Pope Francis: Open your heart to God’s healing love

By the time this comes out, Pope Francis would have left the country. Millions would have been touched and inspired, and amazed beyond words. Some had the remarkable blessing of seeing him and touching him, while most had to content themselves with listening to his words of wisdom, love, hope, and healing.

This is one pope who is very, very popular. In fact, he is not only popular to Catholics but also even to those who used to shun topics of religion (maybe because they feel religion ostracizes them). He is very open, he is genuine. He doesn’t seem to condemn or punish. And in doing so, he becomes very likable and charismatic.

Even Jim Nelson, editor of GQ magazine, in its December 2014 issue, declared Pope Francis as their Holy Man of The Year. 

“I’m told by the Vatican that the Pope ‘doesn’t do fashion,’ but I say He does every time He sashays down the aisle. And I sure hope His Holiness decides to come to LA to hang out with Steve Carell and Chris Pratt and the rest of us Homines because, in all honesty, I like this pope a lot. He’s kind, humane, engaged, not like that last grump who walked off the job. Unlike Pope Geezer III, Francis is someone you can relate to. You look at him and you think: That guy just might have a secular agenda,” Nelson said in his editorial.

“Did you know he tweets? He tweets! If you need a break from all the snark in the world, follow his feed. It’s the gentlest Twitter feed ever invented. One of my favorites: ‘Dear young people, do not be mediocre,’“ he continued.

“But the real reason I’m declaring him our Holy Man of the Year is that he’s trying to push the Catholic Church into the 21st century, where it doesn’t seem to want to live, trying to open its creaky leaden doors to the realities of the world. And here’s the doctrinal shocker: Francis doesn’t think divorced people, or couples shacking up together, or gays and lesbians are evil. He believes they should be welcomed, not shunned. In the Catholic Church, this makes him close to a heretic,” he explained.

“This pope is too cool, too charismatic, and too righteous. And Jesus, who welcomed all, rolled with prostitutes, and got pissed at people with ‘stubborn hearts,’ is on his side. So am I,” Nelson concluded.

Harden not your hearts

When Pope Francis reflected on how the apostles were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on water, he explained that the reason for their terror is that their hearts were hardened, according to Vatican Radio.

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

“Creating a world within oneself, 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?  We have ‘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,” Pope Francis pointed out.

The Pope said that hardened hearts 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 hearts were hardened because they haven’t  learned how to love,” he went on.

Pope Francis concluded: “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.”

God’s loving mercy

Pope Francis is most likely following the lead of how Jesus dealt with the woman who committed adultery.

The reading narrates the episode in which the Scribes and the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They point out that in the law, Moses commands us to stone such women because adultery is considered a very grave sin.

Again on Vatican Radio, Pope Francis said, “Marriage is a human reality but it is also a symbol of a faithful relationship between God and his people. When the marriage is spoilt by adultery, it spoils the relationship with God.”

“If Jesus had said: ‘Yes, go ahead and have her stoned,’ they would have told the people ‘this is your good and merciful master… just look at what he has done to this poor woman!’ And if Jesus had said: ‘Poor woman! Forgive her!’ they would have said: ‘He does not observe the law!’…”

The Pope noted that they cared nothing about the woman; “they did not care about adultery, perhaps amongst them there were some adulterers. All they cared about was catching Jesus in a trap.”

Jesus, aware of their intentions, commanded: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” Instead of doing that, they left one by one, beginning with the elders.

“So Jesus was left alone with the woman before Him and said to her: ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ It is just you and I, alone before God, without accusations, without gossip. You and God! No one has condemned you. She replied: ‘No one, sir’.” But Pope Francis said, “She does not say it was a false accusation! She does not say, ‘I have not committed adultery.’ She recognizes her sin. Then Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin anymore,’ do not offend God again; do not spoil the beautiful relationship between God and His people.”

“Jesus forgives,” the Pope said, “but here there is something that goes beyond forgiveness. Jesus goes beyond the law. He does not say, ‘Adultery is not a sin!’ But he does not condemn it according to the law. This is the mystery of mercy. It is the mystery of the mercy of Jesus.”

 “Mercy,” Pope Francis said, “goes beyond in such a way that sin is put to the side. It is like heaven. We look at the sky, there are many, many stars; but when the sun rises in the morning, the light is such that we can’t see the stars. God’s mercy is like that: a great light of love and tenderness. God forgives us, not with a decree, but with His love, healing the wounds of sin.”

“Because He is involved in forgiveness, He is involved in our salvation. So when Jesus acts as confessor to the woman He does not humiliate her, He does not say: ‘What have you done? When did you do it? How did you do it? With whom did you do it?’ No! He says, ‘Go and do not sin again!’ God’s mercy is great, Jesus’s mercy is great. Forgive us and heal us!”

Long live the Pope!

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.