I understand what you are saying Joe and wish you were right. We both have different interpretations of AL. You believe it is the mercy of God being explained to this age in the age of mercy. I am of the opinion that it will set in place radical changes in the Church (not maybe its intention?) with regard to the reception of the Eucharist which is what some progressives really want. That is why the radical progressives love AL - they see in it their agenda for change. The good folks at the Association of Catholic Priests just love it!! http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/
Thanks, Brian. Regarding the Gang of Four, I suspect that they and the other liberals are at least as frustrated as those who follow Tradition. I have had this suspicion since the moment Kasper came out pre-release blowing the Exhortation up as the biggest event in fifteen centuries. I think this was so because he knew the document was falling well short of the 'revolution' he had hoped for. In conclusion, perhaps the imprecision and vagueness of Pope Francis is a blessing from God. When the liberals finally get their (well-intentioned) champion, he turns out to be one who simply can't nail it down. Bad and all as is the Exhortation, it would have been much worse if written coherently and accessibly. Screwtape must be pulling his hair out in frustration.
Goodness, that is absolutely chilling. The second paragraph describes the modern secular-liberal mindset in a nutshell. It calls to mind (to paraphrase) Chesterton's astute definition of insanity: The insane are not those who have lost their reason, but who have lost everything else. May the Lord God have mercy on us all.
I think Luther believed it was necessary to be faithful to the tradition of the Church and couldn't 'fit' this with being faithful to the Pope so he ditched the latter. Don't make the same mistake!
These exchanges reminded Joe of how Judas complained about the use of expensive ointments on Jesus' feet instead of giving the money to the poor. In a similar way, they remind me of the Jews who asked Jesus whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. They were, of course, not asking for information but trying to trap Jesus. All these 'questions' being asked are really doing the same thing, trying to 'prove' that Kasper, Forte, Francis are somehow heretics and to be condemned. Like Joe, I'm not sure if it is wise for a faithful follower of the Holy Father to spend time responding on this thread. My current view is that to leave the thread to the critics of Francis gives a bad example to the 'guests' who read these posts and who might mistakenly think that the critics are representative of the Catholic faithful. I believe they represent a section of Catholic 'thinkers' but hopefully not too large a section!
I've been thinking about many of these great posts from the great people on here while doing my work during the morning. I was thinking about all our confusion and I remembered my earlier point above that Pope Francis' vagueness and willingness to have an opinion on everything might be a blessing, denying the liberal side an opportunity of explicit heresy. It then struck me (which immediately reminded me of Padraig's belief that God would take Pope Francis to him) that it could be the destiny of this Pope to suffer Alzheimer's. Perhaps he is already afflicted? If this turned out to be the case, it would discredit everything in his papacy. The Lord can work in mysterious ways. This put me to thinking about Pope Emeritus Benedict. The accepted narrative seems to be that Benedict resigned because of his fear of the 'wolves'. I always found this hard to understand because he seems the type to fear nothing. Then it dawned on me: did Benedict resign because of his fear of age-related Alzheimers? Just think. If he had stayed on and become demented, the liberals would have attempted to use it to discredit all he had said and done as under the influence of Alzheimers. And just to prove he is more cunning than any of these liberals, Benedict's master-stroke of resignation meant that even if he did succumb to dementia post facto, the Kasperites couldn't have used it against him to denigrate his papal record because it would have effectively negated the validity of his resignation and thus of their new pope. Aye, the Holy Spirit is in charge.
So many what ifs...maybe Pope Benidect was tired and wanted to spend His final years in prayer and meditation. He was never the type of person that liked to go out with the people. His real gift was His love of meditation and writing. He actually might be battling "the created one" in hand to hand combat every night. As for Pope Francis having Alzheimer's...stop spreading false rumors. By Our Holy Father allowing all parties to speak it becomes a teaching tool. I think many people have been taught basic Catechism with this Pope...its those intellectuals that can't see past their own spiritual pride.
Wow, that is a real possibility about Pope Emeritus Benedict. I have been puzzled and struggling to understand the reasoning behind such a momentous decision to step down. You are right, though, the Holy Spirit is in charge.
Sorry. I thought we went thru this with Vatican 2. I have been thinking about the pope for a while without commenting. I believe this pope is wrong on so many secular issues that he has proven how narrow "papal infallibility" really is. He said to pray for him and he was gonna make mistakes and he sure is. Charlie Johnston said he was going to make a big mistake but did not know what it was. It is simply this, he has taken the side of the globalists in the cultural war. He has also correctly pointed out that church doctrine has not been changed under Pope Francis and he is correct. However, as Charlie surely knows that you don't have to officially change laws/church doctrine to make real changes. For example, look at immigration laws in the states. They are all still in effect, however they are meaningless. The "controversial wall" that hopefully will get built, it has already been passed and signed just not built. This pope has asked us for our prayers and that is exactly what we should do. He is on the globalists side on the global warming scam, and please, don't comment on the environment, I am an environmentalist. Immigration, sided with the globalists and most recently, his disgusting photo op with Angela Merkel. While the daughters of Europe get raped and is covered up by the globalists, our pope is trying to give them cover. Absolutely disgusting. Surely Charlie Johnston knows that by emphasizing some issues, social justice for example (and nobody is more genuine or better at this than our pope), and de-emphasizing the cultural issues, homsexuality, divorce, planned parenthood, transgender-ism, and most importantly abortion, he has broken with tradition, identified with the globalists, and as Padraig says, the church has "lost its salt" only to trampled under the foot of God. As Jacinta said, pray much for the holy father, pray much. He is a holy man, surely not the anti-Christ, and great things will be accomplished by him when he turns things around.
Again I find your post hard to decipher. Did your last quote of "You too!" refer to a desired blessing from God for me or was it a question of my integrity regarding recieving Jesus in Holy Communion?
You can "Bet the Farm" that there is much angst, dismay and confusion in the Vatican and the Catholic World every time Papa approaches a podium or takes up his pen. I still believe that he is fulfilling his role in The Storm but I don't pretend to understand it ;-( TNRS is about all you can do .... follow your instincts as far as Prayer & Preparation .... and Survival!!! "Pope’s Origins Skew His Views on Migrant Crisis, Cardinal Asserts" http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/05/09/popes-origins-skew-views-migrant-crisis-cardinal-asserts/ GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
You have so much Faith in Charlie Johnson. It's seems you have more faith in Charlie then Our Holy Father. Charlie said the big blunder would come when he visited the United States. It has come and past and still nothing. As for global warming...maybe we should change it to global warning. When storms can cover half the United States something is happening. Even though I think they are warnings from God. What do you expect the Pope to say on nature...he took the name of Francis. As for secular issues...he is just following Christian principals. Save the planet, feed the hungry, take in the poor and disenfranchised. What is he supposed to say. Build a wall, use as much smoke as you can, don't worry about the poor they can feed themselves. Some of us really don't get the big picture. He is the Vicar of Christ on earth. That is his job. His only focus is to save souls everything else is meaningless.
Bro Al and All, I have no idea how The Storm will unfold ... I just know we are in IT .... even atheists with 1/2 a brain can see that. I find Charlie believable mainly because many of his "ideas" reflect those, long held, by me. If he turns out to be just another fraud that is "hearing things" than "I'll shake the dust off my sandals" and take TNRS. As far as the Pope's "Big Mistake" goes, I'm guessing that the Big Mistake is just the compilation of all his small mistakes to date. The Next Right Step is nothing more than what Jesus told us to do Long Ago..... Is it not!!?? GOD SAVE ALL HERE!
I came across a link to an article about what the Bishop of Luxemburg had to say about the refugee crisis in Europe and how Holy Father Francis is responding. I think it is the best and most accurate article I have come across. The last two Popes were European, and understood first hand what harm Communism and Natzism did in Europe, in the course of the last century. And how the cultures of the Middle East clash with European civilisation. And how the Middle Eastern countries are not third world poverty candidates like the Pope knows first hand from the Latin Americas. It says it all from what I understand on these issues. Europe will implode if someone does not stop it. I read the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church has called for a global war on terrorism, and I think that is not too far from what Charlie Johnston is saying. I will be interesting if this brings about a trip to Moscow by Holy Father Francis. And we are then into the Garabandal prophesies. And the Warning/Illumination to follow.
How miserable is your outlook? God does not look upon us as ordinary. We are his children by adoption in the supernatural life. We are the apple of His eye. Anyone in a state of grace is extraordinary because they are a new creation in Christ. Sanctifying grace implies a real transformation of the soul and our souls really are cleansed by an infusion of the supernatural life. Paul speaks of us as "a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17), "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24). Such a soul is beautiful to God and destined for eternal life with God for all eternity.
By the way have you ever thought of changing your pen name to 'trying to be a saint' or something more appropriate? Don't like the phrase fallen saint. It has a certain permanence to it. One would not call oneself 'fallen angel' on the mother of God forum would we. Type fallen saint into google images and you will get mostly demonic images. This is not an attack on you. But I have reservations about the term fallen saint.
You have eyes yet do not see, ears but do not hear. I am talking about changing church teachings thru emphasis. I guess the last couple of popes were heretics too fallen saint. I grew up in a wealthy suburb of Chicago, half liberal jewish. They were big on the social justice issues, liberal democrats you could say. They did not believe in God and were on the other side of the cultural divide. The pope seems to represent their thought and practice as I have described. You sound just like them. Claiming a monopoly on caring about the poor, accusing me of not, sounds like a left-wing tactic. You sound terribly like our president, you care more, geessh.
