During his General
Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis warned the faithful against
hypocrisy saying actions speak louder than words.
Francis reflected on how the Christian community is born of
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and grows through the mutual
sharing of life among the Lord's disciples, Vatican News said.
In his continuing catechesis on the Acts of the Apostles in
the Paul VI hall on Wednesday, Francis spoke of the solidarity
between Christians and how it is essential in building up God's
family. This fraternity he said, "is nourished by receiving the
sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood."
The Pope underlined that there is a "dynamism of solidarity
that builds the Church as the family of God, where the
experience of koinonia is central."
He explained that in the Church of its origins, "this
koinonia, this community, refers first of all to participation
in the Body and Blood of Christ." For this reason, the Pontiff
said, "when we receive communion we declare "we communicate", we
enter into communion with Jesus and from this communion with
Jesus we arrive at communion with our brothers and sisters."
If you want to know that you are good Christians, said Pope
Francis, "yes, you must pray, try to approach communion,
reconciliation" ... but that signal that your heart has
converted, is when one is generous with others and who helps the
weakest.
The Pope stressed that when it comes to a true conversion,
actions speak louder than words.
Reflecting on the history of the Church, the Pope said that
there have always been Christians who stripped themselves of
material things; things that were not necessary in order to give
to those in need.
How many Christians here in Italy volunteer, he noted. "This
is beautiful", he said, sharing time with others; helping those
in need.
In Biblical terms, the Pope highlighted that a concrete
example of sharing and communion of goods can be found in the
witness of Barnabas. "He owns a field and sells it to deliver
the proceeds to the Apostles. But alongside his positive example
there is another sadly negative one: Ananias and his wife
Sapphira, who sold a piece of land, decided to hand over only
part of it to the Apostles and to keep the other for
themselves."
"Hypocrisy is the worst enemy of this Christian community",
commented Pope Francis. "To fail in the sincerity of sharing, in
fact, or to fail in the sincerity of love, means cultivating
hypocrisy, distancing oneself from the truth, becoming selfish,
extinguishing the fire of communion and fating oneself to the
chill of inner death," he said.
The Pope emphasized that "those who behave in this way pass
through the Church like tourists".
He concluded by saying that, "a life based only on making a
profit and taking advantage of situations to the detriment of
others inevitably causes inner death. How many people say they
are close to the Church, friends of priests, bishops while only
seeking their own interests? These are the hypocrisies that
destroy the Church."
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