Vatican City, 03 September 2013: Where there is God there is no hatred, envy or jealousy,
and there is no gossip that can kill. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’
homily on Monday morning as he celebrated Mass in the Casa Santa Marta after the summer
break.
Reflecting on the day’s liturgical reading which tells of the meeting
between Jesus and the people of Nazareth, the Pope noted that the people of Nazareth
with whom he had grown up, admired Jesus, but at the same time expected great things
from him: “they wanted a miracle” to be able to believe in Him. And when Jesus told
them they were without faith, they were filled with fury, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill to hurl him down headlong”.
The Pontiff
pointed out that a situation which had started off with admiration was to end with
a crime: they wanted to kill Jesus. Because of jealousy and envy. This – he said –
is not just something that happened two thousand years ago: “this kind of thing happens
every day in our hearts, in our communities”. And he made the example of when somebody
new enters a community, on the first day – he said - people speak well of him; on
the second not so well; and from the third on gossip and badmouthing starts to spread
and end up skinning him”.
Quoting from the first letter of St. John chapter
3 verse 15, in which he says: “He who hates his brother is a murderer”, Pope Francis
asked: “but how many times our communities, even our families have become a hell in
which we criminally kill our brother with words”.
A community, a family –
the Pope continued – can be destroyed by envy that sows evil in the heart and causes
one to speak badly of the other”. In these days, Pope Francis said, we are speaking
so often of peace, we see the victims of arms, but we must also reflect on our daily
arms: “badmouthing and gossip”. Every community – the Pope concluded – must live with
the Lord and be “like heaven”.
“So that there is peace in a community, in a
family, in a country, in the world, we must be with the Lord. And where the Lord is,
there is no envy, there is no criminality, there is no hatred, and there are no jealousies.
There is brotherhood. Let this be our prayer to the Lord: never kill your neighbor
with words”.Source: VR Eng