I think by now many of us are coming down with cabin fever. You can only binge-watch so many series on Netflix and Disney+. You can only play video games and read books for so long. Even getting out and taking a walk is starting to feel a bit repetitive. I feel anything but free.
And yet, Pope Francis teaches us that freedom is exactly what the Holy Spirit provides us. In a homily on April 20, Pope Francis said: “The definition of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives here is interesting … unconstrained. A person who gets carried from both sides by the Holy Spirit: this is the freedom of the Spirit. And a person who does this is docile, and here we talk about docility to the Holy Spirit.”
I like this idea of being docile. We are flexible and open to new ideas. When we listen to the Holy Spirit through prayer, we need to be open to how he guides us. Just choosing prayer over TV, video games, and other media shows the beginnings of openness. You are choosing to block out distractions to try to listen to the Holy Spirit. That’s a great start.
I often complain that one of the hardest things about sheltering in place is the constant noise. Someone is always talking. Of, if you have kids, someone is always shouting or running around. The constant movement and volume is tiring. That is why it’s important to deliberately carve time for prayer. Otherwise, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit gets drowned out by the daily noise in our lives. And that’s how we feel trapped. We can no longer feel the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge to break us out of our suffocating routines.
If you’re looking for something new, try praying the Rosary. If you already pray the Rosary, try adding more to it like meditations or scriptural passages. Think about the Third Glorious Mystery and how the Holy Spirit came down and inspired the Apostles. Think of how couped up they must have felt hiding after Jesus’ death and resurrection out of fear of the Jews. They were the definition of confinement. And what was it that set them free? The Holy Spirit! What released them from their bondage of fear? The Holy Spirit! And what guided them across the known world teaching in Jesus’ name? The Holy Spirit! In the words of Pope Francis, “With this freedom of the Holy Spirit, you will never know where you will end up.”
Pope Francis’ November intention is “In the Service of Peace: That the language of love and dialogue may always prevail over the language of conflict.” Here’s a snippet of Deacon Ted Penton’s reflection on the pope’s message (the full article is found on Zenit).
Jesus didn’t allow Peter to defend him from an arrest by use of the sword. Nor did he call down legions of angels to save him from the Romans who tortured and executed him. Instead, he submitted to death on the cross. In some mysterious way, the Father used the death and resurrection of his Son for far greater purposes than any of his followers could have imagined. As Pope Francis eloquently stated, “In the silence of the cross, the uproar of weapons ceases and the language of reconciliation, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace is spoken.”
This reflection ties in nicely with my previous post about the sin of pride and the virtue of humility. I also called out Jesus’ Passion as a time of peaceful and humble acceptance of God’s plan for us. Jesus showed us that humility is the language of love that Pope Francis refers to in his November intention. Because when we are humble we let God speak through us. His words are not filtered and drowned out by our pride. They aren’t muddled by our limited human minds. Even when our intentions are good, we still don’t possess the ability to see the “big picture” and construct the same language of love and dialogue that is as effective as God’s Word.
There’s another aspect of the November intention I want to discuss. We can’t confuse peaceful dialogue with weakness. All too often, we have this notion that love means letting others roll over us and do as they like. But look at Jesus’ example. He was all loving but He was certainly no pushover. He was unrelenting in preaching God’s truth and never backed down. He never told sinners that their actions were okay. But He did teach them what God desired for them and forgave them. He did this in a loving way that drew people closer, not further away. We too should imitate Jesus. We don’t shy away from preaching God’s truth but we must do it in a way that also shows God’s love.
Jesus forgives the adulteress.
When we pray the Third Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom and Heaven and His Call to Conversion, let’s keep the pope’s November intention in our hearts. Let’s remember to make an effort to convert any of our ways that create conflict into ways that create and foster God’s love. It’s not an easy journey letting go of our almost instinctive nature to fight hostility with hostility. But think about Jesus being scourged and how difficult it must have been for Him not to fight back in a hostile way. Ultimately, Jesus “won” because humiliation, torture, and death was not the end. He found the strength to endure all of that out of His love for us. We pray the Rosary this month asking God for that same strength to see that it is love, not hate, that will ultimately win and convert souls.
Take a look at the news and ask yourself, do politicians generally support laws that promote or limit family freedoms? What importance do current laws and legal rulings place on traditional family structures? Think about rulings trying to redefine marriage, the limiting of rights parents have over how to best raise their kids, and just the overall societal devaluing of marriage’s role in promoting a stable, peaceful, and strong society.
In that light, here is Pope Francis’ intention for August 2018:
Universal – The Treasure of Families
That any far-reaching decisions of economists and politicians may protect the family as one of the treasures of humanity.
I think it’s obvious that governments in general, and individual politicians specifically, are acting increasingly more hostile to the traditional family ideal. Much of it comes from politicians knowing that people need to be part of a close-knit unit. But unfortunately for politicians, the original close-knit unit, the family, acts as a political ideological wall. It acts like a wall because parents can act as a political filter and are usually a much closer role model for their kids. But if politicians can chip away or tear down that wall, they know that people will seek the guidance from another community, one where the politicians wield more control — the government.
Politicians are human and have human weaknesses. Many are greedy and seek increases in political power. When they obtain that power, they want to keep it and grow it. That endeavor becomes easier when they have more control over the population. One such lever to increase control is to reduce the influence of a mom and dad. In other words, as the independence of the family goes down, the influence of the government increases because it fills that decision-making, rule-enforcing vacuum.
Once again, we have the Catholic faith taking the now counter-cultural view of promoting the value of the traditional family. In a world where there is a separation of church and state or an open hostility towards religion, then where else but the family will people learn and love God? When Pope Francis asks us to pray for the protection of the family, he does so to our benefit and ultimate happiness. It’s through the family that parents pass their love of God and the importance of faith to their children. It’s that love of God and reliance on Him and His grace that people find strength and motivation to not only endure life’s challenges but prosper and find a meaningful peace.
The Rosary Connection
The Fourth Joyful Mystery, The Presentation in the Temple, is a wonderful Rosary mystery to reflect on the value of family. In this mystery, Mary and Joseph impress the importance and value of living their faith and passing on those traditions to Jesus. I find it interesting that of all the events in the Gospel, this one made the cut of being worthy of a Rosary mystery. Our Mother Mary obviously wants us to understand the importance of family and sharing in God’s love with one another. Following the pope’s intention, let’s remember to pray for politicians, economists, and employers as well in respecting the importance of family.
Remember, the pope is asking us to pray for a group of people (politicians) that are currently skewing in an anti-family direction. We are essentially praying for a change of hardened hearts. Pray for the people in power when you pray the Third Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, Jesus’ Proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Call to Conversion. Remember that Jesus’ message wasn’t always well received, especially by the authorities in the Sanhedrin because it challenged their power. So too, does a free and independent family challenge modern politicians’ power. After Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles also encountered a lot of hostility establishing the early Christian Church. Saint Stephen was even martyred on the order of Jewish officials (Saul, later Saint Paul, being one of them). We too are called to the same mission as the apostles — spreading Jesus’ teachings to everyone, especially the powerful who may be hostile towards them.
I had the privilege of attending a First Holy CommunionMass last weekend. The Mass was great; all the children were in their fine attire and super excited, parents and family packed the church, and everyone went home to big parties. I asked my relative who attends the parish how many of those families attend Mass regularly. More specifically, how many of these families will be at Mass next Sunday. He guessed about 20%. I was saddened but not shocked when I heard that low number.
I would think that emphasizing the importance of regular Mass attendance would be a core tenant of preparation for one’s First Communion. We can’t really blame the second graders for not coming to Mass every Sunday. After all, they depend on their parents to take them to church. The responsibility lies almost entirely on the parents to make sure their children attend Mass. If parents do not attend Mass regularly they convey the message that Mass isn’t that important. More broadly, they convey that practicing their faith isn’t all that important. This message creates a cycle where the kids grow up thinking that Mass and receiving the Eucharist is something unimportant and optional which they will pass to the next generation of Catholics.
Plenty of first communicants, not many second ones though.
With this scenario in mind, listen to Pope Francis’ intention for the month of May: That the lay faithful may fulfill their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today. The pope is asking all Catholics to actively live and promote the Catholic Faith. Promoting the faith cannot fall solely on ordained priests and nuns. They only make up a small fraction of the Catholic Church. For the Church to remain thriving, it requires the active participation of the lay faithful who make up 99% of the Church. Remember, Jesus didn’t select the Pharisees, scribes, and scholars to spread His message. He chose fishermen and a tax collector as His apostles. From the start, the foundation of the Church was the laity.
As the lay faithful, we of course need to set a good example. We need to attend Mass and avoid sin. And that’s a good start because that can help break the cycle of indifference. But God wants more from us than just the bare minimum. He doesn’t want His Church to just survive; He wants it to flourish! God desires all of us to one day join Him in Heaven and so we need to be active promoters of the faith. This doesn’t mean pestering and annoying people into conversion. As the pope says in his May intention, we need to be creative in our approach.
The Rosary Connection
As you pray the Rosary in May (Mary’s month), remember the pope’s intention. Think about how you can be a more active champion of the Catholic Faith and lead others to realize the peace that comes from God’s grace. Here are how some of the mysteries relate to the pope’s call for greater laity involvement in the Church.
The Visitation (2nd Joyful Mystery) — This account immediately follows the Annunciation in the Bible. Note that God did not direct Mary to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. Mary went on her own accord to help someone who needed it. This should remind us all that upon receiving God’s grace we should all be moved to use that grace in helping others in whatever creative way God calls us.
English: Statue of the Visitation in the Church of the Visitation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Ascension (2nd Glorious Mystery) — This mystery is about Jesus’ final human appearance before going into Heaven. He left behind dedicated disciples to carry on His mission. Today’s lay faithful are descendants of those early disciples. We have just as much of a responsibility for spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ as those disciples. Ironically, we find ourselves in a similar world; one that does not know Jesus. We need to be the ones showing others that our desire for true happiness only comes through Jesus, not by fulfilling all our worldly desires.
The Assumption (4th Glorious Mystery) — Mary is our guide who desires nothing more than for us to know Jesus’ love for us. We can call on Her when we have a particularly difficult time living and spreading the faith. Mary will help us and intercede for us if we ask. God isn’t asking the lay faithful to spread His Word alone. We can always rely on Mary to assist us.
I hope you have a joyful and glorious month of May. Honor Mary by praying the Rosary and contemplating the pope’s intention.
I’m in the process of digitizing old home movies originally recorded on videotape. What I find so interesting is the amount of footage my parents recorded for each event. I have tapes with two hours of footage of a school talent show where I or one of my siblings was on stage for only five minutes. I guess my mom really wanted to capture the feeling of the event and not just have five minutes of footage in a vacuum with little or no context.
I think we can all understand my mom wanting to capture every detail of an event. After all, people upload 300 hours of video to YouTube every minute! Thousands of posts are made to Facebook every second. And everyone is an instant shutterbug with their phones. I bet much of this is to not only record the actual physical events in our lives but also try to capture the associated feelings. And yet many times, these recordings fail to truly capture the true emotion of an event and upon replay they just come out flat.
“This is why the Eucharistic commemoration does us so much good: it is not an abstract, cold and superficial memory, but a living remembrance that comforts us with God’s love.”
Francis explained that when we receive the Eucharist, our hearts have the opportunity to become overwhelmed with the certainty of Christ’s love for us, the Eucharist giving us a memory that is grateful, free, and patient.
We can see the Eucharist as Jesus’ way of capturing the essence of the Catholic Faith to be replayed every time we celebrate it at Mass. The Eucharist does what no camera and video recording can do, no matter how high the memory and resolution — it captures the entirety of God’s love for us. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he wasn’t just telling that to his apostles in the room. Jesus was saying that all Christians, present and future, must remember that the Eucharist embodies all of his teachings and love.
3rd quarter of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But much like a forgotten videotape in a cardboard moving box in a warehouse, what good is the Eucharist if we don’t receive it? You never give yourself the opportunity to replay and feel the essence of Jesus’ teachings or God’s love for you. Don’t get me wrong, you can learn these things at a cerebral level by reading the Bible and listening to homilies. But that’s not the type of memory you recall when you receive the Eucharist. The memories replayed through the Eucharist are often only understood by your soul in a way you can’t easily describe because God’s love is beyond the human capacity to describe it. But just because you can’t describe it doesn’t mean you don’t receive its benefits.
To fully receive the memories of faith in the Eucharist your soul must be in a worthy state. That means receiving it with no mortal sins, having prepared by fasting, and appreciating the solemnity of the Eucharistic feast. Otherwise, you are like a broken video player unable to replay the captured memories. Or at best, it comes out so distorted and degraded that your soul can’t understand it.
When you pray the Fifth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, remember how powerful a gift the Eucharist is. It is not something to be received lightly but it is something we should be receiving regularly. We need to slow down and remember that our faith is built on the Eucharist. If we don’t slow down, what good is the Eucharist having on our soul? As Pope Francis reminded us:
Our lives are such a whirl of people and events that we no longer retain memories. But this leaves us at risk of only living on the surface of things and never going deeper, he said, “without the broader vision that reminds us who we are and where we are going.”
“This is why the Eucharistic commemoration does us so much good: it is not an abstract, cold and superficial memory, but a living remembrance that comforts us with God’s love.”
In my previous article, I talked about how we need to make every rosary prayer count by staying focused and engaged instead of just racing through it so that it can be checked off a spiritual to-do list. That naturally leads many people to ask this question, “Should I pray the rosary even when I’m not in the mood?” After all, when you’re sick, do you exercise heavily or get some rest? Is it better to skip rosary prayer if you believe you are just going to say the words on auto-pilot?
About a year ago I gave a lecture titled “Would you pray for a million dollars?” I put forth this theoretical situation. Suppose Pope Francis offered anyone who prayed the rosary every day for a month a million dollars. But you receive nothing if you miss just one day. How high would you prioritize rosary prayer amongst your other daily responsibilities? What would be so important that would cause you to skip a day and lose the big payout?
Do I get paid by the bead or by the chaplet?
For most of us, nothing short of the apocalypse would stand in our way of praying the rosary daily for a million dollars (bad example as I’m sure rosary prayer would increase during the Apocalypse). But the kicker is that Mary’s 15 promises to those who pray the rosary are infinitely more valuable than any cash payout. And yet, we so quickly tend to find reasons to avoid praying the rosary and miss out on its benefits.
Back to the original question of this article — should you pray the rosary when you don’t feel like it? Is no rosary better than an unfocused rosary? I think this is actually asking the wrong question. In most cases, it’s not that you don’t feel up to praying the rosary. After all, I bet you would find the time and energy for a cash reward. It’s that we tend to de-prioritize the rosary because we don’t appreciate its value. If we did internalize the importance and benefits of rosary prayer then nothing short of death would keep us from praying it (another bad example since you will be more likely to pray the rosary at the hour of your death).
I don’t want to sound sanctimonious because I certainly have days when I talk myself out of praying the rosary for very weak reasons. We all probably have our moments of weakness that allow Satan to convince us to put away our rosaries and do something else.
No, watching a movie starring Jim Caviezel is not the same as praying the rosary.
Before canceling your rosary prayer for the day, ask yourself whether you prioritized it correctly. Did you put it off all day to a time when you historically don’t focus well? Did you replace rosary prayer with TV or some other leisurely activity? In short, did you set yourself up for failing to pray by not giving it the proper priority in your day? Remember that rosary prayer has incredible benefits that far outweigh any material gain. Don’t casually convince yourself out of praying it regularly for weak reasons and miss out on all God offers you.
During his greetings to Polish pilgrims, the Pope invited the crowd to applaud the Virgin Mary “Queen of Poland” on the day of the national holiday.
While to young people, Francis urged, “learn to pray with the simple and effective prayer of the rosary,” to sick people, he encouraged, “may the Blessed Virgin be your support in the trial of suffering.”
May is Mary’s month and I can think of no better way to honor our Heavenly Mother than with earnest rosary prayer. The word rosary comes from the Latin word rosa meaning rose. So while you are busy buying physical flowers for Mother’s Day don’t forget to send Mary spiritual flowers through rosary prayer.
As an aside, I can picture some of you saying, “Wait, you’re saying May is the perfect time to pray the rosary. Didn’t you just say that we should celebrate Easter by praying the rosary? And before that, didn’t you say we should observe Lent by praying the rosary? And before that didn’t you say we should celebrate a new year with rosary prayer? And before that, didn’t you say to celebrate Christmas, Advent, October, etc. with rosary prayer?”
Naturally, my answer to all of those questions is yes! The rosary is the perfect prayer for all occasions. There is never a bad time to pray the rosary or start learning how to pray the rosary. Need help? Please browse RosaryMeds for videos, links, and other resources to help you pray the rosary.
As well intentioned Pope Francis seems to be, he sure can generate a lot of misunderstandings of Church doctrine. I think it’s important to call out these instances and try to clarify them. After all, I don’t want the secular media, who aren’t the most Catholic friendly, having the final word interpreting the pope’s words.
While the pope’s supposed twitter war with Donald Trump has garnered a lot of attention, he also made statements about the use of contraception to combat the Zika virus in South America. This didn’t get the amount of attention it deserves as it will live well beyond a few tweets between a presidential candidate and the pope. I fear the media will quote this in the future whenever the Catholic Church and contraception are mentioned. Here’s the specific part of the transcript I want to focus on (bold is mine):
Paloma García Ovejero, Cadena COPE (Spain): Holy Father, for several weeks there’s been a lot of concern in many Latin American countries but also in Europe regarding the Zika virus. The greatest risk would be for pregnant women. There is anguish. Some authorities have proposed abortion, or else to avoiding pregnancy. As regards avoiding pregnancy, on this issue, can the Church take into consideration the concept of “the lesser of two evils?”
Pope Francis: Abortion is not the lesser of two evils. It is a crime. It is to throw someone out in order to save another. That’s what the Mafia does. It is a crime, an absolute evil. On the ‘lesser evil,’ avoiding pregnancy, we are speaking in terms of the conflict between the fifth and sixth commandment. Paul VI, a great man, in a difficult situation in Africa, permitted nuns to use contraceptives in cases of rape.
Here’s the problem. Did Pope Paul VI actually permit nuns in Africa to use contraception? Pope Francis’ argument hangs on the premise that a previous pope had a doctrinally sound reason for doing so. Surely, Pope Francis can refer to some papal document from Pope Paul VI supporting this position right? But it looks like the pope has been hoodwinked by a Catholic urban legend. I came across a great article by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf that examined the root of the “Pope Paul VI permitted nuns to use contraception” myth.
English: picture of pope paul VI Español: fotografia del papa pablo VI (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
While I encourage you to read the entire article, the tl;dr version is that the scenario of nuns in Africa using contraception was written as a hypothetical example in a theological article about the principle of double effect that was published two years before Paul VI became pope. Like any urban legend, it starts based on some actual event and then little changes to the details are applied. Like a game of telephone, eventually the story the persists is nothing like the original. There’s even a similar version of this story except it’s St. John Paul II instead of Paul VI and Bosnian nuns replace African nuns.
I understand why the New York Times or the Washington Post may mistakenly report this myth as fact. After all, they probably think Nancy Pelosi is an authority on Catholic doctrine. But I would hope that the pope would be better informed and not repeat an urban legend as truth. What’s worse is that while the words attributed to Paul VI or St. John Paul II are myths, the words of Pope Francis are not. He actually said them and believes that they are rooted in Catholic teachings. I fear that over time the Paul VI myth will be replaced with Pope Francis’ own words. After all, who needs to keep a myth alive when you have the words straight from the pope’s mouth?
The pope’s off the cuff statements create a challenge for those who want to show the world the reality, truth, and beauty of the Catholic Church. When the truth in areas like contraception are blurred, it waters down the appeal of authentic Catholicism. Going back to the book, Rome Sweet Home, that I wrote about recently, part of the reason the Hahn’s left the protestant church was because they started to see inconsistencies and too much gray area in the doctrine. They saw the Catholic Church as an unwavering rock of well reasoned, biblical doctrine that created an opportunity to truly live in the fullness of God’s grace. Catholic doctrine may not be the easiest to understand and follow, but at least it’s true. Speaking of rocks, the office of the pope should be acting as the doctrinal cornerstone as Jesus commanded Peter. That is why Pope Francis’ interviews, where he creates a lot of confusion, bothers me so much. When the pope gives off the cuff comments, I feel like he weakens the divinely appointed role and power of the papacy.
Retable de l’Agneau mystique
Whenever I think of Church doctrine, my thoughts go towards the Fourth Glorious Mystery of the rosary — Mary’s Assumption into Heaven. I think that one of the reasons God assumed Mary into Heaven is because her duties as our mother extended beyond her earthly life. God chose her to be our mother for all ages to come. And like a good mother, Mary desires us to know our faith and see its depth and beauty. There is so much misinformation out there about the Catholic Church, both intentionally and unintentionally spread. It’s our responsibility to learn all that we can so we aren’t led astray into a false or watered down sense of our rich faith. Holy Mary, we pray to you for guidance to learn as much as we can about the Heavenly Kingdom you so greatly want us to enjoy. Amen.
I almost feel like I need to start a What Pope Francis Means is… section on RosaryMeds. It’s not that I think what Pope Francis says is wrong. In fact, both Pope Benedict and Saint John Paul II also said many things that, without looking through a well formed theological lens, one could interpret as going against Catholic doctrine. But because of Pope Francis’ off the cuff style, he opens more doors than his predecessors for incorrect justifications of uncatholic behavior for those who wish to take it.
In today’s article, let’s look at this report from the National Catholic Reporter about Pope Francis’ remarks during his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square:
“We all know in our communities, in our parishes, in our neighborhoods how much hurt they do the church, and give scandal, those persons that call themselves ‘Very Catholic,'” the pontiff said Sunday.
Francis was speaking Sunday in an off-the-cuff moment during his weekly Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square, which focused on one of Jesus’ teachings about the role of the proscribed laws of the faith of his time.
“The literal observance of the precepts is something sterile if it does not change the heart and is not translated into concrete attitudes,” he said, giving examples: “Opening yourself to the encounter with God and God’s word in prayer, searching for justice and peace, giving help to the poor, the weak and the oppressed.”
“The exterior attitudes are the consequence of what we have determined in the heart,” said the pope. “Not the opposite! With outside attitudes, if the heart does not change we are not true Christians.”
What Pope Francis Did NOT Say
Some people could take Pope Francis’ words to mean that it is okay to not embrace all the teachings of the Catholic Church. After all, you don’t want to be that goody-goody who is “very Catholic” or “too Catholic” as I’ve heard some refer to those who try to follow the precepts of the Church. Without proper reflection, the pope’s comments could be taken as an endorsement of “cafeteria Catholicism” where you can pick what part of the doctrine you want to follow. As long as you have a good heart or a just cause it’s alright to skip Mass on Sunday, support pro-choice causes, and not really buy into the “we are sinners in need of forgiveness” idea. After all, the pope says that being very Catholic can be a bad thing right?
Sorry Nancy, the pope isn’t saying those who are pro-life are bad Catholics
Of course Pope Francis is not saying that you can embrace uncatholic behaviors and still be a Catholic in God’s grace. Nor is he telling practicing Catholics to butt out of the lives of those who have fallen away from the Church. Unfortunately, for those looking for excuses for their behavior and shortcomings, you can easily pick and choose the pope’s words to support your actions.
What is Pope Francis Saying?
In my view, Pope Francis’ comments come down to a single word: PRIDE. It’s not that trying to be a very good Catholic is a bad thing, but you start getting into sinful territory when you start to believe that you’ve achieved some state of heavenly perfection in this lifetime because you follow all the rules. You give scandal when you try to lord that false perception of perfection over others. The very act of believing you are a better person than others because you follow the rules prevents you from being a fully realized Catholic because you fail to acknowledge your sinful act of pride.
My search for “pride” didn’t turn up any family friendly pictures. Here’s a cat instead.
There is an old saying that I’m going to paraphrase — being wise means understanding that there is a lot you do not know. I think that’s important to meditate on when thinking about how good of a Catholic you are. Someone who is truly very Catholic understands that they have a lot of sins and shortcomings that they need to work on. No one can achieve perfect Catholicism in this world (Mary and Jesus excluded of course). That is a state reserved for the souls in Heaven. Even the saints acknowledged that they were poor sinners who had to battle various imperfections throughout their lives. Even those who were the most holy among us like Saint Pope John Paul II went to confession weekly because he had the humility to know he could still be a better Catholic.
The Rosary Connection
The rosary relates to Pope Francis’ comments in two ways. First, we pray it so that we can more humbly approach our faith. When I meditate on the various mysteries and think about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, I understand the long road I have before me in areas of my life where I need to improve. I don’t think anyone who earnestly prays the rosary can believe they are very Catholic when compared to the lives of Mary and Jesus or even the martyrs, apostles, and saints. If I ever do start to feel prideful and that there isn’t any more I can do to be a great Catholic, meditating on the rosary brings me back to reality.
The rosary also helps me become very Catholic, but very Catholic in the right way. As Pope Francis said, we should focus on changing our hearts, not just our exterior attitudes. Think about the Third Luminous Mystery of the rosary. Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of Heaven and calls us to a life of conversion. This conversion is a conversion of heart, not actions. Because when we do have a true conversion of heart and orient ourselves towards God, the actions will naturally follow.
Think of it like this, you aren’t very Catholic because you go to Mass on Sunday. You are very Catholic because you love God with all your heart and want to embrace Him by listening to His Word and celebrating the Eucharist at Mass. True conversion and becoming very Catholic starts from within with regular prayer and reflecting on what areas of your life need improvement. The rosary is a great tool that leads you to true Catholicism, not a false, prideful one.
Most people won’t have a “Road to Damascus” moment like St. Paul. Conversion is a lifelong process.
Need more help getting the most out of the rosary? Download my free ebook chock full of rosary intentions to meditate on.
I know I’m a little late to the party, but I want to comment on Pope Francis’ latest interview in American Magazine that raised a stir. It has more progressively minded Catholics giving the pope a big thumbs up while traditional Catholics are squirming in their seats. Some people think that Pope Francis is undoing decades of zealotry and adherence to dogma while others see him simply rephrasing long-held teachings of the faith. In a way, the pope’s comments are a spiritual Rorschach test. Otherwise known as an inkblot test, a subject sees pictures of generic shapes and says the first thing that comes to mind. It helps psychologists determine someone’s state of mind. Like the Rorschach test, Pope Francis’ comments almost reveal more about our perceptions of the Church than what the Church actually teaches.
What Catholic Church do you see?
Pope Francis’ interview is about 12,000 words long (please read it). The mainstream media and blog outlets mostly fixated on a few statements about how the Church “cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.” And that “the church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.” Just look at the headlines:
New York Times — Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control
The Daily Beast — The Pope Confesses Church’s ‘Obsession’ With Gays, Abortion (I was amused by the use of the word “confesses”)
Taken on its own, it sounds like Pope Francis is casting off all those stuffy, cold-hearted rules that previous popes enforced to the letter. But when viewed in the context of the whole interview, you see that he’s saying that our faith and evangelization isn’t primarily about beating people over the head with rules and guidelines. The pope does not want people to blindly obey because people will never embrace the true Catholic Church that way. Instead, he wants people to know that God loves them and the Church dogma and doctrines exist to bring people closer to God’s grace. Essentially, the pope hopes that people will want to follow the Church’s guidelines out of love, not offer blind allegiance. CatholicVote.com has a good article that summarizes the pope’s interview if you want more analysis.
To their credit, many of the mainstream media articles do say that Pope Francis didn’t change Church teaching. This is the same message previous popes, cardinals, bishops, and priests have taught (or should have taught) for years. But when I read the comments in these online articles, I do get the sense that people are projecting their desires on what they would like the Church to be and not actually hearing what the pope says the Church actually is. They only see the aspects of the pope or the Catholic Church that fit their worldview and filter out anything that does not fit. For example, did you know that Pope Francis recently excommunicated a priest for promoting gay marriage and women’s ordination? You probably did not because that doesn’t fit the narrative of the compassionate pope the media portrays and is more in line with Pope Benedict‘s image as “God’s pit bull.”
Same Church, different world, different strategies, different media.
A writer for one of my favorite Catholic blogs, Creative Minority Report, demonstrated how easy it is to sway people’s perceptions of the pope depending on how his words are reported and filtered. I urge you to read this article that has quotes by the pope on the importance of women in the Church, how the Church should focus on helping the poor, how She embraces other faiths, and how humble he is. That describes Pope Francis to a tee right? But the M. Night Shyamalan twist at the end is that those quotes all come from Pope Benedict. Yeah, that supposedly detached, rule-oriented pope according to many media outlets. So this is a word of warning that you should perceive the pope or the Catholic faith with caution. Are your views based on your own conscience or on the narrative someone is trying to push?
I think we all need a healthy dose of the Fifth Glorious Mystery — Mary’s Coronation as Queen of Heaven. In the interview, Pope Francis said, “Mary, a woman, is more important than the bishops. I say this because we must not confuse the function with the dignity.” We should pray for help and guidance from Mary, Queen of Heaven. Remember, media outlets and blogs are in the business of selling products and advertisements and making profits. Mary is in the business of saving souls and making sure that as many people as possible will one day live in the peace of happiness of Heaven. When it comes to matters of faith, perhaps we should put down the New York Times, turn off Fox News, and pick up a rosary if we want to know the true Catholic Church.
