In yesterday’s Angelus, evoking the Gospel episode, Pope Francis made interesting remarks on human relationship.
Vatican City (27/09/2021 04:00, Gaudium Press) –The Biblical Passage that relates the attitude of the Apostles who prevented a person from approaching Our Lord Jesus Christ because he was not part of the group, served as a reflection during last Sunday’s Angelus.
Pope Francis explained that we must watch our hearts so as not to succumb and not to scandalise others. As such, Our Lord rebukes the disciples who wanted to “prevent a good work simply because the person did not belong to their group.”
They “believe that they are the only ones authorized to work for the Kingdom of God. But by acting in this way, they feel privileged and consider others as outsiders, to the point of becoming hostile towards others.”
We must overcome “nest mentality”
The Pontiff warned Christians about the danger of such a closed-minded attitude. After all, people who think differently keep their distance and this does not favour openness but closure.
Pope Francis continued his exhortation by lamenting the fact that often, instead of a simple and humble community, the faithful feel privileged and therefore remain distant from one another. With this attitude, many of the faithful consider themselves in a position to “judge and exclude”.
He then asked for the grace to overcome what he called “nest mentality. A mentality that consists in remaining ‘jealous’ within a specific group: “within a small group of those who consider themselves good: the priest with the faithful, pastoral workers among themselves so that no one can infiltrate movements and associations in their particular charisms”.
The Pope went on to explain that this generates closure, but the Holy Spirit wants openness: “He wants openness, communities that welcome, where there is room for everyone” (FM)
With information from VaticanNews.
