Pope: during Lent, the Church makes us reflect on the conversion of thinking and actions
Religion and faith are not "a show". The pontiff calls for carrying out new “actions the Christian way, the way that comes from the Beatitudes”. One can recite "the whole Creed, even all the dogmas of the Church", but if one does not do it "with a Christian spirit", it serves no purpose.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – In his morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis said that religion and faith are not "a show". During Lent, the Church makes us reflect on the conversion of thinking, of its ways, as well as the conversion of actions and feelings.
The pontiff spoke about the first reading dedicated to Naaman the Syrian and the Gospel of Luke in which Jesus explains that no one is prophet in his native place.
"The Church,” Francis said, “tells us that our actions must be converted; she speaks to us about fasting, almsgiving, penance: it is a conversion of actions. Performing new actions, actions the Christian way, the way that comes from the Beatitudes, Matthew 25: do this. The Church too speaks to us about the conversion of feelings: feelings must also be converted. Think, for example, about the Parable of the Good Samaritan: converting to compassion. Christian feelings. Conversion of actions; conversion of feelings; but, today, it speaks to us about the 'conversion of thinking': not [only] about what we think, but also about how we think, of the ways of thinking. Do I think in a Christian or a pagan way? This is the message that the Church gives us today."
With respect to the story of Naaman the Syrian, who suffered from leprosy, the pope noted that "he goes to Elisha to be healed" and is told to bathe seven times in the Jordan. However, thinking that the rivers of Damascus are better than the waters of Israel, "he gets angry, outraged and wants to come back without doing it", because, as Francis put it, "this man was waiting for a show". But God’s ways are different: "he heals in a different way."
The same, he pope added, happens with Jesus who returns to Nazareth and goes to the Synagogue. Initially "people looked at him", and “were amazed, [. . .] happy". However, "there is always a busybody who began to say: 'But isn’t he the carpenter's son? What is he teaching us? Where did he study this? Yes, he is Joseph’s son’.”
“Various opinions interact; people's attitudes change, and [so] they want to kill him. From admiration, from amazement, to the desire to kill him. These too wanted a show. ‘Let him do his miracles, what they say he did in Galilee, and we will believe.' As Jesus put it: ‘I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.' Because we resist saying that some of us can correct us. One who is showy has to come to correct us. Religion is not a show. Faith is not a show. It is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit acting in the hearts."
The Church, the Pope added, calls upon us to change our way of thinking. One can recite "the whole Creed, even all the dogmas of the Church", but if one does not do it "with a Christian spirit", it serves no purpose.
"The conversion of thinking. It is not usual for us to think this way. It is not usual. Our way of thinking, our way of believing, must be converted. We may ask: 'With what spirit do I think? With the spirit of the Lord or with the spirit itself, the spirit of the community to which I belong or the small group or social class to which I belong, or the political party to which I belong? With what spirit do I think? Looking to see if I really think with the spirit of God. Asking for the grace of discerning when I think with the spirit of the world, and when I think with the spirit of God. Asking for the grace of the conversion of thinking.”
.png)
26/02/2020 19:05
