Pope
at Mass: Love and justice are more important than attachment to the laws
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis lamented the case of
Christians who are so attached to the laws that they neglect the concepts of
love and justice. His words came on Friday during his homily at the morning Mass
celebrated in the Santa Marta residence.
Taking his cue from the day’s gospel reading where Jesus asked the
Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal a sick person on the Sabbath, the Pope
reflected on how love and justice are the path to Christ rather than an
excessive attachment to the laws. He reminded how Jesus described the
Pharisees as hypocrites for criticizing him behind his back after he healed a
sick man on the Sabbath.
“This way of life of being attached to the
laws, distanced them from love and from justice. They followed the laws
and they neglected justice. They followed the laws and they neglected
love. They were the models. And for these people Jesus had only one
word (to describe them): hypocrites. On one hand, you travel across the world
looking for proselytes: you’re looking for them. And then?
You close the door. Closed-minded men, men who are so
attached to the laws, to the letter of the law that they were always closing
the doorway to hope, love and salvation… Men who only knew how to close
(doors).”
Quoting from St Paul,
Pope Francis said that the path towards being faithful to the laws, without
neglecting justice and love is the opposite one: from love to integrity,
from love to discernment, from love to the laws.
“This is the path that Jesus teaches us,
totally opposite to that of the doctors of law. And it’s this path from love
and justice that leads to God. Instead, the other path, of being attached
only to the laws, to the letter of the laws, leads to closure, leads to
egoism. The path that leads from love to knowledge and discernment, to
total fulfilment, leads to holiness, salvation and the encounter with
Jesus. Instead, the other path leads to egoism, the arrogance of
considering oneself to be in the right, to that so-called holiness of
appearances, right? Jesus said to these people: You like to be seen
by the people as men of prayer and of fasting…:’ To be seen, right? And
it’s for this reason that Jesus tells the people: “do what they tell you but do
not do what they do.’”
The Pope said these
are the two different paths and Jesus shows us the right one.
“Jesus draws close to us: his closeness is the
real proof that we are proceeding along the true path. That’s because
it’s the path which God has chosen to save us: through his closeness. He
draws close to us and was made man. His flesh, the flesh of God is the
sign; God’s flesh is the sign of true justice. God was made man like one
of us and we must make ourselves like the others, like the needy, like those
who need our help.”
Pope Francis said
Jesus’ flesh is the bridge that brings us closer to God and not the letter of
the law. I hope, he concluded, that these examples of Jesus’s love
and closeness can help us from sliding into hypocrisy because a hypocritical
Christian is a really bad thing.
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