(Vatican Radio) Lukewarm Christians are those who want to build a church to their
own specifications, but it is not the Church of Jesus: this is what Pope Francis said
today during a Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Present at the Mass
were volunteers from the pediatric dispensary "Santa Marta" in the Vatican, entrusted
to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who for 90 years have supported
children and families in need in Rome without distinction of religion or nationality.
Listen
The first
Christian community, after the persecution, lives a moment of peace, it is united,
it walks and grows "in the fear of the Lord and with the comfort of the Holy Spirit":
This was the Pope’s comment following the reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It
is this very air in which the Church lives and breathes, called to walk in the presence
of God in an irreproachable manner:
"It 'is a style of the Church. To walk
in the fear of the Lord is a 'sense of adoration, the presence of God, no? The Church
walks and so when we are in the presence of God we do not do bad things or make bad
decisions. We are in God's sight with joy and happiness: this is the security of the
Holy Spirit, that is the gift that the Lord has given us - this comfort - that keeps
us going. "
In the Gospel from the liturgy of the day many disciples truly
believe the language of Jesus, they whisper, are shocked and eventually leave the
Master:
"These people have turned away, they are gone, they say, 'this man
is a bit' strange, he says things that are hard…It 's too big a risk to go down this
road. We have common sense, eh? Let's go 'back a little and not so close to Him'.
These people, perhaps, had a certain admiration for Jesus, but little 'from afar:
not to meddle too much with this man, because he says things that are a bit' strange
... ".
These Christians - the Pope said - " are not united in the Church, they
do not walk in God's presence, they don’t have the security of the Holy Spirit, they
do not make up the Church":
"They are Christians of good sense only: they keep
their distance. Christians - so to speak they are - 'satellites', that have a small
church, in size: to quote the words of Jesus in Revelation, 'lukewarm Christians'.
The indifference that is in the Church ... They walk only in the presence of common
sense, common sense ... that worldly prudence: This is a temptation just worldly prudence.
"
Pope Francis reflected on so many Christians "that now bear witness to the
name of Jesus, even unto martyrdom." These - he says - are not 'Christian satellites',
because "they go with Jesus on the path of Jesus":
"These people know exactly
what Peter says to the Lord. They understand exactly what Peter says the Lord, when
the Lord asks the question: 'Do you also want to go, be' Christian satellites '?'.
Simon Peter answers him: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life '. So from a large group there becomes a group a little 'smaller, but those who
know perfectly well that they cannot go somewhere else, because only He, the Lord,
has the words of eternal life. "
The Pope finally recites this prayer:
"Let
us pray for the Church, will continue to grow, unite, to walk in the fear of God and
with the security of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord deliver us from the temptation
of that 'common sense', and in inverted commas, “the temptation to whisper against
Jesus, because it is too demanding, and the temptation from scandal. So be it. "