Pearl of Great Price

Pope Francis said that the “decisive and radical” decision to give up everything to seek even more precious treasures shows that “the building of the Kingdom requires not only the grace of God,

but also the active willingness of the human person.”

Pope Francis: Becoming restless seekers of the Kingdom of Heaven

·                  POPE FRANCIS

·                  ANGELUS

Pope Francis says we are called to become “healthily restless seekers of the Kingdom of Heaven,” as he reflects on the parables of the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great value during the Sunday Angelus.

By Christopher Wells

At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on two of the parables told by Jesus in the day’s Gospel: that of the treasure hidden in the field, and that of the pearl of great value.

In both parables, those who finds the “precious” items, that which is most dear to them, sell everything they have in order to obtain them. “With these two similes,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus proposes to involve us in the building of the Kingdom of Heaven, presenting one of its essential characteristics: Those who fully pledge themselves to the Kingdom are those who are willing to stake everything.”

Pope Francis said that the “decisive and radical” decision to give up everything to seek even more precious treasures shows that “the building of the Kingdom requires not only the grace of God, but also the active willingness of the human person.”

Healthily restless seekers

“We are called to assume the attitude of these Gospel figures,” Pope Francis continued, “so that we too may become healthily restless seekers of the Kingdom of Heaven.” As in the parables, this involves a cost: we must give up “worldly sureties” – such as “covetousness for possessions, the thirst for profit and power, and thinking only of ourselves” – which can hinder our search.

 

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Too often, said the Pope, people lead “mediocre and dull lives, because they do not go in search of real treasure.” Seeking after the Kingdom of Heaven, on the other hand, is the very “opposite of a dull life: it is a treasure that renews life every day and leads it to extend towards wider horizons.” Seekers after the Kingdom “have a creative and inquisitive heart” leading them to “new paths” for loving God, our neighbour, and ourselves.

 

The adventure of holiness

“Jesus, Who is the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value, cannot but inspire joy, all the joy in the world,” said Pope Francis: “the joy of discovering a meaning in life, the joy of committing oneself to the adventure of holiness.”

Pope Francis concluded his reflection with the prayer that the Blessed Virgin Mary “might help us to seek after the treasure of the Kingdom of Heaven every day, so that the love God has given us through Jesus may be manifested in our words and acts.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-07/pope-francis-becoming-restless-seekers-of-the-kingdom-of-heaven.html

Cardinal Scola calls out Pope Francis’ critics: ‘The pope is the pope’

 

 

Gerard O’Connell

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the runner-up in the last papal conclave, has twice in recent weeks come out strongly against those, especially within the church, who frequently and increasingly attack Pope Francis. “It’s a very strong sign of contradiction and denotes a certain weakening of the people of God, above all of the intellectual class,” he said. “It is a profoundly wrong attitude because it forgets that ‘the pope is the pope.’”

“It is not by affinity of temperament, of culture, of sensibility, or for friendship, or because one shares or does not share his affirmations that one acknowledges the meaning of the pope in the church,” the cardinal said in an interview published on the Archdiocese of Milan’s website on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination on July 18.

“[The pope] is the ultimate, radical and formal guarantor—certainly, through a synodal exercise of the Petrine ministry—of the unity of the church,” the cardinal, theologian and former rector of the Pontifical Lateran University stated.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, the runner-up in the last papal conclave, has come out strongly against those who frequently and increasingly attack Pope Francis.

Then, referring to the countless ways in which attacks have been launched against Pope Francis in these years, the former cardinal-patriarch of Venice and archbishop of Milan declared, “I consider these forms of pronouncements, letters, writings, pretenses of judgments on his action, above all when they establish irritating comparisons with previous papacies, a decisively negative phenomenon that is to be eradicated as soon as possible.”
Both in the interview and in a new introduction to the second edition of his autobiography, Ho scommesso sulla libertà (“I Bet on Freedom”), written with the Italian journalist Luigi Geninazzi and released on June 13, the Italian cardinal emphasized that one has “to learn the Pope” (“imparare il papa”), an expression he said he got from St. John Paul II.
“It means to have the humility and the patience to empathize with his personal history, the way he expresses his faith, addresses us, and makes choices of leadership and governance,” Cardinal Scola said. He added that this is “even more necessary in relation to a Latin-American pope, who has a mentality and a different kind of approach than we Europeans.” He recalled that “something similar also happened with John Paul II.”
Cardinal Scola declared, “I truly consider admirable and moving the extraordinary capacity of Pope Francis to make himself close to everyone, and especially to the excluded, to those who are subjected to ‘the throw-away culture’ as he so often reminds [us] in his keenness to communicate the Gospel to the world.”
Cardinal Scola: “Ever since I was a child, I learned that ‘the pope is the pope,’ to whom the Catholic believer owes affection, respect and obedience.”

Moreover, he said, “some gestures of Pope Francis strike me very much and are certainly very significant for everyone, even for nonbelievers. Given my temperament, I would not be able to do them; but then each one has his own personality.”
In the introduction to his autobiography, the 78-year-old cardinal, who enjoyed a very close relationship with John Paul II and Benedict XVI, wrote, “Pope Francis seeks to shake up consciences by calling into question consolidated habits and customs in the church, each time raising the bar, so to speak.”
“This can cause some bewilderment and upset,” he said, “but the ever harder and more insolent attacks against his person, especially those that come from within the church, are wrong.”
Cardinal Scola added, “Ever since I was a child, I learned that ‘the pope is the pope,’ to whom the Catholic believer owes affection, respect and obedience, since he is the visible sign and secure guarantor of the unity of the church in the following of Christ.” Moreover, he said, “communion with the successor of Peter is not a question of cultural affinity, or human sympathy, or a sentimental feeling; rather it relates to the very nature of the church.”
Concluding his strong critique of attacks against Pope Francis, the cardinal went on to express concern over “the polemics and divisions that are becoming ever more bitter, also at the expense of truth and of charity.” But, he stated, “I do not see the risk of a schism; I fear instead a journey backward” to “the postconciliar debate between conservatives and progressives” over the legacy of Vatican II.
He sees the return of this in “the re-emergence in agitated tones” of “the sterile contraposition” between “the guardians of Tradition rigidly understood” and “the proponents of what is intended to be the adaptation of practice and doctrine to worldly demands.” But like Pope Francis, Cardinal Scola believes the way to overcome these tensions is to entrust oneself to the Holy Spirit, “who does not allow himself to be harnessed by the logic of the opposing camps.”

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/07/21/cardinal-scola-calls-out-pope-francis-critics-pope-pope

Pope at Angelus: ‘the poor are the builders of the new humanity’

Pope Francis reflects on the Gospel reading of the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time noting that the solace that Christ offers to the weary and the oppressed is not merely psychological relief or almsgiving.

By Vatican News

Pope Francis addressed a scattering of well-distanced faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday with a reflection on the Gospel reading of the day (Mt 11: 25-30), which he explained, is divided into three parts.

In the first part, he said, “Jesus raises a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving to the Father, because He revealed to the poor and to the simple the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven.”

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Then, he continued, “He reveals the intimate and unique relationship between Him and the Father.”

Finally, the Pope added, “He invites us to go to Him and to follow Him to find relief.”

Giving thanks

When Jesus gives thanks to the Father, he explained, he praises Him for having kept the secrets of His Kingdom hidden from those he ironically calls “the wise and the learned”.

Pope Francis explained that he calls them so “with a veil of irony, because they presume to be so and therefore have a closed heart.”

But Jesus, he continued, says that the mysteries of His Father are revealed to the “little ones”, that is, to those who confidently open themselves to His Word of salvation, who feel the need for Him and expect everything from Him.

Total reciprocity

Then, the Pope said, Jesus explains that He has received everything from the Father. He calls Him “my Father”, to affirm the unique nature of His relationship with Him.

“There is total reciprocity only between the Son and the Father”, he said, “each one knows the other, each one lives in the other.”

It is this unique communion that gives life to Jesus’ invitation: “Come to me…”, he explained, because the son wishes to give what He receives from the Father.”

Preference for the ‘little ones’

The Pope then went on to point out that “Just as the Father has a preference for the “little ones”, Jesus also addresses those “who labour and are burdened”.

He highlighted that Jesus’ full dedication to the Father, and his meekness and humility are not a model for the resigned, nor he said, “is He simply a victim,” but rather He lives this condition “from the heart” in full transparency to the love of the Father, that is, to the Holy Spirit.

“Jesus is the model of the ‘poor in spirit’ and of all the other ‘blessed’ of the Gospel, who do the will of God and bear witness to His Kingdom,” he said.

Pope Francis wrapped-up his reflection pointing out that the “solace” that Christ offers to the weary and oppressed is not merely psychological relief or almsgiving, but the joy of the poor to be evangelised and to be builders of the new humanity.

A message for all

“It is a message for all people of good will,” he said, which Jesus still conveys today in a world that exalts those who become rich and powerful, no matter by what means, trampling at times upon the human being and his or her dignity.”

It is also a message for the Church, he said, that is called to live works of mercy and to evangelise the poor.

Pope Francis concluded invoking the Virgin Mary to help us “discern her signs in our lives and be sharers in those mysteries which, hidden from the proud, are revealed to the humble.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-07/pope-angelus-gospel-14-sunday-ordinary-time-catechesis.html