Pope Francis on the relationship of love, law, and evangelization.

"This way of living attached to the laws, distanced them from love and from justice. They followed the laws and they neglected justice. They followed the laws and they neglected love. They were the models. And for these people Jesus had only one word (to describe them): hypocrites. On one hand, you travel across the world looking for proselytes: you’re looking for them. And then? You close the door. Closed-minded men, men who are so attached to the laws, to the letter of the law that they were always closing the doorway to hope, love and salvation…Men who only knew how to close (doors).”

The Gospel is supposed to be "Good News"—so what? 

The key question isn't whether a particular message is good news: God knows that someone will find even the most morally horrendous message to be "good news," as the political rallies for facism, Nazism, etc. have more than shown. 

The question is: TO WHOM is the message good news: the poor and broken-hearted, or the comfortable, and rich? 

Luke 4:18: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free."

 

Cathleen Kaveny is the Darald and Juliet Libby Professor in the Theology Department and Law School at Boston College.

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