The Church is the Family of Jesus: Pope Francis

Vatican City, 01 June 2013: "The Church is not a cultural organization" but it is "the family of Jesus", reiterated Pope Francis in his homily during the Mass he celebrated on Saturday morning at Santa Marta’s Residence in the Vatican. Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana, concelebrated the Mass and was attended by a group of attendants of the Holy See. The Pope said that Christians should not be ashamed to live with the scandal of the Cross, and urged them not to be "trapped by the spirit of the world".

Pope Francis took the question put to Jesus by the scribes and chief priests, “By what authority are you doing these things?” as his starting point. Once again, he said, they were looking to set a trap for the Lord, trying to paint Him into a corner, to force Him to make a mistake. The Pope went on to ask why the scribes and Pharisees wanted to embarrass Jesus. ”The problem that these people had,” said the Holy Father, was not that Jesus had performed miracles. Rather, he explained, “They were shocked that the demons cried out to Jesus, ‘You are the Son of God, You are the Holy One.” This is the thing about Jesus that really scandalises. “He is God who became incarnate.” For us, too, “do they set traps in life,” though, “[that characteristic] of the Church, which scandalizes, is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, and, “this cannot be tolerated, this the devil will not suffer.”:
"How many times do you hear people say: 'But you Christians, you are a bit' more normal, like other people, reasonable! A little' more normal, do not be so hard'. But behind this is: 'But, do not come with stories, that God became man'! The Incarnation of the Word, that is the scandal behind it! We can do all the social work we want, and they will say, ‘How nice, the Church, what good social work the Church does’. But if we say that we do this because those people [we help] are the flesh of Christ, there is scandal. And that is the truth, that is the revelation of Jesus: that presence of Jesus incarnate.”

And "this is the point," said Pope Francis: "Always there will be the seduction to do good things without the scandal of the Incarnate Word, without the scandal of the Cross." Instead, we must "be consistent with this scandal, with this reality that is shocking." The Pope then recalled how the Apostle John says: "Those who deny that the Word came in the flesh is antichrist." On the other hand, he continued, "only those who say that the Word has come in the flesh is of the Holy Spirit." Pope Francis then added that "the Church is not a cultural, religious or social organization"

"The Church is the family of Jesus. The Church confesses that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh: that is the scandal, and for that they persecuted Jesus. 'at the end of' they sentenced him to death for that. This is the center of persecution. If we become reasonable Christians, Christian Social, Christian charity only, what will be the consequence? That we will never martyrs: that will be the consequence. "

But when we Christians say the truth that "The Son of God has come, and was made flesh," when we, the Pope said, "preach the scandal of the Cross, there will be persecution, there will be Cross" and what "will be good".
"We ask the Lord not to be ashamed to live with this scandal of the Cross. And the wisdom: the wisdom to ask not to be trapped by the spirit of the world.
Source: VR Sedoc