We continue to share excerpts of Gaudete et exsultate:
"Here I would like to mention two false forms of holiness that can lead us astray: gnosticism and pelagianism, . . . whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyses and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying" (35).
"Gnosticism presumes 'a purely subjective faith whose only interest is a certain experience or a set of ideas and bits of information which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in his or her own thoughts and feelings'" (36).
"Thanks be to God, throughout the history of the Church it has always been clear that a person's perfection is measured not by the information or knowledge they possess, but by the depth of their charity" (37).
"When somebody has an answer for every question, it is a sign that they are not on the right road. . . . If we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit rather than our own preconceptions, we can and must try to find the Lord in every human life. This is the part of the mystery that a gnostic mentality cannot accept, since it is beyond its control" (41-2).
"It is not easy to grasp the truth that we have received from the Lord. And it is even more difficult to express it. So we cannot claim that our way of understanding this truth authorizes us to exercise a strict supervision over others' lives" (43).
"The questions of our people, their suffering, their struggles, their dreams, their trials and their worries, all possess an interpretational value that we cannot ignore if we want to take the principle of the incarnation seriously. Their wondering helps us to wonder, their questions to question us" (44).
"A dangerous confusion can arise. We can think that because we know something, or are able to explain it in certain terms, we are already saints, perfect and better than the 'ignorant masses.' . . . In point of fact, what we think we know should always motivate us to respond more fully to God's love. Indeed, 'you learn so as to live; theology and holiness are inseparable'" (45).
"[Saint] Francis recognized the temptation to turn the Christian experience into a set of intellectual exercises that distance us from the freshness of the Gospel. Saint Bonaventure, on the other hand, pointed out that true Christian wisdom can never be separated from mercy towards our neighbor: 'The greatest possible wisdom is to share fruitfully what we have to give. . . . Even as mercy is the companion of wisdom, avarice is its enemy'" (46).
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