“An evangelizing disciple knows Church teaching and what Christ said and has the ‘quiet confidence that it’s true.’”
I understand Pope Francis putting forth the face of the mercy of God. Divine Mercy is a huge part of who Christ is and we know the bigger the sinner the more mercy from Christ. That does not mean Jesus walks back His teachings. It does not mean we get to live in sin. I am a firm believer, like Cardinal Wuerl, that “Amoris Laetitia” offers lay Christians a huge challenge to evangelize through their lives. We know what the Church teaches on marriage and the family. And if we do not know it, we have an obligation to know it!
Catechesis is needed because many people, Christian and non-Christian, do not know Church teaching on marriage and family. Moreover, what they do know may be distorted and not seen through the eyes of mercy. The Church is a field hospital, as Pope Francis puts it because the Church is there to draw us all to herself just as Christ draws all to Himself on the cross. The Good Thief did not persist in His beliefs about Himself or about Christ or about his worldview, No! His encounter with Christ at the end of his life left him transformed and renewed in mind and heart! This is why that very day He would be with Christ in paradise!
There are reasons for the teachings on marriage and the family and they are good precisely because they come from God who is Good…who is Love. We know so many of us do not live the Truth. We have chosen to pick and choose the teachings we think are right, or we do not know the fullness of the Truth or we are pushed by the Tempter Himself to accept an unacceptable situation and then demand the Church conform to us. It will not happen.
Until our marriages and family are ever always in the process of striving toward Truth we cannot show the world the Good that is marriage and the family. This means facing the Truth every day. This means not a condemning Church but one that knows the teaching and speaks with quiet confidence that it’s true. And by Church, I mean you and me people, the Body of Christ. Each of us must live and speak the Truth in the world of struggle and sin. We are the renewal as Cardinal Wuerl says so take the yoke! And you better at least know the teachings first and pray for understanding. A millimeter of understanding given in prayer is worth a million heady articles read on the subject. That does not mean constant perfection but it does mean living in Christ who can bring us to perfection. Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect!
I am working hard to develop an aspect of my webpage that will help people know the Truth of the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family. The more people learn and reflect…and the more we all pray to live that Truth, the more Christ can work in us, moving our hearts toward Him, toward understanding why these teachings are in place and how we can bring our own lives in conformance.