The Name of God is Mercy!

The Pope – the spiritual and intellectual head of the Roman Catholic Church – is on to something. It comes, I think, from his Jesuit Training. It will, I also think, be good for the church in the long run, but it will cause some tribulation until the dust settles and nervous Roman Catholics see how good this man is for the church and its future.
by Charlie Leck

A new book by the Pope will be released in English very soon: The Name of God is Mercy! How wonderful! How hopeful!

The Pope has already declared this time as a Holy Year of Mercy. I, personally, have always found some sense of belief and faith in the concept of God as Love; and I don’t mean that God is loving, merciful and kind. I mean, fully, that “God is Love!”

Those who can love, show kindness and mercy, give assistance to their friends and the needy, treat the earth with caution and care, they (those who love) can know God.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, even before he became Pope Francis, has always shown an inclination toward this kind of theology. He has always expressed such deep concern about the desperate need for forgiveness and mercy. For years his ministry was among the poor in Buenos Aires.

This is a Pope who is Christ-like!

He knows that the heart and soul of the message that Jesus brought to us is that we must be merciful and kind in order to know God. These compassionate human traits are so much more important than dogma and complex theology.


How shall we know God? Those who love fully and are merciful in all their ways do not even need to ask the question. They have known God and God is in them.

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Pope Francis and Capitalism

I am thoroughly amazed that so many are surprised that the current Pope seems so different than all his papal predecessors of whom we have memories. My goodness, he is different! Begin with the fact that he is Franciscan and we have never had a Pope from that Order before. I am not a Catholic but I really like this Pope.
by Charlie Leck

“We do not live better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in our own comforts. Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide.”
                   [Pope Francis, in a recently released Apostolic Exhortation]

Pope Francis openly acknowledges and supports capitalism, but he reminds all Christians that certain demands (responsibilities) have been placed on us “to restore to the poor what belongs to them.”

Capitalism cannot be at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. The successes of capitalism should be used to fulfill the commands of the gospel. The Pope says that “private ownership of goods is justified by the need to protect and increase them so that they can better serve the common good.” Do not yield to the temptation that the Pope is talking about communism here because he is not. He clearly supports “private ownership.” He is referring to the demands the gospel places on those who are fortunate and successful -- a demand to share with those who are not.

“Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories, which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.”
                   [Pope Francis, in a recently released Apostolic Exhortation]

What an extraordinary Christmas message has come from Pope Francis!

If you want to read the Pope’s exhortation (in English), it is provided to us in all its glory on the Vatican website at this location: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.html

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Pope Francis is a Wonder!

     I have this small sculpture in my home.
     It was sculpted by Patrice Nobile and cast by Sabastien Nobile.
     It is a model of a work they did for a Catholic Church in NJ.
     Both are French artists and, I am proud to say, family.

This Protestant must say that something wondrous has happened in the Roman Church. God has sent a leader who will save the old, crotchety institution from irrelevance.
by Charlie Leck

There is a remarkable story in the Washington Post today: “Breaking from Tradition, Conservative Catholics Begin to Question their Pope.” The story is by Michelle Boorstein and Elizabeth Tenety. The piece was first published on 14 October 2013.

I have said here before (on this blog) that Pope Francis is a new and remarkable kind of Pope. He is opening the eyes of all kinds of non-catholics and Catholics that we might see what the heart and soul of Christianity is all about. I have, literally, found myself tearing up over some of Francis’ actions and words.

The article I reference above includes a photo gallery that depicts some of the acts of humility of this pope and provides some of his more inspirational words.

The point of the article is that many traditional Catholics are beginning to worry about this Pope and some of the things he stands for. I would like to say to these Catholics…

“Give thanks! I believe God has sent you a man to save you from irrelevancy and to teach you again that Jesus, our Lord, was a man of humility and utter service to the broken and needy about him. Rules and dots and iota meant very little to him. Substance was everything. Now you have a Pope who would serve you as Saint Francis and Jesus would have. He humbles himself before God and man as servant of both. He shows us we can serve God in but only one manner; that is, by serving fully the least of our brethren.”

If some of my protestant brethren need convincing, I print here these words that Pope Francis recently delivered over Vatican radio in the days after a boatload of immigrants seeking peace and freedom in Italy were picked from the Italian waters and returned to Africa to face punishment and torture…

“In this world of globalization we have fallen into a globalization of indifference. We are accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it’s none of our business….

“…We are a society that has forgotten the experience of weeping, of ‘suffering with.’ The globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep! In the Gospel we have heard the cry, the plea, the great lament: ‘Rachel weeping for her children . . . because they are no more.’ Herod sowed death in order to defend his own well-being, his own soap bubble. And this continues to repeat itself. Let us ask the Lord to wipe out [whatever attitude] of Herod remains in our hearts; let us ask the Lord for the grace to weep over our indifference, to weep over the cruelty in the world, in ourselves, and even in those who anonymously make socio-economic decisions that open the way to tragedies like this. ‘Who has wept?’ Who in today’s world has wept?

“O Lord, in this Liturgy, a Liturgy of repentance, we ask forgiveness for the indifference towards so many brothers and sisters, we ask forgiveness for those who are pleased with themselves, who are closed in on their own well-being in a way that leads to the anaesthesia of the heart, we ask you, Father, for forgiveness for those who with their decisions at the global level have created situations that lead to these tragedies. Forgive us, Lord!”*

The full text of the Pope’s radio address can be found below. This Pope, my friends, is truly a breath of fresh, wonderful air! He has come just in time to save the Roman Catholic Church from itself!

*Text from the Vatican Radio website: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/07/08/pope_on_lampedusa:_%E2%80%9Cthe_globalization_of_indifference%E2%80%9D/en1-708541

  

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Pope Francis on Gay Rights

NY Times article is extremely helpful in understanding what the Pope has said about gays and gay life. Catholic or not, you really ought to read it.
by Charlie Leck

Not much of a blog today…
I’m simply urging you to read something that I really shouldn’t try to rewrite here since it is so clear and helpful in the original. The gay rights question is massive right now. The Roman Catholic Church in Minnesota made a fool out of itself in the 2012 election. It spent far too much of the Church’s money in an attempt to get a constitutional amendment against gay marriage passed by the voters. It lost. It was money that could have been used for other more important (and even vital) services. The Church here simply wasn’t using its head or its heart.

Now speaks the Pope, trying to use both head and heart. He doesn’t necessarily speak for me, but what he says is very important in a world where he has a huge impact. Read the NY Time article by Rachel Donadio about what the Pope said and what it means.

The Pope treaded carefully and still won’t open up the doors on women in the priesthood, but we’ve definitely seen a crack here through which some light may seep.

I’ll return more fully tomorrow.

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The New Pope, Faith and America in Change

     Changing America! A lovely old Packard visits our farm!

Yesterday, I sent an email off to my cousin in Paris. It reflects some of my current feelings about both religion and America…by Charlie Leck

Here is a peek into my personal correspondence. I won’t do this frequently, but there is something worthy in what I write here today. There are people you will not know, so just skip quickly over my mention of them. My cousin lives in Paris. She is battling Leukemia. 

Cousin,

Your lovely photo, sitting here on my desk, prompts me to write. Nothing special is going on here. I carry on with this chore and that, waiting for the more exciting developments during this journey. I am well enough with only minor aches here and there and a horrible short-term memory that my doctors say is quite within the normal range. Of course, I don’t believe it is normal and I, instead, think I’m going over the steep cliff. Alas! Poor me!

I am following the new Pope ever so closely, reading about him every day. The Christian Science Monitor had a very good article about him.  I feel an attachment to him that is very warming. He has a different attitude for and about the papacy.

“Come! Gather! Sit! Let us talk of Jesus. What is it he expects of us?”

I’ve never seen Protestants so interested in a Pope and his thoughts and actions. I think he realizes that the Church can be no more than human in this life and is therefore subject to all the errors and failings of humanity itself. This Pope sees himself as the prime servant of the faith and not as some royal leader.

“Come! Sit! Let me wash your feet, my children.”

Something really ecumenical may happen here – finally!

My love to JM and to all your children. I have had Patti in my thoughts a lot in the last few weeks. I wonder why.

Love to you as well.

Charlie

P.S. America is in a very confusing place in these days. Obama has tried to lead it into a new place – a place less self-absorbed and isolated – but the way is not easy and I think he will finish his term before he can get us there. Nations, ours included, are losing their formerly clearly and easily explained identities. As the world grows smaller, closer and more intimate, our former identities are swallowed up by changing mores and melding cultures. I am not saying the old ways were better, but only that the newer ways are confusing – especially for older guys like I.

I feel little attachment or loyalty to the Church. I continue to feel in brotherhood with Jesus – with Christ. He was not a myth! I cannot accept that. He was a historical being and as real as I or you who reads this. He had a super-charged ethical and moral standard.

“Come! Sit! Let us talk of Jesus!”

It is a quiet, peaceful and tranquil morning, but soon things will begin to pop and hop. I wish they would not. I would like to spend the entire day with this peaceful, calm feeling.

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Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.