The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the need for pastoral leaders to be compassionate and engaged rather than distant and administrative.
Pope Francis highlights the importance of authentic pastoral leadership within the Church, advocating for leaders who lead with empathy and a genuine connection to their communities, rather than adopting a cold, bureaucratic approach. He calls for 'pastors' who nurture the spiritual needs of their congregations, ensuring that they are available and approachable, as opposed to being seen as merely administrative figures within the institution.
In practice
In a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to inspire other leaders to prioritize their congregations' spiritual needs.
We are a church of sinners but we must not be afraid of holiness. Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way that is with love, joy and faith.
I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice
We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.
More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.
One cannot govern with 'buts'.
When you get to be President, there are all those things, the honors, the twenty-one gun salutes, all those things. You have to remember it isn't for you. It's for the Presidency.
When we say there's a dearth of women directors, it's not that there's a lack of women who direct: it's a lack of opportunities and access for women to direct and be supported in that.
There is a kind of woman who is economically powerful, professionally powerful, who threatens a white male grip on power that has a long historic precedent in the country. Independent women living outside of marriage threaten all kinds of things about the way power is supposed to work.
If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.