By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN
CITY — God’s kingdom is not a well-organized structure where only strict
adherents of the law can enter but a path that is walked upon every day with
meekness and docility, Pope Francis said.
Christians
are called to walk that path of the kingdom and not fall victim to “a
behavior of rigidity” that prevents the Holy Spirit from growing, the pope said in his homily Oct. 25 during his morning Mass in
the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
“The kingdom does not grow in this way and neither do we grow. It
is docility to the Holy Spirit that makes us grow and be transformed,” he
said.
The pope reflected on the day’s Gospel from St. Luke, in which Jesus compares
the kingdom of God to a mustard seed that grows into a large bush and like
yeast that is mixed with flour “until the whole batch of dough is
leavened.”
Jesus’ comparison of the kingdom to a mustard seed and the yeast, the
pope said, is a reminder that in order for the Holy Spirit to grow, it must
first “die” and transform into something great in one’s life.
However, it can only grow “through docility to the strength of the
Holy Spirit,” he said.
“The flour ceases to be flour and
becomes bread because it is docile to the strength of the yeast, and the yeast
allows itself to be mixed in with the flour” and becomes bread for
everyone, the pope said.
Men and women who are docile to the action
of the spirit, he continued, also become like the mustard that, “although
it loses its identity as a seed, becomes something else, something bigger, it
transforms.”
Christians
who do not walk this path of transformation, he warned, will instead become
rigid and orphaned.
“A rigid person only has masters and no father. The kingdom of
God is like a mother that grows and is fertile; she gives of herself so that
her children have food and lodging, according to the example of the Lord,”
Pope Francis said.
“It is docility to the Holy Spirit that
makes us grow and be transformed like the yeast and the seed. May the
Lord give us all the grace of this docility,” he said.
– – –
Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
– – –
Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
