Here and Now with Francis 5/4/16 (Christ, Christianity, journey, following, life)

By Anonymous

How am I doing on this Christian journey?  Am I standing still, making mistakes, turning here and there, stopping in front of the things that I like, or (am I following) Jesus who said "I who am the Way."?

From the homily
Pope Francis reflected on the need for Christians to consistently follow Jesus and not get waylaid or blocked on their journey of faith.  He said there are many different types of Christians who are following Jesus in a confused manner like the mummified Christian, the vagabond Christian, the stubborn Christian and the half way Christian. [...] “Christians who stay still, who don't go forward, are non-Christian Christians. We don’t know exactly what they are. They are slightly ‘paganized’ Christians: who are there, who stay still and don’t go forward in their Christian lives, who don’t make the Beatitudes bloom in their lives, who don’t do Works of mercy… they are motionless. Excuse me for saying it, but they are like an (embalmed) mummy, a spiritual mummy there. There are Christians who are ‘spiritual mummies,’ motionless, there.  They don’t do evil but they don’t do good deeds.” [...] Moving on to a description of the stubborn Christian, the Pope said these types of Christians realize that they are taking the wrong direction but worst still they insist it’s the right path and don’t heed the voice of our Lord. [...] The next category, he explained, are the vagabond Christians who travel here and there but doesn’t know where they are going. “They are wanderers in the Christian life, vagabonds. During their life they turn here and there and thus lose the beauty of drawing close to Jesus in the Jesus’ life. They lose their way because they are constantly turning and often this turning is wrong and takes them to a dead end. [...] There are other Christians who whilst journeying are seduced by the beauty of an object and they stop half way, fascinated by what they see, by some idea, a proposal or a landscape. And they stop! Christian life is not a fascination: it’s the truth!  It’s Jesus Christ!” [link]

Popular posts from this blog

Front Matter (Preface) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

By Anonymous
Image
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky Verily, verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. John xii,24 Preface I N STARTING out on the life of my hero, Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov, I feel somewhat at a loss. By this I mean that, although I refer to Alexei (Alyosha) as my hero, I am well aware that he is by no means a great man, and this leads me to anticipate such obvious questions as: “What is so remarkable about your Alexei Karamazov that you should choose him as your hero? What exactly did he accomplish? Who has heard of him and what is he famous for? And why should I, the reader, spend time learning the facts of his life?” The last question is the fateful one because all I can answer is: “You may find that out for yourself from the novel.” But what if they read the novel and are still unconvinced that my Alexei is a remarkable man? I say this because I sadly anticip...
Read more

Library Booklist (H:cSt)

By
Image
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison   Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill   The Chosen by Chaim Potok   Dissolution by C. J.  Sansom   Richard II by William Shakespeare   The Reef by Edith Wharton   The Fifth Son by Elie Wiesel   Meet Mr. Mullner by P. G. Wodehouse
Read more

Library Booklist (H:cStb2)

By
Image
Dostoevsky by Nicholas Berdyaev   The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter   The Guggenheim's: The American Life by John Davis   The Prime of Life by Simone de Beauvoir   Bernadette of Lourdes by Rene Laurentin   Lives of the Artists by Vasari   The Wandering Scholars by Helen Waddell   One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty
Read more