Lukewarm
Christians are those who want to build a church to their own
specifications, but it is not the Church of Jesus: this is what Pope
Francis said loast Saturday during a Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae
Marthae. Present at the Mass were volunteers from the pediatric dispensary "Santa Marta" in the Vatican, entrusted to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who for 90 years have supported children and families in need in Rome without distinction of religion or nationality.
The first Christian community, after the persecution, lives a moment of peace, it is united, it walks and grows "in the fear of the Lord and with the comfort of the Holy Spirit": This was the Pope’s comment following the reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It is this very air in which the Church lives and breathes, called to walk in the presence of God in an irreproachable manner:
"It 'is a style of the Church. To walk in the fear of the Lord is a 'sense of adoration, the presence of God, no? The Church walks and so when we are in the presence of God we do not do bad things or make bad decisions. We are in God's sight with joy and happiness: this is the security of the Holy Spirit, that is the gift that the Lord has given us - this comfort - that keeps us going. "
In the Gospel from the liturgy of the day many disciples truly believe the language of Jesus, they whisper, are shocked and eventually leave the Master:
"These people have turned away, they are gone, they say, 'this man is a bit' strange, he says things that are hard…It 's too big a risk to go down this road. We have common sense, eh? Let's go 'back a little and not so close to Him'. These people, perhaps, had a certain admiration for Jesus, but little 'from afar: not to meddle too much with this man, because he says things that are a bit' strange ... ".
These Christians - the Pope said - " are not united in the Church, they do not walk in God's presence, they don’t have the security of the Holy Spirit, they do not make up the Church":
"They are Christians of good sense only: they keep their distance. Christians - so to speak they are - 'satellites', that have a small church, in size: to quote the words of Jesus in Revelation, 'lukewarm Christians'. The indifference that is in the Church ... They walk only in the presence of common sense, common sense ... that worldly prudence: This is a temptation just worldly prudence. "
Pope Francis reflected on so many Christians "that now bear witness to the name of Jesus, even unto martyrdom." These - he says - are not 'Christian satellites', because "they go with Jesus on the path of Jesus":
"These people know exactly what Peter says to the Lord. They understand exactly what Peter says the Lord, when the Lord asks the question: 'Do you also want to go, be' Christian satellites '?'. Simon Peter answers him: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life '. So from a large group there becomes a group a little 'smaller, but those who know perfectly well that they cannot go somewhere else, because only He, the Lord, has the words of eternal life. "
The Pope finally recites this prayer:
"Let us pray for the Church, will continue to grow, unite, to walk in the fear of God and with the security of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord deliver us from the temptation of that 'common sense', and in inverted commas, “the temptation to whisper against Jesus, because it is too demanding, and the temptation from scandal. So be it. "