I recently read an article on the Catholic News Networks interview with Cardinal Tagle after he was appointed to the Pontifical Council of Laity. I’ve always looked up to him after watching many of his talks and sermons on the internet.
In the interview he said something that really struck out to me and I think is very relevant to the CFC community as a whole now more than ever before especially with this years theme.
The question was:
Q: How do we open the doors of those in a compassionate way without compromising the Church’s teaching?
He said that it was a matter of pastoral approach. That people who are having difficulties and struggling need the guidance of the Church all the more. That maybe in a serene manner we can allow them to understand the teachings of the Church.
He said:
“The teachings of the Church are not supposed to be oppressive. The teachings of the Church as ideals of the Christian life are actually quite liberating. When you talk about loving other people, when you talk about being truthful, when you talk about being just – those are not oppressive things. They make you better human beings.”
In community we have many ideals. In CFC-Youth alone we advocate things such as 100% Free, Greeneration, RevUp and many more. These make our identity and what we stand for.
I went to a parish base recently and a brother shared about the things he was struggling with. I told him “that was a good sharing”. I remember one time a brother tweeted me on twitter that he was struggling with drugs and he’s been clean for three months. I tweeted back at him “#praiseGod bro keep it up”.
The reality is we ALL struggle with what we advocate for because of the simple fact that we are sinners. The ideals of community aren’t there so that we can blame each other and point fingers, it’s not there so we can say that we are holier than someone who is struggling more than us.
The ideals are there so that we can encourage and affirm each other in living a more Christ centred life. It’s there so we can be better people for God. It’s there so we can love each other more.
I know we don’t have a perfect community here in CFC but I’ve come to realize it’s imperfections and I want to make it better starting with me. That’s how I know that I love this community and in the same way we should love our brothers and sisters in it.
We journey together as a community not only because we want to reach heaven, but also because we want to bring all those we love with us.
