eyes and hearts open. “The Pope added: “We should fear a faith without challenges, a faith that feels complete, all done, as if everything had been already said and done. This faith is not needed. Challenges help us to ensure that our faith does not become ideological. Ideologies grow and sprout when one thinks they have a complete faith.” Challenges, “save us from a closed and defined thinking and open us up to a broader understanding of the data revealed.”
For a culture of diversity
“I think the Church - said the Pope - over all her history has much to teach us and help us towards a culture of diversity. The Holy Spirit is the master of diversity. The Church despite being one it is multifaceted. The ecclesial tradition has a lot of experience on how to “manage” the manifold inside its history and life. We have seen and we see great wealth and many horrors and errors.” Francis invited to see the world “without condemning, or sanctifying it, acknowledging its light and dark aspects. As well as helping us to discern the excesses of uniformity and of relativism “. Do not confuse - he continued - “unity with uniformity,” nor “plurality with pluralism.”
What we are trying to do “is to reduce the tension and remove the conflict or ambivalence to which we are subjected as human beings” however “trying to eliminate the channel of tension is like trying to eliminate the way God chose to reveal himself in the ’humanity of his Son.”
Forming the discernment
“The culture of abundance to which we are subjected - said the Pope - offers a horizon of many possibilities, presenting them all as valid and good. Our young people are exposed to a constant zapping. “Francis believes that “it’s good to teach them to discern, so they have the tools and elements to help them walk the path of life without the Holy Spirit’s extinguishing within them.” When you are a kid, he continued, “it is easy for mom and dad to tell us what we must do, and that’s fine. But as we grow, amid a multitude of voices, which are apparently all right, the discernment between what leads us to resurrection and life and not to a culture of death, it is crucial. “
The deacons are not “half priests”
Answering the question of a permanent deacon, the Pope warned against considering “the deacons as half-priests and half-lay. This is a danger, eh! At the end, they are neither here nor there. Considering them like this hurts us and hurts them. “
There is the danger of clericalism, Francesco added, and “sometimes it seems that the deacon is taking the place of the priest.” Another temptation “is that of functionalism: somebody used for certain tasks. No, you - he added - have a clear charism in the Church and you have to keep it. The diaconate is a specific vocation; it is a family vocation that calls service as one of the gifts proper to God’s people. “Since apostolic times, Bishops’ main task is to pray and proclaim the Word. The task reserved to Deacons is their service “to God and to others. Still much need to be done in this regard.” In addition, Bergoglio noted still “there is no altar service, there is no liturgy that does not open to the poor, and there is no service to the poor that does not lead to the liturgy.”
Maybe just a few and elderly, but most certainly not resigned!
Finally Francis answered the question of a religious Ursuline, who spoke of the lack of vocations, of being few and getting older. The Pope spoke of the feeling of resignation. “Without realizing it, every time we think or see that we are few, or in many cases older, we experience the weight, the fragility rather than the splendor and our spirit begins to be eroded by resignation. And resignation then leads to sloth. Just a few ... yes, a minority …yes, old… yes, but most certainly not resigned. “The remedy that “refreshes and gives peace,” he added, is the mercy of God. However, when one gives up and lives off the glories of the past, “those heavy, and now empty, structures begin to feel heavy as we think of selling them to have enough money for retirement. The money we have in the bank is starting to be heavy but where does poverty go? But the Lord is good, when a religious congregation does not go down the road of poverty, usually the Lord sends a bursar that destroys everything, and this is a grace.”
Return to be leaven
The answer is “revisiting the origins, a memory that saves us from whatever glorious yet unreal imagination of the past.” Our founding fathers and mothers - said Bergoglio - “never thought to be the large majority. Our founders felt moved by the Holy Spirit at a particular time in history, to be joyful presence of the Gospel for the brothers; to renew and build up the Church as leaven in the dough, like salt and light of the world. “Our congregations were not born to be the dough, but a bit ’of salt and a little’ yeast, which would have contributed the dough to grow; so God’s people could have that “seasoning” that was missing.” For many years, “we have grown up with the idea that religious families were to occupy spaces more than initiate processes. This is a temptation. “
The last two nuns in Afghanistan
The Pope then invited to read an article in the Osservatore Romano that said “on the last two sisters of Jesus in Afghanistan, who were among the Muslims. They must come back, they are old ... well liked by everyone ... because witnesses, because consecrated to God, Father of all. And I said to the Lord Jesus “why leave these people like this? And I was reminded of the Korean people who in the beginning had only three or four Chinese missionaries, and then for two centuries the message has been carried out by laity! The paths of the Lord are what He wants them to be. It will be good for us to take a leap of faith; He is the one who leads the story.”
Thank you Milan
The Pope then went outside the cathedral to pray the Angelus with the faithful in the square. “I greet you and thank you for this warm welcome here in Milan - said Francesco - the fog is gone, evil tongues say that the rain will come, I do not know, I do not see it yet. Thank you so much, for your love and I ask you to pray for me so that I can serve the Lord and do his will. “
New Age Says Francis "Playing His Part" (TCK Radio)