Pope Francis has earned a great deal of acclaim and praise since his election as Pope thanks to his emphasis on the mercy of God instead of a strict adherence to God's law. I believe this emphasis is rooted in a piece of wisdom that was shared with me by a priest at the time of my ordination.
He stated that every priest (like every other person) will fail to perfectly live the Christian life as taught to us by Jesus. That despite our best efforts, we will at times fail resulting in us falling into a state of sin. Therefore, he said I should decide then at the start of my priestly ministry whether I think it best to be too generous with God's mercy or too strict with God's law. To help me make such an important decision he told me to read the Bible accounts of how Christ dealt with those guilty of violating the commandments and model myself after his example. Hopefully I've been more or less successful in doing so.
But it was during that exercise that I began to reflect upon the lengths that God would go to to bring the lost sheep back into the fold which led me to ask myself whether or not I could find Him in a bar. I decided the answer was a definite yes!
That thought came to my mind again when I first heard this song, written and performed by Roy Payne (The Goofy Newfie) which he called 'Drinking Beer with Jesus'. I thought it might be an opportune time to repost this YouTube video of that song which I put together for a parish mission a year or so ago. Hopefully it might serve to open our eyes to find Jesus waiting for us in unexpected places.
He stated that every priest (like every other person) will fail to perfectly live the Christian life as taught to us by Jesus. That despite our best efforts, we will at times fail resulting in us falling into a state of sin. Therefore, he said I should decide then at the start of my priestly ministry whether I think it best to be too generous with God's mercy or too strict with God's law. To help me make such an important decision he told me to read the Bible accounts of how Christ dealt with those guilty of violating the commandments and model myself after his example. Hopefully I've been more or less successful in doing so.
But it was during that exercise that I began to reflect upon the lengths that God would go to to bring the lost sheep back into the fold which led me to ask myself whether or not I could find Him in a bar. I decided the answer was a definite yes!
That thought came to my mind again when I first heard this song, written and performed by Roy Payne (The Goofy Newfie) which he called 'Drinking Beer with Jesus'. I thought it might be an opportune time to repost this YouTube video of that song which I put together for a parish mission a year or so ago. Hopefully it might serve to open our eyes to find Jesus waiting for us in unexpected places.
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