Pope Francis

This video made me cry.  Sweet as I think the video is, I think something's off with my hormones because normally it'd just make me tear up.  But I digress.  

A lot of my friends are atheists.  Or just define themselves as spiritual but not religious and not necessarily monotheists.  They're wonderful, Good people, they just aren't religious.  So a lot of them poke fun at me for being Catholic.  Don't get me wrong, it's not done maliciously.  I'm sure some of them think believing in God is ridiculous, but they're not "mean" about it.  

They all give a few different reasons for not being religious.  I can relate to some of them.  It's hard to understand why things like cancer and war exist if God is good.  I still don't think I understand it, really.  But a lot of them - too many - strayed away from the church because there are so many judgmental people who claim to speak on behalf of God.  "Gays will burn in Hell," "Women who get abortions are murderers," etc.  I can fully understand why someone would want to leave a community when all they're hearing from that community is a bunch of hate.  And they're not wrong, there should be less of it.  I think I just like this video so much because it's the complete opposite of that.  Pope Francis evangelizes via love instead of damnation.  I get that the main voices of Christianity in America are pretty much a bunch of fear mongers who judge anyone who makes them uncomfortable.  But as a whole, I don't think that's true.  Every Catholic (I know not all Christians are Catholics, but as a Catholic that's what I'm using) I know is welcoming and loving to anyone.  Everyone.  

In that video, I see a whole lot of love.  Let's be real - we barely like sitting next to people in waiting rooms or on the subway.  We're jaded.  But Pope Francis embraces the old woman and then the old man like family.  They're all greeting, hugging, and kissing each other despite the fact they've never met.  And if you look closely, you'll see the security guards smiling, HAPPY to physically lift another person up to join in on that love.  That's beautiful. 

I'm mostly rambling and I don't really know what point I'm trying to make here other than it was a beautiful scene and that if we all acted that way, if we treated each other that way, we'd probably see more people coming home to the church.  That's the way to evangelize.   

"Be sure of this: my pastoral heart embraces all of you with universal affection."

-Pope Francis, World Youth Day

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Charlotte