{"id":2963,"date":"2015-06-07T17:41:26","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T21:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.242.160\/~stumbli4\/?p=2963"},"modified":"2015-06-07T19:23:49","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T23:23:49","slug":"on-corpus-christi-pope-francis-disturbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/?p=2963","title":{"rendered":"On Corpus Christi Pope Francis Disturbs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Not<\/a>

Repentance, Confession, and Jesus all rolled into one?<\/p><\/div>\n

In honor of Corpus Christi, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Eucharist.\u00a0 As usual he said some uplifting things but, true to form, some of the things he said were unsettling, some were disturbing, and some were jarring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We are accustomed to being wary now.\u00a0 We can’t just assume Pope Francis is presenting us with Catholicism when he speaks, can we?<\/p>\n

The Eucharist is the seal of God\u2019s covenant, uniting Christians and giving them the strength to bring God\u2019s love to others, even when faith carries a high price, Pope Francis has said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Eucharist does give us strength to love others, even when faith carries a high price, but is it really a ‘seal of God’s covenant?’\u00a0 I thought it was God Himself.<\/em><\/p>\n

Does Communion unite Christians with each other, or does receiving Him unite us all with Christ?<\/p>\n

Celebrating the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ with an evening Mass outside Rome\u2019s Basilica of St John Lateran, Pope Francis said the church and its members will never cease being in awe of the Eucharist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is this not something we can take as a given, since God is awesome?<\/p>\n

Pope Francis asked the faithful as they walked through the city with the Eucharist to remember \u201cour many brothers and sisters who do not have the freedom to express their faith in the Lord Jesus\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is true.\u00a0 The freedom to process through the streets is a great and necessary thing.\u00a0 I wish more of us felt free and willing to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be united with them; let us sing with them, praise with them, adore with them,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, in our hearts, let us venerate those brothers and sisters who were asked to sacrifice their lives out of fidelity to Christ. May their blood, united to the Lord\u2019s, be a pledge of peace and reconciliation for the whole world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Pope has made it clear<\/a> before that by ‘martyrs’ he means anyone killed for professing Christ, not just Catholics.\u00a0 The vast majority of those murdered for Christianity lately are not Roman Catholics.\u00a0 Is their blood united to the Lord’s?\u00a0 How much heresy and sin would a murdered ‘christian’ have to embrace before there was some disunity?<\/p>\n

How can the deaths of Christians at the hands of Muslims be “pledges of peace and reconciliation for the whole world?”\u00a0 A death is not a pledge.\u00a0 Are peace and reconciliation God’s goals in a world full of sin and evil?\u00a0 Perhaps first He wants faith and obedience.<\/p>\n

I would imagine those killed might hope someone would pledge to defeat ISIS through military campaigns, because they know first-hand that it would bring peace and safety for others like themselves.\u00a0 Most people brave and faithful enough to die for the name of Christ also know what peace really entails.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist, he said, \u201csanctifies us, purifies us and unites us in a marvellous communion with God. In that way we learn that the Eucharist is not a prize for the good, but strength for the weak; for sinners it is pardon; it is the viaticum that helps us move forward, to walk.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does the Eucharist purify us?\u00a0 What if we aren’t repentant?\u00a0 What if we haven’t made a good Confession?\u00a0 What good Catholic would consider the Eucharist his ‘prize’ anyway?\u00a0 Why does the Pope employ strawmen?<\/p>\n

Is the Eucharist pardon for the sinner?\u00a0 Are the Last Rites administered without Confession?\u00a0 Holy Communion is certainly a manifestation of God’s Mercy since He comes to us and heals us, giving us strength.\u00a0 But it’s dangerous, particularly now, to give the impression that Communion is a time for forgiveness of sins.\u00a0 That is what happens for the repentant sinner during Confession. Then, purified through the mercy of God and his Church, the good person can be strengthened and healed by union with Our Lord Himself.<\/p>\n

Union with God entails a certain effort on our part, because God is holy.<\/p>\n

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In honor of Corpus Christi, Pope Francis spoke about the Holy Eucharist.\u00a0 As usual he said some uplifting things but, true to form, some of the things he said were unsettling, some were disturbing, and some were jarring. We are accustomed to being wary now.\u00a0 We can’t just assume Pope Francis is presenting us with …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[428,427,349,429,19],"class_list":["post-2963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-confession","tag-corpus-christi","tag-holy-communion","tag-martyrdom","tag-pope-francis"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2963"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3002,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2963\/revisions\/3002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingblock.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}