I Could Listen to Bishop Flores...
...for hours and hours. Which I did today, as a matter of fact. He led our department's annual retreat day, and he was marvelous!
He gave three talks, each framed around a question, and each question was asked 2 different ways. He was so profound, I sound like a moron trying to relate what he said, so I think I need to let it simmer a couple of days, but there are a couple of things I can put out there now:
1. If the Love of Christ means anything in our lives, it is that we are to be faithful, as faithful as we can be. (He was talking about this in the context of our relationships with other people.)
2. He spoke of Pope Benedict's new book on Jesus Christ. He said that the reason that books like the Da Vinci Code are huge bestsellers is because people are drawn to Christ. They seek him and seek him, even though they may not realize it. He said that we live in a "Christ haunted culture"; the human heart cannot fill its own emptiness. People will reach, even for false images of Christ. Therefore, Benedict says, our job is to present the true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, and people will recognize the authenticity.
3. He also spoke of our culture, and our obsession with entertainment. He said that our country was founded on the pursuit of happiness, and that it has become a mad passion for entertainment. (Doesn't that sound about right?) Why are we so into entertainment? Because we don't want to think about what it's all about - what we're doing here.
Like I said, I could listen to him for hours. What an amazing man!
Shameless plug: he will be one of the speakers at this year's women's conference - be sure to get your tickets early!
I'll try to let the rest of what he said percolate for a couple of days, and maybe I can put it together into something that makes sense, because the notes I was taking today kind of don't. Ahem.
He gave three talks, each framed around a question, and each question was asked 2 different ways. He was so profound, I sound like a moron trying to relate what he said, so I think I need to let it simmer a couple of days, but there are a couple of things I can put out there now:
1. If the Love of Christ means anything in our lives, it is that we are to be faithful, as faithful as we can be. (He was talking about this in the context of our relationships with other people.)
2. He spoke of Pope Benedict's new book on Jesus Christ. He said that the reason that books like the Da Vinci Code are huge bestsellers is because people are drawn to Christ. They seek him and seek him, even though they may not realize it. He said that we live in a "Christ haunted culture"; the human heart cannot fill its own emptiness. People will reach, even for false images of Christ. Therefore, Benedict says, our job is to present the true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, and people will recognize the authenticity.
3. He also spoke of our culture, and our obsession with entertainment. He said that our country was founded on the pursuit of happiness, and that it has become a mad passion for entertainment. (Doesn't that sound about right?) Why are we so into entertainment? Because we don't want to think about what it's all about - what we're doing here.
Like I said, I could listen to him for hours. What an amazing man!
Shameless plug: he will be one of the speakers at this year's women's conference - be sure to get your tickets early!
I'll try to let the rest of what he said percolate for a couple of days, and maybe I can put it together into something that makes sense, because the notes I was taking today kind of don't. Ahem.
Labels: Catholics, Cool Stuff, Pope Benedict
posted by The Big Seester | 8:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home