Pope Francis breaking the regulations to confess himself before
another priest during the Easter season.
With
the following two points in this document, Pope Francis brings to a close this
section dedicated to the human limits that mark our faith journey. When I began
my reflection on this section, I made some comments about how we sometimes see our
sense of mission as an expression of our limitation, especially when we think
that our sinful human nature is just too imperfect, too weak, to live up the
call to live like a Saint or a true disciple (a reflection that highlights the
fact that I know way too many people who share this struggle with me!!) I
expected Pope Francis would eventually speak of the need to recognize our sense
of limitation, along with our sense of potential, ensuring a balance between
the two. Turns out Francis was going
somewhere completely different with this idea of our limitations.
In the
previous paragraph (EG 43) he introduced this idea that the precepts which do
exist in the Church are not there to act as a burden upon the faithful, and if some
of them have become burdensome to certain people, then perhaps we universally
need to explore how valid these precepts are to the 21st century
Church. He pursues this theme from a different angle in point 44, when he talks
about the Catechism’s take on how a person’s
‘responsibility’ for a certain sin is reduced, ‘and even nullified’ by
many factors like fear, ignorance inordinate attachment and other things.
Why introduce this point? I believe that by quoting this line, he is
addressing an important problem in the Church today: There are many people of faith who are more
quick to judge and label others as sinners, than to love them as sinners. This is
an even bigger problem when such people are leaders in their parish
communities, people who will end up accompanying others on their faith journeys.
Francis is actually addressing them
here, as he asks them –he mentions especially priests, but let’s not kid
ourselves…lay leaders need to hear this as well!!-to remember that sin, like
many other things in Christian life, must be approached with mercy, patience
and love. Imperfections are part of our growth, and they must be received as
opportunity for this.(EG 44) However, the growth will not come so easily if the
person’s sin is met with legality, with a judgmental voice.
It’s his desire to make those who labor in the
Church a little more pastoral that inspired him to compose one of the most
amusing imageries in this document: Speaking to the priests who hear people’s
confessions, he reminds them that ‘the confessional must not be a torture
chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do
our best’. There was a time when our Church was expected to put the fear of God
in people, to remind them what it was like to be a sinner, humbled before God,
terrified by his or her unworthiness to stand before the Almighty. This is not
an incorrect image, but it’s one that has lost its ability to truly communicate
the gentle, transformative love of God quietly at work in our lives. What’s
important for Francis is that we put less emphasis on our unworthiness before God, and more focus on this realization that that even in the midst
of our limitations, the baby steps we do take towards God are pleasing to Him.(
EG 44)
This language is not
always one that is appreciated by all in the Church. Many believe this kind of
talk will take us on a blind path towards relativism, a path that will encourage us to never condemn any evil we see in others, for fear of 'judging them’. There's no doubt that this type of relativist thinking must be avoided. We can't modify our beliefs in order to better fit into our contemporary society, nor can we we ever be afraid to speak out against what we see as
wrong in our world. However, as we've already seen, Francis
is really challenging us by inviting the faithful away from
a rigid understanding of scripture (and consequently, of morality) that would leave us closed minded to the
needs and realities of others. It’s a difficult invitation because many
Catholics would prefer the tough love approach where they get to challenge people
to live more ‘perfectly’. However, perfection, as we see it, is not always
possible. And to those who fail to live up to our standard of perfection, do we say that they are 'unworthy of hearing scripture', that they have no access to the goodness, truth and light that the Gospel brings us daily (EG 45)? Of course not. Since Vatican II, no pope has ever said that
this was the message of Christ. And yet, we still have pastors and lay
leaders who excel more and shutting the door to people than to being pastoral towards them.
I believe this is why the new evangelization
will be so important: Of course, the decreasing number of people in our Churches is a factor
that forces us to explore this question a little more effectively. However, a
large part of our reflections should revolve not just around decreasing numbers
in the Universal Church, but the cause of this decrease, which may have something to do with our own failures and limitations as a Church. That is why in the last
paragraph of this section, Pope Francis reminds us once again of the importance
of” growing in our understanding of the Gospel….and in the process, to develop a missionary heart: A heart that will be aware
of its limits and make itself “weak with the weak... everything for
everyone” (1 Cor 9:22) A heart that is "not closed off, that never retreats
into its own security, never opts for rigidity and defensiveness". (EG 45)
44. Moreover,
pastors and the lay faithful who accompany their brothers and sisters in faith
or on a journey of openness to God must always remember what the Catechism
of the Catholic Church teaches quite clearly: “Imputability and responsibility for an action can be
diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit,
inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors”.[49] Consequently,
without detracting from the evangelical ideal, they need to accompany with
mercy and patience the eventual stages of personal growth as these
progressively occur.[50] I
want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber but
rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy which spurs us on to do our best. A
small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to
God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day
without confronting great difficulties. Everyone needs to be touched by the
comfort and attraction of God’s saving love, which is mysteriously at work in
each person, above and beyond their faults and failings.
45. We
see then that the task of evangelization operates within the limits of language
and of circumstances. It constantly seeks to communicate more effectively the
truth of the Gospel in a specific context, without renouncing the truth, the
goodness and the light which it can bring whenever perfection is not possible.
A missionary heart is aware of these limits and makes itself “weak with the
weak... everything for everyone” (1 Cor 9:22). It never closes
itself off, never retreats into its own security, never opts for rigidity and
defensiveness. It realizes that it has to grow in its own understanding of the
Gospel and in discerning the paths of the Spirit, and so it always does what
good it can, even if in the process, its shoes get soiled by the mud of the
street.
