St. Paul and Pope Francis' Challenge

In today’s first reading, 1 Tim 6: 2c-12, St. Paul challenges those of “morbid disposition for arguments and verbal dispute,” from which flow “rivalry, insults, evil suspicions, and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,” who use religion as “a means of gain.”  Those are strong words and are much like those spoken by Pope Francis.  “In an extraordinary interview that electrified the Catholic world, [Pope Francis] said that the Roman Catholic Church has become unduly obsessed with condemning abortion, gay marriage, and contraception. The church, he said, should emphasize compassion and mercy instead of ‘small-minded rules’—[sounds like Jesus confronting the Pharisees]. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel,” the pope said in the 12,000-word interview, published by major Jesuit publications around the world, including the New York-based America magazine.

St. Paul and Pope Francis, I believe, urge us to stop the arguing, stop entering into verbal disputes and, instead, “…pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called…” (1 Tim. 6: 2c-12).  Are we, I ask, devoted to Christ or are we worshipping our devotions, our “small-minded rules” and regulations? Are we, I ask, devoted to the God of our salvation or to the pompous positions, the compulsive or obsessive need to win arguments at other people’s expense, to prove that we are right and the other person wrong? Am I doing more condemning than showing love, compassion, understanding, or patience with myself and other sinners?