Dr. Ralph Martin: Pope Francis, Mercy, and Evangelization

I must say I just feel very special whenever I'm at Franciscan University it's just been such a special place for me and my family all six of my children went here father Mike Scanlon and I were co-hosts of the choices we face for many many years and when I was starting to speak about a crisis of truth in the church he he heard that my first talks and he he called me up he said Ralph you're going to get some flack for this I want to stand next to you and he traveled all over the world with me sort of he would introduce me and say hey look I'm a Harvard Law graduate I'm a rector of a seminary and president of the university this guy's okay so I had no credentials in those days and I never expected to have anything those just unfolded my wife is with me she's visiting our five grandchildren who were here I have a son-in-law who teaches at the University Scott Solem my daughter teaches at Catholic Central High School and somebody told me their daughter has her for French this year so just lots of ties a lot lots of things I've seen mark near rusty and for many years we travel all over the world to go with Mike Scanlon doing fire rallies and I'm just so many so many wonderful things have come out of this university and still are coming out of this University I think father Nathan really embodies the whole spirit of st. Francis and a university and and in the spirit of the father Mike Scanlon so I'm just I'm just excited about what the Lord continues to do here [Applause] so the title of my talk is pope francis mercy and evangelization I'd like to just offer a few like opening remarks about where has all this emphasis on evangelization come from all of a sudden we find the Catholic Church talking about evangelization new evangelization I mean this hardly a parish or a diocese that that isn't concerned to somehow make a response to this call well where it really has come from originally as from Jesus when Jesus said preach the gospel to every creature and those who believe in and baptized will be saved and those who don't believe in aren't baptized will be condemned like the eternal salvation of the human race depends on preaching the gospel or Matthew at the end of Matthew's Gospel make disciples of all the nations and teach them everything I've taught you would baptize them in the name of the Father Son Holy Spirit so the solemn command of Jesus to send us to send the church to proclaim the good news of the forgiveness of sins and resurrection of the Dead and freedom for a work of the devil and the beginnings of a new community here on earth that embodies heavenly values so it comes from Jesus and for many many centuries the Catholic Church is carry out a tremendous work of evangelization but as the European countries got evangelized more and more evangelization got focused on missionary work and far-off countries that full-time professionals did mainly priests the nuns and some lay people and so a lot of us when we were growing thought of evangelization as something that happens in far-off countries by Jesuits and Franciscans and other people and then Vatican 2 came along and really kind of brought out some major reordering of things and then when John the 23rd Saint John the 23rd I've still get kind of excited to say Saint John the that 23rd and Blessed Paula 6th and st. John Paul the second haven't we been blessed by by holy posts and tremendous contribution they made Benedict Francis and when when these popes talk about the purpose of vatican ii in a shortened form they say the purpose of attica 2 is renewal for the sake of evangelization and the central renewal that the popes are talking about is a renewal in holiness a renewal in relationship with God out of which the face of Christ and shine forth more clearly to the world now right after Vatican 2 though it's almost like the opposite happened missionary orders began to question whether they still had a reason to evangelize some of the documents of Vatican 2 took a really long time to get properly interpreted and integrated with with the tradition of the church and with Scripture for example and the Declaration on an unchristian religions it talks about seeds of the word existing in the different world religions and and a lot of missionary theologians began to say well you know if the grace of God is already at work in the non-christian militias and if the seeds of the word are there and if as Vatican 2 teaches people can be saved even if they don't hear the gospel if they respond to that mysterious grace that God is making available to everybody hey maybe it's not so important that we evangelize anymore maybe we should focus on human development along with that came sort of a self criticism about the colonial mentality a lot of the nation's where evangelization was taking place where we're being : by the European powers and so there was the rejection of colonization there was the new freedom and independent nations and all those things were we're creating sort of a toxic brew for evangelization unfortunately that still goes on to this day I was just talking a little while ago to a missionary priest from Ireland and you know missionary priest Ireland have gone to the whole world and he told me that they hardly have any vocations anymore and their general chapter just met and they came up with a new vision statement which is to promote human development promote the rights of women and work for the safeguarding of the environment what about Jesus what about conversion what about salvation what about the reason for the church existing all those other things are good but as Pope Francis often says we're not an NGO we're not a none governmental organization I mean the UN could do all those things and does all those things what's the unique mission of the church so that confusion is still here it wasn't helped by very famous theologians making lecture tours around the world saying Vatican 2 was a good start but it didn't go far enough and we need to kind of keep keep seeing how much what else can change you know so for a good number of years people's eyes got off what Vatican 2 was really actually teaching and got into kind of a mentality of what what else can change it may be a little spirit of rebellion a spirit of liberation in fact that was the time that liberation theology began to become very powerful influence not only in Latin America but in the church as a whole and so in 1975 Pope Paul the sixth published a document called evangelii Monte and a evangelization in our day where he tried to get our focus back on the central mission of the church and he tried to deal with some of the confusion and he asked the question what's happened to that missionary fervor that that used to animate our mission what happened to that enthusiasm what happened in that conviction that people really need to know about Jesus and he tried to deal with the issue of the seeds of the word being found in the non-christian religions but nevertheless we still need to preach and so on and so forth so he tried to do that that document by the way is Pope Francis's favorite document when he gave a retreat to the bishops in Spain before he got elected Pope that and the exercises of saying mesh's were the two main documents that he drew from so it's still a very very dynamic very valuable document in 1990 pope john paul ii published his missionary encyclical called mission of the redeemer and this is the highest level post vatican to document on evangelization has the authority of an encyclical and it's a very extensive treatment trying to deal with all the issues that come up about why we shouldn't evangelize it tries to deal with the pluralist theory of religions as as many paths to god and that everything is sort of beyond the the the particular founders of world religions into a mysterious absolute or that the spirits working somehow independently of Jesus and so he tried to deal with a lot of the theories that were undermining our confidence in the truth of our faith then in the year 2000 the Congregation for the doctrine of faith published a document called Dominus raises the Lord Jesus and it tried to say that hey there's still confusion going on and we want to clearly enunciate that salvation is only possible through Jesus in the church there's an absolutely uniqueness to Jesus He is God made man he is the Word made flesh there's no salvation possible except through him and the church but then it's said that of reaffirming the teaching of vatican ii then it said of course it's possible for people who never hear the gospel to be saved by being upright of conscious and you know all the things that vatican ii says about that which we might get to a little and then in the year 2011 when you know after Pope Benedict got elected Pope people are wondering is this whole focus on evangelization going to continue and not only did it continue under Pope Benedict but he started the first new Vatican office in many decades the Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelization and then he chose as the theme for the 2012 Synod of Bishops in Rome new evangelization and then in 2013 Pope Francis published his apostolic exhortation evangelii gaudium and so I'm gonna talk mainly about that but before we do that I want to point out a particular document it's called a doctrinal note on some aspects of evangelization published in 2007 so this is 25 35 25 32 years after Paul the six tried to get things back on track this is 17 years after john paul ii tried to get things refocus that back on track and this is what the doctoral note says this is section 3 it says there is today a growing confusion which leads many to leave the missionary command of the Lord unheard and ineffective often it is maintained that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom from this perspective it would only be legitimate to present one's own ideas and to invite people to act according to their conscience 'as without aiming at their conversion to Christ into the Catholic faith it is enough so they say to help people become more human or more faithful to their own religion it is enough to build communities which strive for justice freedom peace and solidarity so this is still with us as recently as 2007 it goes on to say further or some maintain that Christ should not be proclaimed to those who do not know him nor should joining the church be promoted since it would also be possible to be saved without explicit knowledge of Christ and without any formal incorporation in the church Vatika 2 does teach that but with very significant qualifications and we'll get to that in a little while but before we move on to the contribution of Pope Francis let's get clear about what evangelization really is there's a very broad understanding of evangelization and includes everything that the church does the the Chancery office the bookkeepers the janitors every office of the church every institution or church is contributing in some way to Christ being known so it's a very broad understanding of evangelization that applies to everything the church does but when we stop at the broad understanding it's easy to pat ourselves on the back and say well we're doing it we're doing evangelization and that's why we need to get more clear about the core purpose of evangelization and one of my my favorite definitions is from John Paul a second and whose encyclical section 46 this is his definition he says the proclamation of the word of God has Christian conversion as its aim a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith conversion means accepting by a personal decision the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple this is a very challenging definition the reason why I find it so challenging is because a lot of the conversation about new evangelization and dioceses and parishes go something like this we gotta do something to get people coming back to Mass we've got to do something to get people more engaged in our Parrish and it certainly is a wonderful thing to get people coming back to mass and more engaged in our parishes but I hope this doesn't scandalize you but you know it's possible for somebody to come to mass but not be converted it's possible if somebody to be active in our parish this will not be converted according to this definition some of those people say hey I'd like to say I'll sing in the choir and you can have people singing in the choir who don't believe in Jesus you can people have people come in to church but they're coming more with the mind of the world and the spirit of the age then the mind of Christ the Spirit of God it's just it's just the fact so let's take a closer look at this definition the proclamation of the word of God is Christian conversion as it ain't don't be afraid of the c-word yeah we want people converted to Jesus yes a complete and sincere adherence to Christ in his gospel through faith that's strong a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith that's a pretty strong definition but that's what pieces is really asking you know one of the founders of the Cursillo movement Bishop want her vos said one of the things that's most weakening the Catholic Church is what he called a minimalist corruption of the gospel asking from people less than Jesus has and offered the people less than Jesus offers I mean Jesus is the Lord if you understand that Jesus is the Lord the only sensible response is is surrender is falling at his feet it's saying depart from me from a sinful man and hearing the wonderful words that Jesus say from now on you're going to be fishers of men that was my own experience when I was a senior at Notre Dame I was a philosophy major I was getting more and more confused it was this time in the 60s and a friend insisted that I make a Chrissy oh and in on that Curcio I got the uncomfortable feeling that Jesus was alive and that he was there and then it really had been raised from the dead and then he really was the Lord and that really really perplexed me quite a bit I really prided myself as a philosophy major on searching for the truth but I really wasn't planning to find it so soon I was looking forward to many enjoyable years of searching for the truth on my own terms but I knew that if Jesus really was who he said he was I had just found the pearl of great price I just found the treasure fairy in the field I need to sell everything I had so I could have it and that meant really surrendering to Jesus and writing a blank check and that's really the only sensible response that anybody could make to Jesus I mean we don't fit Jesus into our lives he's not just another book on the Shelf with her books he's not just another teacher he's not just another source of well this is Jesus's opinion he's the Lord I think that's just so key for evangelization and for renewal in the church to just understand what it means that Jesus is Lord now this definition is interesting it says a completely sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel through faith a lot of people like Jesus right Jesus is popular sometimes Jesus appears on the cover of Time magazine you know I was really making it isn't it you know but a lot of people don't like what Jesus actually says well once I was giving a talk just sharing something that Jesus says and a woman ko2 afterward said my Jesus would never say that but this is a little scary you know there aren't a lot of people making little wooden statues you know we're shipping them but there are a lot of people creating of Jesus in their own image there's a lot of people making up their own religion you know cafeteria Catholicism isn't oftentimes an innocent sport but it's a forward belly and it's a form of rejection of the authority of Christ the last part of the definition conversion means accepting by a personal decision the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple when I first heard this personal decision said gee John Paul the second sounds like Billy Graham know what's going on here but what we're seeing in the modern pontificates is an increasing emphasis on the importance of a personal relationship with Christ you know John Paul the second here talking about making a personal decision Pope Benedict often talks about friendship with Christ Pope Francis all the time talks about an encounter with Christ the personal encounter with Jesus and the personal decision to follow him now we might ask why is this language that in some ways doesn't sound Catholic becoming more common in the papal Magisterium I think it's because of the radical cultural change that we're going through 1,700 years of Christian culture is collapsing around us and it's being replaced by an aggressive international pagan culture that is increasingly hostile to Christ in the church and we're seeing that in our own country we're seeing that hostility to claims the truth we're seeing that hostility towards conscience rights we're seeing that hostility towards what people forever before us thought was marriage and family we're seeing a rejection of objective truth the revelation of God now I think the only way that Catholics are going to be able to be Catholic in the future is if they make that personal decision to be loyal to Jesus Christ to make that personal decision to follow Jesus and be his disciple and to make a complete and sincere adherence to Christ and His gospel and so this call to evangelization and this language of personal relationship is absolutely essential today because it's not enough any longer to be a Hispanic Catholic or an Irish Catholic or a German Catholic or an Italian Catholic or Slovakia Catholic or a Polish Catholic or any kind of Catholic just by heritage or ethnic group we really need to encounter the Lord and personally surrender our lives to him and form ourselves by his teaching in order to stand against the the pagan culture that single thing us at the Synod of 2012 Cardinal Wuerl was the general relator and he asked me to help him with formulating some of the propositions and two things he said at the beginning the Synod really really struggling he said there's a tsunami of secularism engulfing the world and the number one priority for us as a church is to regain our confidence in the truth of our faith actually true okay where does Francis fit into all this he's absolutely Foursquare in the line of the command of Jesus to preach the gospel to all nations in the emphasis on renewal and evangelization from vatican ii on the incredible emphasis on the need for a new evangelization incidentally I might just say what's what's new about the new evangelization the the first thing that's new about it is who is directed to it's no longer just directed to people in far-off countries where the church isn't established john paul ii says it's directed to baptize Catholics who aren't living as disciples of christ who may be even far from the church so the mission field is now all around us the mission field is often in our own families in our own parishes and neighborhoods in our own work environments and that's really important the second thing that's new about the New Evangelization this is this is really a powerful thing that's hardly begun to be realized is that the main people who do the New Evangelization are not priests or nuns but baptized laypeople and one way of understanding what Vatican 2 did was to rediscover the meaning of baptism that baptism isn't just a ritual or a membership requirement or something that grandparents make make their kids do for their babies but it's a sacrament that brings us into living relationship with God you know like the famous guy that we read about you know God you know the real God you know and that that baptizes us into the love that Jesus has for his father and the love that he receives from the father and that baptizes us into the love that Jesus has for human beings it baptizes us into his relationship with the father and his love for the human race and that's the energy that's the force that's the identity of the Spirit that's at work in us so the second thing that's new about the New Evangelization is who does it baptize light people and what scripture says about the relationship between leadership and the church and the baptized and Ephesians chapter 4 is really important it says the risen Christ gave leadership gifts to the church apostles and prophets and pastors and evangelists and teachers not to do the whole work of the church but to equip the Saints for the work of ministry so one of the main purposes of leadership in the church is to awaken the baptized to who they are in Christ so they can embrace their call to holiness and embrace their call to mission now I do a lot of clergy convocations and deacons retreat since 30 days and when I talk about new evangelists the priests they get nervous they say I don't have time to add anything else to my schedule but they get really excited when they hear that Lake people are supposed to do it that's true you know a priest can't be at every family reunion camping in every office camping at every factory can't be in every field but laypeople are there and they need to be there as missionaries but when a priest starts telling late people that they're supposed to evangelize late people say why are you trying to foist off on us your job so there's like a mutual clericalism you know lay people like it that priests do everything you know and so it's a challenge it's a challenge to get laypeople to really embrace their call okay how does Pope Francis fit into all this he's very much in the line of all the documents and teaching that have gone before him I think something like a magisterial tradition on evangelization has developed just like the social teaching of the church developed that began at a certain point with leo xiii and it has unfolded ever since I think we're seeing actually the development of a magisterial tradition on evangelization and all these documents that I've mentioned and Pope Francis is very much in the line with it I would say it's almost like he kind of kicks it up a notch I my wife used to watch this a cooking show emerald you know the guy from Louisiana and he'd be cooking something and he say yo let's kick it up a notch bow Pam you know he'd be kind of throwing stuff they're gonna be flaring up you know it's almost like Pope Francis says yeah all these things that these guys have said is really good let's kick it up a notch and there's like a quality of passion and extra and practical advice that that really has an urgency to it that is adds his own contribution so what are some of the things that are characteristic of Pope Francis is teaching on evangelization and I'm drawing mainly here on an evangelii gaudium a very powerful a very challenging document a very important document a very unique document there's just lots of amazing stuff in there that's really it's almost like it's grabbing us by the throat saying wake up and evangelize it's just like so a very strong affirmation of the need to evangelize a very strong exhortation but with his own colorful language he quotes himself talking about we need to have the smell of the Sheep but then the rest that I sentences interest you never hear about so the sheep will listen to our voice where somebody says we need to have the smell of the Sheep but our people need to smell from us the aroma of Christ so it is it just kind of like hanging out with folks it's hanging out with folks with the aroma of Christ arising from us so they can want to hear the voice of the shepherd this document evangelii gaudium deals less with theological issues than previous documents he says he affirms everything that all his predecessors have said but his main interest here isn't dealing with some of the theological issues he he says things like evangelists shouldn't look like they just come from a funeral he says evangelists shouldn't be sourpusses if you want to look that up sections 10 and 85 smella she is section 24 there's a very strong affirmation of lay mission and he's coined a phrase that's really gained quite a credence called were called to be missionary disciples not just disciples following Jesus but disciples on a mission missionary disciples he has a strong emphasis of the Holy Spirit but so did John Paul the second and so did Paul the sixth in their documents so he's very much continuing in that line but with the strong emphasis on practicality I'm gonna just read a few of the things that Pope Francis says that's very characteristic of his teaching section 120 from evangelii gaudium he says the New Evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized every Christian is challenged here and now to be actively engaged in evangelization indeed anyone who's truly experienced God's saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love so what are we waiting for it's just like he's kind of pushing us out of our comfort zone and this is important because a lot of Catholics feel like I don't know enough to talk about my faith to anybody and that's okay if people ask you a question just say I don't know and then you go back and say they ask you about purgatory you say gee purgatory begins with a P let me go look it up and the Catechism under P you know and you find this beautiful description of purgatory you go back to your friend and say is this beautiful I didn't understand this myself we'd like to borrow my catechism for a couple years so Pope Francis is very much saying if you know the Lord's love you know enough to tell somebody about him and then he says today that was the section 120 this is 127 today as the church seeks to experience a profound missionary renewal there's a kind of preaching which falls to each of us as a daily responsibility it has to do with bringing the gospel to the people we meet whether they be our neighbors or complete strangers this is the informal preaching which takes place in the middle of a conversation when visiting a home being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others and this can happen expectedly in any place on the street in the city square during work on a journey then in section 128 he had something that nobody said before that I'm aware of he said if it seems prudent and if the circumstances are right you could end the conversation with a brief prayer related to the concerns which the person may have expressed so bring Jesus into the conversation people may have just told you a terrible problem you don't know the answer to would you say hey you know what let's bring this to Jesus let's pray let's let's lift this up to the Lord so he's he's really trying to get people to connect with the Lord to open conversations to the Lord to to lead people to the Lord he also has a very strong emphasis on reaching out to what he calls the peripheries and this is a you know all the other documents talk about the importance of the poor the importance of reaching out to those most in need but francis has really kicked it up a notch he said we really need to reach out to the peripheries and he makes the points that we got to get out of our rector ease out of our sacristy out of the security of our our homes and reach out and go out it's a very strong exhortation he even has a word for theologians he says the church and theology exist to evangelize we don't want any desk-bound theology section 133 no desk-bound theology he also talks about the importance of the works of mercy and strongly strongly emphasizes of both the spiritual and the corporal works of mercy but inspired by Pope Francis my wife myself had joined our local st. Vincent de Paul Society and that's been a really good way of into hands-on the smell of the Sheep and it's been a really wonderful thing and I'm grateful to Pope Francis for that impetus we have periodically done various things over the years but this regular service with the poor or to the poorest has been really really good any of course reaffirms the social dimension of the Gospels as the other papal documents have done as well but I would say that more than I ever expected evangelii gaudium is a spirituality document it it's the kind of thing you read it you say wow wow he's really hitting hard he's really talking about motivation he's really talking about tendency to comfort he's really talking about reliance that money he's really talking about fear he's really talking about all kinds of things in our lives and it's the kind of thing that you could take a page or two in in certain sections and just bring it before the Lord in prayer it's really very much like a spirituality document he talks about priests who say they're going to depend on the Holy Spirit for their preaching but don't prepare and he says they're just being lazy you know I mean you know he's just kind of really all these kind of zingers that there are really good examination of conscience Asst okay but perhaps the thing he's most noted for this is emphasis on mercy this is not just in this encyclical but this is a whole theme of his pontificate John Paul the second has been called the mercy Pope because of his strong emphasis on mercy he wrote in a cyclical adversity called devezin is a record a God is rich in mercy he he rescued st. Faustina and brought her to the attention of the entire church and canonized her and put a new liturgical feast in in the year the Sunday after Easter the feast of divine mercy died on the vigil of divine mercy so very strong that Kayson with the mercy of God and with with how that mercy has come to us in the modern revelations of st. Faustina and the divine mercy devotion I hardly could go to a church anymore where I don't find an image of the divine mercy and it's just been a very powerful influence that Pope Francis has kind of even kicked it up a notch he's just really he almost can't give a talk without talking about mercy and it's certainly very very key at the same time it could very easily be misunderstood have you heard people say things like this God is so merciful they'll never let anybody be lost have you heard people say things like you know mercy triumphs over justice yes and there's a truth to all those things but there's also a confusion and so I'd like to talk about some of the things that Pope Francis says that are very good as examination of conscience but also can cause confusion if you don't notice other things that he says and Pope Francis is a very unique methodology doesn't he he really brings home a point so strongly that it's easy to think that that's the whole truth about a subject and yet sometimes you can get an imbalance understanding because of that so you need to kind of put things together more in a way that we didn't have to do with with Benedict or John Paul the second for example probably one of the things that has most kind of identified Pope Francis to the world was that famous comment Who am I to judge you know the National gay magazine made him Man of the Year because of that comment now what did he mean by that it took him a long while but he finally explained he was talking about a particular individual for who perhaps that homosexual activity in his back but now was repenting and trying to live a good life and Who am I to judge the sincerity of this person I think he appointed him to a Vatican position which is another question about whether that's wise or not but he wasn't making a global statement obviously we're called to judge all kinds of things the whole purpose of divine revelation is so we can judge the difference between right and wrong so we judge the difference between true and false so we can discern what spirit is at work in a situation where obviously called the judge approp phrases himself judges all the time so but people have somehow gotten an impression that well Who am I to judge you know I don't know whether this is right or wrong anymore I don't know what this is true or false about who am i to judge it falls into kind of the spirit of relativism and universalism that's really permeating even sometimes that places in the church also Pope Francis has a very strong and repeated denunciations of legalism Pharisee ISM people who are into canon law and doctrine in a way that you could get the impression that canon law is bad or doctrines bad and of course it isn't it's essential it's important and Pope Francis himself knows that but sometimes he condemns the excesses in such a way that people can get a different impression okay there's actually quite a lot of things and Pope Francis is teaching that would clear up any confusion in this area of Mercy and they need to be more widely known and quite honest I wish he'd emphasize some of these things in his airplane conversations he says them in his documents but I wish he would sometimes add some of these things so that people wouldn't kind of fall into a presumption on mercy the scripture passage with which both Pope Francis and John Paul a second use in the very first paragraph of their documents pope john paul ii division is recorded Pope Francis in evangelii gaudium is if his know his papal bull on the the Jubilee year I have it written down here say yeah yeah it's a yes I'll get to it yeah so is Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 now if fusions chapter 2 verse 4 is a short phrase that says but God is rich in mercy it's a transition phase though it's it's it's it's it's moving to a new section of the Epistle the first section of the Epistle talks about what life is like apart from Christ and I'm gonna I'm gonna read the whole thing you are dead because of your sins and offenses as you gave your loyalty to the present age and to the Prince of the air that spirit who is even now at work among the rebellious all of us were once of their company we lived at the level of the flesh following every women fancy and here's the shocking sentence to modern sensibilities and so by nature deserve God's wrath like the rest the default situation of the human race is lost that's that's what God reveals to us apart from Christ were lost we we live at the level of flesh we give our loyalty to your present age we're subject to the lies of the devil we're being invited to rebellion we're following every woman's fancy we're victim of our culture and the brainwashing that's going on our culture so the default situation of the human race is lost that's the bad news somebody once said if you don't know the bad news when somebody tells you the good news it's going to seem like no news and all we've been hearing for many many years is the good news and so people say oh yeah gods richer mercy great I know he loves me great eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we're all going to heaven the deepest meaning of Mercy is revealed in this text it's God's love coming to people who are lost people who need forgiveness of sins people who need rescue from the lives of the evil people who need to be snatched out of a culture that's been shaping their identities people who need resurrection from the dead people who need the death sentence that came into the world through our first parents to be lifted and that's something that no human being can do but God is rich in mercy and because of his great love for us he brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin by this grace you were saved both with and in Christ Jesus he raised us up and gave us a place in the heavens that the ages to come he might display the great wealth of his favor and then Paul says something he only says several times and all of his epistles he says I repeat he really wants us to get this I repeat it is owing to His grace that salvation is yours through faith this is not your own doing it is purely God's gift so what's mercy it's a gratuitous gift of God to forgive us our sins and rescue us from the devil and give us eternal life by nature we deserve God's wrath but God is giving us the free gift of life in Christ Jesus by nature we deserve help we're being offered the gift of heaven neither is a reward for anything you have accomplished so let no one pride himself on it this is this is really key the first rebellion of our first parents had an aspect of pride to it remember what the devil said you know you'll be like gods oh cool we could create ourselves that same law is being told to our culture today the same lives being enforced by totalitarian means you can be like gods you can be liberated from objective reality you can be liberated from the Creator you can declare your independence a terrible terrible wicked lie that leads to death the devil say you won't die and they died but he's still saying the same thing to people as people are still dying people are still dying spiritual deaths and physical deaths because of the lies of the devil so here's the key text that both Pope Francis and john paul ii use in their important documents on mercy God is reaching mercy but that's the good news that follows the bad news that's not intelligible unless we understand it all sometimes Pope Francis so strongly emphasizes mercy and being non-judgmental people don't notice that he's very clear in harmony with his predecessors and the Catechism of the Catholic Church in Scripture that our response to Mercy by way of conversion is necessary for to be effective there has to be a yes to Mercy there has to be a response to Mercy it doesn't automatically take effect it's offered to everybody but there has to be a receptivity to Mercy there has to be a recognition that we need mercy and ask that we never could accomplish this our own it's coming purely as a gift a gratuitous gift of God's love Pope Francis makes this clear in many places in his writing I just wish he would say it in his plane introduce the very first paragraph of evangelii gaudium this is what he says the joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin sorrow inner emptiness loneliness and a section 3 I invite all Christians everywhere at this very moment to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ now is the time to say to Jesus Lord I have let myself be deceived in a thousand ways I have shunned your love yet here I am once more to renew my covenant with you I need you save me once again Lord take me once more into your redeeming embrace how good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost let me say this once more God never tires of forgiving us we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy there has to be a yes to Mercy that very simple summary of the gospel John 3:16 the guy used to run around the stadium holding up the sign John 3:16 I think they arrested him or something I hope somebody could free him what does it say God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life it's all about love that's all about love God so loves the world the fact that we're alive is because He loves us the fact that the universe is still working he loves us the fact that the Sun rose today as he loves us the fact that we have air to breathe he loves us the fact that we have our bread he loves us it's all about love but we're in a terrible situation we were born into a race in rebellion we were born into original sin we made our personal sin we've been affected by the lies of the devil and the corruption of our culture and our own disordered desires we all have disordered desires and the way that God has come to heal our souls and to rescue us from those disordered desires and to rescue us from the death that is our death sentence is Jesus the way that the love has been given is in Jesus now people sometimes say oh I don't think that's fair I think that's very narrow you know I think the love is also given in Muhammed and Buddha hey the love's given in Jesus that's what the father decided to do and if you understood what was going on they heard what could be more perfect what could be more amazing what could be more beautiful what could be more generous what could be more sacrificial that God so loved the world he gave His only Son but then there has to be a response that I love that whoever believes in Him whoever believes in him there has to be a response of belief of faith when you hear the gospel when the Holy Spirit enlightens your mind their heart there has to be that yes there has to be that faith whoever believes in Him will not perish so something's really at stake will not perish but have eternal life so what's the choice before the human race its perish or eternal life its condemnation or forgiveness it's hell or heaven there's a choice Christianity isn't an optional enrichment exercise for those who like spiritual things it's not like learning Italian or learning how to cook it's not an option this is where rescue is this is where mercy is this is where salvation is this is what resurrection life is where's resurrection life it's in Jesus where's the love of the Father it's in Jesus how do we rise from the dead we grabbed it onto Jesus when we rise with him that that's where it is I mean that's that's the truth its objective reality the choice is perishing or eternal life and that's why evangelization is so important that's why we not fall into this presumption that Oh God summer slurry but we say that's not what God says that's not what the scripture says about what Jesus says it's not what the tradition says it's not what Pope Francis says the very first time he led the Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum after being elected Pope he said this he says in judging us God loves us if I embrace his love that I am saved if I refuse it then I am condemned in the official document it's called a papal bull that's no bull they still have papal bulls the official document proclaiming the Jubilee year of Mercy that were coming to the conclusion of visit record a poultice I'll call it MV from now on he makes clear over and over again that accepting Mercy involves faith and repentance and a change way of life for example in section 3 he talks about the holy doors he says these doors are to lead those on pilgrimage quote to discover a path to conversion not just a superstitious ritual it's it's indicating a desire to change our life to enter more deeply into the life of Christ in the church he talks about the pilgrimages that was in section 3 of section 14 as an impetus to conversion Pope Francis is not afraid of the c-word I wish he would evangelize a little bit more on the plains I gotta I gotta confess something here Pope Benedict said the most amazing things Foote filled with passion and fire but he said it like this dear brothers and sisters today I want to tell you about the fire the Holy Spirit and people didn't get the fire you know so honestly this is the truth during the Conclave to elect a successor I was praying to the Lord would give us a pope who could speak without notes with fire I'm kind of wondering whether I should have prayed that or not I love that part of it but you can see the strengths and weaknesses of both methodologies and teaching during the Jubilee year and section 18 of the papal bull he asked pastors during the Jubilee a quote to be diligent calling back the faithful to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace he makes a special appeal to conversion to those in grave sin particularly mentioning those involved in criminal activity or in corruption who reminds them and us quote that everyone sooner or later will be subject to God's judgment from which no one can escape section 19 section 21 he discusses the relationship between mercy and justice he says this does not mean that justice should be devalued or rendered superfluous on the contrary anyone who makes a mistake must pay the price however this is just the beginning of the conversion not its end and again he says mercy is not opposed to justice but rather expresses God's Way of reaching out to the sinner offering her a new chance to look at himself convert and believe John Paul the second makes the same point and Pope Francis when he mentions the significance of the Jubilee year coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Vatican 2 he says God's mercy quote reaches the pardon center and frees him from every residue left by the consequences of sin enabling him to act with charity to grow in love rather than to fall back into sin now what's the basis of Francis's teaching that there needs to be a response to mercy and turning away from sin and conversion it's the teaching of Jesus some of the most powerful passages that show forth the mercy of Jesus also show forth the necessity of responding to that mercy with faith and repentance for example the prodigal son the compassionate father take your choice what to call it it's both what happened the son left the father's house and squandered his inheritance on loose living finally he hit bottom he wished that somebody would give him the food being fed to pigs and for Jews that's really low that's really really low but then he came to his senses and this is what he said I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I assume that against heaven and before you and he arose and came to his father he repented he acknowledged his sin he acknowledged he made a wrong turn is like and he was gonna retrace the steps and go back to his father's house he repented and there's a conversion and he asked for forgiveness the woman caught in adultery you know the story nobody was left to throw stones at her Jesus said woman is there anybody here to condemn you she says Lord there's nobody to condemn me John 8 verse 11 and then Jesus said neither do i condemn you but go and do not sin again Jesus expected that his offer of mercy his expression of compassion would lead to repentance and conversion and turning away from sin or that poor guy who 38 years never made it down to the pool when the angel is stirring the water 38 years Jesus had mercy on him and had compassion for it and healed him the scripture says John chapter 5 verse 14 that Jesus sought him out to tell him something special Jesus said look you are well but sin no more that nothing happen to you Jesus clearly expected repentance and conversion when mercy was offered to whoever he offered mercy to same same with the message of st. Faustina I'm kind of in with this yeah five more minutes tremendous invitation from Jesus through Saint Faustina that the greatest of sinners is most entitled to the mercy of God that nobody no matter what sin or how many sins or whatever she'd shy back from the mercy of the Lord a tremendous invitation to come to the Lord for mercy and forgiveness but Jesus also makes very clear that he expects the response to Mercy section thirteen ninety six of her diary Jesus says if sinners knew of my mercy they would not perish in such great numbers for section eleven sixty of a diary I am prolonging the time of Mercy for the sake of sinners but woe to them if they do not recognize this time of my visitation it makes you think of Jesus weeping over his own people because they were missing the hour and the visitation the judgment that was going to come on them of the destruction of Jerusalem a foreshadowing of the final judgment and then Mary speaking Saint Faustina in Section 635 you have to speak to the world about his great mercy and prepare the world for the second coming of him who will come not as a merciful Savior but as it just judged howl is that day already set is the day of Justice the day of divine wrath the angels tremble before it speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy if you keep silent now you will be instable for a great number of souls in our terrible day I'm going to read that again if you keep silent now you'll be answerable for a great number of souls on that terrible day there's so much pressure in our culture not to tell the truth there's so much pressure in our culture to go along with people who are celebrating morality there's so much pressure to Cowardly be silent even our own families now it's not easy it's not easy when a son or daughter comes home with their live-in lover of whatever sex and and we say hey look I love you but not in my house and they say well I'm never coming home for Thanksgiving again we got to be willing to take the pain Jesus said this pain would happen he said people in your own house will will be divided there would be mother-in-law is against daughters in-laws and mothers against daughters and fathers against sons and sons against fathers yes its division Jesus causes division he brings peace on the basis of surrender to him but there's a division he brings too and that was prophesied over him from the very beginning remember when Simeon took baby Jesus and in his arms and he said this child will be the cause for the rise in the fall of many in Israel he'll reveal the secrets of hearts when Jesus come close it's a crisis just like it was for me when I was a senior and that we can retreat it's a crisis who do you say he is what is your response going to be to him and that's going to determine your eternal salvation we have to say to people it's because I love you that I can't agree with you that the way you're living is going to lead to your happiness on this earth and it's endangering eternal salvation I'll always love you and you're always welcome here but I can't approve for a condone what you're doing because it's not going to make you happy and it's an aging your eternal salvation and you have to pray and you have to fast we really need prayer and fasting today because it's a spiritual war that's going on if some demons are only cast out by prayer and fasting and there's demons that are roaring like a lion seeking to devour souls and we're in a spiritual battle and we need spiritual weapons so anyway I've got about five more pages I never got the Vatican - and never got to some other things but you know you can only take in so much at one time and all I want to say is that Christianity is not a game evangelization is really important if we love people we're going to really care not just for them getting good jobs or getting healed of their illnesses we're going to be caring about their eternal salvation we're going to care that they die and friendship with Jesus and not die unrepentant in their sins amen [Music]

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Views: 9,542

Rating: 4.826087 out of 5

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franciscan University of Steubenville (College / University), FaithAndReason.com, Faith And Reason, Dr. Ralph Martin, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, theology, Pope Francis, mercy, evangelization, Pope Francis' Vision for the Renewal of the Church

Id: Fv-89FvDLfU

Length: 58min 37sec (3517 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 30 2017