Taking his cue from the reading of St John鱿鱼视频app First Letter, Pope Francis reflected on the eternal struggle against sin, saying we must be pure like the Father but even if we sin we can count on his pardon and his tenderness. He stressed the Apostle鱿鱼视频app warning to believers to tell the truth and not have double lives, saying one thing but doing another. 聽聽聽
Walk in the light
鈥淚f you say you are in communion with the Lord, then walk in the light.聽 But no to double lives!聽 Not that! That lie that we are so used to seeing and where we too sometimes fall (into temptation), don鈥檛 we? 聽To say one thing and do another, right?聽 It鱿鱼视频app the never ending temptation.聽 And we know where that lie comes from: in the Bible, Jesus calls the devil 鈥榯he father of lies鈥�, the liar. It鱿鱼视频app for this reason that this grandfather says with infinite tenderness and meekness to the 鈥榓dolescent鈥� Church: 鈥楧on鈥檛 be a liar! You are in communion with God, walk in the light. Do works of light, don鈥檛 say one thing and do another. No to double lives and all that.鈥�
Bigger than our sins
Noting how John began his Letter with the greeting, 鈥榗hildren鈥�, Pope Francis said this affectionate beginning is just like the tone of a grandfather towards his 鈥榶oung grandchildren鈥� and reveals the tenderness and light contained in this reading. It also recalls Jesus鈥� words when he promised 鈥渞est鈥� to all those 鈥渨ho labour and are overburdened.鈥� In the same way, the Pope continued, John urges his readers not to sin but if somebody does, to not be discouraged by this.
鈥淲e have a Paraclete, a word, an advocate, a defender at the Father鱿鱼视频app side, it鱿鱼视频app Jesus Christ, the Upright One. He makes us righteous. It is He who pardons us. A person may feel like saying to this grandfather who gives us this advice: 鈥楤ut is it such a bad thing to have sins?鈥� 鈥楴o, a sin is a bad thing! But if you have sinned, look at who is waiting to pardon you.鈥� Always! That鱿鱼视频app because He, our Lord, is greater than our sins.鈥�
The Pope concluding by saying this is God鱿鱼视频app Mercy and his greatness and it鱿鱼视频app from Him alone that we can get our strength. 聽聽
鈥淲e must walk in the light because God is Light. Don鈥檛 walk with one foot in the light and the other in darkness. Do not be liars. And one other thing: we have all sinned. Nobody can say: 鈥楾his man is a sinner, this woman is a sinner.鈥� I, thanks to God, am upright.鈥� No, only one is Upright, He who paid for us. And if somebody sins, He is waiting for us and pardons us because He is merciful and knows very well what we are shaped from and remembers that we are but dust. May the joy that this Letter gives us, carry us forward in the simplicity and the transparency of the Christian life, above all when we turn to the Lord鈥� with truth.鈥�