The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis Books
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What on earth are you chasing? We are all chasing something, and always for the same reason We want something or someone to give us the joy we yearn for at the very depths of our being. All too often we are searching for joy in all the wrong places. Pope Francis calls this the feverish pursuit of the frivolous.
What brings you joy? We live busy lives and in the midst of all the chasing it is essential that we slow down from time to time, and not just slow down, but pause, to reflect on who we are, where we are, and what we are doing. Is all the chasing bringing us the joy that God created us to experience?
Jesus Christ, the undeniable, inescapable, unavoidable God, wants to fill you with joy. The Gospels are the most complete record of his life and teachings, and they hold the key to the joy we never stop yearning for.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all chasing Jesus. In this book, Pope Francis explains how and why embracing the Gospel is the source of this joy. Through his personal passion, he brings to life the Gospels for the people of this age, by taking the reader on a journey exploring many of the challenges facing the people of God today, while at the same time inviting the reader to whole-heartedly embrace the Gospel like never before.
The Joy of the Gospel is a deeply personal invitation to reflect on the gap between the life we are living and the life God calls us to live. It is an invitation to love both God and our neighbor more fully. It is an invitation to live more fully in the midst of the opportunities and challenges that each day presents.
The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis Books
I am an evangelical protestant but it is my fervent hope that this "exhortation" will be widely read across the community of Christ throughout the world. The Bishop of Rome has written a powerful call to all Christians reminding us of our common mission and our common faith. He has called upon us to embrace that mission with joy, passion, and love for all. Following in the tradition of John Chrysostom, Francis' exhortation is overflowing with a deep and abiding concern for the marginalized while revealing that both the political right and left have embraced two varieties of the identical sin: idolatry of self.As an aside, accounts of this "exhortation" in the popular press could hardly be more misleading in their emphasis. Many news stories have focused on a fragment of a single sentence that says inviting women into the Priesthood is "not open for discussion." (To be clear, this subject is not addressed beyond this small portion of this single sentence.) Nor is this exhortation merely - or even mostly - a road map for the Roman Church. From the very first page, Francis makes clear that he is reaching out to the entirety of Christ's body on earth: "I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ..." It certainly speaks to Catholics, but it is simultaneously aimed at all Christians everywhere.
Francis begins with the most precise description I have ever seen of the ravine in which the modern West has become trapped: "The great danger in today's world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience."
His approach to escaping this ravine is the same as it ever was: follow the steep and narrow path cut by the Joy of the Gospel. And for my Protestant friends, Francis could not be clearer that this is an unmerited gift: "The salvation which God offers us is the work of his mercy. No human efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift..." or "No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own efforts. "
Francis reminds us that, "Christian morality is not a form of stoicism, or self-denial, or merely a practical philosophy or a catalogue of sins and faults. Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond to the God of love who saves us ... All of the virtues are at the service of this response of love."
If I have any discomfort with this exhortation, it is at those (thankfully few) moments when Francis seems to shift from calling upon Christians to calling upon governments to redress the plight of the marginalized. Here, we would do well to remind ourselves of Chrysostom's warning with respect to this. We would also do well to remember that governments by their nature always serve the selfish needs of their kings and courts (God warned us of this in 1 Samuel chapter 8). This is not to say that I disagree with the ends the Pope seeks, only that governments are a fundamentally flawed instrument for furthering God's Kingdom. Nonetheless, we can and should join with him in praying that politicians will receive appropriate guidance.
There is a great deal here which all Christians ought to embrace. To be sure, many Protestants will feel discomfort at the Marian language near the end of the exhortation, and those reared to distrust the Deuterocanonical Books/Apocrypha will bristle at quotations from Tobias, Sirach, and others. Thankfully, Francis takes time to ground each major theme in sources deemed authoritative by all, as if to remind the Protestant reader at each turn that he and we remain standing on common ground (a point which he makes very explicit in discussing the evangelization of non-Christian cultures).
Pope Francis' exhortation stands as a challenge to all Christians to embrace the Joy of the Gospel and to live as if the world depended upon it - because it does. It has certainly rankled specific groups with specific agendas (from traditionalists to progressives, from economic liberals to social liberals) but in all of the discussion about one sentence or another, I hope and pray that the message does not get lost: it is time for all Christians - the clergy, the laity, women and men across denominations - to joyfully embrace the missionary mandate of the Gospel through our words, our actions, and our whole selves.
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The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis Books Reviews
There is some decent writing in "The Joy of the Gospel". In particular, I enjoyed the discussion on the "smell of the sheep" that lends one to become busy with actions rather then words. Unfortunately, I also find the writing both repetitive and wordy without need. In my opinion the writing could have been much shorter and still manage to deliver the same message. Regardless, I will say that Pope Francis writes from the heart and shuns the often expected intellectual only language. I appreciate when someone writes from the heart what they truly mean and feel. It can be a refreshing.
A clear, joyous statement of what our world can be if we truly follow the words of Christ. Popes have said many of these things before, but I think people are paying attention to Francis for two reasons 1) He "practices what he preaches," e.g., visits the homeless, embraces a seriously disfigured man, and washes the feet of prisoners (not other Cardinals) on Holy Thursday. 2) He is a good communicator, who writes in accessible, understandable, and friendly language. And he writes for all Christians--not just Catholics. Actually, he writes for all people. I especially wish our policymakers and politicians would read this.
This extraordinary document, an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis, is so compelling that President Obama even quoted it to lend moral credibility to a speech he gave in December 2013. It outlines the pope's vision of the church and its mission of evangelization in today's world, suggesting guidelines for spreading the gospel in today's world of haves and have-nots. This document is so full of rich spirituality, deep theology, and compassionate social analysis that it boggles the mind to consider how easily it flows. Personally, I found the fresh vision of Christianity's role in the world today in the first half of the letter even more compelling than the second half, where we get a bit more church-speak and dense theology. But it's all wonderful. This letter transcends the pope's Jesuit roots and even the Catholic Church. I know many non-Catholics who have read it with delight and amazement. Essentially, the central question here is how to spread Jesus Christ's message to love God and love your neighbor in our technological society that brushes aside the poor in its self-seeking vanity. The answer of Francis will surprise you. Although this letter is available for free at the Vatican website along with all of the Holy Father's addresses, I find this lightweight paperback from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) much easier on the eyes. Initially, I read the entire letter online, but it was such a struggle to plow through the text on a screen (220-some pages on an iPad!) that it took me a few weeks. Now I'm very glad to have a paperback in this attractive design. For all who appreciate holding a text that doesn't need to be recharged or clicked upon, but prefers something solid to read by the bedside in meditation, I think this edition is the one to get.
Pope Francis, like Pope John XXIII, like Jesus is a bit of a scandal to his own hierarchy. He is a fully human being, with experiences which make him compassionate with the poor, with the handicapped, with the downtrodden and with the sinners; yet with an education and a Jesuit training and a Franciscan Spirituality at odds with a Church which may have become ossified in its approach to the modern world. He is willing to break with convention to tell his Church, "Who am I to judge them", I want to go to them with compassion, forgiveness and love...as Jesus would have done.
But the Gospel and the Eucharist are not going to receive much appreciation from the media as much as the Encyclical on Global Warming seems to be having. That's too bad, for faith itself is that which is so essential for an understanding of the messages of Francis, John and Jesus.
I am an evangelical protestant but it is my fervent hope that this "exhortation" will be widely read across the community of Christ throughout the world. The Bishop of Rome has written a powerful call to all Christians reminding us of our common mission and our common faith. He has called upon us to embrace that mission with joy, passion, and love for all. Following in the tradition of John Chrysostom, Francis' exhortation is overflowing with a deep and abiding concern for the marginalized while revealing that both the political right and left have embraced two varieties of the identical sin idolatry of self.
As an aside, accounts of this "exhortation" in the popular press could hardly be more misleading in their emphasis. Many news stories have focused on a fragment of a single sentence that says inviting women into the Priesthood is "not open for discussion." (To be clear, this subject is not addressed beyond this small portion of this single sentence.) Nor is this exhortation merely - or even mostly - a road map for the Roman Church. From the very first page, Francis makes clear that he is reaching out to the entirety of Christ's body on earth "I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ..." It certainly speaks to Catholics, but it is simultaneously aimed at all Christians everywhere.
Francis begins with the most precise description I have ever seen of the ravine in which the modern West has become trapped "The great danger in today's world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience."
His approach to escaping this ravine is the same as it ever was follow the steep and narrow path cut by the Joy of the Gospel. And for my Protestant friends, Francis could not be clearer that this is an unmerited gift "The salvation which God offers us is the work of his mercy. No human efforts, however good they may be, can enable us to merit so great a gift..." or "No one is saved by himself or herself, individually, or by his or her own efforts. "
Francis reminds us that, "Christian morality is not a form of stoicism, or self-denial, or merely a practical philosophy or a catalogue of sins and faults. Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond to the God of love who saves us ... All of the virtues are at the service of this response of love."
If I have any discomfort with this exhortation, it is at those (thankfully few) moments when Francis seems to shift from calling upon Christians to calling upon governments to redress the plight of the marginalized. Here, we would do well to remind ourselves of Chrysostom's warning with respect to this. We would also do well to remember that governments by their nature always serve the selfish needs of their kings and courts (God warned us of this in 1 Samuel chapter 8). This is not to say that I disagree with the ends the Pope seeks, only that governments are a fundamentally flawed instrument for furthering God's Kingdom. Nonetheless, we can and should join with him in praying that politicians will receive appropriate guidance.
There is a great deal here which all Christians ought to embrace. To be sure, many Protestants will feel discomfort at the Marian language near the end of the exhortation, and those reared to distrust the Deuterocanonical Books/Apocrypha will bristle at quotations from Tobias, Sirach, and others. Thankfully, Francis takes time to ground each major theme in sources deemed authoritative by all, as if to remind the Protestant reader at each turn that he and we remain standing on common ground (a point which he makes very explicit in discussing the evangelization of non-Christian cultures).
Pope Francis' exhortation stands as a challenge to all Christians to embrace the Joy of the Gospel and to live as if the world depended upon it - because it does. It has certainly rankled specific groups with specific agendas (from traditionalists to progressives, from economic liberals to social liberals) but in all of the discussion about one sentence or another, I hope and pray that the message does not get lost it is time for all Christians - the clergy, the laity, women and men across denominations - to joyfully embrace the missionary mandate of the Gospel through our words, our actions, and our whole selves.
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