Faithfulness to God "demands we drive out our idols, uncover them: they are hidden in our personalities, our way of life." We must ask Jesus to help us to “drive out the idol of worldliness, that leads us to become enemies of God. "

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - To follow the road that leads to the kingdom of God, we must free ourselves from the "idols" that each of us has and that are brought us by the "spirit of the world". Because it is not enough to believe in God, because we "profess God" through our "way of life". This was the lesson at the heart of Pope Francis' homily at morning Mass in the chapel of Santa Marta residence.

Vatican Radio reports that the Pope reflected on the Gospel episode that recounts the scribe who approached Jesus to ask which, in his opinion, "is the first of all the commandments".  The scribe approves of Jesus' answer: " Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!". Christ then tells him: "You are not far from the kingdom of God".  Pope Francis said that, in essence, with that "you are not far" Jesus wanted to say to the scribe: "You know the theory very well," but "you are still some distance from the Kingdom of God", that is, you have to walk to "transform this commandment into reality", because we "profess God through our  way of life". "It's not enough to say: 'But I believe in God, God is the only God.' That's fine, but how do you live this out in your life's journey? Because we can say, 'The Lord is the only God, there is no other', but then live as if He was not the only God and have other deities at our disposal ... There is a danger of ' idolatry: idolatry, which is brought to us through the spirit of the world. And in this Jesus was clear: the spirit of the world, no. At the Last Supper he asks the Father to defend us from the spirit of the world, because the spirit of the world leads us to idolatry".

"Idolatry is subtle, we all have our hidden idols" and "the path of  life to follow, to not be far from the kingdom of God" involves "discovering our hidden idols." Like the Bible story of Rachel, Jacob's wife, who hides her father's household idols in her saddle. Pope Francis said that we too "have hid them in our saddle ... But we have to look for them and we have to destroy them," because to follow God the only path is that of a love based on "loyalty": "And loyalty demands we  drive out our idols, that we uncover them: they are hidden in our personality, in our way of life. But these are hidden idols mean that we are not faithful in love. The Apostle James, when he says, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God, begins by saying: 'Adulterers!'. He gives out to us, but with that adjective: adulterers. Why? Because whoever  is 'friend' of the world is an idolater, is not faithful to the love of God! The path that is not distant,  that advances, moves forward in the Kingdom of God, is a path of loyalty which resembles that of married love. "

Even "with our small or not so small idolatries" how is it possible not to be faithful "to a love so great?". To do this, you need to trust in Christ, who is "total loyal" and who "loves us so much". "We can now ask Jesus: 'Lord, you who are so good, teach me to be this path so that every day I may be less distant from the kingdom of God, this path to drive out all of my idols'. It is difficult, but we must begin ... The idols hidden in the many saddles, which we have in our personalities, in the way we live: drive out the idol of worldliness, which leads us to become enemies of God.  We ask this grace of Jesus, today. "

 

 

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