"One can conduct a thousand courses of catechesis, a thousand courses in spirituality, a thousand courses in yoga, Zen, and all such things. But all this will never be able to give one the son's freedom."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Whatever the cause, from painful experiences and "religious narcissism" to conceit and the "letter of the Commandments," only the Holy Spirit can make a "stony" heart "docile" towards God and open to the freedom to love," said Pope Francis during this morning's Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae.

During the service, the Holy Father commented the episode from the Gospel of Mark, which follows the multiplication of the loaves and sees the disciples scared by the sight of Jesus walking on water towards them, ending it with a consideration about the reasons for their fear. For him, the Apostles had not understood the miracle of the loaves because "their hearts had hardened."

A heart, the pope noted, can be stony for many reasons, from "painful experiences," for example. This is what happened to the disciples in Emmaus, fearful of deluding themselves "another time". This happened to Thomas who refused to believe in Jesus' resurrection.

"Another reason that hardens the heart is closing oneself," the pope explained, "making a world onto oneself, closed. Onto oneself, one's community or parish, but always closed.

"Closure can be based on many things, such as pride, conceit, the notion that I am better than others, even vanity, right? We have snobbish men and women, who are closed onto themselves, looking constantly at themselves, right? Such religious narcissists, right? But, they have a hardened heart, because they are closed, they are not open. And they try to defend themselves with these walls that are around them."

There are also those who hide behind the law, clinging to the "letter" of what the Commandments say. Here, the problem of "insecurity" hardens the heart. Those who look for strength in the wording of the law are as secure as "a man or a woman in a prison cell, behind metal bars: This is security without freedom." That is the opposite of what "Jesus came to bring us," namely freedom.

"The heart, when it hardens, is not free. If it is not free, it is because it does not love. This is how the Apostle John ends in the first reading. Perfect love casts out fear: in love, there is no fear, because fear presupposes punishment and whoever fears is not perfect in love. He or she is not free, but is always in fear that something painful, sad will happen, make me err in life or jeopardise eternal salvation . . . But so many imaginations because he does not love. Who does not love is not free. Their hearts were hardened, because they had not yet learnt to love."

"Who teaches us to love? Who frees us from this hardness?" asked the pope. "Only the Holy Spirit does. [. . .] One can conduct a thousand courses of catechesis, a thousand courses in spirituality, a thousand courses in yoga, Zen, and all such things. But all this will never be able to give one the son's freedom."

"Only the Holy Spirit, which moves one's heart to say 'Father,' can," the pontiff said in concluding. "Only the Holy Spirit can drive away, break down this hardness of the heart and make a heart . . . soft". Actually, "I do not know, I do not like the word." It should be "docile. Docile to the Lord. Docile to the freedom of love."

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