杏MAP导航

By Debora Donnini

Witness, complaining, questions. These were the three words which 杏MAP导航 Francis focused on in his homily at the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Thursday. He reflected on the day鈥檚 Gospel (Lk 15:1-19), which begins with the witness given by Jesus: tax collectors and sinners approach Him and listen to Him; and He eats with them.

Testimony causes the Church to grow

The first word, then, is the 鈥渨itness鈥� of Jesus, which, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥渨as a new thing for the time, because going to sinners made you unclean, like touching a leper.鈥� For this reason, the doctors of the law kept away from them. 杏MAP导航 Francis noted that bearing witness has never 鈥渂een a convenient thing, either for the witnesses 鈥� who often paid with martyrdom 鈥� or for the powerful.鈥�

Bearing witness is breaking a habit, a way of being鈥� Breaking it for the better, changing it. For this reason, the Church advances through witness. What is attractive [to people] is the witness. Not the words, which help, yes; but witness is what is attractive, and what makes the Church grow. It is a new thing, but not entirely new, because the mercy of God was also there in the Old Testament. They, these doctors of the law, never understood the meaning of the words: 鈥業 desire mercy and not sacrifice.鈥� They had read about mercy, but they had not understood what it was. And Jesus, with His way of acting, proclaimed this mercy with His witness.

Witness, the 杏MAP导航 repeated, 鈥渁lways breaks a habit,鈥� and also 鈥減uts you at risk.鈥�

Instead of resolving conflicts, they murmured

In fact, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, Jesus鈥� witness caused people to murmur. The Pharisees, the scribes, the doctors of the law complained about Him, saying, 鈥淗e welcomes sinners, and eats with them.鈥�  They did not say, 鈥淟ook, this man seems to be good because he seeks to convert sinners.鈥� This, the 杏MAP导航 continued, is an attitude that consists in always making negative comments 鈥渢o destroy the one bearing witness.鈥� This sin of complaining about others, he said, is a part of daily life, in big and small ways. In our own lives, we can find ourselves murmuring 鈥渂ecause we don鈥檛 like something or other鈥�; and instead of dialoguing, or 鈥渢rying to resolve a conflict situation, we secretly complain, always in a low voice, because there is no courage to speak clearly.鈥�

And so it happens, he said, even in smaller societies, 鈥渋n parishes.鈥� 鈥淗ow often is there murmuring in parishes?鈥� he asked, pointing out that whenever 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the testimony, or there is a person that I don鈥檛 like, murmuring immediately breaks out.鈥�

And in dioceses? 鈥業nfra-diocesan鈥� conflicts鈥� Internal conflict within the diocese. You know this. And also in politics. And this is bad. When a government is not honest, it seeks to soil its opponents with murmuring. There鈥檚 always defamation, slander, always looking for something [to criticize]. And you know dictatorial governments well, because you have experienced it. What makes a dictatorial government? Taking control first of the means of communication with a law, and from there, it begins to murmur, to belittle everyone that is a danger to the government. Murmuring is our daily bread, at the level of persons, of the family, the parish, the diocese, the social level.

Jesus鈥� question

It鈥檚 a matter of finding a way 鈥渢o not look at reality,鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis said, 鈥渙f not allowing people to think.鈥� Jesus knows this, the 杏MAP导航 said, but the Lord is good, and 鈥渋nstead of condemning them for murmuring,鈥� He asks a question. 鈥淗e uses the method they use.鈥� They ask questions with evil intentions, in order to test Jesus, 鈥渢o make Him fall鈥�; as, for example, when they asked Him about paying taxes, or about divorce. Jesus asks them, in today鈥檚 Gospel, 鈥淲hich one of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?鈥� And 鈥渢he normal thing would be for them to understand鈥�; instead they do the calculation: 鈥淚 have 99,鈥� so what if one is lost?:

鈥榃e鈥檒l let this one perish, and in the balance it will result in profit and loss, and we will save these.鈥� This is the logic of the doctors of the law. 鈥榃hich one of you?鈥� And their choice is the opposite of Jesus鈥�. For this reason, they do not go to speak with sinners, they do not go to the tax collectors, they do not go because 鈥榠t is better not to dirty myself with these people, it is a risk. Let us save ourselves.鈥� Jesus is smart in asking them this question: He enters into their casuistry, but puts them in a position contrary to what is right. 鈥榃hich one of you?鈥� And not one of them says, 鈥榊es, it鈥檚 true,鈥� but all of them say, 鈥楴o, no, I would not do it.鈥� And for this reason they are unable to forgive, to be merciful, to receive.

The logic of the Gospel is contrary to the logic of the world

Finally, the 杏MAP导航 summarized the three 鈥渨ords鈥� around which he built his reflection: 鈥渨itness,鈥� which is provocative, and makes the Church grow; 鈥渕urmuring,鈥� which is like a 鈥済uardian of my inner self, so that the witness doesn鈥檛 wound me鈥�; and Jesus鈥� 鈥渜uestion.鈥� 杏MAP导航 Francis then adds another word: joy, the feast, which these people do not know: 鈥淎ll those who follow the path of the doctors of the law, do not know the joy of the Gospel,鈥� he said. And he concluded with the prayer, 鈥淭hat the Lord might make us understand this logic of the Gospel, in contrast to the logic of the world.鈥�