"HOPELESSNESS DESTABILIZES the constancy of apostolic leadership. Esau lost his birthright for a plate of lentil stew (Gen 25: 29-34; 26: 34-35; Heb 12: 15-18). Desire for immediate pleasure renders us incapable of sacrifice. We are careless about the things of God because we grow listless. I think that sometimes in our clerical world the lentil stew is any adulation that is offered us. It’s very hard for us not to have the last word, not to utter the always definitive prophecy. We do not like being fools. We have a hard time saying “I don’t know” without feeling disturbed or showing indifference. Leading God’s faithful people sometimes requires us to forgo the urgency of answers and to remember that silence is often the best response of the wise." [Pope Francis; Jorge M Bergoglio (2013-11-18). Open Mind, Faithful Heart (pp. 84-85). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.]
Somebody, let me blame Fr. Z, called my attention to this book as a free offer (Why not?). It gave me a little insight or rather served as an additional confirmation of a suspicion.
Not long ago I finished an Italian best seller on the Holy Father (which I cannot recommend). What troubled me about that book is that for all its pages it simply held the Pope "hostage". The author of that book is a contemporary of mine, who obviously bought all the same tired books which for laziness or wariness I had refused to read as a 20 year old. He trots out a Pope after his own image and likeness. We've seen this again and again since the Holy Father's election. Not only terrorists are big on hostage-taking; it seems to be a favorite pastime with journalists and popular writers as well.
The book "Open Mind, Faithful Heart" is topical Francis and not somebody else's apology for himself laced with Francis "proof texts". What does that change? Well, basically nothing... For me, it points out something which I hadn't really thought enough about, and namely how hard the struggle is for the successor of Peter, how hard it is for him to fulfill the ministry he inherits from the prince of the Apostles, as entrusted to him by Christ Himself, and namely, to confirm the brethren.
St. Paul learned through personal experience that the battle could not be won through enlightened discourse out there with the movers and shakers on the Areopagus. Pope Francis gets my prayers today in a very special way. My specific intention would be that the faithful be enabled to see that the "seas" are no less stormy for him than they were for any of his predecessors since Pius XII. The Pope's "honeymoon" with the liberal press is indeed a strangle hold; it needs to end.
Psalm 10
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
1 Why, O LORD, do you
stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the
wicked persecute the poor— let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3 For the wicked boast
of the desires of their heart, those greedy for gain curse and renounce the
LORD. 4 In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it
out”; all their thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 Their ways prosper at all
times; your judgments are on high, out of their sight; as for their foes, they
scoff at them. 6 They think in their heart , “We shall not be moved; throughout
all generations we shall not meet adversity.” 7 Their mouths are filled with
cursing and deceit and oppression; under their tongues are mischief and
iniquity. 8 They sit in ambush in the villages; in hiding places they murder
the innocent. Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 they lurk in
secret like a lion in its covert; they lurk that they may seize the poor; they
seize the poor and drag them off in their net. 10 They stoop, they crouch, and
the helpless fall by their might. 11 They think in their heart, “God has
forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
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