POPE FRANCIS

MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE

Beware of sliding into worldliness

Thursday, 13 February 2020

[Multimedia]

During his homily celebrated at Santa Marta on Thursday, 13 February, Pope Francis spoke of King Solomon’s apostasy in his elderly age and warned the faithful against letting their hearts wander in a similar way. Reflecting on the day’s Reading (Kings 11:4-13) which recounts that when Solomon was old and “his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (v. 4). King Solomon began as a “good boy” who asked the Lord for wisdom and received it. But Solomon’s heart became weak because he allowed his wives who served other gods, to convince him to adore their idols.

“His was not an apostasy from one day to the next”, Pope Francis pointed out about Solomon. He slid into sin. The Lord rebuked Solomon for being led astray: “You turned away your heart”. This also occurs in our lives. Most of us do not commit great sins but the danger lies in “letting ourselves slide slowly, because it is an anaesthetized fall”. Without realizing it, things become relativized and we lose our faithfulness to God. How “often we forget the Lord and begin to deal with other gods” such as money, vanity and pride!

“For us”, the Pope explained, “this slippery slide in life is directed towards worldliness” believing it is alright because “everyone is doing it”. As we justify ourselves in this way, we lose our faithfulness to God and embrace modern idols. “Let us consider this sin of worldliness, of losing the authenticity of the Gospel, the authenticity of the Word of God”.

At the end of his homily, Pope Francis asked the Lord “for the grace to understand when our heart begins to weaken and to slide, so that we can stop”.

*L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly edition in English, n.12, 20 March 2020