Pope Francis pointed out three ways to fail to act Christian, living the “new way” pointed out by Christ, in his homily at Casa Santa Marta on Monday.
Springing from the Gospel observation, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined,” Francis said there are three ways that fail to follow the new way, outlined by the Beatitudes.
He warned against the “accustory style,” the “worldly style” and the “egotistical style.”
The accusatory style is the style of those Christians who are always trying to accuse others, who live accusing. “Not this, not that … Not that way, no … That isn’t just” … always discrediting others. A style, I would say, of those who promote justice who are always trying to accuse others. But they don’t realize that this style is the style of the devil: In the Bible, the devil is called the “great accuser” — the one who is always accusing others.
The Holy Father lamented that this is a habit among us, just as it was during Jesus’ time, which is why Our Lord asked how we could try to take the splinter from a neighbor’s eye, while ignoring the plank in our own.
Living by always “looking for defects” is not Christian, the pope said; it’s not a “new wineskin.”
Worldliness is another way of failing to live the newness of Christianity, the Holy Father said.
The Lord has offered you new wine, but you haven’t changed the wineskins. You haven’t changed them. Worldliness, worldliness is what ruins so many people — so many people! Good people, but people who fall into this spirit of vanity, of pride, of making themselves seen. … There is a lack of humility, and humility is part of this Christian style. We should learn it from Jesus, from the Virgin, from St. Joseph. They were humble.
Finally, Francis spoke of the “egotistical style” or the “style of indifference.”
I think of myself as a good Catholic, I do things, but I don’t worry about others’ problems. I don’t worry about wars, or illnesses, or people who suffer … or about my neighbor.
This, the pope said, is “the hypocrisy that Jesus reproached in the doctors of the law.”
So what is the Christian style? The new wine?
The Christian style is that of the Beatitudes: meekness, humility, patience in suffering, love for justice, a capacity to put up with persecution, of not judging others … And this is the Christian spirit, the Christian style. If you want to know what the Christian style is like, so as not to fall into the accusatory style, the worldly style, or the egotistical style, read the Beatitudes. And this is our style; the Beatitudes are the new wineskins, they are the path to arrive where we are going. To be a good Christian one should have the capacity to pray the Creed with the heart, but also to pray the Our Father with the heart.
Read more:
Do you know what ‘meek’ of ‘meek and humble of heart’ really means?
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