Refreshing!

http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=08209

Now that is the sort of headline I like to read. It's depressing, sometimes, when all you can find in the news about Catholicism is abuse, bankruptcy, corruption, schools and parishes closing, the shortage of priests and religious, liberals demonstrating for same sex marriage, female clergy, contraception, and any number of other things that just aren't going to happen in THIS church (see Jesus' words on the likelihood of the gates of Hell prevailing against His Church for reference, Matthew 16:18).

All the same, I wasn't sure I agree with Bishop Marx.

Interviewed yesterday by Cologne’s WDR television, Bishop, Rev Reinhard Marx commented: “In these past 2,000 years, not everybody has kept the ten commandments. Not even the Pope or the bishops! Who can keep all the commandments?”

...

“The important thing is that Jesus is our friend — but he is a demanding friend,” said Rev Marx. ‘It’s nothing new that all people can’t live up to all these goals, which are sometimes uncomfortable.”

Okay, Fact #1: We're all miserable sinners. Fact #2: He's right, technically, that no one will live up to all the standards Jesus gave us. However, I think that in the context of the article (I can't speak for what he really meant), the Bishop makes it sound as if it's not our fault, or that it's not that big of a deal. People need to be confronted with their sin. And those people who walk around with the Pill in their pocket can't be allowed to keep on with it just because no one in the past has been able to keep the Commandments perfectly -- we can't allow ourselves to become complacent just because Jesus loves us, this we know, 'cause the Bible tells us so.

In reality with God's grace we can lead lives which are holy and pleasing to God -- Jesus is "demanding" because He knows that's true. Sure, we know we're going to fall short sometimes or more likely most of the time, but that isn't any sort of an excuse. Our weakness is on account of our sin, not the other way around, because everyone can turn to God and He can give us strength that undermines the power sin holds over us.

Now, with a prayer for all of those who "turned red-faced and giggled" when asked if they lived by what the Pope preaches (and the Church teaches), and one for myself because I know I have my own challenges to overcome, I'm off to face the day!