Francis criticizes people like those who, in Christ’s time, took refuge in a more elaborate religion: in the moral precepts , like that group of Pharisees; in political compromise , like the Sadducees; in social revolution, like the zealots; in Gnostic spirituality, like the Essenes".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - We pray for those "sad", "closed" Christians who say they accept the truth of Revelation, "but not the preacher, or his preaching. They "prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their disembodied spirituality".

According to Vatican Radio, this was Pope Francis' invitation this morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta.

The Pope took a cue from today's Gospel, where Jesus compares the generation of his time to those children who are always unhappy "who do not know how to play happily, who always refuse the invitation of others: if they play, they do not dance, and if they sing its a song of lament, they do not cry ... nothing satisfies them". Pope Francis explained that those people "were not open to the Word of God." They refuse "the messenger, not the message". They reject John the Baptist, who "neither eats nor drink," saying he is "a man possessed". They reject Jesus because they say he "it is a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners." They always have something to criticize about the preacher.

"And they, the people of that time , they preferred to take refuge in a more elaborate religion: in the moral precepts , like that group of Pharisees; in political compromise , like the Sadducees; in social revolution, like the zealots; in gnostic spirituality, like the Essenes. They were happy with their clean, well-made system. But not the preacher, no. Even Jesus reminds them: ' Your fathers did the same with the prophets' . The people of God have a certain allergy for preachers of the Word : the prophets, they persecuted them, they killed them".

The Pope continued, these people say they accept the truth of revelation, "but the preacher, his preaching, no. They prefer a life caged in their precepts, in their compromises, in their revolutionary plans or in their disembodied spirituality". Those Christians are always discontent with what preachers say.

"These Christians are closed, they are trapped, sad ... these Christians are not free. Why? Because they are afraid of freedom of the Holy Spirit, which comes through preaching. And this is the scandal of preaching, of which St. Paul spoke: the scandal of preaching that ends up in the scandal of the Cross. It is shocking that God speaks to us through men with limits, sinful men : shocking! And more shocking that God speaks to us and saves us through a man who says he is the Son of God but ends up like a criminal. That is shocking".

"These sad Christians - the Pope said - do not believe in the Holy Spirit , do not believe in the freedom that comes from preaching, which cautions you, teaches you, even slaps you;  but it is the very freedom that makes the Church grow".

"Seeing these children who are afraid to dance , to cry, afraid of everything, who seek certainty in everything, I think of these sad Christians who always criticize the preachers of the truth because they are afraid to open the door to the Holy Spirit .  Let us pray for them , and pray also for us, that we do not become sad Christians, cutting off the Holy Spirit and the freedom that comes to us through the scandal of preaching. "

 

• vatican
• pope
• francis
• casa
• santa
• marta
• mass