(Vatican Radio) There are many hidden saints, men, women, fathers and mothers of families, sick people, priests who every day put into practice the love of Jesus; and this give us hope. That was the message of Pope Francis today at his daily morning Mass at Santa Marta.
The true Christian puts the Word of God into practice; it is not enough to say that you have faith. Commenting on the parable of the house built on rock or on sand, taken from the day’s Gospel, Pope Francis said we should not be “Christians in appearance,” made-up Christians, because when the rain comes, the make-up runs off. It is not enough to belong to a very Catholic family, or to an association, or to be a benefactor, if we do not follow God’s will. “So many ‘apparent Christians,’ collapse at the first temptation,” he said, because “there is no substance there,” they have built on sand. On the other hand, there are many saints among the People of God – “not necessarily canonized saints, but saints” – who “put the love of Jesus into practice.” They build their houses on the rock, which is Christ:
“Let us consider the smallest… the sick who offer their sufferings for the Church, for others. Let us consider so many of the elderly who are alone, who pray and make offerings. Let us consider so many mothers and fathers of families, who, with so much effort, raise their families, educate their children, carry on their daily work, bear their problems, but always with hope in Jesus, who do not strut about, but do what they can.”
They are “the saints of daily life,” the Pope said:
“Let us consider so many priests who are not seen, but who work in their parishes with such love: [doing the work of] catechesis for children, care of the elderly, of the sick, the preparation of new spouses… and every day the same, the same, the same. They are not bored because their foundation is the rock. It is Jesus, it this that gives holiness to the Church, it is this that gives hope!”
“We should think about so much hidden holiness there is in the Church,” Pope Francis said, “Christians who remain in Jesus. Sinners, eh? We are all [sinners]. And yet sometimes one of these Christians commits some grave sin, but is penitent, seeks pardon, and this is great: the capacity to seek pardon, to not confuse sin with virtue, to know well where virtue is, and where sin is. These are founded on rock, and the rock is Christ. They follow the path of Christ, they follow Him.”
“The proud, the vain, the ‘Christians in appearance’ will be demolished, humbled,” the Pope said, while “ the poor will be those who triumph, the poor in spirit, those who in the presence of God consider themselves to be nothing, the humble, and they carry forward salvation, putting into practice the Word of the Lord.” He continued, citing St Bernard: “Today we are, tomorrow we will not be. Think, man, what will become of you: [you will be] the food of worms… The worms will eat us, all of us. If we do not have this rock, we will end up trampled down.”:
“In this time of preparation for Christmas, let us ask the Lord to be founded firmly on the rock that is Him, our hope [which] is Him. We are all sinners, we are weak, but if we place our hope in Him we can go forward. And this is the joy of a Christian: knowing that in Him there is hope, there is pardon, there is peace, there is joy. And not to place our hope in things that are today, and tomorrow will not be.”
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