Do not extinguish the spirit of prayer

We will finish with gnosticism today. In #45 in Guadete et Exsultatae, Pope Francis quotes St. John Paul II who warned of the temptation on the part of those in the Church who are more highly educated "to feel somehow superior to others members of the faithful."
The Pope also quotes St. Francis who wrote this to St. Anthony of Padua: "I am pleased that you teach sacred theology to the brothers, provided that...you do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion during study of this kind." We also get a quote from St. Bonaventure who pointed out that true Christian wisdom can never be separated from mercy towards our neighbor. "The greatest possible wisdom is to share fruitfully what we have to give...Even as mercy is the companion of wisdom, avarice is its enemy."

Tomorrow we will look at the other contemporary heresy: Pelagianism.

Different ways of interpreting many aspects of doctrine and Christian life

We continue with Chapter Two of Gaudete et Exsultatae:

43. "It is not easy to grasp the truth that we have received from the Lord. And it is even more difficult to express it. So we cannot claim that our way of understanding this truth aurthorizes us to exercise a strict supervision over others' lives. Here I would note that in the Church there legitimately coexist different ways of interpreting many aspects of doctrine and Christian life; in their variety, they 'help to express more clearly the immense riches of God's word.....' Indeed, some currents of gnosticism scorned the concrete simplicity of the Gospel and attempted to replace the trinitarian and incarnate God with a superior Unity, wherein the rich diversity of our history disappeared.

44. In effect, doctrine, or better, our understanding and expression of it, 'is not a closed system, devoird of the dynamic capacity to pose questions, doubts, inquiries...The questions of our people, their suffering, their struggles, their dreams, their trials and their worries, all possess an interpretational value that we cannot ignore if we want to take the principle of the incarnation seriously. Their wondering helps us to wonder, their questions question us."

The underlining is always mine!

Let ourselves be guided by the Spirit...

We continue to now look at Chapter Two in Gaudete et Exsultatae as I had skipped this chapter to get to the Beatitudes, aspects of prayer, and discernment which were covered in Chapters 3,4, and 5. You can find all in the archives of my blog.

42. We cannot claim to say where God is not, "because God is mysteriously present in the life of every person, in a way that he himself chooses, and we cannot exclude this by our presumed certainties. Even when someone's life appears completely wrecked, even when we see it devastated by vices or addictions, God is present there. If we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit rather than our own preconceptions, we can and must try to find the Lord in every human life. This is part of the mystery that a gnostic mentality cannot accept, since it is beyond its control.

One of the most sinister ideologies

To continue with Gnosticism in #40 of Gaudete et Exsultatae, we are told by Pope Francis that "Gnosticism is one of the most sinister ideologies because, while unduly exalting knowledge or a specific experience, it considers its own vision of reality to be perfect. Thus, perhaps without even realizing it, this ideology feeds on itself and becomes even more myopic. It can become all the more illusory when it masks itself as a disembodied spirituality. For gnosticism 'by it very nature seeks to domesticate the mystery, whether the mystery of God and his grace, or the mystery of others' lives.

41. When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they are not on the right road. They may well be false prophets, who use religion for their own purposes, to promote their own psychological or intellectual theories. God infinitely transcends us; he is full of surprises. We are not the ones to determine when and how we will encounter him; the exact times and places of that encounter are not up to us. Someone who wants everything to be clear and sure presumes to control God's transcendence."

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's Gospel from Mark 6:1-6 tells us how Jesus went back to Nazareth and began to teach in the synagogue when the sabbath came. Many who heard him were astonished. They did not know where Jesus had learned such wisdom. They asked: "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith."

This Gospel is always a call to me to deepen my own faith. Jesus comes to us in so many ways. Am I able to recognize Him in the circumstances, the people with whom I am interacting, the events of each day? I am trying to discern His Presence in my life in so many little ways by making the examen of conscience with Him each day. I have a help to do this now as I go out after supper for a walk with one of community here and we look together at our day. I also still try to keep my daily journal. I was impressed by the Pope asking every Christian to make an examen each day in dialogue with Christ. St. Ignatius always said that, if there was some reason to shorten the time of prayer, a Jesuit should never miss the time for the daily examen. It helps me get in touch with what the Lord may be trying to do in my life. I do not always do all five points but mention them here: Prayer for light, gratitude for the gifts of the day, looking back over the day to see where I may have kept or not kept my particular examen, sorrow for any faults committed, and a look to see how the next day will be more pleasing to the Lord.
Some remember 5 Rs to recall the five points. I am not sure what the 5 Rs are, but here is a stab at this memory help: Request, Rejoice, Review, Renew, and Resolve. Do try it and see how much it helps us to be in touch with the Lord during our day! 
I mention the "particular examen" because it helps to have taken one aspect of your life to change or to affirm; I often have taken joy or gratitude, but at present I am trying to look to see if I choose what is pleasing to Jesus or just choose without consulting Jesus and so may just be pleasing myself. Pope Francis suggests a real dialogue with Jesus during the time of examen and I find this helpful!

A Deceptive Attraction

Pope Francis thinks that gnosticism exercises a deceptive attraction for some people, "since the gnostic approach is strict and allgedly pure, and can appear to possess a certain harmony or order that encompasses everything." 
38." Here we have to be careful. I am not referring to a rationalism inimical to Christian faith. It can be present within the Church, both among the laity in parishes and teachers of philosophy and theology in centers of formation. Gnostics think that their explanations can make the entirety of the faith and the Gospel perfectly comprehensible. They absolutize their own theories and force others to submit to their way of thinking. A healthy and humble use of reason in order to reflect on the theological and moral teaching of the Gospel is one thing. It is another to reduce Jesus' teaching to a cold and harsh logic that seeks to dominate everything."

Contemporary Gnosticism

The Pope continues in Chapter Two of his Apostolic Exhortation on Holiness:
36. "Gnosticism presumes a 'purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings.'"

37. Thanks be to God, throughout the history of the Church it has always been clear that a person's perfection is measured not by the information or knowledge they possess, but by the depth of their charity. "Gnostics" do not understand this, because they judge others based on their ability to understand the complexity of certain doctrines. They think of the intellect as separate from the flesh, and thus become incapable of touching Christ's suffering flesh in others, locked up as they are in an encyclopedia of abstractions. In the end, by disembodying the mystery, they prefer 'a God without Christ, a Christ without the Church, a Church without her people."

Two Subtle Enemies of Holiness

We continue to look at Chapter Two in Gaudete et Exsultatae; I skipped this before but now will continue with the two enemies of holiness the Pope speaks about in this Chapter. Francis says,

"Here I would like to mention two false forms of holiness that can lead us astray: gnosticism and pelagianism. They are two heresies from early Christian times, yet they continue to plague us. In our times too, many Christians, perhaps without realizing it, can be seduced by these deceptive ideas, which reflect an anthropocentric immanentism disguised as Catholic truth. Let us take a look at these two forms of doctrinal or disciplinary security that give rise 'to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyses and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying. In neither case is one really concerned about Jesus Christ or others."

Be patient as this Chapter is important; we have seen what would help us become holy in all the other chapters; now we look at what hinders holiness.

Fourth of July

I am taking a holiday today, but praying much for our country!

I will give importance now to the second chapter in Pope Francis' Gadete et Exsultate starting tomorrow. I think you will find it interesting and helpful. 

Promote the desire for holiness

Today we finally come to the end of the Exhortation on Holiness with the last two sections of Chapter 5. We hear Pope Francis speaking directly to us.

176. "I would like these reflections to be crowned by Mary, because she lived the Beatitudes of Jesus as none other. She is that woman who rejoiced in the presence of God, who treasured everything in her heart, and who let herself be pierced by the sword....She teaches us the way of holiness and she walks ever at our side. She does not let us remain fallen and at times she takes us into her arms without judging us. Our converse with her consoles, frees and sanctifies us. Mary our Mother does not need a flood of words. She does not need us to tell her what is happening in our lives. All we need do is whisper, time and time again: 'Hail Mary'."

177. "It is my hope that these pages will prove helpful by enabling the whole Church to devote herself anew to promoting the desire for holiness. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us a fervent longing to be saints for God's greater glory, and let us encourage one another in this effort. In this way, we will share a happiness that the world will not be able to take from us."

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 19 March, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, in the year 2018, the sixth of my pontificate.

Francis

No areas off limits

Continuing with the last chapter in Gaudete et Exsultate, the Pope tells us that when we examine our life's journey in God's presence, no areas can be off limits. "In all aspects of life we can continue to grow and offer something greater to God, even in those areas we find most difficult. We need, though, to ask the Holy Spirit to liberate us and to expel the fear that makes us ban him from certain parts of our lives. God asks everything of us, yet he also gives everything to us....Discernment, then, is not a solipsistic self-analysis or a form of egotistical introspection, but an authentic process of leaving ourselves behind in order to approach the mystery of God, who helps us to carry out the mission to which he has called us, for the good of our brothers and sisters."

Again, the underlining is mine!

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus show us His Love and Compassion in today's Gospel. One of the officials of the Synagogue came and pleaded with Jesus saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live." Jesus starts off with him and a large crowd is also following him. A woman who had been afflicted by hemorrhages for twelve years and who had not received any help from the doctors that she had spent all she had on to find a cure, was in the crowd. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." Immediately she was cured. I think that I receive Jesus each day in the Eucharist - much more than just touching his cloak - and do I have the faith of this
woman? Jesus knew that power had gone out from him and he turned and asked who had touched his clothes. And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman then approached Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction." Then people from the Official's house arrived to say that his daughter had died. Jesus pays no attention to the message and says, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." How many times does Jesus say the same to us? Then Jesus goes and takes the child by the hand and tells her to get up. Then he says that she should be given something to eat.