Hello All,
Below is a paragraph from a homily given by the new pope, Francis I, in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, March 14, 2013. It was, I believe, one of his first homilies as pope. The homily is about “Journeying, Building, and Professing.” Though the entire homily is worth reading and is available at the link at the bottom, it is one particular paragraph about the “Professing” aspect of the pope’s message here that most moved me.
Pope Francis summarizes so well, in this brief paragraph, the truth of who we really are and who we should strive to be as a Church:
“….Thirdly, professing. We can walk as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not profess Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord. When we are not walking, we stop moving. When we are not building on the stones, what happens? The same thing that happens to children on the beach when they build sandcastles: everything is swept away, there is no solidity. When we do not profess Jesus Christ, the saying of Léon Bloy comes to mind: “Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil.” When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.” – Pope Francis I
If we do not profess Jesus, we profess “the world,” whether we admit it or not. If we do not pray to Jesus, we pray to the devil, whether we realize it or not. These are hard words to hear even for many Christians. But, ask yourself, what do you believe in? What do you stand for? Are you “of the world” or are you merely “in the world”?
Let us put it another way, as Jimmy Carter recalled hearing said to him once: “If you were on trial for being a Christian,……. would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Make no mistake, the Gospels of Jesus Christ are unquestionably the single greatest tool we have at our disposal if we are to help this world and our neighbors in any meaningful way.
I believe we will see many more people in this world, than we have seen in decades, return to the Roman Catholic faith due to the ministry and message of this pope.
If you are interested, the entire homily is available at this link: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130314_omelia-cardinali_en.html
God Bless and may His Love be with you and may His Name never be far from your lips.
ds
One Prayerful Pilgrim 
I really enjoy your blog, Dave. Thanks for sharing your insights.
I would suggest that “the world” is a much more divine and connected place than we can possibly imagine. One of our greatest minds, Albert Einstein, claimed that (paraphrasing) “veneration of a force beyond human comprehension is my religion”. When pressed about his agnosticism he professed an “attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being.” This focus on humility is shared in common with the Christian point of view you are espousing. Perhaps the problem is not so much the professing of the world, but that when we think we are professing the world we are actually professing ourselves and failing in this humility.
Although this is most in-your-face with the evangelical pseudoscientific atheism professed by the likes of Richard Dawkins and embraced by many of the self-worshipping entitlement set, we are all prone to failing of humility and use of our religion or agnosticism as a means of propping up our own judgements and biases. Perhaps this is the real manifestation of the devil we profess without even realizing (am I doing it now?).
Thanks for your thoughts. I’ve read some Dawkins( I think it was the God Delusion, and something else years ago.) I was not very impressed with him even when I was an agnostic. I believe you are correct, if I may paraphrase, about EGO often masquerading as something much greater in how we express ourselves.
God Bless….