Pope Francis remembers the inconsistency of being a Christian and going to fortunetellers

Pope Francis reminded that it was incoherent to call oneself a Christian and go and read a hand to a fortune-teller: "It's superstition, it's not about God, "he said.

"How many of those who call themselves Christians will read their hand to a fortune teller," he lamented in his reflections before the Angelus prayer, this Sunday, August 18, in St. Mark's Square -Pierre at the Vatican.

In his teaching, the Holy Father called for the consistency of Christians with the Gospel.

"It is," said the pontiff, "not to live hypocritically, but to be willing to pay the price of the election according to the Gospel. It is the attitude that each one of us must look for in life: coherence and pay the price of being compatible with the Gospel ".

Francisco insisted: "It is good to be called a Christian, but first and foremost one must be a Christian in concrete situations, testifying to the gospel that it is essentially about". love for God and for the brothers. "

In this sense, he recalled the words of Jesus that can be read in the gospel of this Sunday, words "that may be disconcerting at first sight": "Do you think I am here to give peace to the earth? No, I badure you, but division. "

The pope explained that Jesus had come to separate "good from evil, just from unjust. In this sense, he came to "divide", to put in "crisis" the life of his disciples, breaking the easy illusions of those who believe they can combine Christian life and commitments of all kinds, religious practices and attitudes towards others, to combine true religiosity with superstitious practices. "

In addition, he explained another shocking statement from Jesus in the Gospel of the day: "I came to cast a fire on the earth and I wish how much it was already lit!"

"These words are meant to help the disciples to abandon any attitude of laziness, apathy, indifference and closure to welcome the fire of the love of God," he declared.

"Jesus reveals to his friends, and also to us, his most ardent desire: to bring to the earth the fire of the Father's love which ignites life and through which man has been saved. Jesus calls us to spread this fire in the world, through which we will be recognized as His true disciples. "

He emphasized that "the fire of love, lit by Christ in the world through the Holy Spirit, is a limitless fire and a universal fire. This has been seen since the early days of Christianity: the testimony of the Gospel has spread as a beneficial fire overcoming any division between individuals, social categories, peoples and nations. "

The testimony of the Gospel "burns all forms of particularism and maintains charity open to all, with one single preference: the preference for the poorest and most excluded."

"Joining the fire of love that Jesus carried on the earth implies all our existence and requires the worship of God as well as an availability to serve others."

The first, to worship God, "means to learn the prayer of worship that we sometimes forget. That's why I invite everyone to discover the beauty of prayer worship and to practice it frequently. "

The second, the willingness to serve others. "I think with admiration of so many communities and youth groups who, even during the summer, are dedicated to this service for the sick, the poor and the disabled."

"To live in the spirit of the Gospel, it is necessary that, in the face of the new needs of the world, there are disciples of Christ who know how to respond with new charity initiatives."

Finally, he insisted that "the Gospel, with the worship of God and the service of others, manifests itself as a true saving fire that changes the world of change in the heart of everyone".