«Before sin, one must flee without shame»

In his daily homily during the Mass celebrated at the Chapel of Saint Martha on Tuesday, July 2, the Pope returned to the day's Gospel, when the companions of Jesus are in a boat with him and are afraid when the storm arises. Jesus then calms the winds and the sea. Starting from this episode of the Bible, Francis described four possible attitudes in the face of difficult situations. The first is that of slowness, like Lot. He was determined to leave the first city that was to be destroyed, but he does so slowly. The angel tells him to flee, but he cannot detach himself from evil, from sin. « We, we want to leave, we are determined, the Pope stressed, but there is something that pulls us backward, like Lot who even begins to negotiate with the angel. »

Do not look back, go forward

« How difficult it is to avoid sin! How difficult a temptation is! But the voice of God tells us « Flee! You cannot fight, for the fire and the sulfur will kill you » remarked Francis. The Pope then took the example of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who taught us that before certain temptations, fleeing is the only solution, and one must not be ashamed to do so; we must acknowledge that we are weak and that we must flee, in order to go forward on the road of Jesus. For the Pope, as the popular saying goes: « a soldier who flees serves for another war ».
The angel also says not to look back; this is the second attitude. Like the people of God in the desert who had everything, the promises of the Promised Land, but who felt nostalgia for turning back. « The angel's advice is wise, the Pope stressed, do not look back, go forward! We must do as the wife of Lot; we must cut ourselves off from all nostalgia, because temptation is also curiosity. »

Before sin, one must flee without shame
« Before sin, one must flee without nostalgia, advised Francis. Curiosity is not helpful, it does harm! So how are we to act in this world with so many sins? the Pope asked those present; what will this sin be like? I want to see what it is… No, curiosity does harm! One must flee and not look back! We are all weak and we must defend ourselves. » The third situation addressed by the Pope: fear. On the boat, when the sea becomes violently agitated, the boat is covered by the waves and the companions of Jesus cry out « Save us, Lord, we are lost! » « They are afraid, and fear is also a temptation of the Devil, the Pope warned; it is being afraid to go forward on the path of the Lord. » « The temptation exists to say to oneself « it is better to stay here, where it is safe ». I am afraid to go forward, I am afraid of where the Lord will carry me. But fear is not a good counselor. Jesus repeated so many times that one must not be afraid; fear does not help us. » added Francis.

Having courage in our weakness
The last attitude is the grace of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus calms the sea, the disciples are seized with amazement. « Looking at the Lord, contemplating him brings us this amazement, so beautiful, of a new encounter with the Lord, said Francis; we are not naive persons, nor lukewarm Christians, we are valiant, courageous! We are weak but we must have courage in our weakness. This courage must express itself in this flight and in not looking back, so as not to fall into a bad nostalgia. Not being afraid and always looking toward the Lord! » concluded the Pope.

Source: News.va