The Preacher May Surprise You...
The fire of faith should spur us to conversion, not lull us into complacency, (the preacher) said, reflecting on a passage from Luke, who wrote: “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’”
“Faith is not a ‘lullaby’ that lulls us to sleep, but rather a living flame to keep us wakeful and active even at night,” the preacher said.
“The Gospel,” he said, “does not leave things as they are; when the Gospel passes, and is heard and received, things do not remain as they are. The Gospel provokes change and invites conversion.”
According to the preacher, the fire of the Gospel does not give a false sense of peace, but spurs people into action.
“It is just like fire: while it warms us with God’s love, it wants to burn our selfishness, to enlighten the dark sides of life — we all have them — to consume the false idols that enslave us,” he said.
The preacher said Jesus is inviting each person to be rekindled by the flame of the Gospel...to enable us to act,” he emphasized.
He also suggested everyone ask themselves if they are passionate about the Gospel, if they read it often, and if they carry it with them.
“Does the faith I profess and celebrate lead me to complacent tranquility or does it ignite the flame of witness in me?” he said, proposing the question for reflection.
“We can also ask ourselves this question as Church: in our communities, does the fire of the Spirit burn, with the passion for prayer and charity, and the joy of faith? Or do we drag ourselves along in weariness and habit, with a downcast face and a lament on our lips? And gossip [social media?] every day?”
Do an interior examination on these questions,the preacher said, so that like Jesus, we can say “we are inflamed with the fire of God’s love, and we want to spread it around the world, to take it to everyone, so that each person may discover the tenderness of the Father and experience the joy of Jesus, which enlarges the heart — and Jesus enlarges the heart — and makes life beautiful.”
Pope Francis closed his message.
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