Pope cautions Christians against the ‘syndrome of Jonah’

October 14, 2013 - Pope Francis is urging Christians to fight the ‘syndrome of Jonah’ that leads to the hypocrisy of thinking that our deeds are sufficient to save us. Pope Francis made the remark in his homily at Mass Monday morning at his Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. Reflecting on the day’s Gospel about Jesus’s talking about the ‘sign of Jonah’, the Pope cautioned against what he described as an ‘attitude of perfect piety’ that focusses only on doctrine but does not care about the salvation of ‘poor people’. The Pope explained that Jesus was hitting out against the ‘doctors of the law’ who in order to trap Him were asking for signs. And to them was given the sign of Jonah who ran away from God’s commandment to preach repentance to the people of Niniveh, saying they had the doctrine. Those who live according to this syndrome of Jonah, the Pope said, Jesus calls them hypocrites, because they don’t want the salvation of the poor, the ignorant and the sinners. The Pope said the “syndrome of Jonah’ is without any zeal for the conversion of the people, like the holiness of a ‘dry-cleaner’ – everything beautiful and well done but without any zeal to go out and preach the Lord. How many Christians are there, the Pope exclaimed, who think they will be saved only with what they do, with their works. Works are needed, the Holy Father said, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us. On the contrary, the ‘syndrome of Jonah’ lacks this love and trusts only in self-justification and our work. This syndrome, the Pope pointed out, leads us to hypocrisy, to a sufficiency to be clean Christians, perfect, because these are our works, we are fulfilling the commandments and that’s everything. Instead, the Pope said it is a grave illness. (Source: Vatican)