Pope Mass: ‘Christians need to overcome a
self-centered mindset’
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called on Christians
to overcome the self-centered mindset of the doctors of the law who know only
how to condemn. His words came at the morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
Taking inspiration from the Letter to the Hebrews, Pope
Francis said the new covenant which God makes with us in Jesus Christ renews
our heart. God renews all things “from the roots, not only in appearance”, he
said. “This new covenant has its own characteristics.” First, he said, “the law
of the Lord is not an external way of acting”; rather, it enters the heart and
“changes our mindset”, as well as causing “a change of heart, a change of
feeling, of way of acting, and a different way of looking at things.”
Overcoming the egotistical mentality of the doctors of
the law who know only how to condemn
The Holy Father offered the example of a work of art, which
an architect can behold either with cold envy or with joy and goodness.
“The new covenant changes our heart and allows us to see the
law of the Lord with this new heart, with this new mindset. Consider the
doctors of the law who persecuted Jesus. These men did everything prescribed by
the law. But their mindset was distanced from God. Theirs was an egotistical
mindset, focused on themselves: their hearts constantly condemned [others]. The
new covenant changes our hearts and minds. There is a change in mindset.”
God forgives our sins; the new covenant changes our lives
The Lord, he added, “goes ahead” and assures us that God
will pardon our iniquity and remember no longer our sins. “At times, I like to
think about joking with the Lord: ‘You don’t have a good memory!’ This is the
weakness of God: when God forgives, He forgets.”
“He forgets, because he forgives. Before a penitent heart,
He forgives and forgets: ‘I will forget, I will not remember their sins’. But
this too is an invitation not to remind the Lord of our sins, that is, to not
sin any more: ‘You have forgiven me, you forgot.’ A change of life, a new
covenant renews me and changes my life, not only the mindset and heart, but my
life. To live without sin, far from sin: this is to recreate. This is how the
Lord recreates us.”
The Lord changes our hearts to change our mindset
In conclusion, the Pope spoke about the ‘change of
appearance’. He said, “We belong to God, other gods do not exist… A change of
mindset changes the heart, life, and appearance.” He reiterated that this “is
the recreation, which the Lord makes even more glorious than the first Creation.”
He then exhorted Christians to follow through with this
covenant and to be ever true to it.
“The seal of this covenant is faithfulness, to be faithful
to this work which the Lord has completed to change our mindset, to change our
hearts. The prophets said, ‘But the Lord will change your heart of stone into a
heart of flesh’: To change one’s heart and life and to sin no more, not
reminding the Lord that He has forgotten our sins.”
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