Pope
Francis: free our hearts to welcome the Lord
(Vatican
Radio) Christians must learn to free themselves from ‘worldly noise and
passions’ so that they can receive the grace of God in their hearts. That was
the focus of Pope Francis’ words during his homily at morning Mass on Monday in
the Casa Santa Marta, as Philippa Hitchen reports…
Reflecting
on today’s reading from St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Pope
Francis noted that the Lord freely gives us his grace and that we must be
ready, right now, to receive that gift. We need to prepare our hearts, he said,
so that we do not “receive the grace of God in vain”. We must be attentive to
God so that we can welcome his Word, rather than causing scandal by our
un-Christian behaviour.
How often,
the Pope said, do we hear people speak of Christians who go to Mass on Sundays
but then behave like pagans, causing scandal to others. But how should we
welcome God into our hearts, he asked? By freeing ourselves from all noise and
passion that does not come from God and by removing all those things that
disturb our peace of mind. In the reading from St Matthew’s Gospel, the Pope
said, Jesus explains how we must overturn our “eye for an eye” mentality and
offer the other cheek to those who do us wrong.
To be free
of worldly passion, Pope Francis said, we must have a humble heart which
rejects all conflicts and battles. This is the noise of the pagan world and the
noise of the devil, he said, but our hearts must be at peace if we want to bear
witness to our faith without scandal or criticism. Returning to the words of St
Paul, the Pope stressed we must keep our hearts ready for God through all
“endurance, afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments,
riots, labors, vigils, fasts”.
How can we
possibly do this, he asked? As the Apostle Paul explains, through “purity,
knowledge, patience, kindness”, and by maintaining a spirit of holiness.
Humility, kindness and patience, the Pope concluded, are the marks of those who
keep their eyes on God and have their hearts open to the Lord ..
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