Pope at Mass: hypocrisy and trickery are bad for us
(Vatican Radio) May God grant us the grace of interior
truth, rather than living a life of hypocrisy and trickery. That was Pope
Francis’ message on Friday to those gathered for morning Mass in the Casa Santa
Marta chapel.
Reflecting on the first reading of the day from St Paul’s
letter to the Romans, the pope explained that God’s pardon is always
freely given and not earned by what we do.
The work we do, he continued, is our response to
this gratuitous love and forgiveness of God, who took away original
sin and who pardons our sins every time we turn to Him.
Hypocrities try to appear virtuous
In the passage from St Luke’s Gospel, Pope Francis said, we
read about another way that people seek justification, by trying to appear
righteous and saintly. They are the hypocrites, he said, whose lives are filthy
inside, but on the outside they try to appear virtuous and holy by showing how
they fast and pray or give to charity.
Jesus asks us to be truthful
In their hearts, the pope said, there is no substance, but
they live by deception and theirs is a life of trickery. Jesus always asks us
to be truthful in our hearts: that’s why he tells us to pray out of sight, to
hide the weakness we feel when we fast, and to conceal our almsgiving, so that
the left hand does not know what the right one is doing.
Falsehood is very bad for us
Jesus asks us to live coherently, Pope Francis insisted,
because falsehood and hypocrisy are very bad for us. In today’s psalm, he said,
we ask the Lord for the grace of truth, saying “Then I acknowledged my sin to
you, my guilt I covered not”. We confess our faults to the Lord and He
takes away the our sin and guilt.
Truth is always before God
We must always be truthful with God, the pope concluded, so
let us learn not to accuse others, but rather to accuse ourselves, without
trying to hide our sins from the Lord.
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