Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Amoris Laetitia - Par. 297


297.  It is a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experience being touched by an "unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous" mercy.  No one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!  Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves.  Naturally, if someone flaunts an objective sin as if it were part of the Christian ideal, or wants to impose something other than what the Church teaches, he or she can in no way presume to teach or preach to others; this is a case of something which separates from the community (cf. Mt 18:17).  Such a person needs to listen once more to the Gospel message and its call to conversion.  Yet even for that person there can be some way of taking part in the life of community, whether in social service, prayer meetings or another way that his or her own initiative, together with the discernment of the parish priest, may suggest.  As for the way of dealing with different "irregular" situations, the Synod Fathers reached a general consensus, which I support:  "In considering a pastoral approach towards people who have contracted a civil marriage, who are divorced and remarried, or simply living together, the Church has the responsibility of helping them understand the divine pedagogy of grace in their lives and offering them assistance so they can reach the fullness of God's plan for them",238 something which is always possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

238  Relatio Synodi 2014, 25.

© LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.



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