THE POPE MEETS TRUMP

The Three Crucial Issues at the Pope-Trump Meeting

By John Horvat II

The upcoming meeting in Rome between Pope Francis and President Trump is fast approaching. It is an opportune occasion to share some thoughts and concerns about the future.

The two figures could not be more different. The Pope is the head of the greatest spiritual power on Earth. The President is the elected leader of the world’s only superpower.

They will speak about a world in turmoil. From a purely human perspective, the situation looks dire. Thus, there is so much that could be discussed at this meeting since they both have vast resources at their disposal.

The Church has Her moral teachings, and wisdom garnered over the ages that is essential to any debate about the future. Completely different in nature, America has vast material resources that have often been channeled to help humanity.

Conflict or Cooperation?

Progressives are rooting that this meeting turns into a conflict. Liberal media will do everything possible to accentuate the differences between the Pope and the President.

They will try to fit their meeting into a false and exaggerated narrative that would have one defending the poor and the other representing those who supposedly oppress them through their wealth and lifestyles.

There is no doubt that Pope Francis and President Trump are indeed different and disagree on many things. However, inside the realm of Catholic social doctrine, there is much about which they might and should agree.

Both the Pope and the President are known for their outspokenness. Thus, they need to speak out and denounce the world’s true evils. Both have broken conventions. They must now break the typical agendas put before them. In light of the centennial year of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, they urgently need to address the core problems that have caused men to go awry.

For this reason, it would be helpful if Pope and President were to talk about three things upon which they might agree and which few can deny.

Addressing the Causes, Not the Effects

We pray that, with God’s help, they would focus on the causes of the present crisis. It is easy to see that they might disagree on the means to deal with the dangerous effects of the world crisis. Let them at least agree on its causes.

Without addressing causes, it is impossible to solve problems. No amount of money can fill the void when problems perpetuate themselves and grow ever larger due to causes that are allowed to fester. Yet this outlook is typically absent from today’s postmodern world that prefers to deal with the sensational and immediate symptoms.

Thus, when discussing the problem of countless refugees that seek asylum in the West, for example, the two should explore and denounce the causes that induce the refugees to flee.

It should be easy to agree that immigrants will cease to migrate if they no longer want to leave their home country.

The goal should not be to settle people in foreign lands but to give priority to restoring conditions for them to live in their native lands, whether this be Syria, Venezuela, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Libya or Cuba, which these immigrants love and where they desire to live in peace.

CONFIDENCE IN THE CHURCH

Our position of strength

By Dr. Jeff Mirus

When I outlined the suffering we experience when confronted with any form of infidelity in a pope (or a bishop or a pastor), I concluded that we should not expect the life of a Catholic to be free of such hardships, any more than we should expect our best pastors to be free of suffering induced by our own failures in fidelity to Christ, the Gospel and the Church.

We have no warrant, I pointed out, for regarding our sufferings as intolerable or unfair, when in fact we are called to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, the Church. I concluded by noting that Our Lord frequently answered the complaints and questions of his disciples by saying simply, “Follow me.” Such was the essential argument of Confidence in the Church: What do we do when we want to cry?. But I also promised a second installment devoted to “the more positive aspects of our situation”.

So let me begin at once with what must easily be the most overlooked benefit of the problem I have just described. I will start with a simple yet paradoxical affirmation: It is not good for us when everything in the Church invariably goes along in the way we think it should.

The benefit of self-doubt

As human persons we are remarkably adept at confusing God’s will with our own ideas, and confusing authentic Catholic renewal with whatever we think best. I do not intend for a moment to back away from my assertion that Pope Francis has, at a minimum, caused considerable uncertainty about major issues in the Church which lie at the heart of Catholic renewal.

But at the same time I believe we must all learn to take our own convictions about such matters with a grain of salt. In other words, when we find ourselves at variance with the Pope, we do well to examine the issues very carefully, striving to identify in ourselves areas of imperfect understanding, or areas in which more than one viewpoint is possible without any error in faith.

A great evil stalks those of us who tend to be reflexively certain that we are right. For example, after I wrote the first installment of this two-part series, I received an email from a reader who could not imagine how I could be oblivious to the wonderful renewal that Pope Francis is spearheading.

He even went so far as to suggest that if only I would ask Our Lord about my excessively negative perception of things, I would find that He is a God of joy Who could not possibly share my habitual gloom.

Maybe so, but anyone who says, “Just pray over it and you’ll see I’m right” is already guilty of an extraordinarily myopic and self-serving error: I mean the conviction that another’s disagreement proves the absence of a sound spiritual life! And I am willing to bet that each one of us has fallen into that trap on more than one occasion.

Still, even ill-phrased criticism is a reminder that it is just remotely possible, in the grand scheme of things, that any of us could, on some rare and obviously unimportant matter, be very slightly mistaken. This is why criticism should not be met with hurt feelings or anger, but with serious reflection before the Lord. One of our most urgent prayers should be taken from Psalm 19:

But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. [Ps 19:12-14]

We should always examine ourselves and the issues we confront not only carefully but prayerfully. We must not fail to pursue what we believe to be the right course, but even our strongest convictions should be held with an awareness that we sometimes make mistakes. Even with our best efforts, we must always pray that we will not lead anyone astray.

There is very little on the face of the earth that should make us as wary of our own fallibility as differences with our pastors, our bishops, and particularly the pope. Nothing is so calculated, if we reflect and pray, to stimulate our own spiritual growth.

I am not being absurd when I affirm that I do not want everything in the Church to go my way until I enjoy the Church triumphant in Heaven. It is an odious self-centeredness that induces Catholics to break into sects and surround themselves only with the like-minded.

No, even as we act on our convictions and strive to serve Christ and the Church in the best possible way, we must remain aware that differences within the Church—taken in the right way—have enormous potential to both spiritually strengthen and humble us.

Such sufferings invariably invite us to give ourselves more and more to Our Lord and Savior. In God’s Providence, surely, we are permitted to become aware of a lack of perfection in the Church around us for two reasons. The first reason is easily seen in the opportunities we have to strengthen the Church. But the second reason may be harder to perceive: The dangers of our own complacency.

The irrelevance of popes, bishops and pastors

Now let me turn to a problem which I have headed with a very provocative subtitle. I do not really mean to say that popes, bishops and pastors are irrelevant to the fundamental constitution of the Church, or the Church’s health, or the good of souls.

Nothing could be less true than that. But a moment’s reflection will reveal that the quality of those in ecclesiastical authority only very rarely interferes with our own ability to give effective witness or to engage in the apostolate

Since I am a “talking head” (or more accurately, a set of ten talking fingers), I must frequently confront what appear to me to be the failings of Church leaders. But for most of us most of the time, whether Pope Francis is a good or a bad pope (to take but one example) makes very little difference to our ability to engage in those hallmarks of apostolic self-giving which we call the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

A bad pope makes more problems for bishops than anyone else, just as a bad bishop makes more problems for priests than he does for lay persons. Trust me when I say that we laity are seldom aware of the scope of priestly suffering. I hope it does not sound callous to confess that I have come to depend on this suffering as a source of grace. Our priests are so easily caught between the episcopal devil and the deep blue sea of the laity!

After all, it is not as if the laity are on the payroll, and even in the more dangerous position of the priesthood, it is extraordinarily rare for a worthy priest to be barred from ministry altogether.

We may not always be able to perform a good work in the way we had envisioned it, but we nearly always have ample scope for doing what we believe God is calling us to do, especially among our family, neighbors, friends and co-workers, or even in broader independent apostolates.

What we must avoid is the grave danger of becoming preoccupied with the shortcomings of our ecclesiastical superiors, including the Pope himself. It is easy enough to allow our annoyance or disagreement to paralyze us, as if our sole role in life is to set others straight, and we have nothing more to offer.

Most of us are called to set others straight only in a relatively small circle. All of us have ample scope for helping others both spiritually and materially—far more scope, generally, than we are selfless enough to use. And yet we may suffer a kind of paralysis.

Bogged down in debating whether Pope Francis or Bishop X is right or wrong, we will most likely leave the lane to the basket open for Satan’s slam dunk.

For we are not called to paralysis. At some point, we must return our attention to whatever it is that we discern God calling us to in prayer. The chances are, if we set aside our preoccupation with reaching to the very top and rectifying the problems we see there, we will find that we have far more scope for serving Christ than we dared—in our habitual annoyance—to recognize.

Yes, it is possible to find ourselves in circumstances so dire that it is clear God has marked out for us an exclusive calling to suffering and prayer. But that is hardly a typical outcome of our disagreements with bishops and popes.

We must not allow discontents to give Satan a double victory—over the one we are complaining about, and over ourselves. We must keep our perspective so that we can focus on the good God has given us to do.

This is the perfect time to reread the twelfth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Or again, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” We are all members of the one body, and so we all have our own roles to play.

Spiritual warfare

There is ample scope in Christ for all of our labors, even when there are difficulties beyond our power to remedy. To cite St. Paul again, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

The most frustrated apostle I ever saw in the flesh was Pope Paul VI. He was engulfed by trends in the Church and the world which he simply could not control. I was present at a general audience on his ninth anniversary, when he confessed that all he had been able to do for the Church was suffer. This is no mean calling.

At that time I was still very young, newly married, about to embark on an academic career, and in possession of a dashing self-image that looked suspiciously like a knight in shining armor.

It took me some time to shed that conceit entirely, but hearing that statement from the Pope himself at least set me on the right path. When we are discontented with the way things are going in the Church, our first response must always be prayer. Prayer may be followed by discernment. As discernment develops, we may find we should do something about the problem.

Our position of strength

We may even find that we are called to do something directly ourselves, but I’d like to suggest at least that all of us are called to complain less about the direction of the Church and sacrifice more. I have little to boast of on this score, but the unpleasant subject of fasting has impressed itself upon me recently more often than I could wish.

Perhaps fasting should be a requirement for those who wish to shoot off their mouths (or fingers), and yet I am not fond of hunger pains. Still, perhaps I really should recommend that all of us who are concerned, particularly about Pope Francis, should find ways to offer up regular sacrifices.

The purpose would be to put teeth into our prayers, to show Our Lord that we really do want him to care assiduously for the Pope and to guide him, both in the paths he follows and in the words he says. This is worth serious thought. At a minimum, it puts things in perspective. If we find the shortcomings of our ecclesiastical father—the pope, our papa—great enough to complain about, or if we find his instances of imprudence significant enough to try to correct, then perhaps we ought to do more than simply blame him for making us suffer.

God knows that I am no advocate of a universal silence; I counsel only, for the good of souls, due reflection before we speak. But perhaps we can discipline our tongues in another way as well. We certainly ought to pray for right judgment in both the pope and ourselves.

That’s a fine lingual exercise, even when the prayer is mental. But perhaps we really can do something more. Perhaps we ought to try that other discipline of the tongue. Perhaps we ought to fast.

And if we find we complain frequently but are unwilling to fast, we should ask ourselves why. Prayer and fasting constitute, after all, the Christian’s greatest position of strength.

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org.See full bio.

THE JOY OF CELIBACY

Single Catholics And The Joy Of… Celibacy?

Imagine, if you will, standing at the very edge of a cliff with thousands of feet to fall if you step off, but at the bottom, you will land safely on both feet. How do you feel? If you’re like me, you’re probably nervous and a little excited. Now, imagine you’re right on the precipice – your toes are hanging off the edge and you suddenly hold your head up high, stretch your arms out beside you, and jump! What feelings do you experience? What thoughts go through your mind?

Interestingly enough, this is how I’ve heard others describing what it feels like to make the personal commitment to celibacy. Scary! Like taking an extraordinary leap of faith into the unknown.

There are several types of single people who make this decision; those who have never been married, those who are divorced, and those who are widowed. All of them have the same decision to make, but those who are divorced and widowed must pull back tightly the reigns on a passion they’ve already been able to enjoy. Some people are never successful in getting themselves to take that leap and while others find the courage to do so and act upon the graces God has given them to succeed.

So, why is the decision to remain chaste so hard?

It’s difficult, partly because of all the media messages we receive, in particular, the biggest lie of all that if you’re not having sex, there’s something wrong with you. But the magazines, billboards, television shows, movies and music all attack every sensibility we might have toward living a chaste life. I find this so sad because there truly is real joy in living a celibate life and I want to point it out for anyone who is struggling with the idea of committing to celibacy until marriage.

Let’s say you’re standing on the edge of that scary cliff, debating. You don’t want to jump because it’s scary, but if you don’t jump, you’ll never reach the solid ground below where you can move forward. You’ll always be stuck at the top of the cliff, unable to go anywhere, unable to make any progress. So, decide taking the risk is better than being stuck and you jump.

You land firmly on your feet and have absolute freedom to move forward. The joy you experience is in the freedom you have gained. But more than that, the joy you experience comes from exercising your free will and choosing to do someone else’s will – the will of God, of course. You could indulge in what feels good and what the rest of society says is normal, but instead, you choose to obey God. Not only is that freeing, but it brings an unprecedented clarity to your heart and mind.

I recently read an interview with Pope Francis that was done before he was the Pope, back in 2010 when he was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. The interview was about the “secrets” to living celibacy for priests and seminarians. But I couldn’t help but recognize how important Cardinal Bergoglio’s words were for singles who are trying to live this way, too.

Pope Francis admits to the fact that it is difficult, but not impossible. The key is to remind yourself of the choice you have and remember God will not tempt you beyond your ability to resist:

Bergoglio: When I was a seminarian, I was dazzled by a girl I met at an uncle’s wedding. I was surprised by her beauty, her intellectual brilliance… and, well, I was bowled over for quite a while. I kept thinking and thinking about her. When I returned to the seminary after the wedding, I could not pray for over a week because when I tried to do so, the girl appeared in my head. I had to rethink what I was doing. I was still free because I was a seminarian, so I could have gone back home and that was it. I had to think about my choice again. I chose again – or let myself be chosen by – the religious path. It would be abnormal for this kind of thing not to happen (Sobre el Cielo y la Tierra [“On the Heavens and the Earth”], 2012, Sudamericana publishing company).

When we resist temtations, especially sexual temptation, it’s like reaching a new level of being human. Each time you make the choice to be chaste and resist the temptation, your level of spirituality and maturity is upgraded with powerful virtues and graces that fortify you for the next temptations that will come.

So, have no fear about stepping off the cliff and taking that leap of faith. You will land on your feet and be better, wiser, and happier for doing so.

Feel free to send me your comments, questions and disagreements to asklisa@catholicmatch.com.

POPE FRANCIS ON THE END OF THE WORLD

When we meet with misfortunes in life, we often comfort ourselves by saying, “It’s not the end of the world.”

But one day . . . it will be.

The world will end–either for us at the end of our lives or for everyone at the end of the age.

How should we regard this? How should we prepare for it? Should we be scared?

Here is an “interview” with Pope Francis. Like the other papal “interviews” we’ve done, I’ve composed questions and taken the answers from Pope Francis’s writings.

Let’s begin . . .

1) Your Holiness, thank you for being with us today. Do you think that modern people are too caught up in the affairs of the world, in “The Now”? Do they devote enough thought to the end of the world?

In the Creed we profess that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

Human history begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and ends with the final judgment of Christ.

Often these two poles of history are forgotten, and, above all, faith in the return of Christ and the last judgment sometimes is not so clear and steadfast in the hearts of Christians.

[But] Jesus, during his public life, often focused on the reality of his last coming.

Today I would like to reflect on three Evangelical texts that help us enter this mystery: that of the ten virgins, the talents and the final judgment. All three are part of the Jesus’ discourse on the end of times, in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

2) Okay, let’s talk about those. They are found in Matthew chapter 25. Where do we stand in history with respect to these parables?

First of all, remember that with the Ascension, the Son of God brought to the Father our humanity, which he took on, and he wants to draw all men to himself, to call the whole world to be welcomed into the open arms of God, so that, at the end of history, all of reality will be handed over to the Father.

There is, though, this “intermediate time” between the first coming of Christ and the last, which is precisely the time that we are living.

The parable of the ten virgins is placed within this context (cf. Mt 25:1-13).

3) What is the parable of the ten virgins about?

It involves ten girls who are waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, but he delays and they fall asleep.

At the sudden announcement that the bridegroom is coming, all prepare to welcome him, but while five of them, who were wise, have oil to trim their lamps, the others, who are foolish, are left with unlit lamps because they have no oil; and while they go out to find some, the groom arrives and the foolish virgins find the door closed that leads to the bridal feast.

They knock persistently, but it is too late, the groom replies: “I do not know you.”

4) How should we understand this parable?

The groom is the Lord, and the waiting time of arrival is the time He gives us, all of us with mercy and patience, before his final coming.

It is a time to be vigilant; a time in which we need to keep lit the lamps of faith, hope, and charity; a time in which to keep the heart open to the good, to beauty, and to the truth; a time to live according to God, because we know neither the day nor the hour of Christ’s return.

What is asked of us is to be prepared for this encounter – prepared for an encounter, for a beautiful encounter, the encounter with Jesus – which means being able to see the signs of his presence, to keep alive our faith through prayer, with the sacraments, to be vigilant in order not to sleep, not to forget God.

The Christian life asleep is a sad life, it isn’t a happy life. The Christian must be happy, have the joy of Jesus.

Let’s not fall asleep!

5) What happens in the parable of the talents?

The second parable, that of the talents, makes us reflect on the relationship between how we use the gifts received from God and his return, when he will ask how we used them (cf. Mt 25:14-30).

We know the parable: Before departure, the master gives each servant some talents, to use well during his absence.

To the first he gives five, to the second, two, and to the third, one. During the period of his absence, the first two servants multiply their talents – ancient coins -, while the third prefers to bury his and deliver it intact to the master.

Upon his return, the master judges their work: He commends the first two, while the third is kicked out into the darkness, because he kept his talent hidden out of fear, closing in on himself.

6) How should we understand this parable? What is the difference between the one who hides the talent and the ones who don’t?

A Christian who closes in on himself, who hides everything that the Lord has given him as a Christian . . . he isn’t a Christian!

He is a Christian that does not thank God for all that he has given him!

This tells us that the time of waiting for the Lord’s return is the time of action. We are in the time of action, the time in which to put to use the gifts of God not for ourselves, but for Him, for the Church, for others, the time during which always to try to increase the good in the world.

And especially now, in this time of crisis, it is important not to close in upon oneself, burying one’s talent, one’s own spiritual, intellectual, material riches–everything that the Lord has given us–but to open oneself, to be in solidarity, to be attentive to the other.

7) When we’re young, we all think we will be immortal. It is particularly easy for young people, at the beginning of their lives, to forget about the end. Yet youth is also the time when we have the most energy. What would you say to young people and how they should use their talents?

To you, who are at the beginning of the journey of life, I ask: Have you thought about the talents that God has given you?

Have you thought about how you can put them at the service of others?

Don’t bury your talents!

Bet on big ideals, those ideals that enlarge the heart, those ideals that will make your talents fruitful.

Life is not given to us so that we can keep it jealously for ourselves, but is given to us so that we may donate it.

Dear young people, have a great soul! Don’t be afraid to dream great things!

8) What about the third parable–that of the sheep and the goats?

Finally, a word on the passage of the final judgment, that describes the second coming of the Lord, when He will judge all humans, living and dead (cf. Mt 25:31-46).

The image used by the Evangelist is that of the Shepherd separating sheep from goats.

On the right are those who acted according to the will of God, helping their neighbor who was hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, imprisoned, thus following the Lord himself; while on the left are those who haven’t come to the aid of their neighbour.

9) What does this parable tell us?

This tells us that we will be judged by God on charity, on how we loved him in our brothers, especially the weakest and neediest.

Of course, we must always keep in mind that we are justified, we are saved by grace, by an act of God’s gratuitous love which always precedes us. We alone can do nothing.

Faith is first of all a gift that we have received.

But to bear fruit, God’s grace always requires our openness, our free and concrete response.

Christ comes to bring us the mercy of God who saves.

We are asked to trust him, to match the gift of his love with a good life, with actions animated by faith and love.

10) The end of the world and the prospect of the final judgment is a frightening thought for many. Should we be scared of it?

Dear brothers and sisters, may we never be afraid to look to the final judgment; may it push us rather to live better lives.

God gives us with mercy and patience this time so that we may learn every day to recognize him in the poor and in the little ones, may we strive for good. And we are vigilant in prayer and love.

May the Lord, at the end of our existence and history, may recognize us as good and faithful servants. Thank you!

Thank you, Your Holiness.

* * *

The answers in this “interview” were taken from Pope Francis’s weekly audience of April 24, 2013. .

If you’d like to learn more about the thought of Pope Francis, I recommend his book On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century. .

This was a dialogue book that he wrote with a Jewish rabbi before he was elected pope, and it gives many fascinating insights on his thought.

It’s very interesting!

Until next time, don’t forget to share this information with friends and let them know how they can sign up. In the Secret Information Club , be sure to “whisper as LOUDLY as possible”!