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Question

Hello, my name is S.L.,

I  would like to ask your position regarding the confusion and chaos that exists today in the Catholic world. I have only been converted for a year and an half and many things I don’t know. The Pope’s visit to the sultan made a lot of fuss. Many see it badly, as if was a submission to Islam, as well as the fact that the Pope kissed the feet of the Muslims. Now, I don’t know many things and I don’t want to make judgments or sentences but only pray for it because I think it is the right attitude to have that we ordinary people do not have the right tools to fully understand the work of the Pope. However, I am really perplexed by the attitude of some people who even go so far as to not recognize Francis as Pope and claim the figure of Benedict as their real Pope. In short, I want your opinion about all the fuss that exists among the faithful, which is very visible, especially on the net and on Facebook.

Risposta del sacerdote

Priest’s answer,

Dear,

1.You are not the first whom I answer on a problem that often constitutes an internal and sometimes even external struggle. Meanwhile, I am very happy for your conversion and I hope that the initial enthusiasm has not faded.

2. For many converts after the so-called honeymoon starts a process of addiction. We are happy to have met the Lord and to live with Him, but the happiness vanishes. If this can happen to all of us, even for the dearest one, it should not happen instead with Christ. In fact, as soon as we catch a sort of habit, we should immediately awaken ourselves and say to ourselves : this is a bad sign because Jesus Christ is ceasing to be the ever new wonder for me, he is ceasing to be the starting point and the culmination of all my life and all my feelings.

3. For Christ to always be “ Behold, I make all the things new ”(Re 21,5) and among these also our personal life meditation is necessary with all that this ent

4. Why meditation?

Because in meditation fervor is kindled, as David also says in Psalm 39 ( “My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned”). The latin Scripture says :” Concaluit cor meum intra me: et in meditatione mea exardescet ignis”. The CEI translation : “ My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. It is certainly an exact translation. But, as everyone sees, the word “meditation” (mused) has disappeared, making it clear to many, such as St. Thomas, that the cause of fervor or devotion lies precisely in meditation (Cf. Summa Theologica, II-II, 82 , 3).

4.I am telling you this because for someone who comes close to Christ it does not happen that he loses heart when he sees human confusions and disputes.In order not to get lost, always keep your gaze fixed on Jesus.Let yourself be continually renewed by him who is the sun that rises from above (not from below, like the one we give in the morning with our eyes), the sun that never sets and continually renews our youth.

5. Therefore put everything you read on these blogs in suborder. You do not have to care that much. Feel somehow guilty if you spend more time reading those blogs during the day than being in communion with the Lord.

6. Regarding the Pope, which always remains the sweet Christ on earth as Catherine of Siena said, obey his commands. And to say the truth, he gives very few. And everything he does or says in his Petrine ministry, take it always in meliorem partem, which means to see the good aspect of those gestures or those words, without being influenced by the various conspiracies, agreeing with the faith of Peter and his successors that Christ guaranteed his indefectibility until the end of the centuries (cf. Lk 22:32).

7. Therefore I tell you once again: keep your gaze fixed on Jesus. He is the author, the object and the goal of our life of faith. He and He alone is our all .Human persons, however constituted in the sacred hierarchy, are not our God. They are all in the order of means. And each of them, in their way, are useful to reach this goal.

8. The Lord at the end of our days will not judge us based on other responsibilities, but on our welcome given on him and he will want to see if He, Christ, has been formed in us(Gal 4:19). As you can see, we all have a long journey to make. Let’s help ourselve with our prayers. Of these I assure you mine, which I undertake to do willingly, just as I willingly bless you.

Father Angelo