The heart of every Christian is the theatre of a "struggle". Every time the Father "draws us" towards Jesus, there is "someone else who wages war against us". This was emphasised by Pope Francis in the homily of the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Thursday 19 January, during which, commenting on the Gospel of the day (Mark, 3, 7-12), he dwelt on the reasons that drive people to follow Jesus. And to analyse how this following is never without difficulties, indeed if one did not fight every day with a series of "temptations", one would risk a formal and ideological religiosity.
In the Gospel passage, the Pontiff noted, three times "the word 'crowd' is said: a great crowd followed him on all sides; a great crowd; and the crowd threw themselves upon him, to touch him". A crowd "hot with enthusiasm, following Jesus warmly and coming from all parts: from Tyre and Sidon, from Idumea and Transjordan". So many 'were making this journey on foot to find the Lord'. And faced with such insistence one wonders: "Why did this crowd come? Why this enthusiasm? What did they need?". The motivations suggested by Francis can be many. "The Gospel itself tells us that there were sick people who were seeking healing" but there were also many who had come "to listen to him". After all, "these people liked to hear Jesus, because he spoke not like their doctors, but spoke with authority. This touched the heart". Certainly, the Pope underlined, "it was a crowd of people who came spontaneously: they did not take them in the buses, as we have seen so many times when events are organised and so many have to go there to 'verify' attendance, so as not to lose their jobs afterwards".
So these people "went because they felt something". And they were so numerous "that Jesus had to ask for a boat and go a little far from the shore, so that these people would not crush him". But the real reason, the profound one, what was it? According to the Pontiff, "Jesus himself in the Gospel explains" this sort of "social phenomenon" and says: "No one can come to me unless the Father draws him". In fact, Francis clarified, if it is true that this crowd came to Jesus because "they were in need" or because "some were curious" the real reason is found in the fact that "this crowd was attracted by the Father: it was the Father who attracted people to Jesus". And Christ "did not remain indifferent, like a static teacher who said his words and then washed his hands. No! This crowd touched the heart of Jesus". In the very Gospel we read that 'Jesus was moved, because he saw these people as sheep without a shepherd'.
Therefore, the Pontiff explained, 'the Father, through the Holy Spirit, draws people to Jesus'. It is useless to go looking for 'all the arguments'. Every reason may be "necessary" but "it is not enough to move a finger. You cannot move" take "a step with apologetic arguments alone". What is really necessary and decisive instead is "for the Father to pull you to Jesus".
The decisive cue for the Pontiff's reflection came when he examined the last lines of the brief Gospel excerpt proposed by the liturgy: "It is curious", he noted, "that in this passage while "Jesus is spoken of, the crowd is spoken of, the enthusiasm, even the love with which Jesus received them and healed them" there is a somewhat unusual ending. For it is written: 'When the unclean spirits saw him they fell at his feet and cried out, "You are the Son of God!"'.
But this - said the Pope - "is the truth; this is the reality that each one of us feels when Jesus approaches" and that is that "the unclean spirits try to prevent him, they make war on us".
Someone might object: 'But, Father, I am very Catholic; I always go to Mass.... But never, never do I have these temptations. Thank God!" But no. The answer is: "No! Pray, because you are on the wrong path!" because "a Christian life without temptations is not Christian: it is ideological, it is Gnostic, but it is not Christian". In fact, what happens is that "when the Father attracts people to Jesus, there is another who attracts in the opposite way and wages war against you inside!" It is not by chance that St Paul "speaks of the Christian life as a struggle: an everyday struggle. To win, to destroy Satan's empire, the empire of evil'. And precisely for this reason, the Pope added, that "Jesus came, to destroy Satan! To destroy his influence on our hearts'.
This final notation in the Gospel passage underlines the essential point: "it seems that, in this scene", "both Jesus and the crowd disappear and only the Father and the unclean spirits, that is, the spirit of evil, remain. The Father who draws people to Jesus and the spirit of evil that seeks to destroy, always!".
We thus understand," the Pontiff concluded, "that 'the Christian life is a struggle' in which 'either you allow yourself to be drawn by Jesus, through the Father, or you can say "I remain quiet, in peace"... But in the hands of these people, these impure spirits". But "if you want to go on, you must fight! Feel your heart struggling, so that Jesus may win'.
Therefore, is the conclusion, every Christian must make this examination of conscience and ask himself: "Do I feel this struggle in my heart?". This conflict "between comfort or service to others, between having a little fun or praying and worshipping the Father, between one thing and another?" Do I feel "the desire to do good" or is there "something that stops me, that makes me ascetic?" And again: "Do I believe that my life moves the heart of Jesus? If I do not believe this,' the Pope admonished, 'I must pray hard to believe it, so that I may be given this grace'.
[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 20/01/2017]
