The Church grows “in simplicity, in silence, in praise, in the Eucharistic sacrifice, in fraternal community, where all are loved,” and none are rejected. That was the message of His Holiness Pope Francis during the daily Mass celebrated in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta. Commenting on the day’s Gospel (Lk 17:20-25), the Pontiff said that the Kingdom of God “is not spectacular,” and that it grows in silence. The Church, he said, is manifested “in the Eucharist and in good works,” even if they don’t “make the news.”
As reported by Vatican news, His Holiness Pope Francis remarked that “The Lord explains to us how the Church grows with the parable of the sower. The sower sows and the seed grows by day, by night – God gives the growth – and then the fruit is seen. But this is important: First, the Church grows in silence, in secret; it is the ecclesiastical style. And how is this manifested in the Church? By the fruits of good works, so that the people see and glorify the Father who is in heaven, Jesus says. And in the celebration, the praise and the sacrifice of the Lord – that is, in the Eucharist. There the Church is manifested: in the Eucharist and in good works.” “The Church grows through witness, through prayer, through the attraction of the Spirit who is within,” His Holiness Pope Francis said in his homily, “and not through events.” These events certainly help, he continued, but “the growth proper to the Church, that which bears fruit, is in silence, in hiding, with good works, and the celebration of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery, the praise of God.”
The Pontiff concluded his homily by highlighting that “The Cross and suffering. The Church grows also with the blood of the martyrs, men and women who give their lives. Today there are many martyrs. It’s strange; they don’t make the news. The world hides this fact. The spirit of the world does not tolerate martyrdom; it hides it.”
