Dissent and way forward

"If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.  If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.  And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.  "For everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." (Mark 9:42-50)

Many of us do not know the above Jesus; the man; the God, who exhorts his followers to cut their hand off, or their leg, or to tear out the eye which causes them to stumble. Gruesome !!! Jesus should be all about hope and love, the good things of life.... Well, in fact he is, but in order to achieve some, you lose some. And the whole drama of life is figuring out what is really important to us; what sustains us and what is dispensable. And what sustains us is not bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. Getting the right perspective, that is what counts then...

So it is very heartening to see Pope Benedict speaking straight from his heart at the homily during today's Chrism mass. 

This applies to the Catholicism of our country, England as well. We pride ourselves on our freedom of speech within the Church, and in many places, faith within the Church and in our families is pushed to the limits, in the name of freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of the diversity of human person. But as the Holy Father says, at times, we need to be very careful about when freedom turns into anarchy and if we don't have our eyes fixed on him in whom is the fullness of freedom, we may never realise when we go wrong.

In our zeal for change and progressiveness, are we shelving the "what-we-think-is-not-so-good" parts of the 'good news', and preaching a gospel according to me, Mr. Progressive ?