Pope: To avoid being "lukewarm" Christians must cherish the "memory" of our first encounter with Jesus, have "hope" and "courage"
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - A Christian must always preserve his "memory" of his first encounter with Christ and the "hope" in Him, which leads one to move forward in life with the "courage" of the faith, to avoid "the great danger" of becoming "lukewarm" noted Pope Francis at Mass this morning In Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the opening sentence of the Letter to the Hebrews, in which the author invites everyone to recall "the memory those early days," those in which they received "the light of Christ".
The day of that first encounter with Christ, he stressed,
must never be forgotten. And along with the memory, we must never lose the "courage of the early days"
and the '"enthusiasm", the "frankness" that arise from the
memory of our first love. "Our
memory is so important for recalling the grace received because if we chase
away that enthusiasm which comes from the memory of that first love, this
enthusiasm coming from that first love, then a huge danger arrives for
Christians: a lukewarm (faith). Lukewarm Christians. They're there,
immobile and yes, they're Christians, but they've lost the memory of that first
love. And they've also lost their enthusiasm. In addition, they've lost
their patience, to tolerate life's problems with the spirit of Jesus' love, to
tolerate, and to bear on their shoulders the difficulties....
Lukewarm Christians, poor things, they're in grave danger".
Pope Francis said when he thinks about lukewarm Christians he is struck
by two distasteful images, the one described by Peter who talks of the dog that
returns to its own vomit and the other described by Jesus of people who chase
away the devil and decide to follow the gospel but when the devil later returns
with reinforcements they open their doors of their house to him. The Pope
said this is like returning to the vomit of that evil that was earlier rejected
and vice-versa. A Christian has these
two parameters, memory and hope. We must evoke our memory so as not to
lose the beautiful experience of that first love which feeds our hope. Many
times that hope is in darkness but (a Christian) still goes ahead. He or
she believes and goes forward because they know that hope never disappoints us,
in finding Jesus. These two parameters are the very frames within which
we can safeguard the salvation of the good people which comes from the Lord."
The Pope said this salvation must be protected in order that the tiny mustard seed will grow and bear fruit. "It's painful and heart-breaking to see so many Christians - so many Christians! - half-way along the road, so many Christians who've failed along this road towards a meeting with Jesus, going away from this encounter with Jesus. This road where they've lost the memory of that first love and no longer have any hope."
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