In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke of those who claim to be Christians but live their lives as pagans. He explained one cannot live Christianity as a “social habit.”
POPE FRANCIS
“There is the hypocrisy of sinners, but the hypocrisy of the just is the fear of the love of Jesus, the fear of allowing ourselves to be loved. In reality, when we do this, we try to take control of our relationship with Jesus. 'Yes, I go to Mass, but afterwards, You stay in the Church, while I go home.'”
This is why the pope insisted the faithful should not only be Christians when they go to the parish, but being Christian should be noticed in every aspect of daily life.
EXTRACT OF PAPAL HOMILY (Vatican News)
“And this attitude is harmful to us, because it reduces the Gospel to a social or sociological fact, rather than a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus speaks to me, He speaks to you, He speaks to each one of us. Jesus’ preaching is meant for each one of us. How is it that those pagans, as soon as they heard the preaching of Jesus, went with him; and I who was born here, in a Christian society, have become accustomed to it, and Christianity has become like a social habit, a garment that I put on and then lay aside? And Jesus weeps over each one of us when we live out our Christianity formally, not really.”
“There is the hypocrisy of sinners, but the hypocrisy of the just is the fear of the love of Jesus, the fear of allowing ourselves to love. And in reality, when we do this, we try to take control of our relationship with Jesus. 'Yes, I go to Mass, but afterwards You stay in the Church while I go home.' And Jesus does not come home with us, does not come into our families, into the education of our children, into our school, into our neighborhood.”
“Today can be a day for us to make an examination of conscience, with this refrain: ‘Woe to you, woe to you, because I have given you so much, I have given you Myself, I have chosen you to be Christian, and you prefer a life by halves, a superficial life: a little bit of Christianity and holy water, but nothing more.' When this kind of Christian hypocrisy is lived, what we end up doing is casting Jesus from our hearts. We pretend to have Him, but we have cast him out. 'We are Christians,' 'We are proud to be Christians.' But we live like pagans.”
