During his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis talked about different ways to worship. He denounced that at times Christians look down on others who pray in humble manner.
"How many times do the people of God feel unwanted by those that should be giving testimony? By Christians, laymen, priests, bishops... They say: 'Poor people, they don't understand anything... They should take a Theology course to understand.”
Pope Francis added that preaching isn't about correcting people. He also asked Catholics to avoid any type of hypocrisy and legalism.
Excerpts of the Popes homily - Vatican Radio
"It is Jesus himself who says that [the scribes] did not move these things even with a finger, right? And then He will say say to people: ‘Do what they say but not what they do!’ [They are] incoherent people. It always seems doesn’t it? that these scribes and Pharisees are always beating on the [regular folks]. ‘You must do this, this and this’ to the poor people. Jesus told them told the scribes and Pharisees that in this way, they closed the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, [as if to say], ‘You don’t let others enter, and so neither will you yourselves gain entrance.’ This is how some people teach, preach and witness the faithand how many people out there think that the faith really is as they present it.”
"How many times,” said Pope Francis, "do God's people feel themselves unloved by those who ought to give witness: by Christians by lay faithful, by priests, by bishops ... ‘But [these] poor bumpkins do not understand anything ... one needs to do a degree in theology to understand.’ Why, then, do I have some sympathy for this man, [Eli]? Because in his heart he still had the anointing, because when the woman explains her situation, Eli says, ‘Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant you what you asked for.’ The priestly anointing comes out in the end: he had hidden it inside his laziness, poor man, a lukewarm man, and it ends badly for him, poor fellow.”
"Let us ask the Lord that these two readings help us in our lives as Christians: all of us, each of us in his own place [let us learn] not to be pure legalists, hypocrites like the scribes and Pharisees. Let us not be corrupt like the sons of Eli, nor to be lukewarm as Eli himself, but to be like Jesus, with that zeal to seek the people, heal people, to love people, and with this to say: ‘But if I do this tiny little thing, little as I am, think about how God loves you, think about how your Father is!’ Let us ask for this grace.”
