Share
September 15, 2021 "In front of Jesus one cannot remain lukewarm, with 'the foot in two shoes'": Pope Francis said this during the mass at the sanctuary of Sastin (where 60 thousand participated), encouraging the faithful to spread " the good smell of welcome and solidarity, where personal and collective selfishness often prevail ". Today is the Pope's last day in Slovakia. After Mass, Bergoglio will drive to Bratislava International Airport: the flight that brings Francesco back is expected in Rome at 3.30 pm. The President of the Republic, Zuzana Caputova and Prime Minister Eduard Heger were present.
"Faith cannot be reduced to sugar that sweetens life. Jesus is a sign of contradiction. He came to bring light where there is darkness, bringing darkness out into the open and forcing them to surrender", warned Jorge Mario Bergoglio. . "This is why the darkness always fights against him. Whoever welcomes Christ and opens himself to him rises again; whoever rejects him closes himself in the darkness and ruins himself. Jesus told his disciples that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword: in fact his Word, like a double-edged sword, enters our life and separates the light from the darkness, asking us to choose ".
"In front of Jesus one cannot remain lukewarm, with 'the foot in two shoes'. To welcome him means to accept that he reveals my contradictions, my idols, the suggestions of evil; and that he becomes for me resurrection, the one who always lifts me up , who takes me by the hand and makes me start again. And it is precisely these prophets that Slovakia needs, you - Francis said to the pastors present at the Mass - bishops prophets who go down this path. It is not a question - he continued - of being hostile to the world, but to be 'signs of contradiction' in the world. Christians who know how to show, with their life, the beauty of the Gospel. Who are weavers of dialogue where positions become rigid; who make fraternal life shine, where often in the society divides and is hostile; which spread the good scent ofwelcome and solidarity, where personal and collective selfishness often prevail; who protect and guard life where the logic of death reigns ".
A firm church is a sick church
A firm church is a "sick" church, then remarked the Pope off the cuff while celebrating mass.
"When a Church stops, the Church becomes ill. When the Bishops stop, the Church becomes ill, when the priests stop - underlined the Pontiff - they make the people of God sick".
#PapaFrancesco: "It is not a question of being hostile to the world, but of being signs of contradiction in the world. Christians who know how to show, with their life, the beauty of the Gospel; weavers of dialogue, who spread the good scent of welcome and solidarity "#Slovakia pic.twitter.com/EirtWeKXI1
- Vatican News (@vaticannews_it) September 15, 2021