Behind a rigid attitudes of allegiance to the law "there's always
something else", meekness, kindness, and forgiveness are gifts from
God, not rigidity, said Pope Francis at Mass this morning in Santa
Marta, inspired by the Gospel passage that tells of Jesus healing a
woman Saturday, provoking the wrath of the chief priest of the synagogue
because, he says, the law of the Lord had been violated."It's not easy - the Pope observed - to walk according to the Lord's Law", it is "a grace that we must seek".
Jesus accuses the chief priest of the synagogue of being a hypocrite, a word that "he repeated many times with the strict, to those who have a rigid attitude in fulfilling the law", who lack the freedom of the children, who "are slaves of the law".
Instead, "the law was not meant to make us slaves, but to make us free, to make us children."
"There is always something else behind this rigidity! And this is why Jesus says: hypocrites!". "This rigidity masks something hidden in the person’s life. The stiffness is not a gift of God. Meekness, yes; goodness, yes; benevolence, yes; forgiveness, yes. But not rigidity! There is always something hidden behind the rigidity, in many cases a double life; but there is also some sort of illness. How the rigid suffer: when they are sincere and they realize this, they suffer! Because they fail to have the freedom of God's children. They do not know how to walk according to the law of the Lord and they are not blessed. And so much suffering! They look good, because they follow the law; but behind there is something that does not make them good: There are bad, or hypocrites or sick. They suffer!".
In this regard Francis pointed to the parable of the prodigal son, in which the eldest son, who had always behaved well, is indignant with his father because he joyfully welcomed the return of his younger son who was profligate, but repented. This attitude shows what's behind a certain goodness, "the pride of believing to be right."
"There is pride behind this doing good. He knew he had a father, and in the darkest moment of his life he went to his father; the other one only knew his father as his master, he never saw him as a father. He was rigid: he rigidly stuck to the law. The other left the law to one side, he went forth without the law, against the law, but at one point he thought of his father and returned. He had forgiveness. It is not easy to walk in the law of the Lord without falling into the trap of rigidity. "
"We pray to the Lord - concluded the Pope - we pray for our brothers and sisters who believe that walking in the law of the Lord means being rigid. May the Lord make them feel that He is our Father and that He loves mercy, tenderness, goodness, meekness, humility. And teach us all to walk in the law of the Lord with these attitudes".