Pope at Mass: the Church
experiences both consolation and persecution
Pope Francis offers Saturday’s Mass for the Daughters of
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul who help the Pope and live in the Casa Santa
Marta. In his homily, he says the Holy Spirit makes the Church grow, while the
evil spirit tries to destroy it with envy, power and money.
By Robin Gomes
Celebrating Holy Mass on the Saturday of the Fourth Week of
Easter, the Pope recalled the memorial of Saint Luisa de Marillac, who
co-founded the Daughters of Charity with Saint Vincent de Paul. A community of
the nuns lives in the Casa Santa Marta, and run the paediatric dispensary in
the Vatican. Her feast day was earlier on March 15 but since it fell
during Lent, it was moved to May 9 in 2016.
A painting of the foundress was placed at the side of
the altar in the chapel for her feast.
“Today is the commemoration of Saint Luisa de Marillac,” the
Pope said at the start of the Mass. “Let us pray for the Vincentian
sisters who have been running this clinic, this hospital, for almost 100 years
and have worked here, in Santa Marta, for this hospital. May the Lord bless the
sisters,” he said.
Preaching and persecution
In his homily, Pope Francis commented on the passage from
the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:44-52) where the Jews of Antioch "filled
with jealousy and with violent abuse” contradicted Paul's statements about
Jesus. They incited the pious noblewomen and the famous people of the city,
provoking a persecution that forced Paul and Barnabas to leave the territory.
Speaking about the power of God, the Pope recalled the
Responsorial Psalm, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wondrous
deeds; His right hand has won victory for Him, His holy arm. The Lord has made
His salvation known…”
In the Acts of the Apostles, the Pope noted, the whole city
of Antioch gathered to listen to the Word of the Lord, because Paul and the
Apostles preached boldly, and the Spirit helped them. But seeing the multitude,
the Jews were filled with jealousy and opposed Paul’s preaching with insults.
Struggle between Holy Spirit and evil
“On the one hand,” the Pope noted, “there is the Holy Spirit
who makes the Church grow. On the other hand, there is the evil spirit that
tries to destroy the Church.”
It has always been this way – one goes ahead but the enemy
comes to destroy. He said there are many difficulties and martyrdom in
this growth, in this struggle. As the Word of God makes the Church grow,
persecution often arises.
"The Church,” the Pope pointed out, "strives ahead
between the consolations of God and the persecutions of the world".
And when the Church “has no difficulties there is something
missing". He added: “If the devil is calm, things are not going well.”
Envy and jealousy
The Pope said the instrument that the devil uses to destroy
the proclamation of the Gospel is envy and jealousy. It is the devil's anger
that destroys.
Witnessing this struggle, the Pope said, it is good to
realize that the Church goes ahead between the consolation of God and the
persecution of the world.
There is always this struggle - the Holy Spirit creates
harmony in the Church and the evil spirit destroys, even today.
Power and money
Temporal powers, the Pope pointed out, are an instrument of
this envy. “Temporal power can be good, people can be good but, in and of
itself, power is always dangerous.”
“The power of the world is opposed to the power of God, and
behind the power of this world lies money."
The Pope said that, ever since the morning of the
Resurrection, temporal power and money have been used to silence the truth.
The Holy Father concluded saying that a Christian should
place his or her trust in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and not in temporal
power and money.
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