From the Pope’s preacher

 

Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa preached as usual to the members of the Roman Curia during a Lenten meditation March 1. Pope Francis was not present but he listened to the sermon. During his presentation he made some interesting remarks: “There seems to be more dialogue with the academic elite of the moment and less and less nourishment for the faith of God's people. You can only get out of this situation by prayer, by talking to God before you even talk about God.” Reflecting on Jesus' words from St. John's Gospel — "I am the light of the world" — Cantalamessa said that Jesus is like the sun whose radiance does not reveal itself but rather the things of the world in their proper light. St. John urged people in his letters not to love the things of the world, since they are the source of lust and pride. Worldliness, he said, "is the equivalent in the religious and spiritual environment to what in the social sphere we call secularization. This is the most necessary fast of all today: fasting from the world. Mixing oneself with this world of suffering is the best way of separating oneself from the world, since it removes one from the principle that the world rests on: selfishness.  The root cause behind the modern spirit of worldliness is the crisis of faith, since it is faith that makes Christians no longer of the world. Christ substitutes the worldly model, which he said is governed by its own trinity: pleasure, power and money.” He concluded by quoting from St. John’s Gospel: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.”