Christ loved us while we were still sinners, the admission of sin is no longer crushing. It is healing. For if we believe that Christ’s love is stronger than our sins, then to explore the depth of our sinfulness is to explore the even greater depth of divine love. And, to explore the depths of divine love is to better appreciate the darkness of sin—since our sins have been committed against so loving a Father. And so the experience of sin and the experience of divine love grow together. They are directly proportional, as the tax collector saw; not inversely proportion, as the Pharisee feared.
Link (here) to the full homily of Arron Pidel, S.J.
8 comments:
Good homily. I think Fr. Pidel was quite kind. He did not title this talk: “Are you a Pharisee Catholic?”
As he points out -- ego is a huge problem – and not just for Catholics, but for everyone.
Just as he describes “normal” people – there are similar characteristics to religious organizations. Each religion believes itself correct. And like the Pharisees, they forget the worldly aspect to their religion.
Regardless, there is the issue of how to integrate religion with society. Just because something is true, that doesn’t mean that someone has a right to take action on society. Coercing laws to be passed. Ignoring others values. Judging others.
So I may be right that “God told me to kill everyone,” and that may give me the right to kill everyone, but that doesn’t address the parallel reality of a society that doesn’t recognize my reality.
How to integrate the two? That is a judgment question.
Tony D -- Stop lecturing everyone until you admit that (unlike what you expressed a few days back) 2 contradictory statements cannot both be true.
As it stands, what you write has no credibility. It's just spam.
TonyD, the Catholic Church IS correct. There ARE intrinsic evils that no society may permit. The above poster has you pegged: your posts lack logical coherence, and you're a blogging troll.
Anonymous,
There are many reasons for the construction of contradiction. One issue is cultivation of “soul” in the presence of “ego”. Consider Abraham. He was asked by God to disregard his “ego” – with corresponding beliefs, truths, and values – and act instead in a way that was consistent with God’s omniscience. God wanted Abraham to reflect God’s values.
Many think that these tests only exist in the Bible – and only for Prophets. But they are just well hidden – as you are confirming.
Anonymous #2,
I have no problem with the Catholic Church.
But it is a mistake to say: "the Catholic Church IS correct". When I read about Church deliberations on "policy" and "position", it is clear to me that the Church is doing its best to interpret God's will, and to state the Church position in a way that the "common man" will understand.
Anyone -- whether priest or laity -- may choose to interpret Church statements as literal or infallible.
TonyD -- God did not ask Abraham to contradict himself. Nor did God contradict Himself.
God merely wanted to see how great Abraham's faith and love for Him was. He wanted to see if Abraham loved God more than his long awaited and dearly beloved son. Abraham loved Isaac dearly but demonstrated that he loved and was committed to God even more. There is no contradiction in that.
The only who believes that 2 contradictory statements can both be true is you.
Anon 1
TonyD was educated by Jesuits. He is the perfect poster child for why you shouldn't send your children to Jesuit schools.
My comments don't reflect the University of Santa Clara. They reflect things that I've learned since then.
At Santa Clara I did learn that I was largely ignorant about Catholicism -- in spite of years of Church attendance and years of Catechism classes. So I really learned the ability to question and interrogate faith.
In hindsight, that was quite important. How can anyone have "movement" toward God without the ability to hear disconfirming information? Change is not easy.
Post a Comment