Francis’ provocation in Santa Marta “are the homeless like statues or bus stops?” What “do we feel when we see children begging ?” “ These kids belong to that ethnicity that steals?”
“What do we feel in our hearts when we see the homeless or the children begging in the streets? No, these kids belong to that ethnicity that steals ... “And keep going, don’t I?” Pope Francis asked in today’s homily, March 16, 2017, at Casa Santa Marta, of which Vatican Radio provides fragments. The Pope warns, “Those seeing the homeless as part of the panorama are on the wrong track.”
“Homeless people - says the Pope - the poor, the abandoned ones, even if they are well dressed but they don’t have a job and can’t pay the rent, what do we feel? Do we say this is normal? Do we see the homeless as part of the landscape of our cities, like statues or bus stops or post offices? Is it normal? Be careful. Because if we eat, drink and assuage our consciences by simply giving a coin and walking past, this is not the right way to go.
Francis, taking from today’s Psalm, said: “Damned are those who place their hope in themselves, because there is nothing more treacherous than a hardened heart. Once we are on that road, he added, it’s very hard for our hearts to be healed.” Hence, the Pope asked a question: “What do we feel in our hearts when we see the homeless or the children begging in the streets?” No, these kids belong to that ethnicity that steals ... “And keep going, don’t I? “.
The Pontiff then warns: when a person “ lives in a closed environment, surrounded by wealth and vanity and trusting in their own devices, those people lose their sense of direction and have no idea of their limitations. “ He says commenting the Gospel passage in which the rich “spends his time at dinner parties and takes no notice of the poor man lying at his door.”
The Pope remarks: “He knew who that poor man was, he even knew his name, but he just didn’t care. Was he a sinful man? Yes. But you can recover from sin: ask for forgiveness and the Lord will forgive. The heart of this man has led him to a point of no return. There is a point, a moment, a limit from which it is difficult to go back, and it is when sin becomes corruption. And he was not a sinner, he was corrupt. Because even if he knew of so much misery, he was happy there and did not care. “
Francesco highlights the need to notice when we are on that slippery slope from sin to corruption: “What do I feel, - he asks - when on the news we see that a bomb has fallen on a hospital, and killed many children, “the” poor people “? Do I just say a prayer and go on my way like before? “Does it touch my heart?” or “ am I like the rich man whose heart was not touched by Lazarus but only the dogs had pity on him?” If that is the case, the Pope said, we are on the road from sin to corruption,” the pope says.
Therefore, we must ask God, “to look into our hearts to see if we are on that slippery slope to corruption, from which there is no return”- normally: Sinners can repent and turn back; but for the corrupt – the pope points out – it is very difficult, because their hearts are closed” Therefore, “let us pray that the Lord will show us which road we are following”
