During his Thursday morning Mass, Pope Francis focused on Salvation. He said Christians are saved individually, but always inside God's community, meaning the Church.
POPE FRANCIS
'Thereâ??s the danger of forgetting that He saved us individually, but at the same time as part of His people and community. His people. Let's care for one another. Salvation is not just for me. If thatâ??s the way I understand salvation, Iâ??m wrong and I'm following the wrong path. The privatization of salvation is the wrong path.â?
The Pope then added that the Church does not have room for so called ecclesial elites.
EXCERPTS OF THE POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
'Itâ??s true, Jesus has saved us all, but not in a general fashion. All of us, each one with their name and surname. And this is our personal salvation. I am truly saved, the Lord looked at me, gave his life for me, opened this door, this new life for me and each of us can say â??For me.â?? But thereâ??s a danger of forgetting that He saved us individually but at the same time as part of his people or community. His people. The Lord always saves his people. From the moment he calls Abraham and promises to make them his people. And the Lord saves us as part of this community. Thatâ??s why the writer of this Letter (to the Hebrews) tells us: â??Let us be concerned for each other.â?? There is no salvation solely for me. If thatâ??s the way I understand salvation, Iâ??m mistaken and going along the wrong path. The privatization of salvation is the wrong path.â?
'And when Iâ??m in a parish, in a community or whatever it is â?? I am there, I can privatize salvation and be there only on a small social level. But in order not to privatize salvation, I need to ask myself if I speak and communicate the faith, speak and communicate hope, speak, practice and communicate charity. If within a particular community there is no communication between people and no encouragement is given to everybody to practice these three virtues, the members of that community have privatized their faith. Each of them is looking for his or her personal salvation, not the salvation of everybody, the salvation of their people. And Jesus saved all of us but as part of his people, within a Church.â?
'They scorn the others, they stay away from the community as a whole, they stay away from the people of God, they have privatized salvation: salvation is for me and my small group, but not for all the people of God. And this is a very serious mistake. Itâ??s what we see and call: â??the ecclesial elites.â?? When these small groups are created within the community of Godâ??s people, these people believe they are being good Christians and also are acting in good faith maybe, but they are small groups who have privatized salvation.â?
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