Pope: sloth and hypocrisy, the "disease" of many Christians incapable of "bringing salvation"
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - " Do you want to be healed?", "Sin no more" are the two "Christian words", the " road of apostolic zeal" that brings "many injured people" close. This path was indicated today by Pope Francis as a contrast to the "disease" of acedia that affects those who decide "to not become involved" and with that hypocrisy, people for whom only formalities count and who are unable to "bring salvation". The "path" was at the center of Pope Francis' homily at Mass celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, focusing on the Gospel passage of the encounter between Jesus and the cripple, sick for 38 years , who was in the arcades at the pool waiting for healing.
The man complained that he could not immerse himself in the waters, he was always overtaken by someone else. But Jesus shifts his horizon and orders him to "stand up " to go . A miracle that arouses the criticism of the Pharisees because it was Saturday and that day, they said, it was not allowed. As Vatican Radio reports, the Pope highlighted how in this story there are two serious, spiritual diseases. Two diseases which "we would do well to think about".
Above all the resignation of the sick man, and his bitterness: "I think of many Christians, of many Catholics: yes, they are Catholics, but without enthusiasm, even embittered. 'Yes, life is what it is, but the Church - I go to Mass every Sunday, but better not get mixed up in things - I have faith for my health, I do not feel the need to give it to another...'. Each in his own house, the quiet life: but, you do something and then they criticize you: 'No, leave it alone [It. è meglio così], don't chance it.' This is the disease of sloth, the acedia of Christians. This attitude that is crippling the apostolic zeal, which makes Christian people stand still and at ease, but not in the good sense of the word: they do not bother to go out to proclaim the Gospel! They are anesthetized."
Anesthesia, Pope Francis went on to say, "is a negative experience." It is that
"not meddling" that becomes "spiritual sloth," which, he said, is a very sad
thing, indeed. "These Christians are sad," said Pope Francis, "they are people
without light - real downers [It. persone negative], and this is a disease of
us Christians." We go to Mass every Sunday, though we say, "Please do not
disturb." These Christians "without apostolic zeal," he warned, "are not
useful, they do not do the Church well. And how many Christians are like this?"
he asked, "selfish, out for themselves." This, he said, is "the sin of sloth,
which is a sin against apostolic zeal, against the desire to give the news of
Jesus to others, that newness, which was given to me for free." The Holy Father
went on to say that in the day's Gospel passage, there is also another sin when
we see that Jesus is criticized because he healed the sick on the Sabbath: the
sin of formalism. "Christians," he said, "who do not leave space for the grace
of God - and the Christian life, the life of these people, consists in having
all the paperwork, all the certificates, in order.":
"Christian hypocrites, like these, only interested in their formalities. It was
a Sabbath? No, you cannot do miracles on the Sabbath, the grace of God cannot
work on Sabbath days. They close the door to the grace of God. We have so many
in the Church, we have many! It is another sin. The first, those who have the
sin of sloth, are not able to go forward with their apostolic zeal, because
they have decided to stand firm in themselves, in their sorrows, their
resentments, in all of that. Such as these are not capable of bringing
salvation because they close the door to salvation."
"Only the formalities" matter to them, he said. "It is not possible: this is
the phrase they have most often to hand." We meet these people, too, explained
the Holy Father, "We ourselves have often been taken by this acedia, or have
been many times like the Pharisees: hypocrites." Pope Francis went on to
explain that, because temptations to these sins will inevitably come, "We must
learn to defend ourselves." Faced with these temptations, before, "that
field hospital there, which was a symbol of the Church," in front of "a lot of
hurting people," Jesus approaches them and asks only one thing: "Do you want to
be healed?" Then, "He gives the [paralytic man]. Grace accomplishes
everything." And then, when he meets the paralytic again, he tells him, "Sin no
more.":
"The two Christian words: do you want to be healed? Sin no more. First He heals
[the paralytic], then [He says], 'sin no more.' - words spoken with tenderness,
with love - and this is the Christian way, the way of apostolic zeal: to get
close to many people who are injured and in this field hospital, often people
whose wounds were inflicted by men and women of the Church. It is a word of a
brother and of a sister: do you want to be healed? Then, when He goes on, 'Ah,
do not sin any more, it is not good for you.' Much better: Jesus' two words are
more beautiful than the attitude of sloth or the attitude of hypocrisy."
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