The Lord enters hearts like His own…

According to Vatican News, Pope Francis suggested this during his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, today, Feb. 18, as he reflected on today’s Gospel passage from St. Mark where the disciples were on a boat with Jesus but worried about not having enough bread.

Francis recognized that their concern for a material good had got the better of them.  Jesus, Francis reminded, laments that their hearts are hardened and do not understand.

“Have you eyes and cannot see, have you ears and cannot hear?” the Lord asks them.

Moreover, Christ reminded the disciples of when he multiplied the loaves and bread.

The Holy Father also noted that when compassion lacks, idolatry and ideology set in. Always reflecting on this episode, the Jesuit Pontiff distinguished between “hardened hearts” like those of the disciples, and Jesus’ “compassionate heart” on the other hand.

Compassion, the Pontiff underscored, is what the Lord wants in us, the Pope said.

A Slap to Hardheartedness

While stating that Jesus “is a slap to hardheartedness,” Pope Francis said the “medicine” for the condition is memory.

“When the heart hardens,” the Pope said, “one forgets the grace of salvation and of gratuitousness.” The Pope said that the greatest message of salvation is that God has had compassion on us.

“Every one of us,” the Holy Father reminded, has something that has hardened within our hearts.”

“Let us remember and let it be the Lord who gives us a righteous and sincere heart where the Lord dwells,” Francis said, adding: “The Lord cannot enter hardened and ideological hearts. He enters hearts that are like His heart: open and compassionate.”

Pope Francis concluded, inviting faithful to “to not forget the grace of salvation that makes the heart sincere and capable of mercy.”

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