![]() Then they switch to, “Well, Jesus is God and He can do that kind of stuff.” Well isn’t Jesus, even when He is Judging people into hell, still infinitely more Loving than us? We should simply love our neighbor, as Jesus loves our neighbor, by repeating Christ’s teachings of Heaven and Hell, to our neighbor. Then I quote from the 44 times Jesus tells us who He is going to burn hell. “Jesus Loves Us! We must all be like Jesus!” people tell me. Maybe he did need to make some kind of choice. He looked over at his wife again, and then at his kids. Choose Christ or the world.”įrank wondered how long he could keep up appearances, bringing his family here, fidgeting in his seat and remaining worldly. The world has done more for me than the Church.”Īs if in response, Father Joseph affirmed: “Come out of the world. The world isn’t as bad as this priest makes it out. But it’s not hurting anyone if I take some pressure off. Maybe I could be more faithful to my wife. Maybe my business practices could be a bit more transparent. I don’t hurt others, at least not directly. “I am not a sinner,” Frank repeated to himself. That was one of Father Joseph’s favorite topics. Yes, that is what his wife had been nagging Frank about for weeks. ![]() Only with this mercy can we live as Christians in the world.”Ĭonfession again. Mercy is justice, because it deals with sin by healing us and bringing justice into our souls. Come back to confession! Mercy doesn’t ignore sin. We have broken our communion with Christ and need to come back to him in Confession. If we choose to stay in our sin and claim to be a Christian, we are lying to ourselves. Leaving people in sin doesn’t do any favors for them. Bridget: “All believe and preach that I am merciful, but almost no one preaches or believes me to be a righteous judge.”įather continued, “Jesus came to save the world, but not to affirm it in its sin. She had even pulled out one of her well-worn, crumpled devotional books and read a line from St. She was one of those Catholics who read mystics. Aren’t even Cardinals telling us to move beyond petty issues of morality?” “Shouldn’t the Church be happy that Catholics have influence even at the top of our government, people who care about the poor, unlike most Christians. “Why is the Church so focused on things like abortion and sex?” he had complained. They had an argument in the car on the way to Church. She seemed to be smirking to herself, probably thinking of him. They want to keep living their worldly life and also receive all the promises of mercy.”įrank began to fidget in his seat. People want mercy, but they want it without conversion. He has called you out of the world so that you would be different from the worldly way of thinking and living. “You might say to yourself, ‘I’m doing well for myself in the world and so I can give part of my success back to God.’ That is all fine and good, but God doesn’t want a part of you. It was almost as if Father was reading Frank’s thoughts. I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t care about the world.” He felt indignation, but also some sweat. I’m doing my part after all and write a check when he asks for it. “Where is the mercy here? Doesn’t Jesus love us and want what is good for us? I’m sick of priests telling us that we need to believe whatever they tell us and follow all their rules. “This is exactly why people hate the Church,” Frank thought. How can we be a disciple if we don’t believe what Jesus taught? How can we follow him through the narrow gate if we focus only on what pleases us and don’t even try to repent?” “‘If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.’ But, if the world loves you, then it must mean the opposite, that we are following the world over our Lord. “The world’s love or hatred is a litmus test for each one of us to know whether we are following in the footsteps of the Lord,” the priest continued. ![]() Maybe he should start reading the bulletin, Frank thought to himself. ![]() “Well, then you are probably doing something wrong!” It was confirmed. “Does the world love you?” Father Joseph asked rhetorically. He was there for them, but he began to realize it might be another one of those days when Father went on the warpath against the lukewarm - against guys like him. Frank knew it was good for his wife and kids to be here at Mass. “Here he goes again,” Frank thought, as Father Joseph quoted the day’s Gospel. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
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