Pope Francis - 1
Dear Friends,
On October 4, our Catholic calendar celebrates the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. This has led me to some reflections on the first of our 266 Popes to choose the name Francis.
Since his election to the papacy in March 2013, Pope Francis has been an inspiration for me.
Maybe the first and most basic message of Francis is his focus on Christ.
He calls us often to a “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
If this is not present, then faith or religious practice can become just a set of rules or an institutional structure or a list of beliefs.
As Francis says, that can be lifeless and can become more of an “ideology” than faith.
How can we have this “personal encounter?”
Remembering that God in Jesus Christ has taken the first step in reaching out to us, what can we, on our part, do to have this encounter?
I can think of two things.
First, we need to become gospel-centered in our prayer and spiritual life.
We listen to God speaking to us, to me personally.
We read and listen with the mindset: what is God saying to me here?
And second, we respond and speak to God.
We speak to God from our hearts, in addition to our minds.
We silently voice our peace or anxiety, our love or fear, our gratitude or pain.
This allows a personal encounter to happen.
And, if we make this the center of our faith, we will be alive in God.
We are “…liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption.
“We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.”
My reading of Pope Francis tells me that it all starts here – in this “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
This is the first way that the Holy Father inspires me – more to come next week!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations from: Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, 2013; homily at Santa Marta, February 21, 2014)
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Pope Francis - 2
Dear Friends,
Pope Francis emphasizes faith as a “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
He is also very clear that this encounter is made possible through the faith community, the Church.
Without the Church, we could become quite narrow and even self-focused.
The Church opens us to a fuller image of God and fuller understanding of our ourselves and our relationship with God.
“The originality [of the Christian faith] lies precisely in the fact that the faith makes us participate, in Jesus, in the relationship that He has with God who is Abba, and in this light, the relationship that he has with all other[s], including enemies, in the sign of love…The singularity of Jesus is for communication, not for exclusion.”
Pope Francis approaches all human beings with this openness that reaches out and includes.
“The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open.”
This is the way, in the twentieth-first century, of sharing God’s love with others and of drawing them to a community of faith.
To do this, bishops and we priests are wise to follow Francis’ description of our role as shepherd.
“…he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and – above all – allowing the flock to strike out on new paths.”
Finally, in all of this, the Eucharist is central.
Again, as Francis says: “In the Eucharist, the one true God receives the greatest worship the world can give him, for it is Christ himself who is offered. When we receive him in Holy Communion, we renew our covenant with him and allow him to carry out ever more fully his work of transforming our lives.”
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision. More next week!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: A letter to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 2013; Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, 2013; Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018)
Pope Francis emphasizes faith as a “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
He is also very clear that this encounter is made possible through the faith community, the Church.
Without the Church, we could become quite narrow and even self-focused.
The Church opens us to a fuller image of God and fuller understanding of our ourselves and our relationship with God.
“The originality [of the Christian faith] lies precisely in the fact that the faith makes us participate, in Jesus, in the relationship that He has with God who is Abba, and in this light, the relationship that he has with all other[s], including enemies, in the sign of love…The singularity of Jesus is for communication, not for exclusion.”
Pope Francis approaches all human beings with this openness that reaches out and includes.
“The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open.”
This is the way, in the twentieth-first century, of sharing God’s love with others and of drawing them to a community of faith.
To do this, bishops and we priests are wise to follow Francis’ description of our role as shepherd.
“…he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and – above all – allowing the flock to strike out on new paths.”
Finally, in all of this, the Eucharist is central.
Again, as Francis says: “In the Eucharist, the one true God receives the greatest worship the world can give him, for it is Christ himself who is offered. When we receive him in Holy Communion, we renew our covenant with him and allow him to carry out ever more fully his work of transforming our lives.”
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision. More next week!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: A letter to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 2013; Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, 2013; Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018)
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Pope Francis - 3
Dear Friends,
We believe that God is the creator of all that is.
We believe that all life ultimately comes from God and that human life is especially sacred.
This is why our Christian and Catholic morality calls us to respect human life from conception through natural death.
At various times, Pope Francis has highlighted our calling to respect the life of all human beings and given us an important, broad perspective on this.
Francis says:
“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
Pope Francis goes on to cite migrants as other persons for whom our human life ethic calls us to care.
Also, earlier this past summer, Pope Francis wrote to us, the American people:
“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of human life.”
In fact, the Holy Father says that holiness, being authentically or holistically Christian or Catholic, demands that we care for the life of all human beings.
“We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.”
Yes, the Pope’s teaching is challenging and not easy.
It is sweeping, a consistent ethic of life.
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
More on Pope Francis next week!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018; Letter from Pope Francis to the American People, June 3, 2020)
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We believe that God is the creator of all that is.
We believe that all life ultimately comes from God and that human life is especially sacred.
This is why our Christian and Catholic morality calls us to respect human life from conception through natural death.
At various times, Pope Francis has highlighted our calling to respect the life of all human beings and given us an important, broad perspective on this.
Francis says:
“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
Pope Francis goes on to cite migrants as other persons for whom our human life ethic calls us to care.
Also, earlier this past summer, Pope Francis wrote to us, the American people:
“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of human life.”
In fact, the Holy Father says that holiness, being authentically or holistically Christian or Catholic, demands that we care for the life of all human beings.
“We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.”
Yes, the Pope’s teaching is challenging and not easy.
It is sweeping, a consistent ethic of life.
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
More on Pope Francis next week!
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018; Letter from Pope Francis to the American People, June 3, 2020)
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Pope Francis - 4
Dear Friends,
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical on the earth, our environment – the first encyclical ever written on this topic.
By the way, an encyclical is a long letter that popes write on a specific topic as a way of teaching and exhortation.
This 2015 letter is titled: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home.
Francis brings an interesting educational background to this topic: a Doctorate in Theology and a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.
So, he has both a scientific and a spiritual perspective.
In the encyclical, Francis identifies the serious problems with our earth or environment, especially carbon emissions and over-consumption of our resources.
He calls us to embrace a culture of care for one another and for our common home.
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Francis first calls us to be prayerful, and he especially highlights the prayer before meals.
He says this:
“I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom.
That moment of blessing, however brief,
reminds us of our dependence on God for life;
it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation;
it acknowledges those who by their labors provide us with these goods;
and it reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.”
So, a simple recommendation.
Pope Francis very insightfully sees this grace before meals as affirming human life and affirming the earth and the goods that we derive from it.
It is a way for us to stay alert to our calling to care for our common home.
I repeat what I said at the end of prior columns in this series: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
Next week, I will conclude this series by focusing on the second ingredient in the culture of care that Francis promotes.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical on the earth, our environment – the first encyclical ever written on this topic.
By the way, an encyclical is a long letter that popes write on a specific topic as a way of teaching and exhortation.
This 2015 letter is titled: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home.
Francis brings an interesting educational background to this topic: a Doctorate in Theology and a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.
So, he has both a scientific and a spiritual perspective.
In the encyclical, Francis identifies the serious problems with our earth or environment, especially carbon emissions and over-consumption of our resources.
He calls us to embrace a culture of care for one another and for our common home.
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Francis first calls us to be prayerful, and he especially highlights the prayer before meals.
He says this:
“I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom.
That moment of blessing, however brief,
reminds us of our dependence on God for life;
it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation;
it acknowledges those who by their labors provide us with these goods;
and it reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.”
So, a simple recommendation.
Pope Francis very insightfully sees this grace before meals as affirming human life and affirming the earth and the goods that we derive from it.
It is a way for us to stay alert to our calling to care for our common home.
I repeat what I said at the end of prior columns in this series: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
Next week, I will conclude this series by focusing on the second ingredient in the culture of care that Francis promotes.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)
*********
Pope Francis - 5
Dear Friends,
In his encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis calls us to a culture of care for one another and for the earth.
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Last week’s Inbox focused on being prayerful.
Being provident means that we live and act with all other human beings in mind and with the future in mind.
Francis calls us to live more according to need than want, and in that way, avoid waste.
He asserts that “Approximately a third of all food produced is discarded” – wasted, thrown away.
A study by our own Food and Drug Administration says that the same percentage is true in our country.
This is a stinging fact in the face of other data that tells us that approximately 800 million people, 10% of the world’s population suffer from malnutrition.
All of this can seem big and beyond us, but each of us can do something.
Turning off unneeded lamps and lights to conserve energy, buying only the kind and amount of food that we know we are going to eat, recycling whatever we can (like glass, plastics, and paper), and even trying to buy cars with lower carbon emissions – actions like these have effects.
So, by being prayerful (the simple grace before meals), we stay alert to our calling to care for one another and for our common home.
And by being provident, we actually do something to fulfill this calling.
The following words of Pope Francis provide further foundation for this:
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.”
I conclude this series by repeating what I have said at the end of each of the prior four columns: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)
In his encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis calls us to a culture of care for one another and for the earth.
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Last week’s Inbox focused on being prayerful.
Being provident means that we live and act with all other human beings in mind and with the future in mind.
Francis calls us to live more according to need than want, and in that way, avoid waste.
He asserts that “Approximately a third of all food produced is discarded” – wasted, thrown away.
A study by our own Food and Drug Administration says that the same percentage is true in our country.
This is a stinging fact in the face of other data that tells us that approximately 800 million people, 10% of the world’s population suffer from malnutrition.
All of this can seem big and beyond us, but each of us can do something.
Turning off unneeded lamps and lights to conserve energy, buying only the kind and amount of food that we know we are going to eat, recycling whatever we can (like glass, plastics, and paper), and even trying to buy cars with lower carbon emissions – actions like these have effects.
So, by being prayerful (the simple grace before meals), we stay alert to our calling to care for one another and for our common home.
And by being provident, we actually do something to fulfill this calling.
The following words of Pope Francis provide further foundation for this:
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.”
I conclude this series by repeating what I have said at the end of each of the prior four columns: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.
Father Michael Schleupner
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)
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