Pope: hypocrisy is a kind of spiritual schizophrenia
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
urged Christians to always tell the truth to avoid succumbing to hypocrisy
which he described as a kind of spiritual schizophrenia that makes us say many
things but without putting them into practice. He was speaking at his Mass on
Friday morning celebrated in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.
Good and bad Leaven: my
grandmother's Carnival pastries
In his homily at the Mass,
the Pope took his cue from the day’s readings to reflect on the dangers of
hypocrisy by warning Christians against the leaven of the Pharisees. Noting
that there’s a good leaven and a bad leaven, he said the former builds the
kingdom of God whereas the latter only creates the appearance of the Kingdom of
God.
Good leaven, said Pope
Francis, always rises and grows in a consistent and substantial manner and
becomes a good bread, a good pastry. But as he went on to warn, bad leaven does
not grow well and he used an anecdote from his own childhood to explain the
concept.
“I remember that for
Carnival, when we were children, our grandmother made biscuits and it was a
very thin, thin, thin pastry that she made. Afterwards she placed it in the oil
and that pastry swelled and swelled and when we began to eat it, it was empty.
And our grandmother told us that in the dialect they were called lies – ‘these
are like lies: they seem big but there’s nothing inside them, there’s nothing
true there, there’s nothing of substance.’ And Jesus tells us: ‘Beware of bad
leaven, that of the Pharisees.’ And what is that? It’s hypocrisy. Be on your
guard against the Pharisees' leaven which is hypocrisy.”
Hypocrisy a spiritual
schizophrenia
The Pope went on to explain
that hypocrisy is when we invoke the Lord with our lips but our heart is
distant from Him.
“Hypocrisy is an internal
division. We say one thing and we do another. It’s a kind of spiritual
schizophrenia. In addition, hypocrisy is a dissembler: they seem good and
polite but they have a dagger behind their backs, right? Look at Herod:
terrified inside but how politely he received the Magi! And then when he was
bidding them farewell, he told them: ‘Go on your way and then come back and
tell me where this child can be found so that I can go and worship him!’
To kill him! He’s a two-faced hypocrite, a pretender. Jesus when
speaking to the doctors of the law, said: these say this and don’t do it:’ this
is another type of hypocrisy. It is an existential nominalism: those who
believe that by saying the things that everything is done. No. Things must be
done not just said. And a hypocrite is a nominalist who believes that by saying
it, everything is done. In addition, the hypocrite is unable to accuse him or
herself: they never find a stain on themselves, they accuse others.Think about
the splinter and the log right? And it’s in this way that we can describe that
leaven which is hypocrisy.”
Tell the truth not lies
Pope Francis urged Christians
to examine their consciences to understand whether they are growing with good
or bad leaven by asking themselves: With what spirit am I doing things?
With what spirit am I praying? With what spirit do I turn to
others? With a spirit that builds? Or with a spirit that becomes air? In
conclusion, he stressed that it was important not to deceive themselves and to
tell the truth rather than lies.
“How truthful children are
when they confess their sins! Children never ever tell a lie during
confession; they never talk about abstract things. ‘I’ve done this, I’ve done
that, I’ve done……’ Concrete things. Children talk about concrete things when they
are in front of God and in front of other people. Why is that? It’s because
they have good leaven, leaven that makes them grow like the Kingdom of God
grows. May the Lord give all of us the Holy Spirit and the grace of that
lucidity to discern with which leaven I am growing, with which leaven I am
behaving. Am I a loyal and transparent person or am I a hypocrite?”
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét