If Jesus has been tempted, his disciples should not have expected better treatment. Pope Francis does not use phrases of circumstance to point out differences that have accompanied this extraordinary Synod on the family, and puts all bishops around the world on their guard. There will be five temptations, as many dangerous paths to follow this year that will separate this extraordinary Synod from the ordinary one.
The first temptation, he said, is the temptation of “hostile stiffening”, or the want to close oneself in the scriptures and not allowing God to surprise you. “From the time of Jesus, this was the temptation of the eager, thoughtful and scrupulous minds, that today are so-called “traditionalists ‘ and also “intellettualists”. In a world where, today nothing more surpirses us, where we expect everything to be tailor-made, the exhortation to allow oneself to be guided by God and not by the inborne rationality of every being.
The second temptation is the destructive “do-goodism”, which in the name of a deceiving mercy heals the wounds without having first treated them, or dealing with the symptom first and not going to the roots of the ill. This is the so-called temptation of the ‘ do-gooders ‘, of the fearful and even so-named “progressives and liberalists'”.
Hence the third temptation, that ” turns stone into bread breaking fast, that is awsome and painful and even turning bread into stone and hurling it against the sinners, the weak and the sick”. On the other hand, we are in an era where everyone judges the other, where appearance is considered important. Judgments which at times are mumured, conveyed by slandering lips against whom the Holy Father has repeatedly lashed out against .
Pope Francis then has cautioned man not to bow before relativism so widespread and evoked by by his predecessor, Benedict XVI: the temptation is to “get off the cross in order to please people, and not to stay there to fulfill the will of Our Father; to kneel before the worldly spirit rather than purifying it and bending it to the spirit of God”. The Pope has so warned against the delirium of man, from the presumption that expects to adapt even the word of the Hoy Spirit to their momentary convenience.
Finally the fifth temptation to overlook “the ‘ depositum fidei ‘, not considering oneself as caretakers but owners and bosses or, on the other hand, the temptation to neglect reality using painstaking language or a ‘buttery’ language to say many things which don’t mean anything in the end.
For the Synod Fathers now, there will be quite a lot to ponder over, “cum Petro and sub Petro” to mature “with true spiritual discernment”, ideas, proposals and concrete solutions to the many difficulties and countless challenges that families need to deal with. To provide answers to the many disappointments that surround and suffocate families. Pope Francis stands as a guarantee in the face of this discussion; and the fact that three points on the ‘Relatio Synodi’ have not met approval by a two-thirds majority, speaks for itself on the last ordeal of the Synod meeting, which began with marked diverging opinions regarding the subject of divorcees and terminated with contrasts on homosexuality. But he who thinks the Church is in conflict, even so far as doubting the Holy Spirit as the true promoter and guarantee of unity and harmony, is wrong,” claimed Pope Francis.
Beyond the many journalistic persuasive compulsions, the Holy Father has however made it clear that never before were the fundamental truths of the sacrament of matrimony: the indissolubility, the unity, fidelity and procreativity i.e. the opening to life, been put to the question. And the message of the Synod on the natural family was clear:”the family is presented as the authentic House of the Church, which extends to the families and in turn to the church community”.
The Pope has reminded the bishops that their first duty is to feed the flocks which the Lord has entrusted them with, to try and fearlessly accept the lostfound sheep back again as a father and with mercy. “I ‘ve made a mistake here. – the Holy Father has annotated-I said to welcome them back: to go and find them “.
In addressing the challenges brought by education and the role of the family in evangelising, the message of the Synod has come loud and clear: the Church is not afraid to get down to hard work and pour oil and wine on the wounds, it does not watch mankind from a castle made of glass as if to judge or categorize people. St. Peter’s gates are now open. All you need do, is just to go out there amongst the people.
Translation provided by Marina Stronati
