Pope:
Be merciful, do not close the doors of the heart
(Vatican Radio) The Church "is the home of
Jesus," a house of mercy that welcomes all, and therefore not a place
where Christians should close the doors to those seeking to enter. This was the
message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning at Mass at the
Santa Marta guesthouse in the Vatican.
It is a message that Pope Francis has repeated many times in the
past: that of Jesus who opens the doors to anyone who seeks Him and especially
to those far from Him. But, the Pope laments, some Christians shut out
those who knock at the door of the Church. While Christ offers complete
mercy, those who profess to believe in Him sometimes fail Him by closing the
door on others.
Do not stop those seeking
Christ
The Pope's reflection
begins with water, the protagonist of Tuesday’s liturgical readings.
Calling it "the water that heals," Francis comments on the Prophet
Ezekiel’s description of the trickle of water emerging from the doorway of the
temple, and which becomes a raging torrent rich with fish, capable of healing
anyone. And, in the Gospel: the water of the pool of Bethesda where a sad
paralyzed man lies just on the edge. The Pope describes him as a little
'"lazy" - never having found a way to immerse himself in the
moving waters to seek healing. Instead, Jesus heals him and encourages
him to "go on", but this triggers the criticism of the doctors of the
law because the healing took place on Saturday. It’s a tale notes the Pope,
which occurs "many times" today:
"A man - a woman
– who feels sick in the soul, sad, who made many mistakes in life, at a certain
time feels that the waters are moving - the Holy Spirit is moving
something - or they hear a word or ... 'Ah, I want to go!' ... And they gather
up their courage and go. And how many times in Christian communities today will
they find closed doors! 'But you cannot, no, you cannot [come in]. You
have sinned and you cannot [come in]. If you want to come, come to Mass on
Sunday, but that’s it – that’s all you can do.’ So, what the Holy Spirit
creates in the hearts of people, those Christians with their ‘doctors of the
law’ mentality, destroy ".
The Church is the house of
Jesus
"This pains
me," the Pope says, reiterating that the Church always keeps its
doors open:
"It’s Jesus’ home
and Jesus welcomes [all]. But not only does He welcome, He goes out to see
people just as He went out to find this man. And if people are hurt, what does
Jesus do? Scold them because they are hurt? No, He comes and He carries them on
His shoulders. And this is called mercy. And when God rebukes his people - 'I
desire mercy, not sacrifice!' – He’s talking about this. "
Love is the law
"Who are you,”
the Pope continues, “ who shut the door of your heart to a man, a woman, who
wants to improve, to return within the people of God - because the Holy Spirit
has stirred his or her heart?" Lent, concludes Francis, helps us to
avoid making the same mistake as those who regarded with contempt Jesus’ love
towards the paralytic, solely because it was contrary to the law:
"We call today on
the Lord in the Mass for us, for each of us and for the whole Church, a
conversion to Jesus, a conversion to Jesus, a conversion to the mercy of Jesus.
And so the Law will be fully accomplished, because the Law is to love God and
our neighbor as ourselves. "
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