Pope: the Church is unity, but wounded by "privatization" and "gossip"
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - Humility , gentleness and patience "are the road, the real road to preserve unity", communion in the Catholic Church, which is One, despite the many languages and cultures that comprise it and which is instead "wounded" by its "privatization" within groups and "gossip" , leading to division.
The Church's unity was the theme of Pope Francis' General Audience today before 70 thousand people present in St Peter's Square, a unity which the Pope said should provoke us to question "when I hear that so many Christians in the world who are suffering, am I indifferent or is it like one of the family is suffering ? When I think or hear that so many Christians are persecuted and even give their lives for their faith , does it touch my heart or not at all ? 'Am I open to that brother or the sister of the family, who is giving his or her life for Jesus Christ " .
Francis began with the sentence
of the Creed that goes "I believe in the One, Holy and Apostolic Church ." "But
if we look at the Catholic Church in the world we discover that it includes
almost 3,000 dioceses spread across all continents, many languages, many
cultures." "The
Church is scattered all over the world, yet the thousands of Catholic
communities form a unit. How can this be? " . "The
short answer is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church , which states:
the Catholic Church spread throughout the world " has one faith, one
sacramental life , one apostolic succession , one common hope , the same love
"( n. 161 .)
it ' a beautiful definition , eh? Clear! It guides us well! Unity in faith, hope,
charity , unity in the sacraments, in the Ministry , they are like pillars that
support and hold together the great edifice of the Church. Everywhere, even in
the smallest parish in the furthest corner of this earth, there is one Church,
which is our home , we are family, we are brothers and sisters. And this is a
great gift from the Lord! The
Church is one for all". "It
's like a family : you may be far away, around the world, but the deep ties
that unite all members of the family remain steadfast regardless of the
distance ."
The
Pope indicated "the vast throng of young people on Copacabana Beach"
for World Youth Day. "You
could hear many languages, see very different traits, meet different cultures ,
yet there was a profound unity, they formed one Church , they were united and
you could feel it. We must all ask ourselves: Do I , as
a Catholic, feel this unity ? Do I, as a Catholic, live this unity of the
Church? or do I not care, because I am closed within my small group or myself?
Am I one of these people who 'privatize ' the Church for their own group, the their
nation , their friends ? It 's sad to find a Church privatized by this
selfishness and lack of faith , eh? It is sad . "
"Everyone
should ask themselves today: Do I encourage unity in the family, in the parish,
in the community, or am I a gossiper, a gossiper, a source of division of
unease? Are you not aware of the evil they do to the Church , parishes ,
communities gossiping! They wound. Rumors hurt. A Christian, should bite his or
her tongue before gossiping! Yes or no ? Bite his tongue ! That will do us good
, because your tongue swells and can not speak or gossip. Do I have the
humility to mend fences with patience, sacrifice , wounds to communion ? "
.
But
"unfortunately , we see that in the course of history , even now, we do
not always live this unity. Sometimes misunderstandings arise, conflicts,
tensions , divisions, that wound , and then the Church does not have the face
that we would like , does not show charity,
what God wants. We are the ones who sow
divisions! And if we look at the divisions that still exist among Christians,
Catholics, Orthodox , Protestants ... we feel the strain of making this unity
fully visible . God gives us unity , but we often find it hard to live it. We
must seek, build, educate the community , to overcome misunderstandings and
divisions , beginning with the family, from ecclesial realities, ecumenical
dialogue as well. Our world needs unity . It is a time when we all need unity ,
we need reconciliation , communion and the Church is the House of communion.
"
As
St. Paul says to the Ephesians, " humility , gentleness , patience , love
to preserve the unity ! Eh, these , these are the paths, the real roads of the
Church , eh? Let's hear it one more time : humility - against vanity,
against pride - humility , gentleness , patience , love to preserve unity . And
Paul continued : one body , that of Christ we receive in the Eucharist , one
Spirit , the Holy Spirit which animates and continually recreates the Church,
one hope , eternal life, one faith , one baptism , one God and Father of all .
It is a great wealth of what unites us ! Eh , its real wealth : what unites us
, not what divides
us. That is the wealth of the Church. "
And
"who is the engine of this unity of the Church ? The Holy Spirit, which we
all have received in Baptism and also in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The
Holy Spirit . Our unity is not primarily the result of our consent or democracy
within the Church or of our effort to get along, but it is from Him that we
have unity in diversity , because the Holy Spirit is harmony, always harmony in
the Church : it is a harmonious unity in such diversity of cultures,
languages and thought. And ' the Holy Spirit is the engine. For this reason
it is important to pray, which is the soul of our commitment as men and women
of communion and unity. Pray to the Holy Spirit, that he may come and build unity in the Church . "
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