Pope at Mass: may we learn to
listen in times of silence
During his daily Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis
urges the faithful to listen, as the world is silent, and to allow the Holy
Spirit in to bring an end the divisions we often see in our communities.
(Playback included)
By Francesca Merlo
Pope Francis opened his Mass by praying for the ability to
listen, as the world faces an “unfamiliar” silence due to the coronavirus
pandemic, and on this particularly rainy day in Rome, the weather.
"It's so quiet in this weather. You can even hear
the silence. May this silence, which is a bit new to what we are accustomed,
teach us how to listen, that we might grow in our ability to listen. Let us
pray for this."
In his homily, the Pope commented on Tuesday's Reading from
the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 4:32-37). It describes the lives of the members
of the first Christian community. They were “of one heart and mind and nobody
claimed any possessions as their own". Everything was communal, and no one
was in need.
Born from above
The expression, “Being born from above”, taken from the
Gospel, means being born with the strength of the Holy Spirit, said Pope
Francis. We cannot take the Holy Spirit for ourselves, but we can let Him in
and allow Him to “change us, work the transformation in us, this rebirth from
above”, he said. An example of this is this first Christian community,
continued the Pope. The community “is a model, an ideal, a sign of
what the Holy Spirit can do if we are docile”. Pope Francis
went on to explain that in this community there was harmony, because the Holy
Spirit is the “Master of harmony” and can bring harmony in everything.
However, even in the Christian community there are
divisions, said the Pope. The "ideal" presented must be reached, but
it is not easy: “There are many things that divide a community, all
communities. There are three things, I find, that divide a community”, he said.
Money divides
“The first is money”, began the Pope. Saint Paul says
"for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes
hungry while another gets drunk" (1 Cor 11:21). We leave them there as if
to say to them: "sort yourselves out", said the Pope. Often money is
behind doctrinal deviations in the history of the Church, continued Pope
Francis. “Money divides the community. For this reason, poverty is the mother
of the community. Poverty is the wall that guards the community”, he said.
Money divides, the love of money divides the community, divides the Church.
Even families are divided by money, said the Pope.
Vanity divides
The second thing that divides a community is vanity, said
Pope Francis. It is “that desire to feel better than others”, he said. “How
often is the celebration of a Sacrament an example of vanity: who goes with the
best clothes, who does this, that and the other thing…” Vanity divides, said
the Pope, “because vanity leads you to be a peacock and where there is peacock,
there is division, always”.
Gossip divides
The Pope then said that the third thing that divides a
community is gossip. “That thing that the devil puts in us, like a need to talk
about others”, he explained. “But the Spirit always comes with His strength to
save us from this worldliness of money, vanity and gossip”, said the Pope,
because the Spirit can perform these miracles.
Prayer for docility to the Spirit
Finally, the Pope asked that the Lord might grant us the
grace of “docility” to the Spirit “so that He may transform” us and transform
our communities, so that we may always move forward in "the harmony that
Jesus wants for the Christian community".
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