See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”
30. Yet God remains steadfast. Reflecting recently on Ezekiel 16, Pope Francis noted how God speaks words of love even when Israel is unfaithful.29 Israel sins. Israel forgets. Israel prostitutes herself, pursuing false gods. But God will not abandon his covenant people. Repentance and forgiveness are always possible. God’s mercy means that he seeks Israel’s good even as she flees him. “For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you … with everlasting love I will have compassion on you.” (Isa 54:6-8, NRSV) God perseveres in love for his people, even when we fall, even when we insist on trying to live without him.
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In its introduction, the document says its aim is to present “Catholic teaching in a way that is fresh, insightful, and accessible to contemporary Catholics and all people of good will.” The catechesis “offers a narrative beginning with our creation, soberly noting our fall and the challenges we face, but emphasizing God’s plan for our salvation. Love is our mission, and it is by loving God and one another that we will be fully alive.”
Each day in CatholicPhilly.com’s World Meeting of Families section you can reflect on the official Catholic teaching on the family presented in the catechesis, pray a special prayer together as a family or individually, and stay on top of breaking news about the events coming Sept. 22-27, 2015.
Order the catechesis for your home via Our Sunday Visitor, and visit WorldMeeting2015.org for more information on the events.
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God can bring good from anything. I truly thank those voices which while labeled “conservative” would be better labeled “faithful.” We are to live counter culture. God’s message does not change. Jesus affirmed marriage is for man and wife. Divorce is wrong. Practicing homosexuality is a sin. The pope is a very smart man. And when he says he does not judge or that the church should love and welcome all people for we are all sinners of course he is right. But there are clearly voices which perhaps I misunderstand them, but they use words like “outdated” and if they mean this for example about the teaching about divorce they could hardly be more wrong about the timeless truths of the gospel. Perhaps it is trite to say “love the sinner hate the sin” but it is a useful distinction. The sin is a behavior. And the very words “I’m sorry” allow us to decouple ourselves from the behavior, to say “this behavior is not me.” It would be a sorry lesson indeed if church leaders begin to say “love the sinner love the sin.” Jesus forgave not condoned sin.