Pope Francis implored the Lord to “grant us the grace to send us always a prophet — who can be our neighbor, a child, mother, father — who will slap us a bit when we slide into this atmosphere where everything seems legitimate.”
In his homily during the Mass in Casa Santa Marta, the Holy Father reflected on the Second Book of Samuel, focused on the figure of “holy King David,” reported Vatican News.
Awareness of Sin
In this fragment, David, favoring a comfortable life, forgets that God chose him.
Then, Pope Francis referred to David’s sins: the census of the people and the story of Uriah, whom he had killed, after leaving Uriah’s wife Bathsheba pregnant. He chose murder because his plan, to arrange things after committing adultery, failed. David, the Pope said, “continued his normal life. Silence. His heart wasn’t moved.”
Spirit of Worldliness
“However, how could the great David, who was holy, who had done so many good things, who was united to God, do that? That’s not something that is done overnight. The great David slid slowly,” said the Pontiff.
“There are sins of the moment: the sin of anger, an insult that I can’t control. However, there are sins into which one slides slowly, with the spirit of worldliness. It’s the spirit of the world that leads one to do these things as if they were normal, even a murder . . . , he continued.
In this connection, the Bishop of Rome described how sin takes hold of man slowly, taking advantage of his comfort. “We are all sinners: “however, sometimes we sin in a moment. I get angry; I insult. Then I repent. On other occasions, however, we get carried away to a state of life that . . . seems normal.” And he gave an example of what can be conceived as normal: “not to pay a maid as she should be paid, or pay half of what is owed to farmworkers.
An Evil of Our Time
So Pope Francis pointed out that, despite the fact that some might seem to be “good persons,” “who go to Mass every Sunday, who call themselves Christians, commit grave sins because they have fallen “into a state in which they have lost the consciousness of sin. And that is an evil of our time. Pius XII spoke about losing the consciousness of sin.”
To show that this reality isn’t part of the past, the Holy Father referred to a recent incident in Argentina, in which some young rugby players killed a comrade in a fight after quite a night out. The kids that intervened in the event became “a pack of wolves,” he stressed
Listen to Others
The Holy Father underscored that “many times a slap in life” is necessary to stop, to halt the progressive sliding to sin, and that someone like Nathan is necessary whom God sent to show David his error.
“Let’s think a bit: What is my life’s spiritual atmosphere? Am I careful; do I always need someone to tell me the truth? I don’t think so? Do I listen to the reproach of a friend, confessor, husband, wife, children, which helps me a bit?” he asked.
And, finally, looking at David’s story — of the holy King David” — the Holy Father invited to question ourselves: “if a saint is capable of falling so, let’s be careful, brothers and sisters, it can also happen to us. Moreover, let’s ask ourselves: in what atmosphere do I live?”
