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“Don’t deceive people with the word ‘mercy’.
God forgive sins only if we repent of them.” – Cardinal Robert Sarah
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://moows.com/media/2121382660412471597/B1wqkpCjvkt]
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In response to a question about “the heresy of
good-man-ism”—according to which it doesn’t matter much what someone does, as
long as he is trying to “be a good person”—Cardinal Sarah says:
Unfortunately, what you say is part of a contemporary ideology that is among the most dangerous – that is, “just being good”. This presupposes that any truthful content is trampled and refuted. This leads us to consider everything as “good”, falsifying in this way even all that is truly part of the life of man. An important contemporary philosopher, Fabrice Hadjadj, has coined a brilliant formula, speaking on the “heresies of charity” of modern man, who confuses charity with the simple desire for good (at best) or almsgiving (in the worst case). But charity is the love of God: therefore, “we are” charity, and we give witness of charity towards others because God loved us first. In the same way, it is also with mercy, superficially understood by many as a clean slate over their sins. But, there is no forgiveness if there is no repentance. Jesus did not say to the adulteress, “Well, go and continue to do what you are doing since I forgive you. No! Because she threw herself at his feet and begs forgiveness, he says: “Go and sin no more”. Only if we understand this can we fully enjoy the fruits that the Jubilee of Mercy, offers us. The Holy Father has said many times: it is true that Jesus always goes before us and waits for us with open arms. But it is up to us to also move towards Him! Jesus died on the cross, with arms outstretched towards all: He died begging the Father’s forgiveness for us. Who can do this but only God Himself? How can we not recognize him?
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"He set before her
a new life (8:11b, c). He said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no
more." He did not condone sin; he conquered sin. With a new Lord and a new
life, she went on her way.
":The Lord’s commands are always his enablings. He imparts the power to do what he says. She experienced what Henry Drummond once called "the expulsive power of a new affection." What the law could not do, the Lord could accomplish by a few words from his understanding heart. Everyone else left the temple courtyard that day with a guilty conscience; the woman left it with joy in her heart.:" John Phillips John 8:3-11
3 And the scribes and
Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her
in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard
it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at
the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman
standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: GO, AND SIN NO MORE.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/twoedgedswordofthelord/photos/a.1668793726715400/2350378005223632/?type=3&theater]
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Robert Sarah (born 15
June 1945) is a Guinean
prelate of
the Catholic Church. A Cardinal since 20 November 2010, he was
appointed prefect
of the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope
Francis on 23 November 2014. He previously served as secretary of
the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples under Pope
John Paul II, and president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum
under Pope Benedict XVI.
A prominent voice of the College of Cardinals and in the Roman
Curia, Sarah has been a forceful advocate for the defense of traditional
Catholic teaching on questions of sexual
morality and the right to life, and in denouncing Islamic radicalism. He has called gender
ideology and ISIS
the "two radicalizations" that threaten the family, the first
through divorce,
same-sex marriage, and abortion, and
the latter with child marriage, polygamy, and
the subjection of women.
Though he has been described as largely sympathetic
to pre-Vatican II liturgical practices, he has also
proposed that partisans of different liturgies learn from each other and seek a
middle ground.
He has been mentioned as a possible candidate, a
"papabile",
for the papacy
by international media outlets such as Le Monde,
as well as by Catholic publications such as Crux, the National Catholic Reporter, and the Catholic
Herald.
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