The Christian must overcome the temptation to \u201cinterfere in the lives of others,\u201d was the exhortation of Pope Francis at Mass this morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope also stressed that talk and envy do so much harm to the Christian community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it to you?\u201d Pope Francis begin his homily referring to a question Jesus posed to Peter when he had meddled in the life of the disciple John, \u201cwhom Jesus loved.\u201d Peter, the Pope pointed out, had \u201ca dialogue of love\u201d with the Lord, but then the dialogue \u201cis diverted to another track,\u201d and he also suffers from a temptation: \u201cto interfere in the lives of others.\u201d How do you say \u201cvulgar,\u201d said the Pope, Peter becomes \u201cnosy\u201d. Focus is therefore on two modes of this mix in the lives of others. First, the \u201ccomparison\u201d, \u201cto compare oneself with others.\u201d When there is this comparison, Pope Francis said, \u201cwe end up in bitterness and even envy, but envy rusts the Christian community, \u201cit brings much hurt,\u201d the \u201cdevil wants that.\u201d The second mode of this temptation, he added, is gossip. It begins \u201cin an educated way,\u201d but then we end up \u201cfeeling bad\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all chat in Church! As Christians we chat! The chatter is hurtful? We hurt one another. It is as if we want to put each other down.: instead of growing one makes the other feel small while I feel great. That will not do! It seems nice to chat \u2026 I do not know why, but it looks nice. Like sweet of honey, right? You take one and then another, and another, and another, and in the end you have a stomach ache. And why ? The chatter is like that eh? It is \u2018sweet at first and it ruins you, it ruins your soul! Rumours are destructive in the Church, they are destructive \u2026 It\u2019s \u2018a little\u2019 like the spirit of Cain who killed his brother, his tongue; it kills his brother! \u201d<\/p>\n
On this road, the Holy Father said, \u201cwe become Christians of good manners and bad habits.\u201d But how do we do this ? Normally, Pope Francis noted, \u201cwe do three things\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe supply misinformation: we tell only half that suits us and not the other half, the other half we do not say because it is not convenient for us. Some smile \u2026 Is that true or not? Did you see that thing? It goes on. The second is defamation: When a person truly has a flaw, it is big, they tell it, \u2018like a journalist\u2019 \u2026 And the character of this person is ruined. And the third is the slander of saying things that are not true. It is like killing ones brother! All three \u2013 disinformation, defamation and slander \u2013 are sins! This is sin! It is to slap Jesus in the person of his children, his brothers. \u201d<\/p>\n
That is why Jesus does with us what he did with Peter when he says: \u201cWhat is it to you? Follow me, \u201cThe Lord in this instance\u201d points the way \u201c:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018This kind of talk will not do you any good, because it will just bring to the Church a spirit of destruction. Follow me! \u2018. These are the beautiful words of Jesus, it is so clear, that he has so much love for us. As if to say: \u2018Don\u2019t have fantasies, believing that salvation is in the comparisons with others or in gossip. Salvation is to go behind me \u2018. Following Jesus! Today we ask the Lord Jesus to give us this grace not to ever get involved in the lives of others, not to become Christians of good manners and bad habits, it is to follow Jesus, to walk behind Jesus on his way. And this is enough.<\/p>\n
During his homily, Pope Francis also recalled an episode from the life of St. Therese who wondered why Jesus gave so much to one and not to another. The older sister then took a thimble and a glass and filled them with water and then asked Therese which of the two was more full. \u201cBut both are full,\u201d said the future saint. Jesus, the Pope said, does this with us\u201d, \u201che does not care if you\u2019re big, you\u2019re or small.\u201d What interests him is \u201cif you are filled with the love of Jesus.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to \u201cinterfere in the lives of others,\u201d was the exhortation of Pope Francis at Mass this morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Pope also stressed that talk and envy do so much harm to the Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1413],"class_list":["post-23200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pope","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\n
Pope Francis: "We all chat in church!"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to "interfere in the lives\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis: "We all chat in church!"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to "interfere in the lives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-18T11:09:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:51:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis: \\\"We all chat in church!\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-18T11:09:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:51:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to \\\"interfere in the lives\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Francis: “We all chat in church!”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Francis: \"We all chat in church!\"","description":"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to \"interfere in the lives","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Francis: \"We all chat in church!\"","og_description":"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to \"interfere in the lives","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-05-18T11:09:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:51:36+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/","name":"Pope Francis: \"We all chat in church!\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-05-18T11:09:45+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:51:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"Specifically, he was talking about meddling and gossip. \u00a0From his homily Saturday: The Christian must overcome the temptation to \"interfere in the lives","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/05\/pope-francis-we-all-chat-in-church\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Francis: “We all chat in church!”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}