I am the Lord, your God. You shall have no other gods before me (Ex 20:3).
Idolatry is a very real and current temptation:Pop Francis reflected on the first commandment in his catechists at the Wednesday General Audience.
The commandment prohibits the making of idols or images of any sort. We are talking about a human tendency, which spares neither believers nor atheists.
Modern idolatry
The Pope Francis, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, said that idolatry “consists in divinizing what is not God.
” He invited Christians to ask ourselves:“What is really my God? Is it the One and Triune Love, or is it my own image, my personal success, even within the Church?”
Pope said that an idol is a “vision” that tends to become an obsession. “An idol is really a projection of the self onto an object or a project.”
Sacrifices to idols
Pope Francis said that, “In ancient times human sacrifices were made to idols,” he said, “but even today people sacrifice their children for their careers, neglecting them or simply refusing to have them.”
Pop said that idols require blood.
Love vs. idolatry
“never requires life but gives it. The true God doesn’t offer a projection of our success, but teaches us to love.” Rather than asking us to sacrifice our children, he said, “God gives his Son for us.”
Pop said that, Recognizing our tendency toward idolatry, “places us on the path towards love”.
FILIPINO
'Pag-ibig na hindi tugma sa idolatrya': Sinabi ni Pope sa Pangkalahatang Madla
Ako ang Panginoon, ang iyong Diyos. Huwag kang
magkakaroon ng ibang mga diyos sa harap ko (Ex 20: 3).
Ang idolatrya ay isang tunay at kasalukuyang tukso: Ang Pop Francis ay
nakalarawan sa unang utos sa kanyang mga catechists sa Miyerkules
Pangkalahatang Madla. Ang utos ay nagbabawal sa paggawa ng mga idolo o mga
larawan ng anumang uri. Pinag-uusapan natin ang tungkol sa isang pagkahilig ng
tao, na hindi pinupuwersuhan ng mga mananampalataya o mga ateista.
Modern idolatrya
Ang Pope Francis, sa pagbanggit sa Katekismo ng Simbahang Katoliko, ay nagsabi na ang idolatriya "ay binubuo sa paghahayag kung ano ang hindi Diyos."Inanyayahan niya ang mga Kristiyano na tanungin ang ating sarili:" Ano talaga ang aking Diyos? Ito ba ang Isa at Tatlong Pag-ibig, o ito ba ang aking sariling larawan, ang aking personal na tagumpay, kahit na sa loob ng Iglesia? "Sinabi ni Pope na ang isang idolo ay isang" pangitain "na kadalasang nagiging obsession."Ang isang idolo ay talagang isang projection ng sarili papunta sa isang bagay o isang proyekto."
Mga sakripisyo sa mga idolo
Sinabi ni Pope Francis na, "Sa sinaunang mga panahon ang mga pagsasakripisyo ng tao ay ginawa sa mga diyus-diyusan," ang sabi niya, "kahit ngayon ang mga tao ay nagsasakripisyo sa kanilang mga anak para sa kanilang mga karera, nagpapabaya sa kanila o tumangging magkaroon ng mga ito."
Sinabi ng pop na ang mga idolo ay nangangailangan ng dugo
Pag-ibig kumpara sa idolatry
"Hindi nangangailangan ng buhay ngunit nagbibigay ito. Ang tunay na Diyos ay hindi nag-aalok ng isang projection ng aming tagumpay, ngunit nagtuturo sa amin upang mahalin. "Sa halip na hilingin sa atin na isakripisyo ang ating mga anak, sinabi niya, "Ibinigay ng Diyos ang kanyang Anak para sa atin."
Sinabi ni Pop na, Ang pagkilala sa ating pagkahilig sa idolatriya, "ay naglalagay sa atin sa landas patungo sa pag-ibig".
New Apostolic Nuncio hopes in Korean reunification, reconciliation
Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the new Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea and Mongolia celebrated Mass with Pope on Thursday , before he flies to Seoul on Sunday at the start of his diplomatic mission.
The Holy See’s new diplomat who is begin his mission in South Korea in a few days’ time is hopeful about improving relations between the two Koreas despite many obstacles that need to be overcome.
Growing hope
“The peace process between the two Koreas, which began with the historic meeting between the two Korean leaders on 27 April, gives great hope,” Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea and Mongolia told Vatican News in an interview.
“The road is still at an early stage and will certainly be a long one with many obstacles to overcome,” he said. Pope said, has invited the entire Church to support the parties concerned to build peace and offer the coming generations a future of harmony and prosperity.
Archbishop Xuereb will be in Seoul on Sunday at the start of his diplomatic mission. By way of farewell, he celebrated Holy Mass with Pope on Thursday morning during which the Holy Father assured him and the Church in Korea and Mongolia his prayers and blessing.
The Maltese archbishop is taking up his diplomatic mission amid improving relations between the two Koreas, who are technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Under a rigidly totalitarian regime, North Korea has exacerbated its closely maintained isolation from the rest of the world with its nuclear ambitions. Washington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads for months over the North's nuclear and missile programmes, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading insults and threatening war.
However, since last November, North Korea has not carried out any nuclear and missile test, and some very dramatic positive developments have been taking place between the two neighbours.
Church committed to Korean reunification
In his interview, Archbishop Xuereb said that over the past 23 years, the Catholic Church in South Korea has been gathering every Tuesday at the feet of the Virgin Mary in Seoul Cathedral to implore the grace of reunification. “I am sure that She from Heaven turns a benevolent gaze toward her children in Korea,” .
The division of the Korean peninsula took place at the end of Japan’s 35-year colonial rule in 1945 after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. Soviet troops occupied the area north of the 38th parallel, and US troops the south, with the north leaning towards Communism and the south towards democracy.
The trust administrators from the US and the USSR were supposed to arrange for nation-wide elections to reunify Korea in 1948, but neither side trusted the other and hopes for re-unification and independence never materialized.
Archbishop Xuereb who has served Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Francis, agrees with Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, according to whom a “great hope has been kindled” on the Korean peninsula.
Archbishop Xuereb said “the Catholic Church has a very important role in this process of reunification and, following the mandate of the Divine Master, continues to evangelize and offer its contribution also at the diplomatic level in order to achieve the objectives so desired.”
Korea close to Pope's heart
Pope has been closely following developments in the Korean peninsula. He visited South Korea, 13-18 August 2014, on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day. On the final day, he dedicated his Mass in Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral to reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. He urged all Koreans to reject a "mindset of suspicion and confrontation" and find new paths to build peace.
“The Church has a very important role in the reunification process, and following the mandate of the Divine Master, she continues to evangelize and to offer her contribution - also at the diplomatic level - to achieve this desired goal,” said the Vatican diplomat.
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