Lent 2015 : The globalization of Indifference and the 'formation of the heart'

Pope Francis  - as his various comments on Benson's Lord of the World  have  shown- has tried to bring us to a realisation of what is happening to to a 'globalizing' world which is ignoring the Gospel of Jesus. We see the consequences all around us with the growth of relativism, selfishness, materialism, inequality and violence.  We live in a self-centred world in which Christians are being openly persecuted and anti-Catholicism is rife.  This Lent the Pope has asked us to reflect on one aspect of the 'ideological colonization'  ( Read here ) and 'adolescent progressivism' (Read here / here)   taking place today: the globalization of indifference. Once again, his reference to the Sacred Heart is significant (see 3. below) .

Lent is a time to fight back against the 'ideological colonisation' and 'adolescent progressivism' taking place in the world today : so, as we approach Lent 2015 , let us remember the Pope's  words:

During this Lent ...brothers and sisters, let us all ask the Lord: “Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum”: Make our hearts like yours (Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus). In this way we will receive a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.

He calls us to 'make our hearts' like Jesus's heart   and  urges us  us to make our hearts firm in the face of  the 'globalization  of indifference' that secularisation  and  materialism has brought it its wake.  The world is increasingly cold and lukewarm, if not just wholly indifferent to Christ.  It was this indifference  and ingratitude which was central to the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart as a result of St. Margaret Margaret's visions.



"Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much, that It has spared
nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify
to them Its love; and in return I receive from the greater number
nothing but ingratitude."  


 Francis's reference to the Sacred Heart this Lenten message therefore serves to reminds us of the very reason that Pope Leo XIII  consecrated to world to the Sacred Heart in 1899 : his desire  to combat the the growing indifference towards God and marginalisation of Christianity in public life!  +

Here is the complete text of his Lenten message.

MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR LENT 2015
“Make your hearts firm”
(James 5:8)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Lent is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for each communities and every believer. Above all it is a “time of grace” (2 Cor 6:2). God does not ask of us anything that he himself has not first given us. “We love because he first has loved us” (1 Jn4:19). He is not aloof from us. Each one of us has a place in his heart. He knows us by name, he cares for us and he seeks us out whenever we turn away from him. He is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us. Usually, when we are healthy and comfortable, we forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices they endure … Our heart grows cold. As long as I am relatively healthy and comfortable, I don’t think about those less well off. Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to confront.

When the people of God are converted to his love, they find answers to the questions that history continually raises. One of the most urgent challenges which I would like to address in this Message is precisely the globalization of indifference. Indifference to our neighbour and to God also represents a real temptation for us Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience. God is not indifferent to our world; he so loves it that he gave his Son for our salvation. In the Incarnation, in the earthly life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, the gate between God and man, between heaven and earth, opens once for all. The Church is like the hand holding open this gate, thanks to her proclamation of God’s word, her celebration of the sacraments and her witness of the faith which works through love (cf. Gal5:6). But the world tends to withdraw into itself and shut that door through which God comes into the world and the world comes to him. Hence the hand, which is the Church, must never be surprised if it is rejected, crushed and wounded. God’s people, then, need this interior renewal, lest we become indifferent and withdraw into ourselves. To further this renewal, I would like to propose for our reflection three biblical texts.

1. “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26)– The Church
The love of God breaks through that fatal withdrawal into ourselves which is indifference. The Church offers us this love of God by her teaching and especially by her witness. But we can only bear witness to what we ourselves have experienced. Christians are those who let God clothe them with goodness and mercy, with Christ, so as to become, like Christ, servants of God and others. This is clearly seen in the liturgy of Holy Thursday, with its rite of the washing of feet. Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet, but he came to realize that Jesus does not wish to be just an example of how we should wash one another’s feet. Only those who have first allowed Jesus to wash their own feet can then offer this service to others. Only they have “a part” with him (Jn13:8) and thus can serve others. Lent is a favourable time for letting Christ serve us so that we in turn may become more like
him. This happens whenever we hear the word of God and receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. There we become what we receive: the Body of Christ. In this body there is no room for the indifference which so often seems to possess our hearts. For whoever is of Christ, belongs to one body, and in him we cannot be indifferent to one another. “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy” (1 Cor 12:26). The Church is the communio  sanctorum not only because of her saints, but also because she is a communion in holy things: the love of God revealed to us in Christ and all his gifts. Among these gifts there is also the response of those who let themselves be touched by this love. In this communion of saints, in this sharing in holy things, no one possesses anything alone, but shares everything with others. And since we are united in God, we can do something for those who are far distant, those whom we could never reach on our own, because with them and for them, we ask God that all of us may be open to his plan of salvation.

2. “Where is your brother?” (Gen 4:9)– Parishes and Communities
All that we have been saying about the universal Church must now be applied to the life of our parishes and communities. Do these ecclesial structures enable us to experience being part of one body? A body which receives and shares what God wishes to give? A body which acknowledges and cares for its weakest, poorest and most insignificant members? Or do we take refuge in a universal love that would embrace the whole world, while failing to see the Lazarus sitting before our closed doors (Lk16:19-31)? In order to receive what God gives us and to make it bear abundant fruit, we need to press beyond the boundaries of the visible Church in two ways. In the first place, by uniting ourselves in prayer with the Church in heaven. The prayers of the Church on earth establish a communion of mutual service and goodness which reaches up into the sight of God. Together with the saints who have found their fulfilment in God, we form part of that communion in which indifference is conquered by love. The Church in heaven is not triumphant because she has turned her back on the sufferings of the world and rejoices in splendid isolation. Rather, the saints already joyfully contemplate the fact that, through Jesus death and resurrection, they have triumphed once and for all over indifference, hardness of heart and hatred. Until this victory of love penetrates the whole world, the saints continue to accompany us on our pilgrim way. Saint Therese of Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church, expressed her conviction that the joy in heaven for the victory of crucified love remains incomplete as long as there is still a single man or woman on earth who suffers and cries out in pain: “I trust fully that I shall not remain idle in heaven; my desire is to continue to work for the Church and for souls” (Letter 254, July 14, 1897). We share in the merits and joy of the saints, even as they share in our struggles and our longing for peace and reconciliation. Their joy in the victory of the Risen Christ gives us strength as we strive to overcome our indifference and hardness of heart.
In the second place, every Christian community is called to go out of itself and to be engaged in the life of the greater society of which it is a part, especially with the poor and those who are far away. The Church is missionary by her very nature; she is not self-enclosed but sent out to every nation and people. Her mission is to bear patient witness to the One who desires to draw all creation and every man and woman to the Father. Her mission is to bring to all a love which cannot remain silent. The Church follows Jesus Christ along the paths that lead to every man and woman, to the very ends of the earth (cf. Acts1:8). In each of our neighbours, then, we must see a brother or sister for whom Christ died and rose again. What we ourselves have received, we have received for them as well. Similarly, all that our brothers and sisters possess is a gift for the Church and for all humanity.
Dear brothers and sisters, how greatly I desire that all those places where the Church is present, especially our parishes and our communities, may become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!

3. “Make your hearts firm!” (James 5:8) – Individual Christians

As individuals too, we are tempted by indifference. Flooded with news reports and troubling images of human suffering, we often feel our complete inability to help. What can we do to avoid being caught up in this spiral of distress and powerlessness? First, we can pray in communion with the Church on earth and in heaven. Let us not underestimate the power of so many voices united in prayer! The 24 Hours for the Lord initiative, which I hope will be observed on 13-14 March throughout the Church, also at the diocesan level, is meant to be a sign of this need for prayer. Second, we can help by acts of charity, reaching out to both those near and far through the Church’s many charitable organizations. Lent is a favourable time for showing this concern for others by small yet concrete signs of our belonging to the one human family. Third, the suffering of others is a call to conversion, since their need reminds me of the uncertainty of my own life and my dependence on God and my brothers and sisters. If we humbly implore God’s grace and accept our own limitations, we will trust in the infinite possibilities which God’s love holds out to us. We will also be able to resist the diabolical temptation of thinking that by our own efforts we can save the world and ourselves.

As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to self-sufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart (cf. Deus  Caritas  Est, 31*). A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others. During this Lent, then, brothers and sisters, let us all ask the Lord: “Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum”: Make our hearts like yours (Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus). In this way we will receive a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference. It is my prayerful hope that this Lent will prove spiritually fruitful for each believer and every ecclesial community. I ask all of you to pray for me. May the Lord bless you and Our Lady keep you. (my emphasis)

From the Vatican, 4 October 2014 Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi Read HERE.


With Pope Francis we pray : Lord, “Fac cor nostrum secundum cor tuum”.  Make our hearts like yours !!  Dear Lord,  help us to form a heart which is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not closed, indifferent or prey to the globalization of indifference.  Lord, help us to have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to all the temptations of this world and  open to the love  of God. Help us to have a poor and humble heart that desires to be pierced by the Holy Spirit. 

===
+ Pope Leo said  this: " Such an act of consecration, since it can establish or draw tighter the bonds which naturally connect public affairs with God, gives to States a hope of better things. In these latter times especially, a policy has been followed which has resulted in a sort of wall being raised between the Church and civil society. In the constitution and administration of States the authority of sacred and divine law is utterly disregarded, with a view to the exclusion of religion from having any constant part in public life. This policy almost tends to the removal of the Christian faith from our midst, and, if that were possible, of the banishment of God Himself from the earth. When men's minds are raised to such a height of insolent pride, what wonder is it that the greater part of the human race should have fallen into such disquiet of mind and be buffeted by waves so rough that no one is suffered to be free from anxiety and peril? When religion is once discarded it follows of necessity that the surest foundations of the public welfare must give way, whilst God, to inflict on His enemies the punishment they so richly deserve, has left them the prey of their own evil desires, so that they give themselves up to their passions and finally wear themselves out by excess of liberty." (See Here: para 10)


* In Deus  Caritas  Est Benedict  says: .." “formation of the heart”: [is] ...to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others. As a result, love of neighbour will no longer be for them a commandment imposed, so to speak, from without, but a consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love (cf. Gal 5:6)."

Lukewarm Christians and the challenge of Ideological Colonisation

One of the promises of the Sacred Heart as revealed to Saint Margaret Mary was that  'tepid souls'  will become fervent ( promise 7).

I was reminded of this the other day when I reflected on Pope Francis's recent observations about the problems of lukewarm Christians.   Christians whose faith is lukewarm are, he says, in grave danger.

“Our memory is so important for recalling the grace received because if we chase away that enthusiasm which comes from the memory of that first love, this enthusiasm coming from that first love, then a huge danger arrives for Christians: a lukewarm (faith).  Lukewarm Christians.  They’re there, immobile and yes, they’re Christians, but they’ve lost the memory of that first love.  And they’ve also lost their enthusiasm. In addition, they’ve lost their patience, to tolerate life’s problems with the spirit of Jesus’ love, to tolerate, and to bear on their shoulders the difficulties….   Lukewarm Christians, poor things, they’re in grave danger.”

“It’s painful and heart-breaking to see so many Christians - so many  Christians! – half-way along the road, so many Christians who’ve failed along this road towards a meeting with Jesus, going away from this encounter with Jesus. This road where they’ve lost the memory of that first love and no longer have any hope.”

Read HERE. 

WE live in a world in which Christianity is in retreat in the face of loss of faith and hope - and where too many Christians are just plain ' lukewarm' - tepid , or  'tiepidi' in Italian.  In a secular world which is full of materialistic relativism and (well just ) evil,  tepid Christians are part of the problem.  When the Pope was on the return flight from Manila to Rome Francis made the observation that Christians have to realise what happening - before it is too late.  He spoke about a process of colonisation.  The world is being ideologically colonised by those who wish destroy the followers of Christ. In this kind of world, Christians have to be on their guard, and wake up.    Lukewarm Christians are easy prey and they are in grave danger of being colonised.  To make his point the Pope suggested that  we read a book:

"There is a book, excuse me but I'll make a commercial, there is a book that maybe is a bit heavy at the beginning because it was written in 1903 in London. It is a book that at that time, the writer had seen this drama of ideological colonization and wrote in that book. It is called "The Lord of the Earth," or "The Lord of the World." One of those. The author is Benson, written in 1903. I advise you to read it. Reading it, you'll understand well what I mean by ideological colonization." 

Read the interview here: 

This is not the first time he has referenced Benson. Back on November , 2014 he also drew attention to the book. As reported in L'Osservatore Romano he said: 

“Still today, the spirit of worldliness leads us to progressivism, to this uniformity of thought” … Negotiating one's fidelity to God is like negotiating one's identity, Pope Francis said. He then made reference to the 20th-century novel Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson, son of the Archbishop of Canterbury Edward White Benson, in which the author speaks of the spirit of the world that leads to apostasy “almost as though it were a prophecy, as though he envisioned what would happen” …

“We would do well to think about what happened in the Book of Maccabees, he continued, about what happened step by step, before we decide to follow an ‘adolescent progressivism’ and go along with what everyone is doing,” the L’Osservatore Romano report added. “We would also do well, he said, to ponder the consequences of their infidelity, to think about the ‘death sentences, the human sacrifices’ which followed thereafter. He then asked those present: ‘Do you think there are no human sacrifices today? There are many, many of them. And there are laws that protect them.’”

Read Here. 

His predecessor also made a point of drawing our attention to Benson's book as a significant contribution to our understanding the challenge which lukewarm Catholics must appreciate: for we are indeed in grave danger.  In a  lecture he gave at the Catholic University ( of The Sacred Heart ) in Milan in February 1992, the then Josef Ratzinger cited The Lord of the World and dangers it depicts. Benedict said that : Benson described “a similar unified civilization and its power to destroy the spirit. The anti-Christ is represented as the great carrier of peace in a similar new world order.”

Pope Francis advises us to read Benson's book to better comprehend this process of ideological colonisation that is taking place and therefore understand that a lukewarm Christianity is simply not enough.  Our faith has to be on fire with the love of God.  A lukewarm heart is on its way to becoming a cold heart.   And, of course, it was this growing awareness of the rising tide of secularism  which informed the growth of the devotion to the Sacred Heart at the time Benson was writing his prophetic novel.   Significantly, as we have noted elsewhere on this blog, Teilhard was greatly influenced by Benson and knew The Lord of the World very well.   Teilhard passionately believed that a renewed and enlarged conception of the Heart of Jesus was absolutely vital for the future of Christianity.   Ultimately Christ would make all things new and draw all things into the love of God. He saw this in evolutionary terms: and evolution was a painful process which would end with unity with God not the kind of human centred unity promised by the Anti-Christ in Benson's book.  Christians have to confront and challenge the powers of this world.  To do this we have to have a heart that is on fire: no room in the great struggle for the tepid and lukewarm.  When we want to grasp why Teilhard was so passionate about the Sacred Heart it is well to read Benson's great book: the Sacred Heart is in many ways his  his response to the world as described in  Lord of the World. It should also be ours.

So, go and read about the book here !  Read the book here. 

The Holy Spirit and the Sacred Heart

A short while ago the Pope reminded us that we should always pray to the Holy Spirit.  He is , he said, the 'forgotten one'. Read Here.   Francis has made quite a few observations about the need for us to pray to the Holy Spirit for a heart that is open to the love of God. At mass today we read from Paul's letter to the Hebrews ( 3: 7-14)  in which he reminds us about the dangers of a hard heart - closed to God. And we then heard Psalm 94 which warned us about listening to the voice of  God and not hardening our hearts as the Israelites did at Meribah.

This relationship between our open/closed/hard heart and the heart of Jesus and the action of  the Holy Spirit is important - and hence in the icon we see the use of three symbols closely associated with the Holy Spirit.   Fire, water, cloud and light.  Fire - at the centre of the icon reminds of the way God revealed himself to Moses on Mount Sinai as a burning bush ( Exodus 3.2).  It reminds us of how God led the people of God with a burning pillar of fire.( Exodus 13:21).  But is also reminds us Pentecost - when the Holy Spirit appeared as fire to the Apostles ( Acts, 2.3). Water is also an important symbol of the Holy Spirit.  As St John  emphasises , out of Jesus's heart flowed blood and water.  Water is the great symbol of life and the new life in baptism when we receive the Holy Spirit.  The image of John the Baptist in the icon prompts us to recall when the Holy Spirit was present as Jesus entered the river Jordan.  So water in the icon is there to remind us of the third person of the Holy Trinity.    At the base of the icon we also have 7 streams of water- which also serve to remind us of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

 A symbol that is a little less obvious is the circle of clouds which surround Christ. The cloud is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit because, of course, it is where the life-giving water comes from!  At the same time we find that God often appears in the form of a cloud  .  At the transfiguration the Apostles as covered by a cloud and are told that ' This is my Son, whom I love. `Listen to him!'  (Mark 9: 2-7)  As to light - it is everywhere in the icon. An icon uses gold to capture and reflect light in so many ways that the role of light is always a aspect of an icon that  stimulates reflection.

The Catechism says about these symbols of the Holy Spirit:

694 Water. The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As "by one Spirit we were all baptized," so we are also "made to drink of one Spirit." Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life.

696 Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel.  This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!"39 In the form of tongues "as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself.  The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions. "Do not quench the Spirit. "

697 Cloud and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory - with Moses on Mount Sinai,  at the tent of meeting, and during the wandering in the desert, and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple.  In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and "overshadows" her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus.  On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud came and overshadowed" Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and "a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'" Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of his final coming.

 
In addition, of course, we have the image of Mary, who conceived through the Holy Spirit, and John the Baptist who was full of the Holy Spirit. See Catechism, 717-726.


And, of course, at the very centre of the icon we see the heart of Jesus which is open to us and we see Jesus imploring us to open our heart to the fire and water of God and inviting us into the great cloud of the Divine life. Again the Catechism is clear and concise: 'Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit.' (727)

So, what is stopping us?  The Bible is very clear about what stops us in so many places.  What prevents us from opening up our hearts to Jesus is the 'hardness' of our hearts.  In a General Audience back in May 2013 Francis gave us a little prayer to help us soften and open our hearts:


This is a prayer we must pray every day: “Holy Spirit, make my heart open to the word of God, make my heart open to goodness, make my heart open to the beauty of God every day”. I would like to ask everyone a question: how many of you pray every day to the Holy Spirit? There will not be many but we must fulfil Jesus’ wish and pray every day to the Holy Spirit that he open our heart to Jesus.


 Could not be clearer:

“Holy Spirit, make my heart open to the word of God, make my heart open to goodness, make my heart open to the beauty of God every day.”

This a prayer we MUST say!!  Simple. 

See HERE.

Francis - a Pope of the heart

Although Francis has made significant  comments about the Sacred Heart, he has not developed a 'theology of the heart of Jesus' as such.  ( Read here) But what is ever more apparent is how central is the spirituality of the heart to our Pope.  Two homilies this week have asked us to reflect upon the heart.  Just as an image of the Sacred Heart is inviting us to look into our own hearts, so Francis is calling for us to look at the state of our hearts.

In his homily,  as reported by Vatican radio, Thursday he had this to say:


Reflecting on what he called the “key word” in the liturgy during this time of the year, Pope Francis said Jesus ‘manifests’ himself at the Epiphany, at the Baptism, at the Wedding of Cana, but he asked: “how can we know God?” Francis explained that this truth is explained less by the intellect than by the heart.

“God is love! It is only on the path of love that you can know God. ‘Reasonable love’, ‘love accompanied by reason’. But love! And how can we love what we do not know? Love your neighbors”. This, the Pope said, is the doctrine of two Commandments: the most important is ‘You 
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. And he pointed out that “to get to the first we must ascend the steps of the second: that means that through our love for our neighbor we can get to know God, who is love. Only through loving can we reach love”.
That’s why, Pope Francis said, we have to love each other, because love comes from God and whoever loves has been generated by God:

“He who loves knows God; he who does not love has no knowledge of God because God is love”. But, Francis stressed: “it’s not the love of a ‘soap opera’. No, it is solid, strong and eternal. “It ‘manifests’ itself in the Son, in the Son of God who has come to save us. It is a concrete love made of works and not of words. To know God we must walk through life in love, love for our neighbor, love for those who hate us, love for all”.

Flower of the Almond Tree

Pointing out that God sent us his only Son to free us from sin, Pope Francis said that in the person of Jesus we can contemplate the love of God, and following His example, we can climb the steps, one by one, to God’s love, to the knowledge of God who is love. Recalling the words of the prophet Jeremiah, the Pope said that God's love precedes everything … He precedes us. “The prophet Jeremiah said that God was like the flower of the almond-tree, as it is the first tree that flowers in spring, meaning that God always flowers before us. When we arrive, He is already there waiting for us. … He is always there before us”.    

Turning his attention to the Gospel reading of the day that tells of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, The Pope said the Lord had compassion for the many people who had flocked to listen to Jesus “because they were like sheep without a shepherd, they had no orientation”, today – Francis said – so many people have no orientation, but God precedes just as he preceded the disciples who hadn’t understood what was going on.
“God’s love always awaits us; it always takes us by surprise. Our Father who loves us so much is always ready to forgive us. Always! Not once, always!”
Pope Francis concluded asking the Lord to give us the grace to be acquainted and to get to know God on the path of love."

Read HERE: 

The following day, Friday, he again returned to this theme of the heart:

The Pope’s reflections came from the day's gospel reading that recounted how the apostles were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on water.  And the reason for their terror, he explained, is that their hearts were hardened.

Pope Francis said a person’s heart can be made of stone for many reasons, such as, for example, a painful experience in one’s life. But as he went on to point out, another reason for hardened hearts is because people are closed in on themselves.

“Creating a world within one self, all closed in.  Closed within oneself, in one’s community or parish, but always closed in.  And this closure can revolve around so many things. But let’s think about pride, self-sufficiency, thinking I am better than others, and vanity too, right?  There are ‘mirror-men and women’ (who are wedded to their own image in the mirror), who are closed in on themselves and are constantly looking at themselves, right? These religious narcissists, right?  But they have a hardened heart because they are closed in on themselves, they are not open.  And they seek to defend themselves with these walls that they have created around themselves.”


The Pope said these hardened hearts in people can also arise from a problem of insecurity, such as those who barricade themselves behind the laws and rules, as though inside a prison, to feel safer and follow these rules to the letter, 
“When a heart becomes hardened, it’s not free and if it’s not free it’s because that person isn't capable of love, that was the fate of the Apostle John in the first Reading.  A love that’s perfect banishes fear: in love there’s no fear, because fear is expecting a punishment and a person who's afraid doesn’t have a perfect love. He or she is not free. They are constantly afraid that something painful or sad will occur, that will cause their life to go badly or will endanger their eternal salvation… What an (over-active) imagination, because he or she can’t love. A person who isn't capable of loving is not free.  And their heart was hardened because they hadn’t learnt how to love.”
The Spirit makes us free and docile not yoga or zen courses
Pope Francis concluded his homily by stressing that only the Holy Spirit can teach us how to love and free us from our hardened hearts. 
“You can follow a thousand catechism courses, a thousand spirituality courses, a thousand yoga or zen courses and all these things. But none of this will be able to give you the freedom as a child (of God).  Only the Holy Spirit can prompt your heart to say ‘Father.’ Only the Holy Spirit is capable of banishing, of breaking that hardness of heart and making it … soft?  No, I don’t like that word, … ‘docile’.  Docile towards the Lord.  Docile when it comes to the freedom to love.”

Read HERE.

In this teaching contained in his homilies the Pope has implicitly asked us to remember what we pray in the Litany of the Sacred Heart:

Iesu, mitis et humilis Corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum.
Jesus, meek and humble of heart , make our hearts like unto Thine. 

Keeping the flame of Christmas alight

I always think that the challenge of Christmas is not unlike carrying the Olympic flame throughout the next 12 months! On Christmas night we are given the light of Christ that came into the world when God became human so that we might be able to share in the divine life.  Jesus has a human heart and he desires us to allow the love of God to flame in our hearts.  Christmas is not just for Christmas, of course, it is for life.  The Christ-child has to be re-born anew in our hearts every day.  We have to run the race of the new year with that light shining in our hearts and we must endeavour to make sure that it does not go out.   The Pope reminded us on the feast of the mother of God the other day  how we can do this.  As always we must look to the Holy Mother, our Blessed Lady. As Francis observed:


Mary is so closely united to Jesus because she received from him the knowledge of the heart, the knowledge of faith, nourished by her experience as a mother and by her close relationship with her Son. The Blessed Virgin is the woman of faith who made room for God in her heart and in her plans; she is the believer capable of perceiving in the gift of her Son the coming of that “fullness of time”(Gal 4:4) in which God, by choosing the humble path of human existence, entered personally into the history of salvation. That is why Jesus cannot be understood without his Mother.

Read here.

Keeping the flame of Christmas alive is all about learning from Mary, who 'made room for God in her heart and in her plans'.  This is our challenge in 2015: make room for God in our hearts, and place God in the very centre of all our plans.

When Jesus knocks on the door of our heart

As a Jesuit, of course, the heart is a central idea or theme in Pope Francis's teaching.  He is clearing drawing on the Ignatian spirituality of the heart, but he does in in a way which ensures that his message can be understood.  His theology is not at all academic, and is expressed in terms that we can  all understand.   This Advent he has made several observations about preparing our hearts for the birth of Christ. As we noted in the last blog, he called for us to give the Lord a repentant heart. in on Sunday the Pope gives another striking metaphor: a heart that is open and attentive to those times when Jesus knocks on the door of our heart.  Here is the report from Vatican Radio:

Pope Francis on Sunday invited the faithful to listen carefully when God knocks at their door. “Too often – he said – Jesus passes by in our lives, he sends an angel and we are so caught up in our thoughts and concerns we do not even notice”.

Speaking to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus Prayer, the Pope reflected on the liturgy of the last Sunday of Advent that tells of the  Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary and on how she simply, and humbly – with an attitude of total faith in the Lord – said “yes”. She said “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1, 38). Mary – Pope Francis said - did not know what had been laid out for her in the future, she did not know what pains and what risks she would be called to face. But she was aware that the Lord had asked something of her and she trusted in him completely. This – he said – is the faith of Mary!
Another aspect to take note of – Francis continued – is this capacity of Mary to “recognize the time of God”. Thanks to her the Incarnation of the Son of God was possible.  Mary teaches us – the Pope said – to be aware of the favorable moment in which Jesus passes in our lives asking for a ready and generous answer.

And Jesus – he said – does pass in our lives. At Christmas he knocks at the heart of every Christian and each of us is called to respond, like Mary, with a sincere and personal “yes”, putting ourselves at the disposal of God and of his mercy. How often – the Pope pointed out – we so caught up in our own thoughts and concerns, perhaps in these very days in our preparations for Christmas, that we do not even notice that he is knocking at the doors of our hearts, asking for a welcome, asking for a “yes”.
And recalling the words of a Saint who used to say “I am afraid that the Lord will pass me by” the Pope explained that he was really afraid that he would not notice the Lord’s presence and would not be ready to respond. This attitude – Francis said – and this fear that we feel in our hearts “is really the Lord knocking” and it makes us want to be better, to be close to others and to God. 
“If this is what you feel, stop” - the Pope said – “the Lord is there! Pray, go to confession, do some cleaning up… this is good. But remember: if you feel this wish to be better, it is He who is knocking. Don’t let him pass you by!”
And Pope Francis concluded his reflection recalling the silent, prayerful figure of Joseph, as he is portrayed in every nativity scene. The example of Mary and Joseph – he said – is an invitation to all of us to welcome Jesus openly; he comes to bring the gift of peace: “peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests” ((Luke 2, 14).
Just as the angels said to the shepherds – Pope Francis said – the precious gift of Christmas is peace, and Christ is our true peace: “Christ is knocking at the doors of our hearts go give us His peace. Let us open those doors to Christ!”
Read Here.

Holman-Hunt's painting at Keeble - alongside one of Ian's icons

So Christmas is a time when Jesus is knocking on our hearts and asking to be let let in.  The devotion to the Sacred Heart, it seems to me, is all about that idea: Jesus has opened the doors to his heart to us.  He waits with infinite patience and kindness for the time when we are ready to open our heart to him.  We do not have to rush around tidying the place up: cleaning the floors and clearing away the mess.  Mary did not say to the Angel: 'sorry, you can't come in, I am not ready.  It is not the best time to talk about this at the moment!'   Angels always seem to call on the wrong day, and at the wrong time.  If only, like Mary, we could live our lives so that we are always ready to open the door!

The Pope's words are a timely reminder of how powerful the idea of Christ knocking on the door of our hearts has been over the centuries. The Pope's words on Sunday brought to my  mind the famous painting by William Holman-Hunt of Christ knocking on the door.  It is a great painting and is worth looking at in detail.  In its day, of course, the painting ( or rather paintings) was one of the most famous and celebrated religious images - and you still find it everywhere.  And quite rightly so.  ( The original is in  Keble College, Oxford. )  In it the artist uses the text from Revelation: “Here I stand knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3:20 -  to depict Christ- the light of the world - knocking on our heart.  Just one little point: when asked if he had made a mistake in not putting a doorknob on the outside, Holman-Hunt replied that as the door represents the human heart, there was only a doorknob on the inside.  Jesus cannot open the door from the outside, all he can do is knock.  It is a wonderful painting and a fitting image to use to reflect on the Pope's words.


     

What shall we bring him?

The heart is never too far away from Pope Francis's thoughts and as we journey to  Bethlehem this Advent we should pay heed to his words at Santa Marta yesterday.  The past few weeks, for me, as many others has been dominated by what to give people for Christmas.  And of course, the most important gift is what to give to the infant Jesus.  In the carol, 'In the bleak mid-winter',  the shepherd boy brings his heart, but this year Pope Francis suggests that we should bring a repentant heart.   God does not want a unrepentant heart, like the hearts of the chief priests and elders in Matthew (21) which was the Gospel reading on the 16th December.  As the report by Linda Bordoni notes, Francis stressed that:

Humility saves man in God’s eyes, while pride is a loser. The key lies in the heart. The heart of a humble person is open, it knows repentance, it accepts correction and trusts in God. The heart of the proud person is the exact opposite: it is arrogant, closed, knows no shame, it is impervious to God's voice. The reading from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah and from the Gospel of the day guide Pope Francis in a parallel reflection. Both texts, he notes, speak of a "judgment" upon which salvation and condemnation depend. The situation described by the prophet Zephaniah is that of a rebellious city in which, however, there is a group of people who repent of their sins: this group, the Pope said, is the "people of God" possesses the "three characteristics" of "humility, poverty, and trust in the Lord." But in the city there are also those, Francis says, who "do not accept correction, they do not trust in the Lord." 



"If your heart is not a repentant heart, if you do not listen to the Lord, if you don’t accept correction and you do not trust in Him, your heart is unrepentant. These hypocrites who were scandalized by what Jesus said about the tax collectors and the prostitutes, but then secretly approached them to vent their passion or to do business - but all in secrecy - were pure! The Lord does not want them. "


No matter how 'religious' you are, no matter how much good you do, God wants a heart that is utterly open.  You may feel that you have a pure heart, but  God wants us to have a humble heart.  We have to have the courage to open our heart: give the Lord a list of your sins, says Francis.  We have to be able to say :

 'Lord, these are my sins – they are not his or hers, they are mine… They are mine. Take them and I will be saved'

The three Kings brought their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And we, what must we bring to the stable?  Francis suggests a humble repentant heart which has three characteristics :  it is  humble, poor in spirit, and trusts in the Lord.  So as we go through our Christmas list, we should be sure that, come the 25th December, we have another list to give the Lord, saying : ' Here  Lord, these are my sins. They are mine, all mine. Take them and I will be saved.'

Read the report here.