Authentic Christianity Always Looks Outward
“It is no longer possible to claim that religion should be restricted to the private sphere and that it exists only to prepare souls for heaven…. No one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life, without concern for the soundness of civil institutions, without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society. Who would claim to lock up in a church or silence the message of Saint Francis of Assisi or Blessed Mother of Calcutta? They themselves would have found this unacceptable” (“Evangelii Gaudium” 182-183).
Pope Francis is challenging Christians to see our faith as God’s gift not only for ourselves, but for the good of the world. He is basically asking us to imitate the very love of God, which is always focused “outward” toward the world – “For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Living an authentic Christian life, therefore, means that our hearts need to be turned “outwards” for the good of the world, which “… always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, its hopes and aspirations, its strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home and all of us are brothers and sisters… the Church cannot and must not stand on the sidelines in the fight for justice. All Christians, their pastors included, are called to show concern for the building of a better world” (E.G. 184).
The basis for our concern especially for the poor, the most neglected members of society, is based upon our faith that Jesus became poor so that we might become rich in God’s Divine life. Jesus was always close to the poor and the social and religious outcasts of His day. The Church, as the visible Body of Christ, must be close to the poor and the marginalized today. How often do we sing the psalm response “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” during our Sunday Masses? What impact does it make on us? The Holy Father asks us “If we, who are God’s means of hearing the poor, turn deaf ears to this plea, we oppose the Father’s will and his plan… for ‘How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods, and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?’” (1 John 3:17) (E.G. 187).
In the gospel of the multiplication of the bread and fish (Mark 6:37), Jesus instructs his disciples, “You yourselves give them something to eat!” Pope Francis says that this “means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the … development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs … we encounter” (E.G. 188). He continues on saying that this “presumes the creation of a new mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priorities of the life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few” (E.G. 188) because “Changing structures without generating new convictions and attitudes will only ensure that those same structures will become, sooner or later, corrupt, oppressive and ineffectual” (E.G. 189).
This change of mindset is what Jesus means when He speaks of “repentance” – a complete change of outlook based upon His Gospel with its promise of eternal life.
