In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, the Pope explained that neither the Church nor Christians are locked into a system of rules.
POPE FRANCIS
'To this people Jesus, because he knew temptation in Himself, reproaches: â??You traverse half the world to have one proselyte, and when you find him, you make him a slave.â?? This people thus organized, this Church so organized, makes slaves â?? and so it is understandable how Paul reacts when he speaks of slavery to the law and of the liberty that grace gives: a people is free, a Church is free, when it has memory, when it makes room for prophets, when it does not lose hope.â?
The Pope lamented that some theologians and doctors of the law do not allow the freedom of the Holy Spirit to enter them, they only caged it. Finally, he asked Christians to always make memory of the wonders that God has worked in their lives.
EXCERPTS FROM PAPAL HOMILY
(Source : Vatican Radio)
'Memory is no concern: as for prophecy, it were better that no prophets come; and hope? But everyone will see it. This is the system through which they legitimate: the lawyers, theologians who always go the way of casuistry and do not allow the freedom of the Holy Spirit; they do not recognize Godâ??s gift, the gift of the Spirit; and they cage the Spirit, because they do not allow prophecy in hope.â?
This is the religious system to which Jesus speaks: 'A system â?? as the First Reading says â?? of corruption, worldliness and concupiscence,â?? so St. Peter says in the First Reading.â?
'To this people Jesus, because he knew temptation in Himself, reproaches: â??You traverse half the world to have one proselyte, and when you find him, you make him a slave.â?? This people thus organized, this Church so organized, makes slaves â?? and so it is understandable how Paul reacts when he speaks of slavery to the law and of the liberty that grace gives: a people is free, a Church is free, when it has memory, when it makes room for prophets, when it does not lose hope.â?
'Do I have the memory of the wonders that the Lord has wrought in my life? Can I remember the gifts of the Lord? I am able to open my heart to the prophets, i.e. to him, who says to me, â??this isnâ??t working, you have to go beyond: go ahead, take a riskâ??? This is what prophets do: am I open to that, or am I afraid, and do I prefer to close myself within the cage of the law? Finally: do I have hope in Godâ??s promises, such as had our father Abraham, who left his home without knowing where he was going, only because he hoped in God? It will do us well to ask ourselves these three questions.â?
