Monday, September 15, 2014

Pope marries couples at Vatican

Okay, so Pope Francis married 20 couples at the Vatican and everyone is in an uproar.  Their dresses were inappropriate, their living situations sinful and one of the women even had a child out of wedlock.

Gasp!  What a shocker!

I heard a news report say that these were no ordinary couples.  My thought was that these are absolutely ordinary couples. 

What Pope Francis did was stop pretending that every couple that gets married is living the sin-free life they should be.  Of course, that could be said about all of us when you think about it.

The biggest thing that riles me is that, far as I know, the critics have not sat in on any pre-marital counseling sessions with the couples.  Do we know all of the details of each bride and groom?  Do we know that they did not have contrition for their arrangement?  Do we know that they were not living a platonic lifestyle prior to their marriage, that they hadn't been to confession?

I don't know any of the details and I suppose very few other people do as well.

How scandalous were the marriages? I don't know and neither do you.

Think back to how Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).  He told the woman that he didn't condemn her and instructed her to "Go and sin no more."

It seems to me Pope Francis was helping these couples move toward more virtuous lives, making it possible for them to try to go and sin no more.

Maybe today's stone-throwers could use a little help in that department as well.


God bless,
Janet