As always the Pope is playing the same Golden Moldies that have been on his play list since the beginning of his Pontificate. The snide part of PopeWatch wants to say there is small chance of the Church producing perfect Christians in this pontificate. The non-snide portion of PopeWatch notes that the more serious Catholics tend to be about the Faith the greater the appreciation they tend to have about their own sinfulness. As always, the Pope is largely at war with strawmen he creates.
PopeWatch: Perfect Christians?
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Gee, the Lord I worship is known for always chastising his followers because they reveal only a little faith. Maybe the pope–a smart Jesuit–thinks that by tossing in one clever un-Catholic word like “flaunt” he can reverse what our Lord actually said many times?
The Elusive Scary Perfect Christian. Coming Soon to a cinema near you.
“Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
Out of where did he pull that nonsense? I want a citation.
Somewhere in one or two of the Gospels I read Jesus say “You must be perfect like your Father . . .”
Of course, that is impossible. The point is constantly to pray for God’s Grace and to strive with all your heart and strength.
Maybe Musk can run a hostile take-over bid for the Vatican.
There are two ideas that the modern mind has trouble distinguishing between.
The first is “you will never be perfect, you will always fall short, but God will accept you even in your imperfections”
The second is “don’t bother trying to be perfect, or even to be better than you are. Your failures and imperfections are actually great things.”
Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Ἔσεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι
ὡς ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν.
As usual, this sorry excuse for a pope puts his complete ignorance of Scripture on full display. He might do a bit better if he were an actual Christian, I think.
At least he’s really good at something: building with straw. From the beginning when he talked about the evils of completely unrestrained free markets (which actually don’t exist anywhere), to bemoaning those who consider themselves perfect Christians (no one I’ve ever met or even heard of) he refuses to argue from fact, from reality. I once got into an email exchange with a professional Catholic who defended this flaw by responding to me that St. John engaged in straw man argument in his Gospel, such as when he referred to “the Jews”. My conclusion was that Bergoglio’s sins didn’t just impact him, but have now corrupted so others. Yes, I’m looking at you Jimmy Akin.
Ha! Jimmy Akin said that? What a …
Did he give you a “Top Ten Biblical Strawmen” list? 😀
This past Sunday we had a sermon on the value of doubt. I really don’t trust the embrace of doubt as an important step in faith. I think it’s fairly recent. It’s like we’re trying to domesticate a feral animal. Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” We may have had doubts as we developed our faith, and a person who is doubting may ultimately grow in his faith, but doubt itself isn’t a virtue.
Somewhere in the back of the Jorge B’s mind was a picture of doubting Thomas. But surely he should have remembered “blessed are those who believe but have not seen.”
What would Pope Francis have thought of Fr. Maximilian Kolbe in July of 1941.
Then..in August of that same year?
That he, Fr. Kolbe, was known to stop in for frequent visits at the adoration chapel. Holy hours throughout the busy day of running the largest friary of that time in Poland, 700 brothers studying, running the printing operation, helping the hopeless?
Praying the Rosary continually.
Acts of Faith, Hope and Love..and running a radio station in the face of a bloodthirsty Nazi regime getting ready to strike Poland in ’38-’39.
His broadcasts were warnings for fellow Poles, but mostly catechism reaching out as far as his signal would carry him. I wonder if Fr. Kolbe would be considered a rigid Traditional Catholic by some type of Pope living in our day.
Perfection?
Yes. On August 15th in 1941 small ashes of perfection was carried high into the atmosphere to land in all parts of the world as sacrifice and sacrament.
Perfection comes at a cost. Humility, Obidence and knee time.
Perfection seekers don’t seek honors, recognition or higher ordination statuses. They just know how to Love. They seek Jesus in others.
St. Kolbe would be trounced upon by many in authority due to his old ways.
His orthodoxy.
His practices.
God bless those practices and those who silently partake of them in the spirit of love.
CAG: No, I mentioned Jimmy Akin because I believe he’s a good man who has been impacted by the Pope’s own sins. Mr. Akin has crossed a line with his repeated illogical, unpersuasive defense of whatever the latest word droppings are from the Pope. The professional Catholic I referred to was Al Kresta. Love his show for the topics and guests, but he’s the one who actually made that claim about St. John. So sad.
FOS: Oh, I see … For what it’s worth, St. John using the word “Jews” isn’t a strawman, or bigotry, or any of that. From my understanding, the phrase could easily (and possibly more accurately) be translated: “The Judeans”, as opposed to the Samaritans or the Essenes (who referred to themselves as “Israelites”) or even the Romans. It describes which group he was talking about. For example, when he writes “The Passover of the Jews”, both the Samaritans and the Essenes celebrated the Passover at different times, and they used different calendars.
… Ammo for your next encounter 😉
The Catholic faith has Jewish roots. The New Testament era took place in a first century Jewish religious cultural context. The Old Testament is in the Bible for a reason. Dr. Brant Pitre has many videos that explain the Jewish roots of the Church and her teachings.
GregB, see also “The Jewish Roots of the Catholic Tree:”
(apologies for self-promotion)
Great article, Dr. K.
Only tangentially related: When Dr. Pitre’s book on the Jewish roots of the Eucharist (written with Dr. Scott Hahn) was published, First Things magazine printed a very negative review–written by a Baptist. The gist of the review, as I saw it anyway, was “this book is too Catholic.” I figured anything that tone-deaf was a sign of a deeper editorial problem at the magazine, which was confirmed a few months later (IIRC) when Rusty Reno canceled Maureen Mullarkey for calling out some of the early questionable acts and utterances of Francis. So I canceled my subscription. Haven’t missed it. But I’m still buying Dr. Pitre’s books. 🙂
BOB KURLAND:
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I read your article. There are some interesting things that took place at the Last Supper. In the Passover Seder the participants drink four cups of wine, the last of which is the Cup of Consummation. It is my understanding that at the Last Supper the cup that was used by Christ in the Institution of the Eucharist was the third cup, the Cup of Blessing. The Passover Seder was left incomplete, and it was not completed until Christ consumed the fourth cup when He took the bitter wine vinegar that He was given on a sponge during the Crucifixion. Calvary was an integral part of the Last Supper.
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When I look at the era of the early Church it looks to me like it follows the hermeneutic of continuity. St. Paul always went to preach to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. While the Gentiles were not placed under the Old Covenant, wasn’t there a period of overlap where the Jewish Christians continued their faith practices? With the Christian Sabbath being on Sunday it wouldn’t conflict with the Jewish Saturday Sabbath. Didn’t it take some time before Christianity fully separated from Judaism? The Jewish religious authorities had early Christians brought before the Council. Peter, John, and Stephen made appearances before the Council. The Council and Saul, before his Damascus road encounter with Christ, all acted like they had authority over many of the early Christians.