Pope Francis: Church Is a 'Field Hospital' for the Wounded

Pope Francis preached action Friday morning to a group of the Focolare Movement, calling spirituality that excludes others “narcissism.”

We must learn from Jesus, “to go forth and give, to go out of ourselves, to keep pressing forward in our sowing of the good seed,” said Francis.

The Pope likened the Church to a “field hospital” for the injured, and said that in this sort of hospital, “the first thing you do is tend to the wounded, rather than checking their cholesterol levels; you do that later.”

It “pains the heart,” said Francis, “to see Christians making complicated philosophical, theological and spiritual sermons, while lacking a spirituality of action, when humanity is so wounded- morally, existentially, and by war as well.”

We must bravely go out and tend to the “groaning of our brothers and sisters,” the “wounds of society” and the “deep questions posed by the culture of our times,” he said.

It is there that “God awaits us,” he said.

On the other hand, fruitful action without prayer is impossible. The Pope called contemplation the “indispensable condition” for “effective action that is truly free and pure.”

Citing Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare Movement, the Pope concluded by saying that today we need to form “new men and women, with the soul, the heart and the mind of Jesus” able to “recognize and understand the needs, worries and hopes that reside in the heart of every person.”