Pope says true faith leads Christians to confess and trust in God

January 10, 2014 - Faith that leads us to confess and trust in God can help us conquer the world, said Pope Francis on Friday. Speaking in his homily at the morning Mass in the chapel of the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta residence, the Pope took his cue from the Letter of St. John, who insisted on ‘remaining in the Lord” by loving God and neighbour. He lamented the Church is full of defeated and half-convinced Christians. Instead faith can do everything and conquer the world, but one needs the courage to trust in God. This he said is the work of the Holy Spirit and our faith that produces concrete results, overcoming the world. Our faith can do anything, and it would be nice to repeat it to ourselves because many a times were are defeated Christians, and the Church is full of them. They don’t believe that faith is victory, and if one does not live this faith, it results in defeat and the prince of the world triumphs. The Pope drew attention to how Jesus praised the faith of the woman with haemorrhage, the Canaanite woman and the man born blind saying that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. This faith, the Pope said, calls for two attitudes – confessing and trusting in God. Regarding the confession of faith, the Pope said it is one thing saying the Creed from the heart and another thing to repeat it from memory like a parrot. True confession of faith should lead us to adore and praise God, which the Pope said is much more than asking and thanking Him. In this regard, Pope Francis lamented, the thermometer of the life of the Church is low. There is little capacity to adore; some have it but they are not many. That is why in confessing our faith we are not convinced or half convinced. Regarding the second attitude of trust, Pope Francis repeated St. Paul who in his dark moments confessed, “I know whom I trust.” This trust in the Lord, the Pope said, brings us hope, and like confession leads us to adoration and praise of God. He spoke about many Christians with weak hope, who lack the courage to trust in the Lord. Instead if we believe confessing and safeguarding the faith, trusting in the Lord, we will be victorious Christians conquering the world, the Pope added.