Pope Francis: Commandments are Hymn to Love

Francis' Video Message to '10 Squares for 10 Commandments'

"The Ten Commandments come from a God who has created us for love, from a God who has forged a close alliance with humanity, a God who only wills the good for man"

VATICAN CITY, June 10, 2013 (Zenit.org) - Here is a translation of the text from a video message sent by Pope Francis to the "10 Squares for 10 Commandments" initiative, sponsored by the Charismatic Renewal.

The Charismatic Renewal hosted the event in the context of the 40th anniversary of the movement's establishment in Italy. The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization and the Italian episcopal conference collaborated in the initiative. 

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Good evening all!

I am happy to join you, who are participating in the main Squares of Italy, in this rereading of the Ten Commandments. A project called “When Love Gives Meaning to Your Life,” on the art of living through the Ten Commandments given by God not only to Moses but also to us, to the men and women of all times. Thanks to those in charge of Renewal in the Holy Spirit – they are good these people of Renewal in the Holy Spirit, congratulations! – who organized this praiseworthy initiative in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization and the Italian Episcopal Conference. 

Thank you, to all those who contributed with generosity to the realization of this special project of the Year of Faith. Let’s ask ourselves now: What meaning do these Ten Words have for us? What do they say to our time, agitated and confused, which seems to want to do without God?

The Ten Commandments are a gift of God. The word “commandment” is not fashionable; it reminds the man of today of something negative, the will of someone who imposes limits, who puts obstacles to life. And unfortunately history, including recent <history>, is marked by tyrannies, ideologies, logics that have imposed and oppressed, which have not sought man’s good, but rather power, success, profit. But the Ten Commandments come from a God who has created us for love, from a God who has forged a close alliance with humanity, a God who only wills the good for man.

Let us trust God! Let us trust in Him! The Ten Commandments point out a path to follow, they also constitute a sort of “ethical code” for the building of a just society, to the measure of man. How much inequality there is in the world! How much hunger for food and for truth! How much moral and material poverties derive from the rejection of God and from putting so many idols in His place! Let us allow ourselves to the guided by these Ten Words that illumine and orientate the one who seeks peace, justice and dignity. 

The Ten Commandments indicate a path of liberty, which finds its fullness in the law of the Spirit written not on stone tablets, but in the heart (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3). Written here are the Ten Commandments! It is essential to recall when God gave the people of Israel, through Moses, the Ten Commandments. At the Red Sea the people experienced great liberation. They touched concretely the power and fidelity of God, of the God who renders us free. Now, on Mount Sinai,  God Himself indicated to His people and to all of us the way to remain free, a path that is etched in man’s heart as a universal moral law (cf. Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-22).

 We must not see the Ten Commandments as limitations to liberty. No, they are not this, but we must see them as indications for liberty. They are not limitations but indications for liberty! They teach us to avoid the slavery to which the many idols reduce us that we build ourselves – we have experienced this so many times in history and we are experiencing it also today. They teach us to open ourselves to a dimension that is larger than the material, to live respect for persons, overcoming the avidity for power, for possession, for money and to be honest and sincere in our relations, to protect the whole of creation and to nourish in our planet lofty, noble and spiritual ideals. 

To follow the Ten Commandments means to be faithful to ourselves, to our more authentic nature, and to walk towards the genuine liberty that Christ taught in the Beatitudes (cf. Matthew 5:3-12.17; Luke 6:20-23). The Ten Commandments are a law of love. Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets of the law from God. Jesus does the opposite: the Son of God abases Himself; he descends into our humanity to indicate to us the profound meaning of these Ten Words. Love the Lord with your whole heart, your whole mind, and your whole strength and your neighbor as yourself (cf. Luke 10:27).

This is the most profound meaning of the Ten Commandments: the commandment of Jesus that bears within it all the commandments, the Commandment of Love. That is why I say that the Ten Commandments are Commandments of Love. Here is the heart of the Ten Commandments: the Love that comes from God and that gives meaning to life, love that makes us live not as slaves but as true sons, love that animates all our relations: with God, with ourselves – we often forget this – and with others. True liberty is not to follow our egoism, our blind passions, but to love, to choose what is good in every situation. The Ten Commandments are not a hymn to “no,” but to “yes.” A “yes” to God, a “yes” to Love, and because I say “yes” to Love, I say “no” to non-Love, but the “no” is a consequence of that “yes” that comes from God and makes us love.

Let us rediscover and live the Ten Words of God! Let us say “yes” to these “ten ways of love,” made perfect by Christ, to defend man and guide him to true liberty! May the Virgin Mary accompany us on this path. I impart from my heart my Blessing upon you, upon your dear ones, and upon your cities. Thank you all!

The Woodrose School Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI

Lord, thank you for blessing your Church with Pope Benedict XVI who, through the Year of Faith, has opened the floodgates of grace and has given the Holy Spirit an avenue to work in our souls and convert us.

In his last days as Pontiff, we pray that you give him strength (to carry out the last of his duties to the best of his abilities), courage (to handle the media and all the critics and naysayers), and peace (to live the rest of his life dedicated to prayer and reflection).

We pray for the upcoming elections, that the Holy Spirit descend upon the College of Cardinals and inspire them to vote for the next Pope, who will continue the line of St. Peter in serving and guiding the Church. 

In this time of great change, we turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church. May she watch over her children and guide them along the right path towards the future.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.
(Composed by Monica Fernandez, IV-C)

It's the Stupid Culture

It's the Stupid Culture

Gender Is Not a Choice

By Denise Hunnell, MD

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 09, 2013 (Zenit.org) - November 2012 marked the first time gender identity was included as a specific protected classification in a United Nations General Assembly anti-discrimination resolution. This wording is significant because it elevates gender identity to the same level as race, creed, religion, and sexual orientation. Yet this term is ambiguous and there is no clear agreement as to what discrimination on the basis of gender identity means. Bringing such uncertainty into the language of international law opens the door for broad assertions of rights for those who claim to be "transgendered."

In its broadest, most widely agreed upon sense, discrimination means to single out a person or group for unfair or unjust treatment. 

The United Nations declared that no one should be subject to summary execution or extrajudicial killings on the basis of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Certainly, no one advocates that those with a gender identity disorder should be vulnerable to the capricious use of capital punishment. However, once gender identity makes its way into the anti-discrimination lexicon, many will conclude that being transgendered is a variant of normal identity, rather than a disorder. (This has already happened with the term "sexual orientation," which is interpreted to mean acceptance and promotion of homosexuality.)

 Including gender identification as a protected class reduces gender to a subjective identity. Maleness or femaleness becomes an arbitrary construct made at the whim of the individual and all are expected to accede to the self-proclaimed gender identity. Failure to do so is seen as discriminatory.

As recently seen in the state of Washington, protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity can be interpreted to mean that a man who dresses as a woman has the right to be considered as truly a woman. At Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington, a 45-year-old student with male genitalia declared that he is actually a woman. The school claimed that because gender identity is included in the state's anti-discrimination statutes, this student must be treated as a woman in all aspects of college life. This includes allowing the student to use the women's locker room at the college pool and fully expose himself to all the females who share the locker room. Those who object to this policy are labeled bigots and are said to be infringing upon this student's right to determine his own sexual identity.

The belief that gender is a personal choice has made it fashionable to go to great lengths to avoid "imposing" a gender identity on children. Egalia is a "gender-neutral" publicly funded pre-school in Sweden. The school does not refer to its students as boys or girls, but only as "friends". They do not use any gender specific pronouns. In fact, they have made up a new Swedish word, "hen", to replace "han" and "hon", the Swedish pronouns for "he" and "she". They have banned stories like "Cinderella" or "Snow White" in favor of books featuring gay and lesbian couples, single parents, and adopted children in order to avoid reinforcing gender stereotypes. 

Some parents have gone so far as to hide the sexual identity of their children to avoid any cultural influences on their gender identity. A Canadian couple was profiled by the BBC after deciding to conceal their baby's gender from everyone, including their own parents. They named their child Storm and intend to let the child explore various gender roles so that Storm can decide whether to be male, female, or some combination of the two.

However, as Abraham Lincoln said, "calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg." God created us male and female. Those born as males have one nature and those born as females have a complementary nature. Each equal in dignity but distinct in character. A man can have traits that are often thought of as feminine, such as being communicative or nurturing. That does not alter the fact that he is a man. A woman can have traits that are often thought of as masculine, such as being assertive. That does not alter the fact that she is a woman. It is abnormal for a man to believe himself to be a woman or for a woman to believe herself a man and it is most definitely not an act of love to encourage such delusions. Rather, it undermines human dignity to deny the reality of an essential element of human nature. 

In his 2012 Christmas address to the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict characterized the rejection of innate male and female sexual identities as a denial of God. He warned that this threatens not only individuals, but also the very existence of families and the wellbeing of society as a whole:

Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed. But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him… The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man.

It is interesting that it is often the people who tout diversity as a lynchpin of a healthy society who seek to suppress sexual diversity and create a genderless, androgynous culture. As Pope Benedict points out, this philosophy that radically redefines what it means to be human is at the heart of the assault on marriage and the family. When male and female become meaningless labels then marriage as a union of one man and one woman becomes unnecessary. Indeed, the need to limit marriage to two people no longer makes sense when complementarity is denied. When the unique roles of husband and wife are obliterated, the status of children also changes. They become mere commodities obtained for the benefit of an amorphous adult partnership instead of distinct human persons with intrinsic dignity born of the fruitful union of a man and a woman.

It is misguided and dangerous to confuse gender differences with gender inequality. 

Acknowledging that men and women are different is not tantamount to saying one is better than the other. And while it is noble for the United Nations to affirm that those who suffer from a gender identity disorder must not be subjected to persecution, such an affirmation must not be construed to mean that gender is fungible. Those who identify as transgendered must be treated with dignity and love, yet to deny the reality of innate sexual identity undermines both. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, God's creation of both man and woman is a reflection of the Creator's wisdom and goodness. We reject this gift at our peril.

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Denise Hunnell, MD, is a Fellow of Human Life International, the world's largest international pro-life organization. She writes for HLI'sTruth and Charity Forum.

There's More to Life Than Being Happy - The Atlantic

There's More to Life Than Being Happy - The Atlantic

CBCP Pastoral Letter on the latest decision on the Reproductive Health Bill

Contraception is Corruption!

Seeking Light and Guidance on the RH Bill Issue

“What then should we do?” (Lk. 3, 10)

As we begin the nine-day Misa de Gallo today, our thoughts turn to John the Baptist, the one who points to Jesus, the Christ Child. People came to him to ask, “What then should we do?” because their hearts were filled with expectation for the Messiah. (Lk. 3,15) They needed reason to hope. St. John the Baptist told them to share what they had, to act with justice, and shun extortion.

Today, our question as a people of God, regarding the controversial RH bill, may be the same. What then should we do?

On behalf of the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, I reiterate the collective discernment of the Philippine bishops that the RH Bill if passed into law can harm our nation. Contraception corrupts the soul. The RH Bill is being gift wrapped to look like a gift for maternal health care. It is not so. It will lead to greater crimes against women.

The poor are being promised a better life through the RH Bill. It will not be so. The poor can rise from their misery through more accessible education, better hospitals and lesser government corruption. Money for contraceptives can be better used for education and authentic health care.

The youth are being made to believe that sex before marriage is acceptable provided you know how to avoid pregnancy. Is this moral? Those who corrupt the minds of children will invoke divine wrath on themselves.

The Reproductive Health Bill, if passed into law in its present form, will put the moral fibre of our nation at risk. As we your bishops have said in the past, a contraceptive mentality is the mother of an abortion mentality. The wide and free accessibility of contraceptives, even to the youth, will result in the destruction of family life and in greater violence against women.

What then should we do?

We congratulate the one hundred four (104) congressmen and women who voted NO to the RH Bill. You have voted courageously, despite all pressures, to stand up for what is right and true. The Church will remember you as the heroes of our nation, those who have said no to corruption and who care for the true welfare of the people, especially the poor. May you continue to be steadfast and not waiver in your stand against moral corruption.

What then should we do?

We plead with the sixty four (64) congressmen who have not voted, to be enlightened and stand up for the Truth. As St. John the Baptist directed the people to justice, we call on you also to seek justice for the Filipino people. The Church teaches us to follow our conscience, the inner sanctuary where we are alone with God (Gaudium et Spes #16), but such conscience must be formed and informed according to the universal values that are common to all human persons. The truth is that to be pro-child, pro-mother and pro-poor, we must resist all threats against them. This is justice. Stand up for it; defend it; do not be swayed by worldly pressures, and be the champion of the people who voted for you. God knows and sees what you are doing.

What then should we do?

We admonish the Filipino Catholic faithful to share with those who have less this Christmas, but also share in praying that our congressmen and women will be faithful to their call to serve the true interests of the Filipino people. This means upholding life, saying no to contraception which is corruption, and being faithful to the Christ Child who was pro-woman, pro-child and pro-poor.

From the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Dagupan City, December 15, 2012

For the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines currently out of the country,

+SOCRATES B. VILLEGAS, D.D.

Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan &

Vice-President, CBCP

Five Key Features of the Theology of the Body

Five Key Features of the Theology of the Body