If you’re wondering if you can smoke marijuana, Pope Francis offers some advice:
“Let me state this in the clearest possible terms: the problem of drug use is not solved with drugs. Attempts to legalize so-called recreational drugs are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects. Here I would affirm what I stated on another occasion: no to every type of drug use. It’s as simple as that.”
Pope Francis
But if the answer is no, then why? If it’s not an issue from a legal standpoint, what’s the problem with smoking marijuana?
Here we are talking about recreational use and not medicinal use. Anyone who uses marijuana for recreational use is looking to cope with something deeper. They’re encountering difficulty of some kind in their heart, and turn to marijuana to numb the pain for a while. The problem is, once the drug dies off, the heart is still troubled and the emptiness is deeper.
Marijuana alters your perception of reality. This is a problem not only because it impairs your judgment in the moment. It also leaves a lingering belief that the drug is helping you cope or escape from the troubles of your heart. When the mind finally catches up and sees marijuana actually isn’t helping, it often tries a harder drug.
I should not be asking whether using recreational marijuana is morally wrong, but whether it is helping me grow in my relationship with Christ. If I know I am free in Christ, why do I need marijuana to be free or to be who I really am? God is reality, and marijuana makes you escape from reality. Pope Benedict XVI said:
“The patient and humble venture of asceticism, which in small steps of ascent comes closer to the descending God, this adventure is replaced by magical power, the magical key of drugs. The ethical and religious path is replaced by the technology of drugs. Drugs are the pseudo-mysticism of a world that does not believe yet cannot get rid of the soul’s yearning for paradise.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“Paradise is waiting for you in reality, not in a cloud of smoke” Fr. Malachy says. Don’t let your hearts settle. Turn to God, and experience the real version of everything you’re looking for.
Meet Fr. Mark-Mary
Father Mark-Mary was ordained as a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal (CFR) in 2018 and lives at a friary in the Bronx.
The mission of the CFRs is to wholeheartedly embrace Jesus through fidelity to the Church and her Sacraments. Paired with their commitment to prayer, contemplation, and study of Sacred Scripture, the CFRs serve those around them, especially the poor, in the footsteps of Christ.
Discover beautiful music from the CFRs and Fr. Mark-Mary’s book Habits for Holiness: Small Steps for Spiritual Progress, both available from Ascension.
