April 1 - 15, 2019
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
RELIGIOUS
Conversion requires a
resolve to sin no more
Pope Francis Sunday emphasized
the need for people to have a firm
resolve to change their lives when
they ask for forgiveness of their sins.
“Every true conversion is aimed at
a new future, at a new life, a beautiful
life, a life free from sin, a generous
life,” the pope said April 7. And
people are not afraid to ask Jesus for
forgiveness, “because He opens the
door to this new life.”
Lent, Francis pointed out, is a time
when Catholics are called to recognize
their sinfulness and to ask God for
forgiveness. “And forgiveness, in turn,
as it reconciles us and gives us peace,
makes us begin a renewed story.”
Pope Francis, in his Angelus
address, reflected on the Gospel
passage of the woman caught in
adultery. The scribes and Pharisees,
he said, try to trap Jesus by catching
him going against the law, which says
the woman should be stoned.
The scribes and Pharisees “are
closed in the bottlenecks of legalism
and want to lock up the Son of God
in their perspective of judgment and
condemnation,” the pope said. “But
He did not come into the world to
judge and condemn, but to save and
offer people a new life.”
This episode contrasts two
different attitudes, he underlined:
The scribes and Pharisees “want to
condemn the woman, because they
feel they are the guardians of the Law
and of its faithful application. Instead,
Jesus wants to save her, because he
personifies the mercy of God who, by
forgiving redeems, reconciles, and
renews.”
Francis noted that Jesus’ reaction
to this “test” is to remain in silence,
bending down to write in the dirt, as
if to recall that the only Judge and
Legislator is God, “who has written
the Law in stone.”
And then Jesus says: “Let the
one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
With these words he appeals to
the consciences of the scribes and
Pharisees, reminding them of their
own sinfulness, Pope Francis said.
Jesus continues to write in the
dirt, and when he looks up, they have
all left – only “misery and mercy”
remain between him and the woman,
he said, quoting St. Augustine.
Jesus then invites the woman
to “Go, and from now on do not sin
anymore.”
“And so, Jesus opens a new road
before her, created by mercy, a road
that requires her commitment not to
sin anymore,” the pope said, noting
that “it is also an invitation that applies
to each of us. When Jesus forgives us,
he always opens a new way to move
forward.”
Speaking badly of others is one
thing which makes people like the
scribes and Pharisees, throwing
stones, he stated.
“This scene also invites each
of us to become aware that we are
sinners,” he said, “and to let fall from
our hands the stones of denigration
and condemnation, of gossip, which
at times we would like to hurl against
others.”
Invoking the Virgin Mary, he
concluded by asking for her help
in witnessing “to all the merciful
love of God who, in Jesus, forgives
25
us and makes
our
existence
new,
always
offering us new
possibilities.”
(
H
.
Brockhaus, CNA)
From influencers to cyborgs, Pope Francis
has tech advice for young people
Discussing current digital trends,
from “influencers” to cyborgs to “zap-
ping,” Pope Francis’ recent apostolic
letter to young people contains both
buzzwords and moral advice for Mil-
lenial and iGen digital natives.
“The life that Jesus gives us is a
love story, a life history that wants to
blend with ours and sink roots in the
soil of our own lives. That life is not a
salvation up ‘in the cloud’ and waiting
to be downloaded, a new ‘app’ to be
discovered, or a technique of men-
tal self-improvement,” Pope Francis
wrote in his apostolic exhortation
Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive) pub-
lished April 2.
The 50-page letter, addressed to
“all Christian young people,” seeks
to address the “highly digitalized cul-
ture” that young adults are immersed
in today.
He insisted that young people
today must “find ways to pass from
virtual contact to good and healthy
communication.”
Otherwise, youth can be left feel-
ing “rootless” living in a “virtual world,”
which can be “a world of loneliness
and of self-invention,” Pope Francis
wrote.
“The collapse of fundamental
certainties, fostered by today’s media
culture, creates a deep sense of or-
phan hood to which we must respond
by creating an attractive and fraternal
environment where others can live
with a sense of purpose,” he advised.
Pope Francis cautioned that “on-
line relationships can become inhu-
man” because “digital spaces blind us
to the vulnerability of another human
being and prevent us from our own
self-reflection.”
He pointed to the example of por-
nography, which he said distorts a
young person’s perception of human
sexuality.
“Technology used in this way cre-
ates a delusional parallel reality that
ignores human dignity,” Francis con-
tinued.
However, Francis cautioned that
the way that “many platforms work of-
ten ends up favouring encounter be-
tween persons who think alike, shield-
ing them from debate.”
“The proliferation of fake news is
the expression of a culture that has
lost its sense of truth and bends the
facts to suit particular interests,” he
said, which foments “prejudice and
hate.”
“The reputation of individuals is
put in jeopardy through summary
trials conducted online. The Church
and her pastors are not exempt from
this phenomenon.”
Beyond social media, Pope Fran-
cis also addressed other technological
developments that influence young
people today.
“Advances in the sciences and in
biomedical technologies have power-
fully influenced perceptions about the
body, leading to the idea that it is open
to unlimited modification,” he said.
“The capacity to intervene in DNA,
the possibility of inserting artificial ele-
ments into organisms (cyborgs) and
the development of the neurosciences
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represent a great resource, but at the
same time they raise serious anthro-
pological and ethical questions.”
Twenty-five-year-old Laphidil Op-
pong Twumasi, one of the 36 “youth
auditors” in the Synod of Bishops on
young people, the faith, and vocation-
al discernment last October, said that
she was surprised to discover terms
like “influencer” and “zapping” in an
official document of the Church.
“It is easy to understand and is
not lost in archaisms,” Twumasi said
at a Vatican press conference for the
document’s release. “I must say that
there was an effort and a willingness
to hear and to really listen to us,” she
said.
While warning of the technology’s
potential pitfalls, the pope has also
embraced social media and technolo-
gy himself. The pope’s Twitter handle,
@Pontifex, has 18 million followers.
Pope Francis recently launched
a new app, Click to Pray, which con-
nects smartphone users with a global
network to share prayer intentions.