"The cross shows us a different way of measuring success. Ours is to plant the seeds. God sees to the fruits of our labors. And if at times our efforts and works seem to fail and not produce fruit, we need to remember that we are followers of Jesus Christ and his life, humanly speaking, ended in failure, the failure of the cross." ~ Pope Francis, 26 September 2015
I think I understand what Pope Francis is saying, but I think it is rather clumsily said and needed some additional explanation. It is clumsily said because even though, in strictly human terms, in terms, that is, of our limited human perspective, Christ's ministry on Earth led to what appeared to be failure. Yet the Cross was not failure at all, but the actual Redemption of mankind, the destroying of death itself, the defeat of the Devil and the opening of the gates of Heaven to all believers.
In fact the hour of Christ's Death on the Cross was, in Christ's own words, the hour of his glorification and the means by which He would 'draw all men' to Himself. It cannot be overlooked, either, that three days after the Lord's Passion and Death, as He said he would, He rose again as our Risen and glorified Saviour.
It is a little embarrassing that the Pope neglected to embellish on his words a little more in order to avoid misunderstanding, for it goes without saying that if - and I cannot believe he means it - that Jesus's Death on the Cross was an actual 'failure', rather than the appearance of it to human eyes - then mankind awaits another messiah, whose mission would be deemed, humanly speaking, to be a 'success'.
It is out of Christ's pierced side that flowed Blood and Water unto our redemption. From the pierced side of our Crucified Saviour comes His Bride, the Church, washed clean in His Blood. Anyone who receives the Body and Blood of Our Lord knows, surely, that it was by means of His Passion and Death, that man may know his Redeemer and love Him in return for such extraordinary and triumphant love.
God bless our Pope. He is wonderful at communicating Christ's love through his interaction with people on a human level, face to face, but is sometimes a little muddled, on the big stage, at communicating the Catholic Faith, what we hold, preach cherish and believe.
4 comments:
I think too the choice of words was unfortunate. Francis likely was referring to one of Paul's references to the Cross:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the origin and the crown of all faith, who, to win his prize of blessedness, endured the cross and made light of its shame, Jesus, who now sits on the right of God’s throne. Take your standard from him, from his endurance, from the enmity the wicked bore him, and you will not grow faint, you will not find your souls unmanned. Your protest, your battle against sin, has not yet called for bloodshed; yet you have lost sight, already, of those words of comfort in which God addresses you as his sons; My son, do not undervalue the correction which the Lord sends thee, do not be unmanned when he reproves thy faults. It is where he loves that he bestows correction; there is no recognition for any child of his, without chastisement..." Hebrews 12: 2-6
"His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet he did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted;he dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting himself to us in human form; and then he lowered his own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought him to death, death on a cross. That is why God has raised him to such a height, given him that name which is greater than any other name; so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the name of Jesus, and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2: 6-11
MAKE NO MISTAKE FRANICS KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING WHY DO PEOPLE MAKE EXCUSES FOR HIM HE IS OUR POPE FOR GOD SAKE HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. I BELIEVE HE IS THE FALSE PROPHET AND IF YOU BELIEVE THAT EVERYTHING HE SAYS MAKES SENSE. JESUS HAVE MERCY ON US IN THESE DARK DAYS.
Yep. We are sooooo Catholic, we need to tell THE POPE how to be Catholic. Lord have mercy.
Of all the things he has said, this one is hardly worth fretting over. Maybe he could have expounded a bit, but even from what he did say, I think it is pretty obvious he meant Jesus' crucifixion looked like a failure from a purely human perspective, and the follow-up regarding God bringing forth fruit makes it pretty clear Francis does not see it as a failure. Heck, even the Apostles saw it, if not as failure, at least as a big disappointment and confusing until the resurrection.
PS - your capthca verification was a bit ambiguous - it asked for all skateboards, but one of the images was only of the board, without the skates, thus not completely a "skateboard." Just sayin'.
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