So it just came out that Pope Francis is upending another Vatican tradition. He booked a retreat house for the annual Lenten retreat, instead of just holding everything at the Vatican. And the retreat house he chose is very familiar to me, indeed--and at this point, also to you: it is the Divine Master Retreat House founded by Blessed James Alberione!
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| I wonder if he'll take pictures of the sunsets over Lake Albano. |
6 comments:
"So it just came out that Pope Francis is upending another Vatican tradition."
Sr. Anne! Must you start your post with such a sentence as that?! SOME of us are still a little raw and still adjusting. As I read this sentence, my intial fraction-of-a-second reaction was an intense combination of simultaneous reactions!
--My heart sank.
--My instinctive 'fight or flight' response was activated.
--Body tension rose
--Alert level was heightened.
THE FIRST thought to enter my mind was, 'O Lord...WHAT NOW?' :o
That was NOT funny, Sr Anne!
CLEVER, but not funny!
However, after reading the ENTIRE post(2 sentences + 1 runon sentence), It IS funny NOW...AND I must admit: You got me on that one, Sr. You got me good! ;)
Oh, I didn't mean to get you at all! But... do you think St Paul experienced all of the same reactions when Jesus "got" him on the Damascus road? I think the Holy Spirit is shaking things up; I'm counting on those sevenfold gifts for all of us!
I think you are right... I think that I am in the beginning stages of 'getting' it... I had a small 'AHA' moment this morning that seems to be growing.
It seems that we all want affirmation of our views from the pope. But each side wants the affirmation in view of or as opposed to the other side.
Liberals (some of the same ones that many of us traditionalists see as 'apostate' and some of them may well be) feel like they are getting affirmation that love and 'social justice'(a loaded and politically coopted term)are the important things and not the 'rules'.
Traditionalists want affirmation that we/they are right. 'We know love is important but FIRST,Papa, tell them that they have to go by the rules.'
Generally speaking, both extremes are very judgemental of the other. There is a tendency to make idols in both camps;
-Liberalls to idolize the poor ,
-Traditionalists to idolize the letter of the law.
Pope Francis is having none of that.
Since I lean toward a more traditional view, I will only speak from that side now.
If I do not want to be judged by a theologians knowledge of rules then I had better not judge others that way.
It has become increasingly apparent to me, in these recent challenges, that we traditionalists are beginning to resemble a modern day group of Pharisees, seeing and judging everything first as it relates to rules...even in so far as measuring every word from the pope to see if it is in adherence to the 'law' or if it can be 'trapped' by the 'law'.
Are we forgetting from whence these laws come and to what and to Whom these laws are in service? As Jesus told the Pharisees, man was not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man!
The laws of the New Covenant and the ones that Jesus left us with are Laws Love; Love of God and Love of Neighbor.
Jesus said that he did not come to condemn the world but to save it. It is not 'right action' that saves. It is God's Love that saves and it is only God's Love that can bring 'right action'
I think that Pope Francis is calling us back to the beginning- not to do away with everything we have learned in 2000 years; not to do away with our laws and rules that have developed through time as we have grown in the knowledge and understanding of His revelation- but to call us to remember where we came from, to remember who we are, and to remember the mission that Jesus has entrusted to us.
"They will know that we are Christians by our Love."
I think that Pope Francis is calling us to walk with Jesus,to walk with him and to go out into all the world, into our sick and dying world, and spread the Good News of God's Saving Love.
We must strive to see in each person his true identity as a Child of God. Only then can we meet and each person exactly where they are and love him in that moment.
Pope Francis is calling us to GO FORTH and TELL the WORLD of HIS LOVE!....
I guess there is something thst you did not like about my last comment that did not make it through moderation...and I forgot to copy it for myself :(
I didn't get more than these two; was there something I missed?
Yes there was a longer one where I answered your comment to say I think you were right about the Holy Spirit shanking things us. Then I told you what I thought Pope Francis was might be doing...but it is too long ago now....I DID learn to copy any response before I send it. I was sorry to lose that stream of consciousness inspiration...It is lsot to cyberspace , I guess..but I am glad to know that you did not refuse it...
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