tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post6808592104118243673..comments2023-07-05T08:17:21.505-04:00Comments on Getting to the Point: Obedience and RenewalFr. Denis Lemieuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-64958542777396621572012-04-25T22:59:51.339-04:002012-04-25T22:59:51.339-04:00Father Denis,
I read what you wrote=all of it. I...Father Denis,<br /> I read what you wrote=all of it. I even believe you. <br /> I read the pope's list of people whose lives 'translate' Christ for us. It is a great list. I would add a few more- Catherine, Dorthy Day, Thomas Merton (even at the end), Jean Donovan, St Faustina, Bishop Gumbleton, St Benedict, Oscar Romero. <br /> I have even read some of Joan Chittister that really helped me love more, and that lawyer nun I have forgotten her name- from Network- has done so to enable help for the poor. <br /> I have a big list- both ends of the church. <br /> Jesus called them all, and loved and taught them too. Why else would they volunteer the pain? How else could they stay? <br /> Is it possible that we are all church, despite our weaknesses and obvious faults? Do we have to squabble about who is most be obedient, most moral, or most closely reformed? <br /> Can't we just accept that Jesus comes to each one of us, as well as all of us together? What if each one us is already plunging into the passion of faith, and imitating Christ as he came into their own heart. What if those Austrian priests are truly being obedient to God...as God revealed himself to them?<br /> And those women who are asking to be ordained...what if it is for the same reason as you? What if the reason is because they are called by God? <br /> I don't pretend to know the answers to these questions. And I do believe that there many answers to these questions and all are here in Christs body...<br /> So, that obedience stuff... it is so confusing to me...<br /> I hope you are still praying for me...Catherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-34915717882483545022012-04-25T21:02:47.836-04:002012-04-25T21:02:47.836-04:00"come to me all you who are weary and burdene..."come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matt 11:28<br /> This is one of those passages that is soothing, who hasn't been soothed when Jesus calls us into his gentle heart? Then things get pushed too far, and you have no idea what it is supposed to mean and wonder if it is really true. Because, we all know that God is always asking us to do stuff that is hard, if not impossible. ...David take a small rock and kill that giant...Paul, keep preaching until they kill you...scripture goes on...<br /><br /><br /><br /> So what is Jesus taking about? What is the light burden? Just a few verses before this- Jesus praises God because he revealed these things to little children. It comes down to a child like trust. This is Jesus yoke.<br /> Tj...believe it.Catherinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-5154081263295522042012-04-25T13:45:52.696-04:002012-04-25T13:45:52.696-04:00Sorry, but I don't think you know what the wor...Sorry, but I don't think you know what the word 'gnostic' means. Jesus Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him; Paul exhorts us to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ; every Church father, doctor, and saint writes of the absolute claims of Christ and the Gospel. To claim that BXVI, JPII, etc., have taken something that was so easy and light and made it heavy and hard is ridiculous. The Gospel is hard.Fr. Denis Lemieuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01049723287624178155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668594987436792920.post-86162700041832097072012-04-25T11:22:27.349-04:002012-04-25T11:22:27.349-04:00By happenstance I just stumbled across your blog. ...By happenstance I just stumbled across your blog. I must say that I find the perspective that seems to be espoused here to be almost gnostic, as if Christianity is for a select few who have the inclination and wherewithal to bear the heavy burden current ecclesial leaders have made it. I don't know if you are aware of the IMMENSE changes that are taking places in parishes and Catholic communities every day -- changes in which God's People are leaving and going elsewhere for spiritual and sacramental nourishment. Yes, one can respond to these changes from a perspective that blames God's People, claiming they are weak or poorly-formed in faith, having been seduced by a secularist, materialist, hedonistic culture. But when will papal and episcopal leaders look at themselves, in a mirror, and ask the very tough questions that need to be asked -- questions about their own failures as pastors? The "easy yoke" and "light burden" that the Lord Himself describes has become heavy and truly "too much to bear" because of what this Pope, his immediate predecessor, and so many of the "JPII" bishops have done to God's Holy People.<br /><br />I'm sure you're well aware of the irony of your blog's title. This "German Shepherd" may have a grandfatherly head of white hair and disarming smile, but his bite can surely do great damage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com