Saturday, January 30, 2016

King David's Fall Into Corruption: Pope Francis


Pope Francis: Sinners, yes; but never corrupt

2016-01-29 Vatican Radio
(Vatican Radio) Let us pray to God that the weakness that leads us to sin will never lead to corruption. This was the theme of Pope Francis homily at daily Mass on Friday morning, a theme he has taken up many times. Beginning with the first reading, which tells the story of David and Bathsheba, the Pope distinguished between regular sinners and those who are corrupt. Unlike regular sinners, the corrupt do not feel the need for forgiveness.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: 

One can sin often, and always return to God seeking forgiveness, never doubting that it will be obtained. It is especially when one becomes corrupt – when one no longer sees the need to be forgiven – that problems begin.

The corrupt feel they don’t need God

This is the attitude King David assumes when he becomes enamoured with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, an army officer fighting on the frontlines. The Pope outlined the story narrated in the Scripture. After David seduced Bathsheba, he found out that she was pregnant, and he hatched a plot to cover-up his adultery. He recalled Uriah from the front and encouraged him to visit his wife. Uriah, though, did not go to his wife, but stayed with the other officers in the king’s palace. David then tried to get him drunk, but this plan also fails.
“This puts David in a difficult position,” the Pope said. “But he says to himself, ‘I can do it.’ He sends a letter, as we read: ‘Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.’ He condemns him to death. This man, this faithful man [Uriah] – faithful to the law, faithful to his people, faithful to his king – carries his own death sentence.”

The security of corruption

“David is a saint, but also a sinner.” He falls on account of lust, the Pope said, and yet God still loves him very much. However, the Pope notes, “the great, the noble David” feels so secure – “because the kingdom was strong” – that after having committed adultery he does everything in his power to arrange the death of a loyal man, falsely passing it off as an accidental death in battle:
“This is a moment in David’s life that makes us see a moment through which we all can pass in our life: it is the passage from sin to corruption. This is where David begins, taking the first step towards corruption. He has the power, he has the strength. And for this reason, corruption is a very easy sin for all of us who have some power, whether it be ecclesiastical, religious, economic, political… Because the devil makes us feel certain: ‘I can do it’.”

Sinners, yes; but not corrupt

Corruption – from which David was saved by the grace of God – had wounded the heart of that “courageous youth” who had faced the Philistine with a sling and five small stones. “Today I want to emphasize only one thing,” the Pope concluded. “There is a moment where the attitude of sin, or a moment where our situation is so secure and we see well and we have so much power” that sin “stops” and becomes “corruption.” And “one of the ugliest things” about corruption is that the one who becomes corrupt thinks he has “no need for forgiveness.”
“Today, let us offer a prayer for the Church, beginning with ourselves, for the Pope, for the Bishops, for the priests, for consecrated men and women, for the lay faithful: ‘Lord, save us, save us from corruption. We are sinners, yes, O Lord, all of us, but [let us] never [become] corrupt!’ Let us ask for this grace.”
(from Vatican Radio)

....

Taken from: http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-sinners-yes-but-never-corrupt 

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Pope Francis Moved by Life of King David


King David PowerPoint Template

  • 

    Pope: “no Saint is without sin, no sinner without a future”

                         Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Casa Santa Marta - OSS_ROM                        
    Pope Francis celebrates Mass at Casa Santa Marta - OSS_ROM


    19/01/2016 13:17


    (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says God looks beyond appearances and into the heart. He was speaking on Tuesday morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta.
    Drawing inspiration from the First Reading of the day that tells of the choice of the young David as king of Israel, the Pope pointed out that even in the lives of the saints there are temptations and sins, as demonstrated by the life of David.
    The Lord – he said - rejected Saul "because his heart was closed", he had not obeyed Him, and He decided to choose another king.
    The Pope pointed out that the choice He made was far from human standards since David was the youngest son of Jesse, he was only a boy.
    But – he continued – the Lord made it clear to the prophet Samuel that he looks beyond appearances: “the Lord looks into the heart”:
    "We are often the slaves of appearances and allow ourselves to pursue appearances: ‘But God knows the truth’. And that is so in this story... Jesse’s seven sons are presented and the Lord does not choose any of them, he lets them pass by. Samuel is in a bit of difficulty and says to Jesse: ‘The Lord has not chosen any of them, are these all the sons you have? And Jesse replied that there was still the youngest, who is tending the sheep’. To the eyes of man this boy did not count”.
    He did not matter to men, but the Lord chose him and ordered Samuel to anoint him and “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David” and from that day on “the whole of David's life was the life of a man anointed by the Lord, chosen by the Lord” the Pope said.
    So – Pope Francis asked – “Did the Lord make him a saint?” No, is the answer – he said: “King David is saint King David, this is true, but he became a saint after living a long life” a life during which he sinned:
    "A saint and a sinner. A man who managed to unite the Kingdom, he was able to lead the people of Israel. But he fell into temptation ... he committed sins: he was also a murderer. To cover up his lust, the sin of adultery… he commissioned a murder. He did! Did saint King David commit murder? When God sent the prophet Nathan to point this reality out to him, because he was not aware of the barbarity he had ordered, he acknowledged his sin and asked for forgiveness.”
    Thus – Pope Francis continued – “his life went on. He suffered personally following the betrayal of his son, but he never he never used God for his own purpose”.  And he recalled that when David was forced to flee from Jerusalem he sent back the ark and declared that he would not use the Lord in his defense. And when he was insulted – the Pope said – David would say to himself: “It’s what I deserve”.
    And then, Francis noted, “he was magnanimous”: he could have killed Saul “but he did not do so.” Saint King David, a great sinner, but a repentant one. “The life of this man moves me” – the Pope said - it makes us think of our own lives.
    “We have all been chosen by the Lord to be Baptized, to be part of His people, to be saints; we have been consecrated by the Lord on the path towards sainthood. Reading about this life, the life of a child – no… not a child, he was a boy – from boyhood to old age, during which he did many good things and others that were not so good. It makes me think that during the Christian journey, the journey the Lord has invited us to undertake, there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future”.


    ....


    Taken from: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/01/19/pope_%E2%80%9Cno_saint_is_without_sin,_no_sinner_without_a_future%E2%80%9D/1202136