When it comes to figuring people out some are easier
to figure, others less so. All of us
measure people up and all of us try to figure others out. We do this for clarity, understanding, and to
basically know the person we are engaging with.
I would imagine that all of us both individually and collectively have
been trying to figure out Pope Francis.
Some Catholics are having difficulty with him, others embrace him, and
still others are putting words in his mouth.
I happen to like the Holy Father quite a bit, just
as I like Pope Emeritus Benedict, and John Paul II before him. Actually JP II is my favorite for many
reasons, but that’s another reflection.
We have heard many snippets from Pope Francis. He is an off the cuff kind of guy, half the
times not having a written homily in front of him, just speaking right from the
heart. He is also very open in his
interviews and not afraid to speak his mind.
Once such interview in which the Holy Father was
quite open and frank was when an interviewer asked him about people with
homosexual orientations. The Pope
responded, “Who am I to judge them.”
With this simple statement people went off the deep end. Some automatically assumed that the Pope will
now allow same sex marriages and that homosexual acts are no longer sinful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is
clear, to have a homosexual orientation is not a sin, but to engage in those
acts is, no different than when heterosexuals engage in premarital sex or when
people commit adultery. As moral persons
we can judge an act objectively, decide between good and evil, but we are to
never judge the state of a person’s relationship with God, i.e. their eternal
salvation or state of grace. We don’t
have that kind of insight nor should we since we would judge incorrectly and
this is the kind of judgment the Pope speaks of. If we do judge in that manner we are
committing a grave sin, because only Christ can judge us eternally.
Pope Francis is also for the poor, not that other
Popes have not been, except that his thrust and concern if you will is for the
unfairness in society that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In our country we blame the poor for being
poor, it’s their fault. We then justify
not helping them because if they don’t work then my money will not go to help
them. Pope Francis is asking us not to
place those kinds of conditions in our hearts but to be generous and
giving. If a poor person pulls a fast
one on us then so be it, better to err on the side of compassion then
miserliness. Folks have even gone so
far to label Pope Francis a socialist or Marxist. I will say this, no one political-economical
system is perfect and all of them have some truth and goodness. Labeling people is dangerous. People labeled Jesus, “breaker of the law,”
“blasphemer,” “demon,” etc.
We don’t listen enough but as a society we are very
reactionary, we have to respond right away.
So, if the Pope makes a statement instead of listening and taking it to
prayer we make rash judgments without proper reflection. We have to slow down and absorb what the Holy
Father is saying and also to read him in context. I have realized that even as priest when I
say things that some will hear exactly what they want to hear and not allow the
Holy Spirit to work. The justification
for our own position is usually made up of the following, i.e. that’s not what
the book says, what the Church says, the way I would say it or the way that I
would do it. People who have judged the
pope have already made up their minds, they have not accepted or better put
interpreted correctly what he did say. He
has his own personality and approach, some don’t like it, but he is not here to
make friends, he is here to preach the Gospel.
He also will never please everyone; it’s just the nature of the
game. He can’t get everyone to “like”
him, but that’s not his job, his job is to teach and preach as is the job of
all priests.
I think he is an amazing man and an extraordinary
Pope. During the last conclave some
wonderful things happened during his election and I want to share them with you
soon. Some of things you may have heard,
but even so it would be good to hear them again, they speak to the amazing
faith this man has and his tremendous humility.
Please pray for Pope Francis may the Good Lord bless him with strength,
hope, and courage as he leads us forward in our lives of faith and as good sons
and daughters of the Church. FJ
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