Pope: those seeking the Church must never find doors closed by "faith inspectors"
Vatican City (AsiaNews)
- Those who approach the Church must find
open doors, not the "faith
inspectors," people also
animated by good sentiments, but who end up
rejecting people, for example,
a single mother who wants to baptize her son. This
was the focus of Pope Francis homily
during Mass in St. Martha.
Vatican Radio reports the Pope, commented on today's Gospel which tells us that
Jesus rebukes the disciples who seek to remove children that people bring to
the Lord to bless. "Jesus embraces them, kisses them, touches them, all of
them. It tires Jesus and his disciples "want it to stop". Jesus is
indignant: "Jesus got angry, sometimes." And he says: "Let them
come to me, do not hinder them. For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as
these." "The faith of the People of God - observes the Pope - is a
simple faith, a faith that is perhaps without much theology, but it has an
inward theology that is not wrong, because the Spirit is behind it." The
Pope mentions Vatican I and Vatican II, where it is said that "the holy
people of God ... cannot err in matters of belief" (Lumen Gentium). And to
explain this theological formulation he adds: "If you want to know who
Mary is go to the theologian and he will tell you exactly who Mary is. But if
you want to know how to love Mary go to the People of God who teach it better. "The
people of God - continued the Pope - "are always asking for something
closer to Jesus, they are sometimes a bit 'insistent in this. But it is the
insistence of those who believe ":
"I remember once, coming out of the city of Salta, on the patronal feast,
there was a humble lady who asked for a priest's blessing. The priest said,
'All right, but were you at the Mass?' and explained the whole theology of
blessing in the church. He did well: 'Ah, thank you father, yes father,' said
the woman. When the priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: 'Give
me your blessing!'. All these words did not register with her, because she had
another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith that
we always look for , this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must
facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow. "
The Pope also mentioned the story of the blind man of Jericho, who was rebuked
by the disciples because he cried to the Lord, "Jesus, Son of David, have
mercy on me!" "The Gospel says that they didn't want him to shout,
they wanted him not to shout but he wanted to shout more, why? Because he had
faith in Jesus! The Holy Spirit had put faith in his heart. And they said, 'No,
you cannot do this! You don't shout to the Lord. Protocol does not allow it.
And 'the second Person of the Trinity! Look what you do... 'as if they were
saying that, right? ".
And think about the attitude of many Christians: "Think of the good
Christians, with good will, we think about the parish secretary, a secretary of
the parish ... 'Good evening, good morning, the two of us - boyfriend and
girlfriend - we want to get married'. And instead of saying, 'That's great!'.
They say, 'Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot ... '. This,
instead of receiving a good welcome- It is a good thing to get married! '- But
instead they get this response:' Do you have the certificate of baptism, all
right ... '. And they find a closed door. When this Christian and that
Christian has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new
marriage ... We are many times faith inspectors, instead of becoming
facilitators of the faith of the people. "
And 'there is always a temptation - said the Pope - "try and take
possession of the Lord." And he tells another story: "Think about a
single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says:
'I want my child baptized'. And then this Christian, this Christian says: 'No,
you cannot because you're not married!'. But look, this girl who had the
courage to carry her pregnancy and not reject her child, what is
it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open
doors! And so when we are on this path, have this attitude, we do not do good
to people, the people, the People of God, but Jesus instituted the seven
sacraments with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament
of pastoral customs! ".
"Jesus is indignant when he sees these things" - said the Pope -
because those who suffer are "his faithful people, the people that he
loves so much" "We think today of Jesus, who always wants us all to
be closer to Him, we think of the Holy People of God, a simple people, who want
to get closer to Jesus and we think of so many Christians of goodwill who are
wrong and that instead of opening a door they close the door of goodwill ... So
we ask the Lord that all those who come to the Church find the doors open, find
the doors open, open to meet this love of Jesus. We ask this grace. "
03/12/2020 09:02