Suddenly, he's worried about correcting theological misunderstandings. If he would only get to the long list of his own.
In any event, the Pope said the Our Father has been teaching 2000 years of Catholics to believe God tempts us to sin by leading us to debauchery - and we have to ask him not to.
I don't know anyone who thinks that, do you? Who are these mysterious people?
One would have to be completely ignorant of the nature of God to believe He, and not the devil, is the force behind leading us to break Commandments.
The Our Father doesn't need a sophisticated theological scholar to understand. I learned the prayer at 3 and I was capable of grasping that "lead us not into temptation" asked God, who is the Good Shepherd, to counsel and guide us when we encounter the wiles of...wait for it.. the devil.
Temptation is the spiritual marathon that develops and matures love, trust and the tools the soul and intellect need to guide us to salvation. It's in the category that "all things work together for the good of those who love God".
Bishop Sheen gives a good explanation of temptation in the Life of Christ. He reminds us that Christ and the angels pass through temptation as an act of choice to prove love because words are not enough.
"The defenses of the soul are seen at their strongest when the evil which has been resisted is also strong. The presence of temptation does not necessarily imply moral imperfection on the part of the one who is tempted. In that case, Our Divine Lord could not have been tempted at all. An inward tendency toward evil, such as man has, is not a necessary condition for an onslaught of temptation. The temptation of Our Blessed Lord came only from without, and not from within as ours so often do. What was at stake in the trial of Our Lord was not the perversion of natural appetites to which the rest of men are tempted; rather, it was an appeal to Our Lord to disregard His Divine Mission and His Messianic work. The temptation that comes from without does not necessarily weaken character; indeed, when conquered, it affords an opportunity for holiness to increase. If he was to be the Pattern Man, He would have to teach us how to gain holiness by overcoming temptation....The tempter was sinful, but the One tempted was innocent.
It is part of the discipline of God to make his loved ones perfect through trial and suffering. Only by carrying the Cross can one reach the Resurrection."
It seems to me that the Holy Father, like many, is kidding himself into thinking the problems we face in the Church are about a sudden inability of people to learn their faith. But the reality he doesn't want to face is, ordained men don't want to teach it.
There are a host of reasons for that.
Over the many years of watching ordained men avoid the hard work of catechizing their people, absolving their sins and restoring their souls with the properties in the Divinity of Christ, every time they start 'leading people into temptation' with banality and heresy, I can't help thinking that cowardice and the sin of sloth is probably the least of their problems.
Some of them have taken lovers or wish they had. Most of them have abandoned their vocation to pursue their own insatiable need to be praised and adored. (Which is actually a sin against the First Commandment). We see the same fatal flaw in the vocations of mothers and fathers.
Of all the things ordained men incorrectly translate, the Our Father is very low on the list.
Take a look at this Act of Contrition found in missalettes:
Sinning is stripped of the consequences behind the choices we make: Hell. It fails to teach the absolution of sin once again gives the person the chance to live their eternity in Heaven.
Our people do not know, more than ever through this papacy, that Commandments are still in force and breaking them sends us to Hell and robs us of Heaven. All the sacrilegious communion he advises them to take does not change this reality.
If the Holy Father started working on correcting the misinterpretations of his own papacy, we'd be getting somewhere.
The irony in the Holy Father's statement does not go unnoticed:
"... it's not the Lord that tempts. It is not He that pushes me into temptation and then sees how I fall," Francis said in Italian. "A father does not do this. A father quickly helps those who are provoked into Satan's temptation."
Exactly. And I think the question on everyone's mind is, why do you do it?
7 comments:
I was taught as a child that God does not lead into temptation, but that temptation in an older sense meant trials that test us. If a change is made, it could follow the literal Greek, which is "lead us not into the testing or tribulation" or "put us not to the test". But hey, if a kid can understand, anyone who wants to can.
This is a long answer but here goes:
You know that I was long ago divorced against my will(1990) and defended our marriage twice before Catholic Marriage Tribunals, successfully. I am faithful to our vows(1980). But, I have a pulse and sometime about 2 or 3 minutes after my pulse stops, permanently, about then I will stop being attracted to woman. Those are the facts of life. I am 63, not dead....yet!
Anyway, 3 ish years ago I interviewed a Jamaican professional woman, quite accomplished, self-made wealth(not Trump wealth, but worth ALOT more than me), well educated, soft spoken and beautiful(if that is PC, for a "married but single?" man to admit/state/not be blind to). And, when I inquired about her marital status, as part of our interview, she told me that she was single and was just 3 or 4 years younger than me(remember that pulse). She also told me that she was an old-fashioned Catholic girl. This was why she was still single in her middle fifties. The men who crossed her path were more interested in her money and in
the "manly" pursuit of "conquest", than they were in her as the sparkling diamond among other gems, that she was, and I presume still is.
After she answered my biographical inquiry, being a true professional, confident woman, she noticed that I wore no ring and asked me, quite logically, what my life's story was. Of course, antecedent to that question my mind was already "in flux" with God for having allowed me to be in such a position in the presence of a woman, so available, such a "catch" as men in my day might often have said(and which I certainly thought), while I am a living "stop" sign. So, I told her my own story and our interview changed direction as she kept asking things until she was convinced that I was who I really am. Our exchanges, in conversation, were not clinical, however. They were warm, friendly, "interested" and we both got to know each other's character, as two "single" people might do when they cross paths and "hit it off", as we did. But, her questions led her to the obvious and she was, sincerely, moved when it was finally established that I was abandoned at 35, losing everything and losing complete custody of our five children who were/are my entire world, yet remained faithful to our vows(was now/then 60 yrs old) and that my wife was the only woman that I have ever been with, in the biblical sense, and was a virgin, at 25, when we met. It was important to her that I worked at maintaining relationships with our children, now all adults with children of their own. We kept talking, the interview eventually was completed, and our attraction to each other was plain to both of us. I never asked her, but, she must have known that we had to be "ships passing in the night". But, it was so beautiful, so comfortable and I was so "at home" with her, but I knew we had to bring things to a conclusion. Nearly two hours had passed, which seemed like 15 minutes to us both. So, crazy old man that I have always been, I said to her that I, really, needed to say something to her.
Then, looking into her eyes, which were sparkling with moisture, as I know mine were, I gently told her that, "If I were a free man, I would ask you out in a heartbeat." To which she replied, and in doing so nearly brought me to tears because I knew that I was face to face with "the real thing", an old-fashioned Catholic girl, in the very, very truest sense, as evidenced by her life choices until then and by the choice she made when she replied to my admission, "If you were free, my answer would be yes, immediately. But, you are not."
As we said goodbye, we hugged and held each other for about a minute. Then, as we both knew was necessary, I watched her leave as she walked out of my life.
I hope Mr. Right has come into her life, has swept her off her feet and is loving her, as she deserves(on many levels) and realizes just how blessed that he is!
God, did not lead us into temptation. He created us. Each of us. He knows us better than we do. He allowed us to meet, knowing, exactly what would happen. But, none of it was predestined. She needed to see that there are men who are worth the wait. Who are faithful.
Who live their commitments. But, who are very human and sometimes are even willing to admit it. And I needed to see such a woman as she. Just as human as I am. Vulnerable, but, committed to how she was raised, as a Catholic; faithful and certainly worth the wait.
Yes, there are tears in my eyes, right now.
May God's will be done, in all of our lives.
And may He deliver us from evil.
Karl
Karl,
Thanks for sharing your witness of how faithfulness to Christ works with boots on the ground. The majority of Catholics aren't Catechized enough to even realize how we manage situations like it. The Holy Father has been throwing gasoline on the fires, so it will be important to share stories of how we handle these kinds of situations. thank you
That's beautiful Karl, you must say The Our Father with great sincerity.
Here's a little "old fashion" lesson from the Baltimore Catechism about phrase that troubles the Pope so much. #498. For what do we pray when we say " and lead us not into temptation"?
Answer- When we say " and lead us not into temptation," we pray that God will always give us the grace to overcome the temptations to sin which come to us from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Further it states, it is no sin to be tempted. Our Lord Himself was tempted. And we also must be tempted if we are to acquire any virtue. But we pray that when temptation comes, as it must often come, that we may not be overcome by it.
Pretty simple to understand, perhaps Francis should brush up on his Catechism.
"In any event, the Pope said the Our Father has been teaching 2000 years of Catholics to believe God tempts us to sin by leading us to debauchery - and we have to ask him not to."
The truth of the matter Pope Francis is that you, Pope Francis, have been teaching Catholics to believe that those led into debauchery need not repent and can receive Holy Communion regardless based on your infamous Amoris Laetitia teaching. This is undoubtedly the worst scandal any Pope has ever perpetrated on Catholics.
"The truth of the matter Pope Francis is that you, Pope Francis, have been teaching Catholics to believe that those led into debauchery need not repent and can receive Holy Communion regardless based on your infamous Amoris Laetitia teaching."
Indeed.
Karl
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