Pope Francis: serve the Word of God, not the idolatry of riches and worldly cares
(Vatican Radio) The riches and the cares of the world “choke the Word of God,” said
Pope Francis at Mass this morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope pointed out that
our life is set on three pillars: election, covenant, and promise, adding that we
must trust the Father in living in the present without worrying about what will happen.
“No one can serve two masters.” Pope Francis began his homily with the words
of Christ in today’s Gospel, where He focuses on the theme of riches and cares. Jesus,
the Pope said, “has a clear idea on this subject”: they are “the riches and cares
of the world” that choke the Word of God, they are the thorns spoken of in the Parable
of the Sower, that choke the seed that has fallen on the ground:
“The riches
and cares of the world choke the Word of God and do not allow it to grow. And the
Word dies, because it is not cared for: it is choked. In that case you serve riches
or you serve cares, but you don’t serve the Word of God. And this also has a temporal
sense, because the Parable is somewhat constructed – the discourse of Jesus in the
Parable – in time, is it not? Don’t worry about tomorrow, about what you will do tomorrow.
. . . And also the Parable of the Sower is built on time: he sows, then the rain comes
and it grows. Simply, we remove from time.”
The Pope emphasised that our
life is founded on three pillars: the past, the present and the future. The pillar
of the past, he explained, “is that of the election of the Lord.” Every one of us
can say “the Lord has chosen me, has loved me,” “He has said to me ‘come’,” and with
Baptism “he has chosen me to go along a road, the Christian road.” The future, on
the other hand, concerns “walking towards a promise”, the Lord “has made us a promise.”
Finally, the present “is our response to the God Who is so good that He has chosen
me.” The Pope said, “He makes a promise, he proposes a covenant with me, and I make
a covenant with Him.” So these are the three pillars: “election, covenant, and promise”:
“The three pillars of the whole story of the Salvation. But when our heart
enters into what Jesus explains to us, it takes away time: it takes away the past,
it takes away the future, and one is confused in the present. For one who is attached
to riches, neither the past nor the future is important; he has everything here. Wealth
is an idol. I don’t need a past, a promise, an election: nothing. He who is worried
about what will happen, takes away his relation with the future – “but can one do
this?” – and the future becomes futuristic, but no, it doesn’t direct you to any promise:
you remain confused, you remain alone.”
This is why Jesus tells us we must
either follow the Kingdom of God or the riches and cares of the world. The Pope said
with Baptism “we are chosen in love” by Him, we have “a Father that has sent us along
a road.” And so “even the future is joyful,” because “we are walking towards a promise.”
The Lord “is faithful, He does not disappoint” and so we too are called to do “what
we can” without disappointment, “without forgetting that we have a Father who chose
us in the past.” Riches and cares, he warned, are the two things “that make us forget
our past,” that make us live as if we didn’t have a Father. And even our present is
a present that doesn’t work”:
“Forgetting the past, not accepting the present,
disfiguring the future: that’s what riches and cares do. The Lord tells us: “But be
calm! Seek the Kingdom of God, and everything else will come.’ Let us ask the Lord
for the grace not to fool ourselves with worries, with the idolatry of riches, and
to always remember that we have a Father Who has chosen us; to remember that this
Father promises us a good thing, which is walking towards that promise; and having
courage to take the present as it comes. Let us ask this grace from the Lord.”
The
Holy Father concelebrated Mass with Bishop Arturo González of Santa Clara in Cuba
and others. Employees of the Vatican Museums were in attendance at the liturgy.