Pope: The doctors of the law "have hearts closed to life"
In the morning homily at Casa Santa Marta, Francis stresses the importance of opening our hearts to prophecy, leaving aside the facts of laws and words: "History tells us of many people who have been killed, judged, although innocent: judged with the Word of God, against the Word of God. "
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Those who use God’s word against the Word of God "close their heart to prophecy. They do not consider people's lives but only their own rules of laws and words” said Pope Francis this morning during morning mass at Casa Santa Marta. The pontiff, reported Vatican Radio, was commenting on the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, on the Doctors of the Law. These slander "because they resist the wisdom and spirit" with which Stephen speaks.
The doctors, Francis continues, "instigate false witnesses to say that they heard blasphemous words against Moses and against God." The closed heart to God's truth - observes the Pope - is clinging only to the truth of the law," indeed – he stresses - "go beyond the law, the letter", and "find no other outlet than lies, a false witness and death".
Jesus had already reprimanded them for this attitude, because "their fathers had killed the prophets", and, now, they build monuments to the prophets. And the doctors of the law’s response is "cynical" more than "hypocrite": "If this were the time of our forefathers, we would not have done the same." The pope explained “they wash their hands and judge themselves pure. But he heart is closed to God's Word, it is closed to truth, and it is closed to God’s messenger who brings the prophecy so that God’s people may go forward ": "It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned' and wants to give ... and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares! - they say to him: it’s none of our business!’ They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man, who did not know what to do. And he went and hanged himself. And what did they do when Judas hanged himself? They spoke amongst themselves and said: 'Is he a poor man? No! These coins are the price of blood, they must not enter the temple... and they referred to this rule and to that… The doctors of the letter”.
The life of a person did not matter to them, the Pope observes, they did not care about Judas’ repentance. The Gospel, he continues, says that Judas came back repentant. But all that mattered to them “were the laws, so many words and things they had built. shows the hardness of their hearts. It’s the foolishness of their hearts that could not withstand the wisdom of Stephen’s truth so they go to look for false witnesses to judge him”.
Stephen - the Pope continues – ends up like all prophets, like Jesus. And this is repeated in the history of the Church: "History tells us of many people who were judged and killed, although they were innocent: judged according to the Word of God, against the Word of God. Let’s think of witch hunts or of St. Joan of Arc, and of many others who were burnt to death, condemned because according to the judges they were not in line with the Word of God”. And this was Jesus’ model, Jesus himself ended up on the cross for having trusted in God and obeyed His Word and he reminded the faithful of Jesus’ words of tenderness when he said to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke. Let us ask the Lord to look to the large and to the small follies of our hearts with the same tenderness, to caress us gently and to say to us: ‘Oh you foolish and slow of heart’ and begin to explain things to us.”
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03/05/2020 12:38
