Pope Francis at Mass: the Devil
is behind every persecution
During his homily at Mass on Friday, Pope Francis reflected
on how the Devil is the cause of all forms of persecution: from cultural
colonization to war, hunger, and slavery.
Today, said Pope Francis, we are not only witnessing the
persecution of Christians, but of every man and woman, "through cultural
colonization, war, hunger, and slavery". But the Lord gives us the grace
to fight back and to restore the image and likeness of God that is within us.
Persecution is part of Christian life
In the first reading, St Peter refers specifically to how
the persecution of Christians "broke out…like fire". Pope Francis
explained how such persecution is "part of Christian life"…
“Persecution is rather like the ‘air’ that Christians
breathe even today. Because even today there are many martyrs, many people who
are persecuted for their love of Christ. There are many countries where
Christians have no rights. If you wear a cross, you go to jail. And there are
people in jail. There are people condemned to death today simply because they
are Christians. The number of people killed is higher than the number of early
martyrs. It’s higher! But this doesn’t make news. Television newscasts and
newspapers don’t cover these things. Meanwhile Christians are being
persecuted”.
Persecution of humanity as the image of God
The Pope went on to say there is another kind of persecution
in the world today: the persecution of men and women because they are made in
the image and likeness of God.
“The Devil is behind every persecution, both of
Christians and all human beings. The Devil tries to destroy the presence of
Christ in Christians, and the image of God in men and women. He tried doing
this from the very beginning, as we read in the Book of Genesis: he tried to
destroy that harmony that the Lord created between man and woman, the harmony
that comes from being made in the image and likeness of God. And he succeeded.
He managed to do it by using deception, seduction…the weapons he uses. He
always does this. But there is a powerful ruthlessness against men and women
today: otherwise how to explain this growing wave of destruction towards men
and women, and all that is human”.
The Devil as the Father of Persecutions
Pope Francis described hunger as an "injustice"
that "destroys men and women because they have nothing to eat", even
if there is a lot food available in the world. He went on to speak of human
exploitation, of different forms of slavery, and recalled how he recently saw a
film shot inside a prison where migrants are locked up and tortured to turn
them into slaves. This is still happening, he said, "70 years after the
Declaration of Human Rights". The Pope also reflected on cultural
colonization. This is exactly what the Devil wants, he said, "to destroy
human dignity" – and that is why the Devil is behind all forms of
persecution.
“Wars can be considered a kind of instrument to destroy
people, made in the image of God. But so are the people who make war, who plan
war in order to exercise power over others. There are people who promote the
arms industry to destroy humanity, to destroy the image of man and woman,
physically morally, and culturally… Even if they are not Christians, the Devil
persecutes them because they are the image of God. We must not be ingenuous. In
the world today, all humans, and not only Christians are being persecuted,
because the Father of all persecutions cannot bare that they are the image and likeness
of God. So he attacks and destroys that image. It isn’t easy to understand
this. We have to pray a lot if we want to understand it”. …
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét