Vatican City, Oct 13, 2023 / 08:06 am (CNA).
The devil is launching attacks to divide the Church, and we must fight back with the weapon of the Holy Spirit, a cardinal from the Democratic Republic of Congo said at Mass on Friday.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap., was the main celebrant of a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for synod participants on Oct. 13.
“If we have the courage to look at our current reality as a Church, it won’t be hard to see how the Evil One is at work, influencing our way of being and acting. The Evil One wants to see us divided; he might even use some of us for his cause,” the archbishop of Kinshasa said, encouraging people to fight back with “the weapons of synodality.”
Ambongo’s homily drew on the day’s Gospel passage, in which Jesus explains why and by what power he drives out demons.
The reading “reminds us that the devil is still present and active in our world,” the cardinal said. “His strength lies precisely in the strategy of making himself invisible and appearing in the most seductive and reassuring forms. Knowing his prey well, the devil launches his attacks from the most sensitive realities.”
He quoted Pope Benedict XVI, who said, “the Evil One always seeks to spoil God’s work, sowing division in the human heart, between body and soul, between the individual and God, in interpersonal, social and international relations … The Evil One sows discord.”
“That’s why we must courageously fight the Evil One, using the weapons of synodality,” he continued, “which require unity, walking together, prayerful discernment, listening to each other and to what the Spirit has to say to the Church.”
“We are called to combat this powerful adversary with an equally powerful weapon at our disposal: the Holy Spirit, protagonist of this new way of being Church — the synodal Church.”
Ambongo also said the Synod on Synodality is a time to ask God for forgiveness for the Church’s failures, including the sin of sexual abuse.
“The Church needed this time of grace and discernment, a time to look back on the road we’ve traveled, with its glories and failures, and draw lessons for a new beginning,” he said.
Quoting from paragraph 23 of the synod’s Instrumentum Laboris, or working document, he said, “‘The face of the Church today bears the signs of serious crises of mistrust and lack of credibility. In many contexts, crises related to sexual abuse, and abuse of power, money, and conscience,’ are counter-testimonies that have even risked driving people away from the Church.”
He pointed out that in the day’s first reading, the prophet Joel invites the ministers of the altar to mourn, fast, and “spend the night in sackcloth,” because “the house of your God is deprived of offering and libation.”
“Joel’s prophecy corresponds in some ways to the synodal experience we are living here in Rome these days,” he said. “Coming together as one family from every continent, in the beauty of unity in cultural diversity, we are also invited to weep and mourn before this altar, at the tomb of St. Peter, for our weaknesses as Church.”
“Yes, brothers and sisters,” the cardinal emphasized, “we are here to weep and ask God’s forgiveness for our faults. But the best way to weep is with the courage to embark on the path of repentance and conversion, which opens the way to reconciliation, healing, and justice.”
Ambongo is participating in the Synod on Synodality assembly at the Vatican Oct. 4-29 in his capacity as president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa And Madagascar (SECAM).
In February, Pope Francis visited Ambongo’s country, where the predominantly Christian population is more than 40% Catholic.
Two other bishops from DRC, Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani and Bishop Pierre-Célestin Tshitoko Mamba of Luebo, are also attending the synod gathering in Rome.
Friday’s Mass, which marked the beginning of a new discussion topic for the synod, was concelebrated by Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, the archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, and by Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, Central African Republic.
Students from the Pontifical Urban University, which educates priests, religious, and laypeople mainly from mission countries, provided the choir and helped during the liturgy.
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Discord or disagreement. Discord similar to disagreement, different in that it suggests strife, in context division due to a disordered belief. Bishop Abongo has expressed views on social justice drawn from experience, his father a rubber plantation patroon who allegedly suffered the malfeasance of government greed, what he called a government ruled by ‘brigands’ who’ve replaced the White colonialists. By moral temperament he has affinity with Pope Francis’ agenda. For one there’s likely truth in his allegations. Although it seems to include more than Francis’ social justice pecuniary views, for example the gay agenda to which he refused to clarify when questioned. Consequently walking together obediently listening to the Holy Spirit has the character of embracing an agenda. Although there’s always hope for better.
What’s significant is the appointment as representative of the Church in Africa, Bishop Ambongo, created cardinal 2019 by Francis I, and elected president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar [SECAM]. Made bishop 2004 Bokungu Ikela Dem Rep of the Congo [DRC] by John Paul II, he has since shown himself to be an activist in conflict resolution outside of the DRC.
Those credentials qualify him for the presidency of SECAM, although he represents by doctrinal temperament Francis the First’s vision of the Church as compared to the guarde ancien Card Sarah, or the young Turks [age 57] like Bishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande of Tanzania, who broadcast, ‘Yes, Pope Francis will find a conservative Church in Africa’ (NYT). Francis I will surely seek to turn the tide of Traditionalist Catholicism in Africa. When serving there the battle for the African Church was already in process, liberalism seeping into the minds of young students by liberal minded Am, European religious order men and sisters, prelates expressing concern advocating adherence to Apostolic tradition. From this writer’s perspective the appointment of Card Ambongo to SECAM as president signals battleground Africa.
Upon the Apocalyptic Matthew 24 sign for Jesus’ Second Coming, it is actually Jesus Who will, “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed”. Upon the Apocalypse, Jesus does so in order to spit lukewarm Catholics out of His mouth (Revelation 3:15), in order to “refine” the Catholic Church for His Kingdom Come on earth. In this Zechariah 13:7, apocalyptic ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’ phrase, Jesus is referring to God separating out the Faithful one third of the Catholic Church, whom, “They will call upon my name, and I will answer them; I will say, “They are my people,” and they will say, “The LORD is my God.”, in the post apocalyptic, Revelation 21, ‘“holy city, a new Jerusalem”, Catholic Church.
Matthew 26:31
‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’
USCCB NABRE Bible Note for Matthew 26:31
Will have…shaken: literally, “will be scandalized in me”; see note on Mt 24:9–12. I will strike…dispersed: cf. Zec 13:7.
Zechariah 13:7 Oracles Concerning the End of False Prophecy. The Song of the Sword.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the one who is my associate—oracle of the LORD of hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In all the land—oracle of the LORD—two thirds of them will be cut off and perish, and one third will be left. I will bring the one third through the fire; I will refine them as one refines silver, and I will test them as one tests gold. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them; I will say, “They are my people,” and they will say, “The LORD is my God.”
Matthew 24 The Destruction of the Temple Foretold
USCCB NABRE Bible Note for Matthew 24:9-12
Matthew has used Mk 13:9–12 in his missionary discourse (Mt 10:17–21) and omits it here. Besides the sufferings, including death, and the hatred of all nations that the disciples will have to endure, there will be worse affliction within the church itself. This is described in Mt 24:10–12, which are peculiar to Matthew. Will be led into sin: literally, “will be scandalized,” probably meaning that they will become apostates; see Mt 13:21 where “fall away” translates the same Greek word as here. Betray: in the Greek this is the same word as the hand over of Mt 24:9. The handing over to persecution and hatred from outside will have their counterpart within the church. False prophets: these are Christians; see note on Mt 7:15–20. Evildoing: see Mt 7:23. Because of the apocalyptic nature of much of this discourse, the literal meaning of this description of the church should not be pressed too hard. However, there is reason to think that Matthew’s addition of these verses reflects in some measure the condition of his community.