Pope
Francis: Make an examination of conscience
(Vatican Radio) To prevent evil from entering into our
hearts, there is an ancient, but very good, practice: the examination of
conscience. That was Pope Francis’ message during the morning homily Friday at
Santa Marta.
The Gospel of the day reminds us that the devil always comes back
to us; he never stops tempting man. “The devil has patience,” Pope Francis
said. “He never leaves that which he wants for himself,” that is, our souls:
“After
the temptations, in the desert, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, in Luke’s
version it says that the devil left Him for a time, but during the life of
Jesus he returned again and again: when they put Him to the test, when they
tried to trap Him, in the Passion, finally on the Cross. ‘But if you are the
Son of God… but you come, you come from us, so we cannot believe.’ And we all
know that these words touch the heart: ‘But can you do it? Let me see! No, you
can’t.’ That’s how the devil even to the end [dealt] with Jesus… and likewise
with us.”
We
need to guard our hearts, where the Holy Spirit dwells, the Pope said, “so that
other spirits do not enter. To guard the heart, as a house is guarded, with a
key.” And then to watch the heart, like a sentinel: “How often,” he asked, “do
wicked thoughts, wicked intentions, jealousy, envy enter in? So many things
that enter in. But who has opened that door? Where do they enter from? If I do
not realize [how much] enters into my heart, my heart becomes a piazza, where
everything comes and goes. A heart without intimacy, a heart where the Lord
cannot speak and cannot even be heard.”
“And
Jesus says something else here – doesn’t He? – that sounds a little strange:
‘He who does not gather with me scatters.’ He uses the word ‘to gather.’ To
have a gathering heart, a heart in which we know what happens, and here and
there you can perform a practice as old as the Church, but good: the
examination of conscience. Who of us, at night, at the end of the day, remains by
himself, by herself, and asks the question: what happened today in my heart?
What happened? What things have passed through my heart? If we don’t do this,
we have truly failed to know how to watch and guard [our hearts] well.”
The
examination of conscience “is a grace, because to guard our heart is to guard
the Holy Spirit, Who is within us”:
“We
know – Jesus says clearly – that the devil always returns. Even at the end of
life, He, Jesus, gives us an example of this. And to guard, to watch, so that
the demons don’t enter in, we must be able to gather ourselves, that is, to
stand in silence before ourselves and before God, and at the end of the day ask
ourselves: ‘What happened today in my heart? Did anyone I don’t know enter? Is
the key in its place?’ And this will help us to defend ourselves from so much
wickedness, even from that which we could do if these demons, who are very
clever and at the end would cheat all of us, even if they enter.”
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