By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Conversion doesn’t come
from the wave of a
magic wand, but from learning to do good through concrete actions every day,
Pope Francis said.
While
even “the saintliest person sins seven times a day,” conversion
happens through humility and trying to become “better than the day
before,” the pope said March 14 during the Mass in the chapel of the Domus
Sanctae Marthae.
“Converting
doesn’t mean going to a fairy with a magic wand,” he said. “No, it is
a path, a path of
turning away (from evil) and of learning.”
Reflecting on the day’s first reading
from the prophet Isaiah (1:10, 16-20), the pope said, “You learn to do good
through concrete things. Not with words, but with actions.”
The reading from Isaiah gives three
examples: “Help the oppressed, hear the orphan’s plea and defend the
widow.”
In
the day’s Gospel reading from Matthew (23:1-12), the pope continued, Jesus also
reproaches the scribes and Pharisees because they do not practice what they
preach.
“They do not know concreteness. If there
is no concreteness, there can be no conversion,” he said.
Pope
Francis said Christians are
called to embark on “the path of Lenten conversion,” knowing that God “is
a father who speaks,
he is a father who loves us.”
“He accompanies us on this path of
conversion. He only asks of us to be humble,” he said. “Then our sins
all will be
forgiven.”
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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