Pope: ‘Christian life is a daily struggle against
temptation’
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday
invited the faithful to let themselves be drawn by Jesus pointing out that
Christian life is a daily struggle against temptation.
Speaking during the homily at morning Mass in
the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope warned against the temptations that
lead us down the wrong path
Referring to the Gospel reading of the day, Pope Francis
said Jesus came to destroy the influence of evil on our hearts.
Recounting the passage from the Gospel of Mark that tells of
how large numbers of people followed Jesus with enthusiasm, the Pope
posed the question: ‘why were the crowds attracted?’
The Gospel, he said, tells us that some were sick and wanted
to be healed but there were also people who liked listening to Jesus because he
touched their hearts. This was because, he explained, the Father drew people to
Jesus.
So much so, Francis said, Jesus told his disciples to have a
boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. And
he said He too was moved because he saw these people as sheep without a
shepherd, and thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit the Father was drawing
them to the Lord.
And, the Pope emphasized, the reason for which so many
people were attracted by Jesus Christ was nothing to do with Apologetics.
Commenting upon the end of the Gospel passage which says
‘whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout,
"You are the Son of God"’, Francis said that whenever we try to
approach God, the unclean spirits try to prevent us from doing so, and “wage a
war against us.”
Those, he said, who feel they are very Catholic and never
have temptations, must pray because they are on the wrong path.
“A Christian life without temptations is not Christian, he
said: it is ideological, it is Gnostic, but it is not Christian”.
When the Father draws people to Jesus, Pope Francis
explained, there is an opposite force that causes conflict.
“That’s why St Paul speaks of Christian life as a struggle:
a daily struggle. A fight!” he said: That’s why Jesus came: “to destroy Satan's
empire, the empire of evil”.
He came to destroy its influence in our hearts, the Pope
said. So while the Father is attracting you to Jesus, the spirit of evil is
seeking to destroy that attraction.
The Pope concluded with the exhortation to fight on and feel
the heart that struggles for the victory of Jesus.
"May the Lord give us the grace to know how to discern
what is going on in our hearts and to choose the right path upon which the
Father draws us to Jesus” he said.
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