Christians should be as courageous in spreading the Gospel as they are in pursuing their careers and personal ambitions, Pope Francis has declared.
When the Church loses courage, he said, it enters into a “lukewarm” atmosphere.
“That hurts the Church so much, because this tepid atmosphere draws you inside, and problems arise among us; we no longer have the horizon, or courage to pray towards heaven, or the courage to proclaim the Gospel.”
The Pope was celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives, for members of the Swiss Guard.
Lukewarm Christians, he said, have the courage to get themselves wrapped up in the petty issues of daily life — “our petty things, our jealousies, envy, careerism, in going ahead selfishly”.
Pope Francis said courage is needed to share the faith, which is “faith in the resurrected Jesus, in Jesus who pardoned our sins with his death and has reconciled us with the Father”.
He added: “We have to proclaim it with our life, with our word.”
Sometimes that courage can be shown very simply, he said, recalling how as a boy he attended Good Friday candlelit processions with his grandmother.
When the figure of a crucified and lifeless Christ would pass, “grandmother would make us kneel and tell us ‘Look, he’s dead, but tomorrow he will be risen!'”
With that simple teaching, he said, faith in Christ, who died and was risen, “entered like that” into his life.
However, Pope Francis said, “there have been many, many people in the history of the Church who have wanted to tone down a little this firm certainty and speak of a ‘spiritual’ resurrection.
“No. Christ is alive,” he said, and is “also alive among us”.
The Pope said the Church must be courageous, not just in proclaiming the risen Christ and the Gospel, but also in prayer and in “challenging Jesus” — who said “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son”.
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Image: UnionLeader