Pope: the spirit of the world hates us, as it hated Jesus
Worldliness is “a proposal of life that enters everywhere, even in the Church.” The Pope called for prayers for those whose acts of mercy puts them at risk of contagion when they bury the dead.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the Casa Santa Marta this morning. During the service, he called for prayers for those who risk getting infected when they bury the dead, "one of the works of mercy," one that “is not a pleasant” to do.
In his homily, the pontiff spoke about the Gospel passage (Jn 15:18-21) in which Jesus says to the disciples, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.”
“What is the spirit of the world?” asks Francis. “What is this worldliness that can hate, destroy Jesus and his disciples, more than corrupt them and the Church?”
“Worldliness is a proposal of life, [. . .] it is a culture; it is a culture of the ephemeral, a culture of appearance, of make believe, a culture of 'today yes, tomorrow no; tomorrow yes, today no'. It has superficial values. [It is] A culture that knows no loyalty, because it changes according to the circumstances, [and] negotiates everything. This is a worldly culture, the culture of worldliness.”
Jesus prayed “for the Father to defend us from this culture of worldliness. It is a throwaway culture, according to what is convenient. It is a culture without faithfulness;” it is "a way of life for many who call themselves Christians. They are Christians; yet they are worldly.”
For the Pope, worldliness has "deep roots;" it is "chameleon-like, it changes [. . .] according to circumstances, but the substance is the same: a proposal of life that enters everywhere, even in the Church. Worldliness, worldly hermeneutics, make believe; everything is made up to be like this.”
“Let us ask the Holy Spirit” for “the grace to discern what is worldliness and what is Gospel,” the grace “not to be deceived, because the world hates us, the world hated Jesus and Jesus prayed for the Father to defend us from the spirit of the world.”
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26/03/2020 21:40
