During his daily Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke about those who are unable to look within their heart and see their own mistakes, but rather look only at the mistakes of others.
POPE FRANCIS
“A sign that a person does not know, that a Christian does not know how to accuse himself is when he is accustomed to accusing others, to talking about others, to being nosy about the lives of others. That is an ugly sign. Do I do this? It’s a good question to ask to get to the heart.”
He concluded praying for the grace of humility, to be able to accuse and feel the necessity each person has for God and His presence. The pope explained that confessing one's sins and needing salvation is a good place to start.
EXCERPTS OF PAPAL HOMILY
(Source: Vatican News)
“This is the first decisive step of Peter along the path of discipleship, of the disciple of Jesus, accusing himself,‘I am a sinner.’ This is Peter’s first step; and also the first step for each one of us, if you want to go forward in the spiritual life, in the life of Jesus, serving Jesus, following Jesus, must be this, accusing oneself: without accusing oneself you cannot walk in the Christian life.”
“There are people who go through life talking about others, accusing others and never thinking of their own sins. And when I go to make my confession, how do I confess? Like a parrot? ‘Bla, bla, bla… I did this, this…’ But are you touched at heart by what you have done? Many times, no. You go there to put on make-up, to make-yourself up a little bit in order to look beautiful. But it hasn’t entered completely into your heart, because you haven’t left room, because you are not capable of accusing yourself.”
“A sign that a person does not know, that a Christian does not know how to accuse himself is when he is accustomed to accusing others, to talking about others, to being nosy about the lives of others. And that is an ugly sign. Do I do this? It’s a good question to get to the heart [of things]. Today let us ask the Lord for the grace, the grace to find ourselves face to face with Him with this wonder that His presence gives; and the grace to feel that we are sinners, but concretely, and to say with Peter: 'Depart from me, for I am a sinner'.”
