Pope: May the Church "allow itself be surprised by the Holy Spirit", it is not an entrepreneur but a mother
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - May this Christmas "make our Church open to the gift of God, may it allowing itself to be surprised by the Holy Spirit, may it be a Church that gives birth to children, a mother Church. A mother. So many times I have the impression that the Church in some places, more than mother is an entrepreneur."These were the words of Pope Francis during Mass today at the Casa Santa Marta, the last such Mass of 2014 which he celebrated with a group of faithful and a homily in which he commented on the readings of the day that tell of the miraculous births of Samson and John the Baptist.
For the people of Israel, he said, it was "almost a curse not to have children" and in the Bible we meet many sterile women sterile for whom "the Lord performs a miracle." The Church, then, "shows us these symbols of sterility just before the birth of Jesus, even when referring to woman unable to have a child for her decision to remain a virgin." That said, it is "the sign of a human person incapable of moving one step forward". Therefore, the Church "wants us to reflect on the issue of human sterility". From sterility, the Lord is able to restart a new lineage, a new life. And that is the message of today. When humanity is exhausted and can no longer go forward, grace comes, and when the Son comes Salvation comes. And that exhausted Creation gives way to a new creation...". "This 'second' creation when the Earth is exhausted is the message for today." We, he added, are waiting for Him who is "able to recreate all things, to do new things. We look forward to news of God." This is Christmas: "The novelty of God who recreates, in the most wonderful way of creation, all things." Both the wife of Manoach, Samson's mother, and Elizabeth will have children thanks to the action of the Spirit of the Lord. The message of these readings, according to the Pope, is "let us open ourselves to the Spirit of God. We, alone, can not do it. It is He who can do things":
"Also, this makes me think, of our Mother Church; and of so much infertility of our mother Church when, because of that weight for the hope in the Commandments, that Pelagianism that we all carry in our bones, she becomes sterile. She believes she is capable of give birth ... but no, she can't! The Church is a mother, and she become a mother only when she is open to the novelties of God to the power of the Spirit. when she says to herself: 'I do everything, but I'm done, I cannot go any further! Then the Spirit comes. "
"Today is also a day in which to pray for our Mother Church, for the many 'sterilities' that exist among God's people. Sterility of selfishness, of power ... when the Church believes it has the power to do all, to seize the consciences of the people, to take the way of the Pharisees, of the Sadducees, the road of hypocrisy, eh, the Church is sterile. Pray. May this Christmas also make our Church open to the gift of God, that it may be surprised by the Holy Spirit and that it may be a Church that gives life to children, a mother Church. A mother. So often I think that the Church, in some places, more than mother is an entrepreneur." "Looking at this history of infertility of God's people and many stories in the history of the Church that have made the Church sterile - the Pope concluded - we ask the Lord, today, whilst we look to Nativity," for the grace "of the fruitfulness of the Church. That first of all, may the Church be a mother, like Mary. "
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