#Gaudete et exsultate

[peartreetheft]

"We should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech, or an idea. This mistake would lead us to let down our guard...." - Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate

#pope francis #devil #satan

[apenitentialprayer]

A Doctrine Without Mystery

§41. When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign they are not on the right road. They may well be false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. God infinitely transcends us; He is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter Him; the exact times and places of that encounter are not up to us. Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God's transcendence. §42. Nor can we claim to say where God is not, because God is mysteriously present in the life of every person, in a way that He Himself chooses, and we cannot exclude this by our presumed certainties. Even when someone's life appears completely wrecked, even when we see it devastated by vices or addictions, God is present there. If we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit rather than our own preconceptions, we can and must try to find the Lord in every human life.

Pope Francis (Gaudete et exsultate)

#Christianity #Catholicism #mystery #awe #God #spirituality #My Pope #mysticism

[nossasenhoracuidademim]

PAPA FRANCISCO: 10 ANOS DE PONTIFICADO. Em 13 de março de 2013, há 10 anos, o cardeal argentino Jorge Mário Bergoglio foi eleito à Cátedra de Pedro: primeiro Papa jesuíta e latino-americano, e eleito após a renúncia do seu antecessor. Foi o primeiro Papa a escolher o nome de Francisco. Ele mesmo explicou o motivo: “Na eleição, eu tinha ao meu lado o arcebispo emérito de São Paulo, um grande amigo (era Dom Cláudio Hummes, que receberam o cardinalato na mesma data, em 21 de fevereiro de 2001). Quando a coisa começou a ficar um pouco perigosa, ele começou a me tranquilizar. E quando os votos chegaram a 2/3, aconteceu o aplauso esperado, pois, afinal, havia sido eleito o Papa. Ele me abraçou, me beijou e disse: 'Não se esqueça dos pobres'. Aquilo entrou na minha cabeça. Imediatamente lembrei de São Francisco de Assis." Nestes 10 anos, desde 13 de março de 2013, quando apareceu na sacada da basílica de São Pedro para saudar os fiéis após sua eleição, o papa Francisco iniciou uma nova etapa na história recente da Igreja com a reforma da Cúria vaticana como o marco principal, um processo que ainda está em curso. Durante esse tempo, o Papa publicou três encíclicas: Lumen fidei (29 de junho de 2013), Laudato si' (24 de maio de 2015) e Fratelli tutti (3 de outubro de 2020). Ele também publicou cinco exortações apostólicas: Evangelii gaudium (24 de novembro de 2013), Amoris laetitia (19 de março de 2016), Gaudete et exsultate (19 de março de 2018), Christus vivit (25 de março de 2019) e Querida Amazônia (2 de fevereiro , 2020). Promulgou três constituições apostólicas, 86 cartas apostólicas, 57 motu proprio e escreveu numerosas cartas e mensagens pontifícias. Portanto, uma característica deste pontificado é um intenso esforço para publicar os documentos magistrais do papa Francisco. Além disso, o papa fez 40 viagens fora da Itália desde a sua nomeação, a última foi para República Democrática do Congo e Sudão do Sul, de 31 de janeiro a 5 de fevereiro de 2023. Francisco criou 121 cardeais em oito consistórios. Francisco presidiu a canonização de 911 novos santos, incluindo os papas são João Paulo II, são João XXIII, são Paulo VI, santa Dulce. #nscm #papafrancisco https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpv6_4Dth-G/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#nscm #papafrancisco

[eternal-echoes]

“Christian wisdom can never be separated from mercy toward our neighbor.”

- Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate

#Catholic #Christianity #quotes #Pope Francis

[vulnerasti-cor-meum]

Someone might object: “If I am that meek, they will think that I am an idiot, a fool or a weakling.” At times they may, but so be it. It is always better to be meek, for then our deepest desires will be fulfilled. The meek “shall inherit the earth[.]"

Gaudete et exsultate para. 74 (2018), Pope Francis

[cres-cen-do]

14. “Quando sentires a tentação de te enredares na tua fragilidade, levanta os olhos para o Crucificado e diz-Lhe: «Senhor, sou um miserável! Mas Vós podeis realizar o milagre de me tornar um pouco melhor». Na Igreja, santa e formada por pecadores, encontrarás tudo o que precisas para crescer rumo à santidade. «Como uma noiva que se adorna com as suas joias» (Is 61, 10), o Senhor cumulou-a de dons com a Palavra, os Sacramentos, os santuários, a vida das comunidades, o testemunho dos santos e uma beleza multiforme que deriva do amor do Senhor.”

— Capítulo I: A Chamada à Santidade, EXORTAÇÃO APOSTÓLICA GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE, Papa Francisco.

[locustheologicus]

Heretics and Mendicants: Embracing the Diversities of Christian Spirituality While Struggling with our own Errors.

One of my favorite historical periods has been the 13th century. There were many developments and achievements that happened around medieval Europe that would impact our own society and define much of what we know today. One of the developments during that period was the diversity of thought and spirituality that emerged with various religious movements. Eventually history would define these as heresies or acceptable religious movements but, as Fr. Casey tells us in his video above, these concepts never go away. While history does end up judging the movements one way or another, in the moment, they intermingled and helped developed Christian spirituality in a way that responds to the social context of the time. Heresies carries with it a negative connotation but it means diverse teaching that is not completely orthodox.

In 2002 one of my favorite movies of St. Francis of Assisi came out titled Francesco. This movie is in Italian but I consider it one of the most accurate movies that portrays the life and time of this great Saint. In an early part of this movie you see that Francis is in jail after a failed attempt to fight a crusade. He encounters a “heretic” who introduces him to sacred scripture, a privelege that many did not have access to. Although we do not know for sure if this encounter took place, the implication is that Francis may have encountered a Waldensian, a religious movement that embraced the evangelical counsel of poverty and promoted the knowledge of sacred scripture. What we do know is that Francis will eventually develop a movement that truly embraces the poverty of Christ through the mendicant order that bears his name. The Waldensians will eventually fall out of favor with the Church for its radical departure from Church structure while the Franciscans will maintain its similar spirituality while respecting the role and structure of the Church. This is an excellent movie and I certainly recommend it.   

Fr. Casey highlights heretical movements that have a strong influence in our own society. He raises the following: arianism, docetism (gnosticism), monophysitism, pelagianism, and donatism. I have said before that I think it is important to follow the socratic formula, “know thyself and to thyself be true.” This would include owning and embrace diverse ways of thinking and even having recognize that sometimes we have a tendency to follow some ideas that may not be completely orthodox. For those of us who follow a specific creed because we believe in the tradition of that religious belief we may want to struggle with the unorthodox principles that we have. When I say struggle I do not mean that we stop believing in the concepts that we may question but to balance what our God-given conscience tells us about our faith and belief system with the magisterium (teaching authority) that we respect. We may need to suspend aspects of our belief until we can reconcile them (if we can) with how our magisterium teaches this. If we cannot do this then we may have to vote with our feet as it were. I believe that St. Francis teaches us how to strike this balance with the Catholic Church. 

Two of these heresies have been also raised by Pope Francis in his exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate. He raises his own concern for contemporary gnosticism and contemporary pelagianism. Our Holy Father offers the following definitions for these two prevelant forms of modern day Christian heresies. 

Gnosticism presumes “a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings”. (GE, #36)

Those who yield to this pelagian or semi-pelagian mindset, even though they speak warmly of God’s grace, “ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style”. (GE, #49)

To any who follow my blog, you may have recognized that I have a tendency to follow a semi-pelagian spirituality. This post is an example of where I embrace certain teachings of Pelagius, the fourth century monk. I have also raised my own concern for how contemporary gnoticism has threatened religion and politics in America in yet another post. These heresies, along with arianism, have impacted the form of Christianity that we believe in here in the United States. As Fr. Casey points out, the form of arianism that we face is the secular type. Arianism allows us to have a Jesus that is anything less than divine. Many secular Christians seem to prefer having a Jesus that is a teacher, philosopher prophet, or moral examplar. He is up there, but not quite the Son of God. This is a belief system that appeals to secular Christians but not so much the members of the faith community. Those of us who identify as Christians and confess the divinity of Christ teeter between the gnostic/pelagian heresies.   

Modern day gnosticism/docetism allows Catholic conservatives to promote a narrow interpretation of the faith that fits a political ideology. It’s a heresy that glorifies the divinity of Christ while denigrating (or gently dismissing) his humanity. A causalty of this is that the material/secular world is condemned as evil or irredeemable. In many ways this ideological control of the faith has resurfaced this heretical form. It has made an historical comback throughout history, during the 13th Century this heresy was identified within the Cathar movement. In today’s era it is surfacing in forms of conservative evangelism intermingled with alt-right indoctrination. It is my opinion that in the American Christian context this is the greatest heresy threatening our own Christian spirituality.

But then you do have people like me, those of us who are neither relativist secularist (arianism) nor conservative ideologues who politicize Christianity into an anti-secular religious doctrine (gnosticism). We are the ones who toy with semi-pelagian ideals and yes, we are capable of jumping into the heretical waters as well. In response to gnostic tendencies those who follow this spirituality articulate a form of lived Chrstianity that can respond to the invitation to follow the imitatio dei from the discipline of our own free will. Fr. Casey and Pope Francis’ reminds us is to never forget the role of God’s grace in our own salvation. In my case, I respond against the passive ideological spirituality that American gnostics have by employing a live faith and pursuing the mission of Christ in promoting social justice through service and advocacy. My error is to assume that I can bring about this vision through my own devices and in my own time, my heretical tendency will lead me to embrace the sin of my own hubris. To combat this error I must acknowledge the need for God’s grace and to accept that this mission is His and not my own. Jesuit spirituality allows me to dabble with this spirituality while being attentive to these heretical tendencies.          

Christian spirituality is very diverse and there is nothing wrong with that. The Nicene Creed allows us to have a doctrinal baseline that defines the faith for Christians. Beyond the creed we are allowed to embrace a diverse way of practicing the faith. In a previous post I mentioned my own diverse Catholic spirituality and rituals. The various mendicant and monastic communities demonstrate that distinct ways that religious communities allow Catholics to practice their faith. They all recognize the fundamental evangelical counsels: chastity, poverty, and obedience, but beyond that their spiritual charism are very diverse.    

#youtube

[my-alejandra-fernandez-blr]

IV Domingo de CUARESMA: Tiempo de Gracia.

TIEMPO DE CUARESMA – SEMANA IV – CICLO A GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE IV Domingo de Cuaresma, ciclo A – Card. Raniero Cantalamessa El valor de la mirada humana Pidamos la gracia de sorprendernos cada día por los dones de Dios y de ver las diversas circunstancias de la vida, incluso las más difíciles de aceptar, como ocasiones para obrar el bien, como hizo Jesús con el ciego en el #EvangeliodeHoy (Jn…

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[secretummeummihi]

Francisco vuelve a olvidar el nombre de Gaudete et Exsultate Se ha transmitido el primer tramo de la anunciada entrevista para TVI y CNN Portugal. En la entrevista hay cosas que ya le hemos oído decir anteriormente, como por ejemplo que en su exhortación “Exsultae et Jubilate” en la nota de pie de página 101 transcribió una oración de la devoción personal suya compuesta por Santo Tomás Moro. http://dlvr.it/SXwMHt

[listinsemanal]

Hasta la vista, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach | Cultura

Hasta la vista, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach | Cultura

El Ensemble Correspondances y Les pages et les chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Varsailles, dirigidos por Sébastien Daucé, durante la interpretación del responsorio ‘Gaudete et exsultate’ al final de su reconstrucción de la música que acompañó la ceremonia de coronación de Luis XIV.Foppe Schut La gran cita estival neerlandesa de la música antigua ha terminado igual que comenzó: con varias…

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[valeria-manzella]

..Cari amici, ogni vostra famiglia ha una missione da compiere nel mondo, una testimonianza da dare..Noi battezzati, in particolare, siamo chiamati ad essere..un messaggio che lo Spirito Santo trae dalla ricchezza di Gesù Cristo e dona al suo popolo..(Esort. ap. Gaudete et exsultate, 21)..Per questo vi propongo di farvi questa domanda..qual è la parola che il Signore vuole dire con la nostra vita alle persone che incontriamo?..(Papa Francesco, incontro mondiale con le famiglie)..

[bergoglionate]

Nella chiesa di Bergoglio, si premiano i preti con l'imbroglio...

Nella chiesa di Bergoglio, si premiano i preti con l’imbroglio…

In diversi editoriali abbiamo già discusso a certo “imbroglio”, vedi qui: Nessuno avrà mai risposte da Bergoglio: nel gesuitismo modernista l’imbroglio – ed anche qui: Paglia, Pannella e Bergoglio: la frittata dell’imbroglio…  ed “imbrogliare”, ossia, confondere qualcosa in modo da alterarne la disposizione o l’andamento regolare, essere fin anche di ostacolo, intricare… sembra essere lo sport…

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#Bergoglio #gaudete et exsultate #imbroglio #papa Francesco #pelkagiani #preti comunisti #preti di strada #teologia del popolo #Teologia della liberazione #veritas

[apesoformythoughts]

‘When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”.’

— Pope Francis: Gaudete et exsultate

#pope francis #holiness #weakness #gaudete et exsultate

[imllhumanity]

Ojalá puedas reconocer cuál es esa palabra, ese mensaje de Jesús que Dios quiere decir al mundo con tu vida.

Pope Francis (Gaudete et Exsultate) 

#santidad #tu mision #reflejo de Dios #gaudete et exsultate #exhortacion apostolica

[spiritualdirections]

The Call to Holiness, according to Pope Francis

Pope Francis a few days ago published an Apostolic Exhortation, Gaudete et Exultate (Rejoice and Exult), subtitled “On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World.” The purpose of the document is to exhort the faithful to live out their vocation as children of God, heirs to God’s kingdom through their baptism, which is a call to be holy, as holy as the canonized saints. Below are some excerpts from the beginning.

Holiness is the most attractive face of the Church… With this Exhortation I would like to insist primarily on the call to holiness that the Lord addresses to each of us, the call that he also addresses, personally, to you: “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:44; cf. 1 Pet 1:16). The Second Vatican Council stated this clearly: “Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state, are called by the Lord – each in his or her own way – to that perfect holiness by which the Father himself is perfect”. “Each in his or her own way” the Council says… We are all called to be witnesses, but there are many actual ways of bearing witness. Indeed, when the great mystic, Saint John of the Cross, wrote his Spiritual Canticle, he preferred to avoid hard and fast rules for all. He explained that his verses were composed so that everyone could benefit from them “in his or her own way”. For God’s life is communicated “to some in one way and to others in another”…This should excite and encourage us to give our all and to embrace that unique plan that God willed for each of us from eternity: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5).

For You Too To be holy does not require being a bishop, a priest or a religious. We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by laboring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. Are you a parent or grandparent? Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus. Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain. Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this, and holiness, in the end, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (cf. Gal 5:22-23). When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”. In the Church, holy yet made up of sinners, you will find everything you need to grow towards holiness. The Lord has bestowed on the Church the gifts of scripture, the sacraments, holy places, living communities, the witness of the saints and a multifaceted beauty that proceeds from God’s love, “like a bride bedecked with jewels” (Is 61:10).

This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures. Here is an example: a woman goes shopping, she meets a neighbor and they begin to speak, and the gossip starts. But she says in her heart: “No, I will not speak badly of anyone”. This is a step forward in holiness. Later, at home, one of her children wants to talk to her about his hopes and dreams, and even though she is tired, she sits down and listens with patience and love. That is another sacrifice that brings holiness. Later she experiences some anxiety, but recalling the love of the Virgin Mary, she takes her rosary and prays with faith. Yet another path of holiness. Later still, she goes out onto the street, encounters a poor person and stops to say a kind word to him. One more step.

At times, life presents great challenges. Through them, the Lord calls us anew to a conversion that can make his grace more evident in our lives, “in order that we may share his holiness” (Heb 12:10)…When Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên van Thuân was imprisoned, he refused to waste time waiting for the day he would be set free. Instead, he chose “to live the present moment, filling it to the brim with love”. He decided: “I will seize the occasions that present themselves every day; I will accomplish ordinary actions in an extraordinary way”. In this way, led by God’s grace, we shape by many small gestures the holiness God has willed for us, not as men and women sufficient unto ourselves but rather “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet 4:10).

Your Mission in Christ  A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for “this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess 4:3). Each saint is a mission, planned by the Father to reflect and embody, at a specific moment in history, a certain aspect of the Gospel. That mission has its fullest meaning in Christ, and can only be understood through him. At its core, holiness is experiencing, in union with Christ, the mysteries of his life. It consists in uniting ourselves to the Lord’s death and resurrection in a unique and personal way, constantly dying and rising anew with him. But it can also entail reproducing in our own lives various aspects of Jesus’ earthly life: his hidden life, his life in community, his closeness to the outcast, his poverty and other ways in which he showed his self-sacrificing love. The contemplation of these mysteries, as Saint Ignatius of Loyola pointed out, leads us to incarnate them in our choices and attitudes…

#pope francis #gaudete et exsultate #universal call to holiness #holiness #sanctifying ordinary life

[vulnerasti-cor-meum]

found in the footnotes.

Gaudete et exsultate, Pope Francis (2018)