Pope Francis at Casa Santa Marta: Are You a Child of Light or of Darkness?

Reflects on Calling to Be Imitators of God During Morning Mass

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“We should ask ourselves: Am I a Christian of light or a Christian of darkness?” This was the question posed by Pope Francis during his morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta today.

Reflecting on the first reading, in which Paul invites the Christians of Ephesus to be “imitators of God, as beloved children”, the Pope said that it helps to discern whether one is a child of light, of darkness or “grey areas”.

In order to understand whether one is a child of darkness, he continued, one must look at four types of words: hypocrisy, vulgar, trivial and worldly. “A dirty, obscene word? These four [types] of words are not of the children of light, they are not the Holy Spirit, they are not of Jesus, they are not words of the Gospel … this way of talking, always talking about dirty things or of worldliness or emptiness or hypocrisy”.

The Pope stressed that in order to “imitators of God” as St. Paul describes, one must be walk in humility and mercy. ‘Be merciful – says Paul – forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be, then,  imitators of God and walk in love’, that is, walk in mercy, forgiveness, love. And these are the words of a child of light”, the Pope said.

However, the Pope also noted a third type of Christian, one that is neither light nor dark, but gray, who he said were “lukewarm” Christians. The Holy Father cited the book of Revelations in regards to gray Christians, which says that the Lord “would vomit them out”.

“The Lord has strong words for these Christians of gray areas. ‘I am a Christian, but without overdoing it!’ they say, and in doing so cause so much harm, because their Christian witness is a witness that in the end only sows confusion, it sows a negative witness”, he said.

Concluding his homily, the Holy Father called on the faithful to reflect on what kind of Christian we are.

“It would do us all good to reflect on our words today  and ask ourselves: “Am I a Christian of light? Am I a Christian of the dark? Am I a Christian of the gray areas? And thus we can take a step forward to meet the Lord”, he concluded.

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Junno Arocho Esteves

Newark, New Jersey, USA Bachelor of Science degree in Diplomacy and International Relations.

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