At Casa Santa Marta
on Friday morning the pope said…
"Those
[sad] Christians don't do our Lord or Our Church any favors. Christians who set
time for mourning, who are always complaining. They're constantly sad...This is
not the attitude of a disciple. St. Augustine tells Christians: 'Go on, go on,
walk and sing, sing. With joy.” [Official Vatican Network]
Unfortunately it seems that Holy Scripture disagrees with
our current Pope on the matter of “those who mourn” (though he is probably spot
on about complainers like myself).
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted.”
“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but
the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.”
Or perhaps our Holy Father doesn’t understand how truly sad
many Catholics are with the current state of our beloved Holy Catholic Church
and the failure of SOME of the clergy in Her?
[This is not about all the truly wonderful Catholic clergy and religious we have in our Church, God bless you all! This is about the clergy and religious who are not about God’s work, but their own.]
Yes, Holy Father, we are sad Christians... but you understand WHY we are sad?
If Christians are feeling mournful it is because we see the
destruction of souls in the world and the Catholic Church’s failure to speak
the Truth boldly and bring people back to God’s Church.
What makes many of us ‘sad Christians’ is
when the Church entrusted by Christ to PREACH the TRUTH to the world, instead ALLOWS
‘liberal’ priests and nuns to run amok teaching HERESY and LIES to deceive the
masses – at Mass no less!
That Holy Father, is what makes us “sad Christians”.
You want to see us joyful disciples again? Be the Church Christ entrusted you to be. A Church we can DEPEND ON to ALWAYS preach
the Truth. Be a Church were heresy among
the clergy and religious is NEVER tolerated.
Discipline the clergy and flock to correct errors the way Holy Scripture
demands you to.
Hebrews
12:8If you do not have that discipline in which all
children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.
Hebrews
12:11Now, discipline always seems painful rather than
pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it.
We ‘sad Christians’ will always have our joy in Christ [regardless of failing clergy], but it
would be nice to have it again in our Church. Joy in BEING Catholic because we trust our clergy to teach the Truth from God. That would be nice...that would bring a great many of us joy.
I think of the words of Saint Paul (Romans 16)…
17 “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on
those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that
you have learned; avoid them. 18 For
such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by
smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. 19 For while your obedience is known to all, so
that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good and guileless in
what is evil. 20 The God of
peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you.”
The Catholic priests and nuns who support gay marriage,
birth control, women priests and other heresies MUST be avoided by
Christians. When our Church does NOTHING to remove these
heretics from our mist we are saddened.
We see these heretics leading ignorant people on the road to Hell and we
are often powerless to do anything about it because our Bishops will not listen
to our pleas and remove these serpents from among us- or worse yet, the Bishops
themselves are heretics and are purposely filling our parishes with these liars
to corrupt and deceive the ignorant.
When will our Church do something about this? How long will our own clergy and religious be
allowed to sadden us with their deceptions?
You want joyful Christians Holy Father? Discipline, teach and speak the truth to us
all. Stop tolerating heretics who
corrupt our Church and faith with their serpents forked tongues.
Start removing and excommunicating people who are in the
Church only to “serve their own appetites” as Saint Paul warned us about. Evil persists in the Church because evil is
ALLOWED to remain in the Church.
Christians hungry for the Truth will remain ‘sad Christians’
as long as we see the evil in our Church allowed to spread and corrupt.
Colossians
3:16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all
wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual
songs to God.
We keep our joy in Christ and the Holy Sacraments always,
but we are daily saddened by the failures found in our beloved Catholic Church
when our Church leaders fail to lead, teach or correct those entrusted to them.
What child grows to respect a
parent who teaches them lies and fails to correct or discipline them? That child grows up to become a disrespectful
liar themselves… if the Church continues to fail as a parent to Her wayward
children, She too will produce nothing but rotten fruit.
The Holy Father quoted Saint Augustine...perhaps our Holy Father will quote another great in our Church...G.K. Chesterton who clearly understood what we need our Church to do...
If our Holy Father wants to see us sad Christians become joyful again, he could do us all a favor by spending his efforts weeding out rotten clergy and putting Saint Paul's words to work throughout our Church, in every parish and convent around the world.
1 Timothy 520 “As for those who persist in sin,
rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest also may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and
of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without
prejudice, doing nothing on the basis of partiality. 22 Do not ordain anyone hastily, and do not participate in the sins of others;
keep yourself pure.”
2 Timothy 4
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
4 “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the
living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly
urge you: 2 proclaim the
message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince,
rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not
put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth
and wander away to myths. 5 As
for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry
out your ministry fully.6 As for me, I am
already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From
now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all
who have longed for his appearing.”
I can’t say it any better than Saint Paul did in Sacred
Scripture.
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
