Pope
Francis: Sowing divisions is a sickness in the Church
(Vatican
Radio) Pope Francis says sowing divisions and discord is a sickness within the
Church and described a person who indulges in gossip as like a terrorist who
throws bombs. His comments came during his homily at his Friday (4th September)
Mass in the Santa Marta residence.
Taking
his inspiration from St Paul’s letter to the Colossians where the Apostle spoke
of how Christ was sent by God to sow reconciliation and peace among humanity,
Pope Francis’s homily was a reflection on the need to sow peace rather than
discord in our daily lives.
Do
I sow peace or do I sow discord?
He
said without Jesus no peace or reconciliation is possible and our task is to be
men and women of peace and reconciliation in the midst of news about war and
hatred, even within families.
“We’d
do well to ask ourselves: Do I sow peace? For example, when I speak, do I
sow peace or do I sow discord? How many times have we heard this said
about a person: He or she has a serpent’s tongue! This is because that person
is always doing what the serpent did with Adam and Eve, namely destroying
peace. And this is an evil, this is a sickness within our Church: sowing
divisions, sowing hatred, not sowing peace. So this is a question that we
should ask ourselves every day: ‘Did I sow peace or did I sow discord
today?” ‘But sometimes, we have to say things because he or she….’: But with an
attitude like this, what are you sowing?”
Who
brings peace is a saint, who gossips is like a terrorist
Christians,
the Pope continued, are called therefore to be like Jesus who came among us to
bring peace and reconciliation.
“If
a person during his or her life does nothing else but reconcile and bring peace
that person can be canonized: that person is a saint. But we need to grow that
way, we need to have a conversion: never a word that divides, never, never a
word that brings war, small wars, never gossip. I’m thinking: what is
gossip? Oh it’s nothing- just saying words against another person or
telling tales: ‘This person did…’ No! Gossiping is like terrorism
because the person who gossips is like a terrorist who throws a bomb and runs
away, destroying: with their tongue they are destroying and not making peace.
But this person is cunning, right? He is not a suicide bomber, no, no, he takes
good care of himself.”
Biting
our tongue
Pope
Francis concluded his homily by repeating a suggestion for Christians to bite
their tongues rather than indulge in malicious gossip.
“Every
day that I get the urge to say something that sows discord and division, to say
bad things about another person… Bite your tongue! I can assure you. If
you do this and bite your tongue instead of sowing discord, the first few times
the wound will cause your tongue to swell because the devil helps us do this
because that’s his work, his job: to divide.”
Therefore,
my final prayer: “Lord, you gave your life, give me the grace to bring peace
and reconciliation. You shed your blood, but what does it matter to me if my
tongue gets swollen if I bite it before speaking badly about other
people.”
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