Pope Francis offered Mass yesterday morning for the repose of the souls of the 21 Coptic Christians who were martyred for their faith in Libya by IS militants.

Vatican Radio is reporting on the Mass, which was attended by the Pope’s personal secretary, Abuna Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, who is a Coptic Catholic.

As Mass began, he invited the congregation to join him in prayer for “our brother Copts, whose throats were slit for the sole reason of being Christian, that the Lord welcome them as martyrs, for their families, for my brother Tawadros [Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria], who is suffering greatly.”

He then prayed: “Be my protector, O God, a mighty stronghold to save me. For you are my rock, my stronghold! Lead me; guide me, for the sake of your name.”

The day’s Gospel, which depicts the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain, was particularly appropriate for the Mass.

In his homily, the pope pointed out that in the first chapters of the Bible we find many examples – Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel – in which man reveals his wickedness. “An evil that lurks in the depths of the heart”.

Even though some people might think he was being too negative, “this is the truth,” he said. “We are also capable of destroying fraternity: Cain and Abel in the first pages of the Bible. They destroy fraternity. This is where wars begin. Jealousy, envy, so much greed for power, to have more power. Yes, this sounds negative, but it is realistic. You only have to pick up a newspaper, any newspaper – left-wing, center, right-ring … whatever. And you will see that more than 90 percent of the news is news of destruction. More than 90 percent. We see this every day”.

He then asked the question: “What is happening in man’s heart?”

Remember the teaching of Jesus who said, “from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil,” the pope said, and our “weak heart is wounded”.

One of the reasons for this weak heart, so prone to evil, is man’s long-standing desire for autonomy. “I do what I want and if I want to do something, I will! So, if I want to make war, I will! Why are we like this? Because we are capable of destruction, that’s the problem.”

He continued: “There are wars, arms trafficking … ‘But, we are businessmen!’ Yes, but of what? Of death? And there are countries that sell weapons, are at war with one side but also selling weapons to them, so that the war continues. A capacity for destruction. It’s not coming from our neighbors: it’s coming from us! ‘Every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’. Everyone has this seed within, this possibility, but we also have the Holy Spirit who saves us! We must choose, in the little things.”

Pope Francis went on to warn against using gossip or slander against our neighbor. This holds true even in parish life where jealousy and envy can cause people to speak ill of others.

He warned: “This is evil and we all have this ability to destroy”. As Lent begins, the Church “invites us to reflect on this.”

We can all choose to do good, rather than evil, thanks to the strength Jesus gives us, he added, and said we should take the Lord’s message seriously.

“There is nothing strange in this, these are not the words of a Martian”. All of us, he said, “are capable of doing good, but we are also all capable of destruction; destruction great and small and even within our own family. [We are capable of destroying] our children”, not allowing them to grow “in freedom, not helping them to mature; cancelling out our children”. We are capable of this and this means that we need to constantly “meditate, pray, discuss things with each other, so as not to fall into this evil that destroys everything”:

“And we have the strength, Jesus reminds us. Remember. He says to us today: ‘Remember. Remember Me, I shed my blood for you; remember Me, I have saved you, I have saved you all; Remember Me, I have the strength to accompany you on the journey of life, not on the path of evil, but on the path of goodness, of doing good to others; not the path of destruction, but the path that builds: builds a family, builds a city, builds a culture, builds a home and much, much more.”

The Pope concluded the Mass with a prayer: “We ask the Lord, today, before the beginning of Lent for this grace: to always choose the right path with his help and not be misled by temptations down the wrong path.”

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