L’Osservatore Romano<\/a><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n\u201cChristian identity\u201d finds its strength in testimony, and it allows for no ambiguity: therefore, Christianity cannot be \u201cwatered down\u201d. Its \u201cscandalous\u201d nature cannot be hidden by changing it into a \u201cbeautiful idea\u201d for those who always need \u201cnewness\u201d. One must also be wary of worldly temptations, those which \u201cexpand the conscience\u201d so as to allow everything to enter. Pope Francis offered these thoughts during Mass on Tuesday morning, 9 June, in the chapel at Santa Marta, recalling that \u201cthe last word of God is called \u2018Jesus\u2019 and nothing more\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cToday\u2019s Liturgy speaks to us about Christian identity\u201d, Francis began, following up immediately with the central question: \u201cWhat is this Christian identity?\u201d. Referring to the First Reading of the day (2 Cor 1:18-22), the Pope recalled that \u201cPaul begins by speaking to the Corinthians about the things they had endured, several events of persecution\u201d, and \u201cthe testimony they bore to Jesus Christ\u201d. In effect, he writes to them: \u201cI boast of this \u2014 that is, I boast about my Christian identity \u2014 which has been like this. God is the witness that our word toward you is \u2018yes\u2019, in other words, that we speak to you about our identity\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTo arrive at this Christian identity\u201d, Pope Francis explained, \u201cGod, our Father, made us take a long journey in history, centuries and centuries, with allegorical figures, with promises, covenants and likewise, until the moment of the fullness of time, when He sent his Son, born of woman\u201d. Thus, it is \u201ca long journey\u201d. And, the Pope affirmed, \u201cwe too must make a long journey in our life, so this Christian identity may be strong and bear testimony\u201d. A journey, he indicated, \u201cwhich we can determine from ambiguity to the true identity\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Thus, in the Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle writes that \u201cour word to you has not been Yes and No\u201d, ambiguous. In fact, Paul adds, \u201cthe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you … was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes\u201d. It is here then, the Pope said, that \u201cour identity is actually found: in imitating, in following this Jesus Christ, who is God\u2019s \u2018yes\u2019 toward us\u201d. And \u201cthis is our life: going every day to strengthen this identity and bearing testimony to it, step by step, but always toward the \u2018yes\u2019, not ambiguously\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s true\u201d, the Pontiff acknowledged, \u201cthere is sin and sin makes us fall, but we have the strength of the Lord to pick ourselves up and move forward with our identity\u201d. But, he added, \u201cI would also say that sin is part of our identity: we are sinners, but sinners with faith in Jesus Christ\u201d. Indeed, \u201cit is not simply a faith of awareness\u201d but \u201ca faith which is a gift of God that has entered us from God\u201d. Thus, the Pope explained, \u201cit is God himself who confirms us in Christ\u201d. And he has anointed us, placed the seal on us, provided us with a surety, the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts\u201d. Yes, Francis emphasized, \u201cit is God who gives us this gift of identity\u201d and \u201cthe problem is to be faithful to this Christian identity and allow the Holy Spirit, who is our very guarantee, the pledge in our heart, to lead us forward in life\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are people who do not follow a philosopher\u201d, the Pontiff stated, because \u201cwe have a gift, which is our identity: we are anointed, we have the seal placed on us and we have the guarantee within us, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit\u201d. And \u201cHeaven begins here, it is a beautiful identity that shows itself in testimony\u201d. This is why, he added, \u201cJesus speaks to us of testimony as the language of our Christian identity\u201d when he says: \u201cYou are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?\u201d. The reference was taken from the day\u2019s Reading from the Gospel of Matthew (5:13-16).<\/p>\n
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Surely, the Pope continued, \u201cChristian identity, because we are sinners, is also tempted, is tempted \u2014 temptations always come \u2014 and it can go backwards, it can weaken and become lost\u201d. But how can this happen? \u201cI think\u201d, said the Pontiff, \u201cthat one can go backwards on two main paths\u201d.<\/p>\n
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The first, he explained, is \u201cthat of moving from testimony to ideas\u201d, which is \u201cwatering down the testimony\u201d. It\u2019s as if to say, \u201cYes, I\u2019m a Christian, this is Christianity, a beautiful idea, I pray to God\u201d. But \u201cin this way, we go from the concrete Christ, because the Christian identity is concrete \u2014 we read it in the Beatitudes; this concreteness is also in Chapter 25 of Matthew \u2014 from this somewhat soft religion, to air, and to the path of the agnostics\u201d. Behind it, however, \u201cthere is scandal: this Christian identity is scandalous\u201d. As a result, \u201cthe temptation is to say \u2018no, no, without scandal; the cross is a scandal; that God became man\u201d is \u201canother scandal\u201d, and it is left aside; we are looking for God \u201cwith this somewhat ethereal, airy Christian spirituality\u201d. Thus, the Pope said, \u201cthere are modern agnostics, and they propose to you this and that: no, the last word of God is Jesus Christ, there is no other!\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this path\u201d, Francis continued, there are also \u201cthose who always need newness from the Christian identity: they have forgotten that they were chosen, anointed, that they have the guarantee of the Spirit, and they search: \u2018Where are the prophets who tell us today the letter that Our Lady will send us at 4:00 in the afternoon?\u2019, for example, no? They live by this\u201d. But \u201cthis is not the Christian identity. The last word of God is called \u2018Jesus\u2019 and nothing more\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnother way to go backwards from the Christian identity is worldliness\u201d, the Pope said. And this means to \u201cexpand the conscience so far that everything can enter: \u2018Yes, we are Christians, but this yes…\u2019, not only morally but also in a human sense\u201d. Because \u201cworldliness is human, and this is how salt loses its flavour\u201d. This is why, the Pope explained, \u201cwe see Christian communities, even Christians, who say they are Christian, but cannot and do not know how to bear testimony to Jesus Christ\u201d. And \u201cthis is how the identity goes backwards, backwards and becomes lost\u201d. It is \u201cthis worldly nominalism that we see every day\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIn salvation history, God, with his Fatherly patience, has led us from ambiguity to certainty, to the concreteness of the incarnation and redeeming death of his Son: this is our identity\u201d. And \u201cPaul boasts of this: Jesus Christ, made man: God, the Son of God, became man and died in obedience\u201d. Yes, the Pontiff remarked, Paul \u201cboasts of this\u201d and \u201cthis is the identity and there lies the testimony\u201d. It is \u201ca grace we must ask of the Lord: that he always give us this gift, this gift of an identity which doesn\u2019t seek to adapt to things that would make it lose its saltness\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before moving on to celebrate the Eucharist, Francis took the opportunity to say that it too is \u201ca \u2018scandal\u2019\u201d. Moreover, he concluded, \u201cAllow me to say \u2018a twofold scandal\u2019\u201d. First, he explained, \u201cbecause it is the \u2018scandal\u2019 of the Cross: Jesus, the Son of God, who gives his life for us\u201d. And second, \u201cthe \u2018scandal\u2019 that we Christians celebrate the memorial of the death of the Lord and we know that here this remembrance is renewed\u201d. Thus the very celebration of the Eucharist \u201cis testimony of our Christian identity\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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