Spiritual worldliness, Pope Francis went on to explain, is “triumphalism without the cross.”
“Jesus prayed that the Father would defend us against this culture of worldliness,” he said. “This temptation of glory without the cross runs contrary to the very person of the Lord, who humbled himself in the Incarnation and, as a sign of contradiction, is our sole remedy against every idol. Being poor with Christ who was poor and ‘chose to be poor’: this is the mindset of Love; nothing else.”
He went on: “Dear brothers, Jesus is the only ‘way’ to avoid being mistaken in knowing what we feel and where our heart is leading us. He is the only way that leads to proper discernment, as we measure ourselves against him each day.”
“It is as if, even now, he is seated in our parish church and tells us that today all we have heard is now fulfilled,” Francis said.
“Jesus Christ, as a sign of contradiction — which is not always something harsh and painful, for mercy and, even more, tender love, are themselves signs of contradiction — Jesus Christ, I repeat, forces these idols to show themselves, so that we can see their presence, their roots and the ways they operate, and allow the Lord to destroy them.”
“We should keep these things in mind and be attentive, lest the weeds of these idols that we were able to hide in the folds of our hearts may spring up anew.”
Watch the full homily here:
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Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency’s senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.
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