There are three categories of Christians: those who trust the promises of God, who never disappoints, and follow them throughout their lives; those whose life of faith is stagnant and, finally, to those who are convinced in their progress but instead "never move one step forward. And I ask the Lord for the grace to return to the road, to undertake the journey, but towards His promises".

Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - "Lent is a good time to think about" what "category" of Christian we belong to: to those who trust the promises of God, Who never disappoints , and follow them their whole life long; to those who are convinced in their progress but instead are just "existential tourists".

Pope Francis warned against travelling through life without ever moving forward today by at Mass at Casa Santa Marta. Vatican Radio reports that he was commenting on the passage from Isaiah in the first reading, from which he distinguished three kinds of believers, united by the knowledge that the Christian life is a journey but differing in the way they follow it or do not follow it at all. First, he pointed out, God "before asking anything, he always promises". His promise is that of a new life and a life of "joy". Here is the "principal foundation of the virtue of hope: trusting in God's promises " - knowing that He never "disappoints" - and here is the essence of the Christian life, that is "walking towards these promises".

Then there are other Christians who are "tempted to stop". "So many stationary Christians! We have so many left behind who have a faint hope. Yes, I believe there will be Heaven and all will be well. They do well to believe this, but don't look for it! They obey the commandments, the precepts: everything, everything. But .. they are stationary. The Lord can not make them leaven  among His people, because they do not walk . And this is a problem: the stationary. Then, there are others among them and us, who take the wrong road, all of us sometimes take a wrong turn, we know that. The problem is not taking the wrong road, the problem is not turning back when we realize that we are wrong".

The model for those who believe and follow what faith tells him or her is the royal official described in the Gospel, who asks Jesus to heal his sick child and does not doubt for a moment on his journey home when the Master assures him that he had obtained it. Instead in contrast to this man there is perhaps the "most dangerous" group in which there are those who "deceive themselves: those who walk but make no headway". "They are the erring Christians: they go round and round in circles in life like existential tourists, aimless, without taking the promises seriously. Those who go around deceiving themselves, because they say: 'I walk!.' No, you do not walk: you go round in circles. The erring... Instead, the Lord asks us not to stop, not to get lost and to round in circles in life. Going around in circles in life ... He asks us to look at His promises, to move forward with His promises like that man, that man who believed the word of Jesus! Faith puts us on the path towards His promises. Faith in God's promises".

"Our sinful condition makes us take the wrong road", the Pope concluded, but "the Lord gives us the grace to always return". "Lent is a good time to think about whether I am on the move or stationary: convert. Or if I have taken the wrong road, but go to confession and take up the right road. Or if I am a theological tourist, one of these who go around life in circles, but never make a step forward. And I ask the Lord for the grace to return to the right road, to take up the journey, but towards the promises".

 

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