Feel the Joy
It’s difficult to imagine the frightening zeal that must have possessed men like Martin Luther or the other false priests who led huge movements out of the Church. For those unfortunate shepherds their work was an obsession. Pope Francis cannot stop hammering at those Pharisees and doctors of the law by whom, we must know by now, he means us, faithful pious Catholics.
Zenit’s Junno Arocho Esteves reports on the Pope’s March 26th homily in Casa Santa Marta.
To be joyful is a grace that only comes from faith and not from doctrine or law that is detached from love. This was the central theme of Pope Francis’ homily at Casa Santa Marta this morning.
According to Vatican Radio, the Holy Father reflected on today’s readings, both of which spoke on Abraham. In John’s Gospels, Jesus tells the scribes and doctors of the law that “Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.”
The Pope said that the doctors of the law did not understand what Jesus meant because they did not understand the joy of hope, of promise and of the covenant.
“They did not know how to rejoice, because they lost the meaning of joy that only comes from faith,” he said. “Our father Abraham was able to rejoice because he had faith: he was made just in faith.
Abraham was justified by faith. Not also works?
The Pope continues.
These lost their faith. They were doctors of the law, but without faith! But more so: they lost the law! Because the center of the law is love, love for God and for neighbor.”
Of course Our Lord corrected the Pharisees because they were led by self-interest. That’s why they went around enforcing unjust oppressive rules, rules which have nothing to do with Jesus or the true teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Holy Father went on to say that the doctors of the law were so attached to doctrine that their often times their questions dealt in abstract circumstances.
“Should taxes be paid to Cesar, or should they not? This woman, who was married seven times, when she goes to Heaven will she be the wife of those seven? […]
Petty overbearing law-making more appropriate to the U.S. Congress is how our Pope sees the doctrines of the Church and the Holy Mass. Since love isn’t at the center, these are only unjust laws which have nothing to do with faith. So the master of the false dichotomy presents the king of them all. He pits doctrine against faith and he pits the law against love.
The problem is: the doctrines of the Church ARE faith and it’s law IS love. We aren’t Pharisees because we don’t reject Christ!
This was their world, an abstract world, a world without love, a world without faith, a world without hope, a world without trust, a world without God,” he noted. “And this is why they could not rejoice!”
No hope, no faith, no trust, no God, no point in joy: How much contempt can the Pope muster for men and women who love Church teaching?
The 78 year old Pontiff continued saying that it was sad to be a believer without joy. Without joy, he said, there is no faith, only “cold doctrine.”
Now we’re cold dead too.
He’s always going on about warmth and closeness. Didn’t his mother hug him? It gives me the creeps.
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis said that the joy of faith and the Gospel is the touchstone of one’s faith. Without it, one is not a “true believer.”
So now Pope Francis has become a joy-sniffer who goes around pegging Pharisees with his joyometer. Better check that pickle face, Catholic!
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
IANS sees another who has followed our Father into the moral and doctrinal quicksand.
Of course, the attempt to cleave Christ in two and to set Himself against Himself is an absurdity but there are any number of neo-caths who enjoy seeing traditionalists cast as Pharisees even though they do not understand that the Bishop of Rome’s two immediate predecessors condemned distributing Communion to adulterers.
Hmmm Benedict XVI and Pope Saint John Paul II as Pharisees?
LOL, well, what does one expect from a Pope who is a sectarian?
http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2014/12/jesus-is-temple-jesus-is-torah-1.html
http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2014/12/jesus-is-temple-jesus-is-torah-2.html
Oh, I can see where this is going.
Onward, to a Church without doctrine. All sorts of different viewpoints [heretics, apostates, schismatics] are welcome at the table.
There will be no more need for dialogue when there is no doctrine… just love!
/belch
Methinks thou hath read my mind. Thanks for this. Now I don’t feel like I’m crazy for getting the same creepy feeling when reading the papal sermons.
Actually, that should be “thou hast” and not “thou hath.” “Hath” is third person.
Faith in what? Doctrine defines the object of our faith and the proper response towards Him given His Nature and ours. Love is the desire and choice for the good of the other, and how to avoid harm to others (and our own souls). Doctrine tells us what is good or harmful relative to both physical and spiritual human flourishing.
Your comment about whether or not his mother hugged him may be a clue. Personally, I believe he had “early childhood issues” that color his whole being. He has mentioned childhood discipline in various talks. His problems are having a huge impact on his ability to lead his flock on their journey to Christ and His Church.
I think you’re on to something here. This obsession with “hypocrites,” “doctors of the law”, “judges”, “rosary counters,” ” Inquisitorial beaters,” “pickled, pepper-faced Christian” and rigid, authoritarian, fundamentalist Christians is not normal. Read the ‘Pope Francis’ Little Book of Insults’ and you see a definite pattern.
To love God is to love His laws. To love His laws is to love God.
Psalm 119
92 If thy law had not been my delight,
I should have perished in my affliction.
93 I will never forget thy precepts;
for by them thou hast given me life.
94 I am thine, save me;
for I have sought thy precepts.
95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me;
but I consider thy testimonies.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection,
but thy commandment is exceedingly broad.
97 Oh, how I love thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
How can we separate faith from doctrine? Doctrine is about the teachings of Jesus, Who is the Word of God. So, one would have to beg the question, faith in what or whom?
Emmanual Kant, a 17th century German philosopher tried to drive a wedge between faith and doctrine, and I believe he was totally wrong. This is where we hear the silly notion, “Well, it doesn’t really matter what you believe. It matters what’s in your heart.” All one has to do is look at the effects of Communism, to see where that leads. Faith without doctrine leads to an attenuation of both love and faith. What you end up with eventually are millions of corpses.
That is a false dichotomy, Truth and Love cannot be separated.
FrancisChurch? How about Catholic Church. Its responses like these that show exactly why Pope Francis warns against such behavior. He speaks of law without love, not love without law. To the papal bashing, so-called “faithful pious Catholics”… “And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” 1Cor13:2
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What should we do then about the daily name-calling by the Pope? He is to be the Vicar of Christ on earth Matthew, not a poor-rendition of Jimmy Kimmel. It is a daily test of our endurance. It is not the simple Catholic who tries is or her best to live by the faith which is a law of love that is the problem. For twenty-four months know we’ve been called names and insulted. Yes, so was our Blessed Lord but it wasn’t He that did it. The fault of this distress, this division lies with, if not the Pope directly, then those around him. Either he is not taking counsel out of arrogance or he is getting bad counsel out of ignorance. It is one or other, or maybe it is a bit of both.
I don’t think any Catholic relishes in being critical but I don’t see any Catholic here bragging about being “faithful” and “pious.” Catholic I know, myself included, are striving to be. It is modernists who like to throw around the name calling.
Easy. If you want to understand the Bergoglio’s mind and behaviour, you ought to find out what he did in Argentina. In fact, how he destroyed our church. Then you’ll fully be able to comprehend why we all must pray day and night in order for his pontificate ends very soon. Immediately, I should say.
Yes, he gives me the creeps too!