predication.net

Brothers and sisters, you probably have a little library at home and should not be missing the Holy Scriptures. You have read many books, novels, and detective stories, but have you also read that book of books, the whole book, one by one, alone, or as a family together? Have you read the whole of the Holy Scriptures?

The Gospel speaks of a sower who went out to sow seed.

Christ also took this parable from life. Everyone knows this parable, and yet not everyone has fully understood what Christ meant to say.
Christ’s words are just as valid today as they were two thousand years ago and will be just as good until the world’s end. Many believe that the Holy Scriptures are no longer valid today. They refute its value; they attack some of its passages from various sides, yet they have understood nothing of what Christ, God, and the scribes meant to say. They want to explain the Scriptures, they want to be teachers of the Scriptures, and they don’t want to know the true meaning of the author of those words. We can compare the words of Holy Scripture to the grain of the Gospel. The role is our life. The grain is still the same. The terms of Holy Scripture are still the same; it depends on where the grain falls. It is up to us how we receive the words of Scripture.

Reading the Holy Scriptures is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes there are words you can interpret in many ways, and the next time you read them, you will notice that you missed the idea. You may tell yourself that everything in the Gospel is clear and that you don’t need an explanation.
And yet I would point out to you that there is also something deeply mysterious in it.

The first thing I would point out to you is that God’s voice can be unsuccessful. The older altar brethren remark, “I have found in my years of preaching that hearers can only choose what suits them, what answers their opinion and needs. We know many terrorists who pick only something out of the Scriptures, who recognize only what works for them.

They do not seek to let the seed fall into the fertile soil or heart. If that seed doesn’t suit them, they let it fall by the wayside. By doing so, they are only deceiving themselves. Why? Many have formed an idea of God in childhood, and if someone now disturbs it, they cannot defend themselves, even from themselves, so they let the enemies of Christ talk around them. If our religious feeling and education grew in proportion to our age, we would not be so quick to attack the Church and God in the presence of a Christian.

Others regard religion and God as romantic delusions. They say that this is how the world is today and that it can exist without God.
Someone remarked that the Gospel of Jesus is beautiful, but it strikes me as music from another world that one cannot dance to. It is. You can’t dance to the Gospel. The Gospel needs moral people, not whimsical people. That’s why the wheat falls into the thorns.

When we look at the world map, brothers and sisters, we find that God’s field is evergreen. Even today, the seed of the Gospel is finding fertile soil. It brings forth a harvest, and often, it amazes man that it is where we least expect it.
The Church is alive, bringing forth a harvest, and those who say it will perish must admit that they are wrong. The Church is still green and young, even if some of its members are disbelievers. It is bearing a harvest even though quantity is declining and quality is increasing.

Parents, Jesus is calling you too. If your children betray you, show all the more patiently! When you sow, do not immediately expect a harvest. Others will plant, and others will reap. I am convinced these last words will fall on the most fertile soil.

The seed of the Gospel of Christ is determined. The source has fallen. Christ has spoken. What soil am I? Let us take that dusty Holy Scripture, search it out, borrow it, and try to sow.

It’s Friday; we’re off work, made deadlines, cleaned up all the stuff on our desks, and made plans for the weekend. If I asked you now if you had a day of the week that you dread, I think there would be quite a few of you. Our lives are somehow linked to overcoming difficulties – sometimes minor, sometimes significant.

Today’s gospel stopped us at a toll booth. At that tollbooth, the phrase that took the breath away from many was uttered. Not so much for its content as for its addressee, “Follow me!” (Mt 9:9).
The toll-house – a place so shunned by the people. Again, not because of her alone, but because of those who stood by her. Because everything around us is not about things but people, about relationships, the toll-takers service was no longer a service but a tricky business that insulted human dignity. If we imagine the loot that the inhabitants of towns and villages had to suffer, we would not be inclined to accept this state of affairs. Jesus comes to this `stressful’ place. The Gospel does not say anything more about what happened there. It is strange because the bystanders were waiting to see how Jesus would treat Matthew. They were waiting for someone to tell him the truth to his face fearlessly – as only Jesus can. And indeed. Jesus did tell him the truth about himself, “Follow me!” For in those words was the truth of Matthew’s life. He was still going somewhere else. The path he was walking was leading him into isolation. The greed, the desire for control, the hard heart… never teach a man about freedom. So it was necessary to take a step back. To live without backstabbing, lying, and slavery.

The whole of today’s Gospel is a living testimony to the conversion of the Gospel writer himself. He told it to us, just as we witnessed many modifications today. But this is very brief, perhaps so we do not miss the essential point. “Follow me!” was a moment of liberation, touching God’s mercy. And it belongs not only to St. Matthew but also to us.

This Mass, too, is a call to turn and leave behind our tollbooth. Jesus wants to be a guest in your family, work, school, and especially with you. He longs for you to begin and end your day with him. You need to make a decision and let go of the tollbooth chair. I know the fear of uncertainty is great, but there is no uncertainty with God.

As a theologian, I have had the opportunity to explore many paths to a priestly vocation. Fewer and fewer traditional paths are emerging; most seminarians have been through challenging situations in life, struggling before they said “Yes” to God. One of them told his story, “I never wanted to be a priest. I took the faith traditions coldly. I was comfortable where I was. I planned to graduate and marry well. Everything was going well, but somewhere inside, there was a strange feeling. Like I was planning and swimming against the current. The girl was intelligent, both good and religious. My faith, too, was resurrected. But it wasn’t. And though I tried to convince myself of a good life choice, I didn’t escape. The `follow me!” was stronger. I prayed a lot, several rosaries a day. After a long time, I parted peacefully with the girl and found God’s peace.” So much for the testimony of the now priest.

God’s voice is not only for priests and consecrated ones. It is heard by everyone who truly wants to hear it. In the days ahead, let us listen to the silence in which Jesus speaks. Let us become his followers in the daily pursuit of good.

Before He died, Jesus gave the Apostle John what He holds most precious / His mother, Mary. These are the Redeemer’s last words, which he addresses to his own, and so they take on a solemn character and constitute something like a spiritual testament. At the cross on which the one she conceived at the Annunciation dies, Mary receives as it were a `second annunciation’: `Woman, behold your son!” (Jn 19:26). On the cross, the Son can entrust his pain to the heart of the Mother. Every son who suffers feels this need.

You, too, dear faithful, are often confronted with suffering: loneliness, setbacks and disappointments in personal life, difficulties in professional life, disagreements in the family, and many others. But even in the most challenging moments, which are not lacking in everyone’s life, you are not alone. Like John at the foot of the cross, Jesus gives you his Mother to strengthen you with her tenderness. The Gospel then says that “from that hour the disciple took her to himself” (Jn 19:27). This expression does not merely denote the place where John lived; instead, it evokes the spiritual dimension of such a welcome – the new bond that is formed between Mary and John. Jesus also asks us to take Mary to ourselves, to learn from her how to respond generously to God, for this is what distinguished her as God’s first collaborator in the work of salvation. By continuing to fulfill her maternal role, she will educate and form us for an ever better knowledge of Christ.

The first word of Jesus from the cross belonged to the spiritually most remote: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:33). This second, “your son” and “your mother” (Jn 19:26-27), belonged to those closest to him: His mother and the disciple whom He loved most. He puts them in a family relationship with these words, making them one household. But it was also a further unity between them. He gives this disciple to his Mother as one who, by listening to and carrying out his word, was doing God’s will, becoming his brothers and, of course, her sons, thus creating a new family, the Church. ` She stood at the cross of Jesus to pronounce once more her fiat, by which she entered into cooperation with God. To pronounce it also in this painful way, by her presence under the cross of her Son. Mary believed Son’s words from the cross, and John thought them too. This faith of theirs did not consist of words alone but gave birth to the Church – the new family of God. If we are well aware of what it took to form this family: the Father, the Son, his Mother, and the many others who were included in it and sustained it, we will not so easily disturb the connection that exists between the founders of this community of faith, hope, and love and us.

In Mary’s school, we can discover the concrete tasks Christ expects of us. We can learn to put him first in our lives and focus our thoughts and actions on him. Jesus knows the hearts and thoughts of every person, even their deepest desires. Only he who loved to man so much can fill his seat. His words are eternal life; they are the words that give meaning to life.

If we follow Our Lady’s example, we can say our `yes’ to Him. This is also important in our time when humanity needs the witness of those who dares to proclaim their faith in God, Lord, and Savior with joy and enthusiasm. In time, we too may come to recognize that this mission is not easy or straightforward; we too may one day stand under the cross of pain like Mary, but if we reflect on our pains with her, she will lead us safely to Jesus, who will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

God puts a mother with every human being to give birth and nurture them. At the foot of the cross, where we are spiritually born, the Son of God gives us His Mother. Let us receive her with joy and strive to do what the disciple John did: to take her to ourselves and keep her before our eyes as an example of love for God and all our brothers and sisters.

The greatness of God’s love

In the third chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus reveals the plan of salvation in a conversation with Nicodemus. A plan transcends us and is like God’s loving and undeserved purpose for human beings. It is a plan that points to glory and salvation.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Lk 3:16). This verse can be considered the central verse of today’s reading.

Nicodemus was a man who sincerely sought the truth, who felt the need to break away from his environment of prejudice, and decided to meet Jesus without his companions, between four eyes. He seeks him out in the silence of the night – not so much out of fear as out of foresight. Jesus is happy to receive such guests. Their all-night conversation will be a significant enrichment for us as well. Suppose Jesus relates the Old Testament story of the brazen serpent as a parable to himself. In that case, our condition too often resembles the situation in which the Israelites once found themselves in the wilderness. Disobedience and unfaithfulness to his word open the way for many false ideas, passions, and overconfidence, as well as for despair and rebellion against God. All this dangerously attacks our inner life and threatens our relationship with Him. Jesus comes in this situation not to judge us but to offer us a safe rescue. Not in the form of a brazen serpent, but the eternal Father sends his Son to the cross so that we may be perfectly healed of all our faults and weaknesses by looking at him.

For the sight of the Lord lifted from the earth to be truly healing, `any` company is not enough. Many pairs of eyes turn to him at Calvary: some to gaze at his torment, others to stare at his apparent helplessness, humiliation, or to satisfy their curiosity. The gaze that restores health, freedom, and salvation must be a humble and believing gaze. Such a gaze of faith enables Jesus to accomplish the miracle of his grace and mercy: the prospect of eternal life is opened to man. Thus is fulfilled the reason for which God sent his Son into the world, who came not to condemn the world but to save it. Jesus, by his obedience, opens the way for this admirable plan. The greatness of the sacrifice on Calvary is directly proportional to the love with which the Father has loved the Son from all eternity. The distinction of Son’s obedience is proportional to the passion with which the Son loves the Father.

God never deals with man unilaterally; he does not ask of man what he would not have offered or provided before; he does not leave him alone. If He asks man to make a sacrifice, it is never without, at the same time, creating a gift of His Son. When the Son of God sacrificed Himself, He united His divinity with His humanity.

For a man to transcend his human limitations and enter the path of sacrifice for God, he must unite his humanity with the divine gift of his Son. But the attitude of the Christian who lives and sacrifices for God does not end in the depths of pain but tends toward fulfillment in the resurrection. If God invites man to take up his cross and follow Him, He also asks him into fellowship with Himself, to share in His divine sacrifice, so that it may also be true of him that the Father loves him. Thus a new horizon opens for us, where the cross is no longer a scandal but the mystery of man’s redemption. It is present in the daily life of the Christian, who is not to reject it but to embrace it, even though it is sometimes arduous.

Jesus calls his disciples friends because he feels their trust and sincerity. Today’s word also invites us to trust in Jesus, who reveals his secrets to the sincere Nicodemus. Let us also abide in his nearness so that Jesus may comply with us at our cross. 

The faithful’s participation in worship is not a simple and lifeless matter. Depending on how one experiences the Holy Mass, one takes strength from it for one’s life. Therefore, we realize that it is not enough to be at Mass or to pray; but we must engage in conversation with the Lord Jesus. A Mass well-lived has been a life-changing moment for many a believer, just as it was for the dead young man in the Gospel.
Are you saying that we are not dead? What about your soul?! Is there no sin in it? Perhaps you are just the mother who weeps over her son! Who can count the tears falling from a mother’s eye here in church for her son, daughter, or husband?

Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel are not just addressed to the dead young man at the gate of Naim but all of us: “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (Lk 7:14). This event took place at the end of the first half of the public ministry of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus’s popularity increased, it was beginning to reach its peak. Meanwhile, the crowd accepted Jesus’ teachings without difficulty. The problems will come later, especially when he begins to speak about the mystery of the Eucharist.

Imagine a lively and cheerful group of disciples and friends accompanying the Lord Jesus to the small town of Naim, about ten kilometers away from Nazareth. As they enter the city, they are met by a funeral procession. A mother escorts her only son. Almost the whole town accompanies her in this sad moment. The Lord Jesus, moved by this woman’s fate, wants to comfort her. He stops the bearers without long words, without the mother’s pleading, without anyone’s begging; Jesus addresses the dead man: “Young man, I say to you, arise!” (Lk 7:14).
There is no simpler and shorter way to tell this story of the feeling of all those present. We see it from the same comment of the Evangelist Luke: “Here fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying….” (Lk 7:16).

It is a short story, yet we can observe several things about it. First, the Lord Jesus took the initiative, even though no one asked Him to do so. He wants to please the mother-widow.
Next, we can also notice that the Lord Jesus wants nothing in return. In doing so, it may seem that this is why He raised the boy. He could not watch his mother die and suffer. We may also notice that He does everything with such a matter-of-factness as if it were awakening from a dream.
Compare this with the resurrection of another boy.

The prophet Elijah also raised a boy to a woman under different circumstances. The woman of Zarephath received the prophet, Elijah, into her home. After a severe illness, her son dies. Under the pressure of these difficulties, the woman becomes confused. With reproach and supplication, she turns to the prophet, which is not what the woman in Naim does. The prophet first prays for a long time. Jesus did it quickly and with a kind of obviousness. Elijah, however, like Jesus, asks nothing of his mother. The resurrection that Elijah performed was more complex than that of Jesus. In both cases, we see that neither Elijah nor the Lord Jesus could bear the mourning of the mothers.

With this in mind, the question comes to mind: Why did God care about the sorrow of these women? Why were more widows in the days of Elijah and Jesus filled with grief over losing a son? But also the question, are there no other and greater sufferings in human history?
But on the other hand, we know these young men were not entirely exempt from death. In time, the shadow of death will fall upon them again, but they will mourn differently under different circumstances. Therefore we must remember that the resurrection is spoken of here, not the resurrection.

There is also the thought: Wouldn’t it be better to come to terms with that sad state of affairs – death, and things will be all right again? But God wants to show us that this is not about a kind of never-ending resurrection, endlessly prolonging our temporary existence. Still, it is about a new life, for which we are only preparing ourselves by this life on earth.
Here we are given a twofold lesson. God takes the initiative to resurrect us, and the resurrection he completes is not of the nature of life here on earth. Here we can pick up the beginning of Paul’s letter. Paul tells of the event that decided his conversion and adherence to the Lord Jesus. We see that he lays great stress on the election of God, for the gospels so far exceeded the mind of man that he could not receive them from a man but Christ. Only He could reveal them to him.

We will consider how Paul explains the difficulties that separated him from the Lord Jesus. The upbringing he had received and a life that was full of ambition prevented him from accepting the Gospel. Strange! Paul pursued the Church zealously and far above his peers. He leaves to secure other followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ. He was, after all, one of the most ardent supporters of the tradition of the Fathers. His whole nature is opposed to faith in Christ.
Later, Paul describes his first steps in the faith, which he took without the help of anyone, not guided by his reason, but living in solitude for three years in Arabia and then returning to Damascus. Only then did he meet Peter and James in Jerusalem.

We are persuaded that his conversion was the work of God. Everything he asked of God, he received. We can say that Paul was both raised and strengthened in his faith.
He sees the only meaning and purpose of his life in the Gospel because he knows that faith is a participation in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and gives him new life without end.
Paul’s conversion can be called a resurrection. The resurrection takes place after our death. We can be resurrected to new life by Jesus at some event when He seriously touches our life. We witness that adults often receive the Sacrament of Baptism voluntarily and at their request. However, we must remember that before they came to this decision, God led them down different paths, often unaware of the direction and destination He was taking them. We see this from the readings that God guides our paths by Himself. Therefore, we are to take our lives thoughtfully and surrender to God’s will, which is often mysterious to us in individual events. Yet, surrender to God is the guarantee of encounter in eternity. God cares for us more than we think, so let us offer ourselves wholly to Him.

The text of the reading has thus convinced us that our faith in God is our victory, which has a great perspective and a clear goal.
By being baptized, God has shown his interest in us before we could ask for it or do anything about it. God used our parents for this serious matter. Our mundane yet joyful lives prove God does not lose interest in us. We can boldly say that God wants us to come to eternal life after death. Therefore, we realize that giving ourselves wholly and entirely to Christ is a beautiful asset in our lives.
Even at this Mass, God is interested in each one of us. Our encounter with Christ in the Eucharist is the encounter of the living God with his creation. 

We are constantly faced with a choice. A guy can flirt with multiple girls, but he can only date one. Young people can seemingly indefinitely prolong their youth by traveling and partying, but at some point, they must choose a path of stability and settle down. We can consider whether to enter marriage or consecrated life, but it is not okay to spend years deciding or wondering if we can’t somehow combine the two. Everyone has to choose.

Jesus asks us to choose by giving something up when he strictly says: “Whoever does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” What do we have? Some possessions, love, relationships, hobbies, favorite music, and food. When we lose all that, what will we have left in life?

On the other hand, God still asks people to be creative: “Be fruitful, fill the earth.” Our relationships and possessions are the work of our creativity. If God tells us to be creative, He certainly doesn’t want us to lose it all. Using God’s gifts is a means of building God’s kingdom.

What are we to throw away if we are to forsake? Let us throw away everything that hinders living in communion with God. We are to be disciples of Jesus, that is, to imitate his lifestyle. Giving up everything we have is primarily a matter of inner attitude, not what we see on the outside. Even a poor person, a consecrated person, or a priest can be dependent on something, even though there are outward limitations in such a life. A rich person can be inwardly free if he knows how to handle his possessions.

“To renounce all that we have is in the first place a matter of inner attitude, not of what we see outwardly.”
It is sometimes necessary to take the command to renounce literally. St. Francis of Assisi is a typical example. The wealthy heir of a rich father, according to biographers, one day decides to divest himself of some of his possessions and share. He does a foolish thing for which most would have no understanding. He doesn’t do it for sensationalism; he doesn’t need to attract attention forcefully.

He feels inward that if he doesn’t do it, he will not be free inwardly and will not be able to follow Christ in simplicity as he would like. His story, the lifestyle he has chosen, and his authentic spiritual life in the following years prove that the foolish beginning of his mission was not a pose or a publicity stunt but a call to freedom to live fully for Christ.

This example needs to be seriously contemplated. We are not to sit on two stools. We are to be disciples of Jesus and eliminate what keeps us from fulfilling our mission. There are situations when we need to act. Someone may be bound by the house or apartment in which they live. Its size, its furnishings, its memories. They need to leave it, give it up, sell it, and move out, so they can break free and start anew.

Another is considering quitting smoking or drinking alcohol, yet can’t seem to get rid of cigarette packs or bottles. Some want to have fun. Music, movies, streaming stations, computer games. Time guzzlers. Isn’t it better to find the power, cancel the subscription, or sell the hardware?

If we can take such steps, we will gain a lot. Not only free time but especially the inner freedom to do good, something new and significant that will help in our spiritual and human maturation, in our relationships. We will stop sitting on two chairs. We become disciples of Jesus. We can get our priorities in life in order. Carry our cross and yet not destroy ourselves.

So let us choose. Let us not want to rest our hearts on the earth when heaven is so broad and deep and offers so much more. Let my chair be communion with Christ. Until we firmly choose to sit on it, we will not be ready to imitate him and become his disciples.

This is our mission. Renunciation is how we purify ourselves, our plans, and our intentions to understand what is essential in our lives.

Before He died, Jesus gave the Apostle John what He holds most precious / His mother, Mary. These are the Redeemer’s last words, which he addresses to his own, and so they take on a solemn character and constitute something like a spiritual testament. At the cross on which the one she conceived at the Annunciation dies, Mary receives as it were a `second annunciation’: `Woman, behold your son!” (Jn 19:26). On the cross, the Son can entrust his pain to the heart of the Mother. Every son who suffers feels this need.

You, too, dear faithful, are often confronted with suffering: loneliness, setbacks and disappointments in personal life, difficulties in professional life, disagreements in the family, and many others. But even in the most challenging moments, which are not lacking in everyone’s life, you are not alone. Like John at the foot of the cross, Jesus gives you his Mother to strengthen you with her tenderness. The Gospel then says that “from that hour the disciple took her to himself” (Jn 19:27). This expression does not merely denote the place where John lived; instead, it evokes the spiritual dimension of such a welcome – the new bond that is formed between Mary and John. Jesus also asks us to take Mary to ourselves, to learn from her how to respond generously to God, for this is what distinguished her as God’s first collaborator in the work of salvation. By continuing to fulfill her maternal role, she will educate and form us for an ever better knowledge of Christ.

The first word of Jesus from the cross belonged to the spiritually most remote: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:33). This second, “your son” and “your mother” (Jn 19:26-27), belonged to those closest to him: His mother and the disciple whom He loved most. With these words, he puts them in a family relationship, making them one household. But it was also a further unity between them. He gives this disciple to his Mother as one who, by listening to and carrying out his word, was doing God’s will, becoming his brothers and, of course, her sons, thus forming a new family, the Church. ` She stood at the cross of Jesus to pronounce once more her fiat, by which she entered into cooperation with God. To pronounce it also in this painful way, by her presence under the cross of her Son. Mary believed Son’s words from the cross, and John thought them too. This faith of theirs did not consist of words alone but gave birth to the Church – the new family of God. If we are well aware of what it took to form this family: the Father, the Son, his Mother, and the many others who were included in it and sustained it, we will not so easily disturb the connection that exists between the founders of this community of faith, hope, and love and us.

In Mary’s school, we can discover the concrete tasks Christ expects of us. We can learn to put him first in our lives and focus our thoughts and actions on him. Jesus knows the hearts and thoughts of every person, even their deepest desires. Only he who loved man so much can fill his seat. His words are eternal life; they are the words that give meaning to life.

If we follow Our Lady’s example, we can say our `yes’ to Him. This is also important in our time when humanity needs the witness of those who dare to proclaim their faith in God, Lord, and Saviour with joy and enthusiasm. In time, we too may come to recognize that this mission is not easy or straightforward; we too may one day stand under the cross of pain like Mary, but if we reflect on our pains with her, she will lead us safely to Jesus, who will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

God puts a mother with every human being to give birth and nurture them. At the foot of the cross, where we are spiritually born, the Son of God gives us His Mother. Let us receive her with joy and strive to do what the disciple John did: to take her to ourselves and keep her before our eyes as an example of love for God and all our brothers and sisters.

“The current crisis of the Church opens the chance for new forms of Christianity,” says Czech priest Tomas Halik.

The time has come for another Council in the Catholic Church
Source.

The Church cannot do without reform, even at the risk that some will find the reform radical and leave the Church, Czech priest Tomáš Halík said in an interview with the Austrian regional daily Kleine Zeitung.

Halík reflected on how faith can persist when traditional forms no longer work. “This is one of the most important questions of our time,” the 71-year-old cleric told the Austrian periodical, which the Polish eKAI news agency quoted.

Halik also says it is not the way for clerics to return to pre-modern Christianity or the current form of Christianity as a worldview. According to the eminent theologian, the necessary change in Christianity cannot be exhausted in superficial institutional changes. Still, a deepening of spirituality and ecumenism is needed, as well as the practice of solidarity “with all those who feel responsible for the future of our common world.”

In the Czech theologian’s view, the Church could be shaped as a “school of Christian wisdom”: a community of students and teachers, a community of life, prayer, and study, a new form of the ideal of the first universities.

In this context, Halík sees an example in the ministry of priests in hospitals, the army, and prisons. “They are there for everyone, not just for the faithful,” Halík stressed. The Czech theologian and sociologist are also skeptical of many new movements in the Church, especially if they succumb to a sectarian mentality. On the other hand, he has a positive view of open communities such as Taizé and Sant’Egidio.

According to Halík, the time has also come for a new Council in the Catholic Church. However, he says it is unclear whether such a council could be convened through Pope Francis’ synodal process.

Society sees the Church as a hysterical community.
Tomas HalikSociety sees the Church as a hysterical community
Paul Hudak
The idea that the liberalization of theology is to blame for the decline of the Church is false, a Czech priest has declared at an ecumenical conference in Poland.

“The post-modern era brings new features and the need for theological and spiritual preparation for further ministry. This is the synodal way,” the Czech theologian said.

Tomas Halik considers the universal brotherhood, which Pope Francis speaks of in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, as an eschatological goal. He says it will lead the way across history in line with the encyclical’s content. “On this path, however, steps are needed to deepen mutual knowledge and appreciation. Ecumenical meetings can always be an encouragement to continue on this path,” Halik said.

Tomas Halik pointed out that proposals for modernizing the Church’s structures have been around for more than 150 years. Some were implemented after the Second Vatican Council, others were left unfinished, and other changes were brought about by the current reform of the Roman Curia. Some proposals have also emerged in the synodal journey in Germany. “These voices and proposals must not be silenced or downplayed,” Halík warned.

However, he is convinced that the actual rebuilding of the house cannot start from the roof but from the foundations. “We need to look at what is happening to the foundation of the house,” Halík stressed.

On the other hand, he noted that it is not appropriate to compare the Catholic Church with the fate of the Soviet Union. According to Halik, there is an accusation that Pope Francis and his reforms will lead to the collapse of the Church, just as Gorbachev’s attempt to reform the USSR led to its disintegration.

“Francis’ call for openness and self-criticism is indeed reminiscent of Gorbachev’s glasnost and the synodal path of perestroika,” Fr Halik added.

“People who are afraid of this ultimately show that they understand the church as a totalitarian system and want to keep it that way,” he said. Their fears are understandable, he said, because the system of the church, which emerged as a counterculture to Protestantism and modernity, “had and has many totalitarian features.” “The reforms of Pope Francis threaten them,” he added.

Halik supports Pope Francis’ reform course because he believes that the Church is something other than a totalitarian system and that the collapse of this system can liberate and restore the core of the Church.