Pope:
Fearful and joyless communities are not Christian
(Vatican
Radio) Communities that are fearful and without joy are sick, they are not
Christian communities. That was the message of Pope Francis at his morning Mass
at the Casa Santa Marta.
“Fear”
and “joy” – those are the two words of the liturgy of the day. Fear, the Pope
said, “is an attitude that harms us. It weakens us, it diminishes us. It even
paralyzes us.” A person who is afraid “does nothing, doesn’t know what to do.”
He is focused on himself, so that nothing bad will happen.” Fear “brings you to
a self-centred selfishness and paralyzes you.” He continued, “A fearful
Christian is a person who has not understood the message of Jesus”:
“This
is why Jesus says to Paul: ‘Do not be afraid. Continue to speak.’ Fear is not a
Christian attitude. It is an attitude, we could say, of a caged animal, without
freedom, who does not have the freedom to look ahead, to create something, to
do good… no, always: ‘No, but this is dangerous, there is something else,
something else…’ And this is a vice. It is the fear of doing evil.”
“Do
not be afraid, and ask for the grace of courage, the courage of the Holy Spirit
that He sends us”:
“There
are fearful communities, that always go on the safe side: ‘No, no, we aren’t
doing this… No, no, this can’t be done, this can’t be done.’ It seems they have
written on the gateway: ‘Forbidden.’ Everything is forbidden because of fear.
And you enter into this community and the air is stale, because it is a sick
community. Fear makes a community sick. The lack of courage makes a community
sick.”
Fear,
the Pope explained, must be distinguished from the “fear of the Lord,” which is
holy. The fear or awe of adoration before the Lord, the fear of God is a
virtue. But the fear of God does not diminish, does not weaken, does paralyze:
it carries us forward, to the mission the Lord gives us.
The
other word of the liturgy is “joy.” “No one can take away your joy” Jesus tells
us. And, the Pope said, “in the saddest moments, in moments of sorrow” joy
“brings peace.” Instead “a happy event, in a moment of sorrow becomes obscure,
becomes dark. A Christian without joy is not Christian. A Christian who
continually lives in sadness is not Christian. And a Christian who, in the
moment of trial, of illness, of so many difficulties, loses peace – something is
lacking in him.”
“Christian
joy is not simply enjoyment, is not a fleeting cheerfulness. Christian joy is a
gift, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. And having a heart that is always joyful
because the Lord has triumphed, the Lord reigns, the Lord is at the right hand
of the Father, the Lord has looked upon me and called me and has given me His
grace, and has made me a Son of the Father… That is Christian joy. A Christian
lives in joy.”
And,
too, a “community without joy” is a community that is sick. Perhaps it would be
a “fun-loving community” but “it has grown sick with worldliness, because it
does not have the joy of Jesus Christ. And thus, “when the Church is fearful
and when the Church does not receive the joy of the Holy Spirit, the Church is
sick, the communities are sick, the faithful are sick.” Pope Francis concluded
with this prayer: “Lift us up, O Lord, to Christ seated at the right hand of
the Father… raise our spirit. Take away our every fear, and grant us joy and
peace.”
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