Fratelli Tutti 74: More On Those Passers-By

People can wrap themselves in the mantle of Christianity, but the behavior does not always match. Among today’s Christians, orthopraxis does not always accompany orthodoxy.

74. One detail about the passers-by does stand out: they were religious, devoted to the worship of God: a priest and a Levite. This detail should not be overlooked. It shows that belief in God and the worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually living in a way pleasing to God. A believer may be untrue to everything that his faith demands of him, and yet think he is close to God and better than others. The guarantee of an authentic openness to God, on the other hand, is a way of practicing the faith that helps open our hearts to our brothers and sisters.

Listen to the doctor with the golden mouth:

Saint John Chrysostom expressed this pointedly when he challenged his Christian hearers: “Do you wish to honor the body of the Savior? Do not despise it when it is naked. Do not honor it in church with silk vestments while outside it is naked and numb with cold”.[Homiliae in Matthaeum, 50: 3-4: PG 58, 508]Paradoxically, those who claim to be unbelievers can sometimes put God’s will into practice better than believers.

All citations of Fratelli Tutti (which can be found on this link) are © Copyright – Libreria Editrice Vaticana

About catholicsensibility

Todd lives in Minnesota, serving a Catholic parish as a lay minister.
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