Pope: Christians must live proclaiming Christ, not seeking peace until Heaven
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - True Christian life means that " you live by announcing, wandering the world to proclaim that Jesus became sin to reconcile men with God. It does not mean living in peace until we reach Heaven". Pope Francis' usual morning Mass focused on the invitation to witness, to true understanding of the mission of Christians. Concelebrating with the Pope, in the chapel of Santa Marta were Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the Apostolic Nuncio Justo Mullor and bishops Luc Van Looy, Enzo Dieci and Antonio Santarsiero.
In its daily summary of the morning Mass Vatican Radio report the Pope spoke of the Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. Pope Francis says that St. Paul is very insistent, almost "in a hurry", uses the term "reconciliation" five times, alternating "strength and tenderness" , first exhorting then almost begging: "I beg you in the name of Christ: reconcile yourselves to God".
True reconciliation underlines Francis, "means that God in Christ took on our sins and He became the sinner for us. When we go to confession, for example, it isn't that we say our sin and God forgives us. No, not that! We look for Jesus Christ and say: 'This is your sin, and I will sin again'. And Jesus likes that, because it was his mission: to become the sinner for us, to liberate us".
The " zeal "that spurs" Paul to" move forward " in his mission however, risks "never arriving at this truth" in the moment when "we rob Christian life of its value", reducing it to a list of things to be observed and thus losing the ardor of proclamation.
"But philosophers - Pope Francis continues - say that peace is a certain ordered tranquility: everything is tidy and quiet ... That is not the Christian peace! Christian peace is an uneasy peace, not a quiet peace: it is an uneasy peace, which goes on to carry this message of reconciliation. The Christian Peace pushes us to move forward. This is the beginning, the root of apostolic zeal. Apostolic zeal is not to go forward to persuade and make statistics: this year Christians in this country have grown, in this movement ... Statistics are good, they help, but that is not what God wants from us ,is to persuade... What the Lord wants from us is to announce this reconciliation, which is his own core message ".
Concluding his homily the Pope recalls the inner anxiety of Paul. Pope Francis underlines that which defines the "pillar" of Christian life, namely, that "Christ became sin for me! And my sins are there in his body, in his soul! This - says the Pope - it's crazy, but it's beautiful, it's true! This is the scandal of the Cross! ".
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