Pope at Mass: Christians must not
give in to failure
Pope Francis celebrates morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta
commenting on the “spirit of tiredness” that “takes away hope”.
By Linda Bordoni
Reflecting on the First Reading of the day, which is taken
from the Book of Numbers, Pope Francis said that at times
Christians “prefer failure”, leaving room for complaint and dissatisfaction, a
perfect terrain, he said, for the devil in which to sow his seeds.
According to the Reading, the people of God, he explained,
could not bear the journey: their enthusiasm and hope as they escaped slavery
in Egypt gradually faded, their patience wore out, and they began muttering and
complaining to God: “Why have you brought us from Egypt to die in this desert?”
“The spirit of tiredness takes away our hope,” the Pope
remarked, adding that “tiredness is selective: it always causes us to see the
negative in the moment we are living, and forget the good things we have
received”.
“When we feel desolated and cannot bear the journey, we
seek refuge either in idols or in complaint... (…) This spirit of fatigue leads
us Christians to be dissatisfied (…) and everything goes wrong… Jesus
himself taught us this when he said we are like children playing games when we
are overcome by this spirit of dissatisfaction.”
Fertile land for the devil
The Pope said some Christians give in to “failure” without
realizing that this creates the “perfect terrain for the devil.”
They are “afraid of consolation”, “afraid of hope”, “afraid
of the Lord’s caress” he said.
Pope Francis lamented the fact that this is the life of many
Christians: “They live complaining, they live criticizing, they mutter and are
unsatisfied”.
“The people of God could not bear the journey. We
Christians often can't bear the journey. We prefer failure, that is to say
desolation.”
He said it is the desolation of the serpent: the ancient
serpent, that of the Garden of Eden. Here it is a symbol, he explained, of that
same serpent that seduced Eve. It is a way, he continued, of showing the
serpent inside that always bites in times of desolation.
Fear of hope
Those who spend their lives complaining, the Pope said, are
those who “prefer failure”, “who bear to hope”, “of those who could not bear
the resurrection of Jesus”.
Pope Francis concluded inviting Christians to ask the Lord
to free us from this disease.
“May the Lord, he said, “always give us hope for the future
and the strength to keep going”.
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