The Lord softens those with hard hearts says Pope
(Vatican Radio) “The Lord softens those with hard hearts,
those who condemn all who are outside the law.” This was the message of Pope
Francis homily, during tuesday’s Mass in the Vatican’s Santa Marta
residence. He said that those who are hard hearted do not know the
tenderness of God and his ability to remove hearts of stone and replace them
with hearts of flesh.
Beginning with the first reading, in which St Stephen was
stoned to death by the temple authorities in Jerusalem, the Pope reflected on
the witness of Christian obedience. He said that those who stoned Stephen to
death did not understand the word of God. Stephen had called them “circumcised
of heart,” which was the equivalent of calling someone a pagan.
According the Pope, there are different ways of not
understanding the word of God. For example, when Jesus had met the two
disciples on the road to Emmaus, he had called them “fools.” This was not an
expression of praise, but it was also not a strong word either, unlike
Stephen’s expression.
“They did not understand, they were afraid, because they did
not want problems, they had fear, but they were good men, open to the truth”
said the Pope.
“And when Jesus rebuked them, they let his words enter them
and their hearts burned within them, whilst those who stoned Stephen were
furious and did not want to listen!” This, according to the Pope, is the drama
of the closed hearted.
Turning to Psalm 94, the Lord admonished his people not to
harden their hearts. Then Pope Francis said, the prophet Ezekiel makes a
“beautiful promise” to change the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, a heart
that knows how to listen and receive the witness of obedience.
“This causes suffering in the Church. The closed hearts, the
hearts of stone, the hearts which do not want to be open, do not want to hear,
the hearts which only know the language of condemnation. They know how to
condemn, they do not know how to say ‘Explain it to me, why do you say this?
Why this? Explain it to me.’ No, they are closed. That’s all they know. They
have no need of explanations,” said Pope Francis.
The rebuke that Jesus speaks of also led to the killing of
the prophets, “because they spoke to you what you did not want to hear. A
closed heart cannot let the Holy Spirit enter in.”
Pope Francis said “There was no place in their hearts for
the Holy Spirit. In fact, the letter today speaks of how Stephen was filled
with the Holy Spirit, he had understood everything, he was a witness to the
obedience of the word made flesh, and this was done by the Holy Spirit. He was
filled. A closed heart, a hardened heart, a pagan heart doesn’t let the spirit
in and feels himself in himself”
According to the Pope, the disciples on the road to Emmaus
represent us, “with our many doubts, many sins. Many times we want to move away
from the Cross, from the truth, but let us make space to hear Jesus, who makes
our hearts burn. The other group, who are closed in the rigidity of the law,
who do not want to hear Jesus, are saying worse things than Stephen did.”
The Pope concluded with a reflection on the meeting between
Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. He said that every one of us enters
into a dialogue between Jesus and the victim of the hearts of stone, the
adulteress. And to those who want to stone her, Jesus says “Look within
yourselves:”
“Today, we look at the tenderness of Jesus, the witness of
obedience, that great witness, Jesus, who has given life, which makes us look
for the tenderness of God, confronting us, our sins, our weaknesses. Let us
enter this dialogue and let us call for the grace of the Lord which softens the
rigid hearts of those people who are always closed in the law and condemn all
who are outside the law. They do not know that the word became flesh, that the
word is a witness to obedience. They do not know the tenderness of God and his
ability to take out the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of
flesh."
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