As is the custom of popes, Pope Francis recently issued a pastoral letter on Lent. It is not blasplemy or disrespectful or even rude to note that often writings by popes are sometimes not in the everyday language used by people. The language used can be quite dense, highly philosophical and theological, and directed more at theologians and church leaders than the general population. Whether you like Pope Francis or perhaps have other papal favorites, most would agree that he writes in a way that people can understand what he is saying. This is certainly true in his pastoral letter on Lent. For today, Saturday, and Monday, I'm going to reflect on a few passages from that letter - because they do provide a rather easy way to focus on human qualities that we may have or need to guard against. On Sunday, I'll be reflecting on the Florida mass killings.
Today, let's focus on "false prophets." These folks are among the most inauthentic people around - and I hope that I'm not like them. Just look at them - scary, not cuddly!:
Pope Francis says that false prophets "can appear as 'snake charmers', who manipulate human emotions in order to enslave others and lead them where they would have them go. How many of God’s children are mesmerized by momentary pleasures, mistaking them for true happiness! How many men and women live entranced by the dream of wealth, which only makes them slaves to profit and petty interests! How many go through life believing that they are sufficient unto themselves, and end up entrapped by loneliness!
False prophets can also be 'charlatans', who offer easy and immediate solutions to suffering that soon prove utterly useless. How many young people are taken in by the panacea of drugs, of disposable relationships, of easy but dishonest gains! How many more are ensnared in a thoroughly 'virtual' existence, in which relationships appear quick and straightforward, only to prove meaningless! These swindlers, in peddling things that have no real value, rob people of all that is most precious: dignity, freedom and the ability to love. They appeal to our vanity, our trust in appearances, but in the end they only make fools of us. Nor should we be surprised. In order to confound the human heart, the devil, who is 'a liar and the father of lies' (Jn 8:44), has always presented evil as good, falsehood as truth. That is why each of us is called to peer into our heart to see if we are falling prey to the lies of these false prophets.
We must learn to look closely, beneath the surface, and to recognize what leaves a good and lasting mark on our hearts, because it comes from God and is truly for our benefit."
For Lent, the key thing is to try to be authentic- which means that inside must match the outside. The person that we are on "onstage" must be the same person as "off stage." We're not duplicitous. We're not disingenuous. We're just authentic. It is a very simple word - and a wonderful litmus test for our actions on any day. To be authentic in front of God means being the person that God created - and not someone trying to cover things up. Good Lord, none of us is perfect. None of us makes all the best choices. But Lent is the time to get better at this adventure called life. To be warned against being false prophets by Pope Francis also means that we have really tried to resist evil. We are not friends with Satan - but rather tried and true friends of God. That is not a bad title to carry around in our hearts. Hope that we can all do it.
Can even Snoopy qualify? Better believe it - or I need another hero!
Today's Gratitude (right now, it is easy to identify different gratitudes - may not feel the same way in a month or so!): I am grateful for our youth and young adults who showed yesterday the type of people they are at a most wrenching and sad funeral of a 24 year old parishioner.