I can see no one is reading my review of the Joy of the Gospel, but I don't care, I rough draft things on this blog. And this document is important.
For example, when was the last time you heard this Bible passage quoted:
“My child, treat yourself well, according to your means… Do not deprive yourself of the day’s enjoyment” (Sir 14:11, 14).
Rather happy thought. And listening to atheists argue there is no God, I notice the argument is always cerebral. And so this was interesting:
“Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”
Just so. And being customer-employed, it is about what you do, not what you think.
Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”
What can be more contemporary than the problem of countless right wing Christians trading security for freedom and ending up with neither? Who bray for more war, more attacks on Moslems, for whom there is never enough blood shed? For whom human sacrifice is essential, and greet every soldier with "Thank you for your service"? This quote is in the context of evangelization, but "pre-emptive strike" is not a form of evangelization.
Now, this can seem innocuous, but it is tough:
Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.
A job is a comfort zone. Who wants to hear they must go through a discernment process and find out being employed by a company will not do, that one is called to be "customer-employed." If one proposes to be Christian, this Pope says, then you ought to be Christian.
In today’s world of instant communication and occasionally biased media coverage, the message we preach runs a greater risk of being distorted or reduced to some of its secondary aspects.
Occasionally biased? See, the Church teaches to assume the good and endure the tendentious in others, ignore insults, etc. I have an extremely hard time with that. If anyone is ever misquoted maliciously, it is Popes.
Now, since business is based on passion and joy, around something you love, where your work is your lifestyle, this becomes relevant:
Works of love directed to one’s neighbour are the most perfect external manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit: “The foundation of the New Law is in the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is manifested in the faith which works through love”.
Pope Benedict placed small business along with hospitals and schools as works of charity... being in business is about helping others as best you can, in spite of the hateful interference of the State actors. The Church keeps upping the ante.
And this Pope is holding his crew accountable:
We need to remember that all religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, which awakens the assent of the heart by its nearness, love and witness.
And the people...
“God’s mercy has willed that we should be free”
Freedom for and freedom from... that is a big topic... but remember, the Church is a voluntary organization, therefore freedom is essential.
That's all I have time for today, not that anyone is reading this.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
For example, when was the last time you heard this Bible passage quoted:
“My child, treat yourself well, according to your means… Do not deprive yourself of the day’s enjoyment” (Sir 14:11, 14).
Rather happy thought. And listening to atheists argue there is no God, I notice the argument is always cerebral. And so this was interesting:
“Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”
Just so. And being customer-employed, it is about what you do, not what you think.
Indeed, those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others”
What can be more contemporary than the problem of countless right wing Christians trading security for freedom and ending up with neither? Who bray for more war, more attacks on Moslems, for whom there is never enough blood shed? For whom human sacrifice is essential, and greet every soldier with "Thank you for your service"? This quote is in the context of evangelization, but "pre-emptive strike" is not a form of evangelization.
Now, this can seem innocuous, but it is tough:
Each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the “peripheries” in need of the light of the Gospel.
A job is a comfort zone. Who wants to hear they must go through a discernment process and find out being employed by a company will not do, that one is called to be "customer-employed." If one proposes to be Christian, this Pope says, then you ought to be Christian.
In today’s world of instant communication and occasionally biased media coverage, the message we preach runs a greater risk of being distorted or reduced to some of its secondary aspects.
Occasionally biased? See, the Church teaches to assume the good and endure the tendentious in others, ignore insults, etc. I have an extremely hard time with that. If anyone is ever misquoted maliciously, it is Popes.
Now, since business is based on passion and joy, around something you love, where your work is your lifestyle, this becomes relevant:
Works of love directed to one’s neighbour are the most perfect external manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit: “The foundation of the New Law is in the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is manifested in the faith which works through love”.
Pope Benedict placed small business along with hospitals and schools as works of charity... being in business is about helping others as best you can, in spite of the hateful interference of the State actors. The Church keeps upping the ante.
And this Pope is holding his crew accountable:
We need to remember that all religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, which awakens the assent of the heart by its nearness, love and witness.
And the people...
“God’s mercy has willed that we should be free”
Freedom for and freedom from... that is a big topic... but remember, the Church is a voluntary organization, therefore freedom is essential.
That's all I have time for today, not that anyone is reading this.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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