No to warring among ourselves<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The Jews spoke proudly about the Law of Moses.<\/b>\u00a0 According to tradition, God himself had given it to his people.\u00a0 It was the best gift they had received from God.\u00a0 This Law embodies the will of the one true God.\u00a0 They can find there all they need to be faithful to God.<\/p>\n
For Jesus too, the Law is important, yet it is no longer at the center.\u00a0 Jesus has and shares a different life experience:\u00a0 God\u2019s reign is coming; the Father seeks to make his way among us in order to make a more human world.\u00a0 It is not enough for us to just keep the Law of Moses.<\/b>\u00a0 It is necessary to open ourselves to the Father and to work with him to bring about a life where there is more fairness and in which we live as brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n
That is why, according to Jesus, it is not enough to fulfill the law that commands: \u00a0\u201cYou shall not kill.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 It is also necessary to root out of our lives aggression, scorn for another person, insults or revenge.\u00a0 Someone who does not kill obeys the law; but if he is not free of violence, then still not reigning in his heart is this God who wants to build with us a world more fit for human beings.<\/p>\n
According to some observers, spreading in today\u2019s society is a language that reflects the increase of agression.<\/b>\u00a0 Uttered more and more frequently are offensive insults, intended solely to humilitate, despise and hurt others.\u00a0 These are words that are born of rejection, resentement, hatred or revenge.<\/p>\n
Moreover, conversations are often woven out of unjust words that spread condemnation around and sow suspicion.<\/b>\u00a0 These words are spoken without love or respect.\u00a0 They poison fellowship and do harm.\u00a0 These are words that are born almost always of annoyance, meanness or baseness.<\/p>\n
This is not just something that happens in our society.\u00a0 It is also a serious problem in today\u2019s Church.\u00a0 It makes Pope Francis suffer to see divisions, conflicts and confrontations between \u201cChristians\u201d warring \u201cwith other Christians.\u201d\u00a0 It is a situation so contrary to the Gospel that he has felt the need to address to us an urgent message: \u00a0\u201cNo to warring among ourselves.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
The Pope speaks thus: \u00a0\u201cIt always pains me greatly to discover how some Christian communities, and even consecrated persons, can tolerate different forms of enmity, division, calumny, defamation, vendetta, jealousy, and the desire to impose certain ideas at all costs, even to persecutions which appear as veritable witch hunts.<\/b>\u00a0 Whom are we going to evangelize if this is the way we act?\u201d\u00a0 The Pope wants to work for a Church in which \u201ceveryone admire[s] how you care for one another, and how you encourage and accompany one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Antonio Pagola<\/b><\/p>\n
February 16, 2014
\n6 Ordinary Time (A)
\nMatthew 5, 17-37<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"