Pope Francis at Mass: the logic of the day after
tomorrow
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
said Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday. In remarks to the
faithful following the readings of the day, the Holy Father reflected on the
“logic” of Christian faith – the fundamental way of thinking that arises from
real assent to the truth claims that Christianity advances – a logic he
described as one of “the day after tomorrow” – a logic that looks forward
to the resurrection of the body.
Beginning with a passage from
the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (15:12-20), in which the Apostle to
the Gentiles specifically addresses the certainty of Christian faith in bodily
resurrection, rooted in our certainty that Christ is risen from the dead, the
Holy Father reflects on the implications of, and the challenges to, our faith.
The logic of the day
after tomorrow is the logic of the risen Christ
“It is easy for all of us,”
he said, “to enter into the logic of the past, because it is concrete,” and it
is also “easy to enter into the logic of the here-and-now, because we see it.”
When, however, we look to the future, then we think it is “better not to
think,” or at least, easy to fall prey to the temptation not to think it all
the way through:
“The logic of yesterday is
easy. The logic of today is easy. The logic of the future is easy: all die. But
the logic of the day after tomorrow, this is difficult. And this is what Paul
wants to preach today: the logic of the day after tomorrow. How will it be? How
will He be? The resurrection: Christ is risen. Christ is risen and it is quite
clear that He has not been raised as a ghost. In the passage from Luke about
the resurrection [we read]: ‘But touch me.’ A ghost has no flesh, no bones.
‘Touch me. Feed me.’ The logic of the day after tomorrow is the logic in which
enters the flesh.”
We wonder, he continued, how
the sky will be, or whether “we will all be there,” but, “we do not reach what
Paul wants us to understand – this logic of the day after tomorrow.” Here, he
warned, “we betray a certain Gnosticism,” when we think that “everything will
be spiritual” and “we are afraid of flesh.”
Say “No!” to
spiritualistic piety, and enter into the logic of the flesh of Christ
Do not forget, he said, “this
was the first heresy” that the apostle John condemns: “Who says that the Word
of God does not come in the flesh is Antichrist”:
“We are afraid to accept and
bear the ultimate consequences to the flesh of Christ. a spiritualistic piety
is easier, a gossamer pietism; but to enter into the logic of the flesh of
Christ, this is difficult. And this is the logic of the day after tomorrow. We
will be resurrected as Christ is risen, with our flesh.”
Francis recalled that the
early Christians asked about how Jesus was resurrected and notes that it is in
the faith in the resurrection of the body that the works of mercy have their
deepest root cause. On the other hand, he continued, St. Paul strongly
emphasizes that all shall be changed, our bodies and our flesh will be
transformed.
We ask for the grace to
believe in the transformation of the flesh
Pope Francis went on to
remind the faithful that the Lord “let Himself be seen, and touched, and he ate
with the disciples after the resurrection.” This “is the logic of the day after
tomorrow, one that we find difficult to understand,” in which we find it
difficult to enter:
“It is a sign of maturity to
understand well the logic of the past. It is a sign of maturity to move in the
logic of the present – in both that of yesterday and that of today. It is also
a sign of maturity to have prudence to see the logic of tomorrow, of the
future. Nevertheless, it takes a great grace of the Holy Spirit to understand
this logic of the day after tomorrow – after the transformation – when He will
come and take us – all changed – on clouds, to stay forever with Him. We ask
the Lord for the grace of this faith.”
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