The newsroom, with Vatican Radio
Christians who stop at apology “was always so” have a heart closed the the surprises of the Holy Spirit and will never reach the fullness of truth because they are idolaters and rebels. This was the teaching of the Pope at mass Monday, January 18, in Casa Santa Marta.
On first reading, Saul is rejected by God as King of Israel because he’d rather listen to the people instead of the will of the Lord and disobey. The people, after a victory in the battle, wanted to perform a sacrifice to God with the best head of cattle because, says the people, “we’ve always done it this way”. But God, this time, didn’t want it done this way. The Prophet Samuel admonishes Saul: “‘The Lord wants burnt offerings and sacrifices or does He want obedience to His word?”.
The Pope noted that Jesus teaches the same in the Gospel: the doctors of the law reprimand Him because his disciples had not fasted as had been done by them. Jesus responds to this principle of life: “nobody puts a patch of new cloth on old clothes; because the patch again will stress the old cloth and the tear becomes bigger. No one puts new wine in old skins; because the new wine bursts the old skins and the wine and the wineskins are lost. So, new wine goes into new bottles ‘! “.
“What does that mean? The law changes? No! That law is at the service of man, who in turn is in the service of God. So, the man must have an open heart. The ‘ always have done it this way ‘ is heart closed and Jesus told us: ‘ I will send the Holy Spirit and He will lead you to the full truth ‘. If you have the heart closed to the newness of the Spirit, you will never come to the full truth. And your Christian life will be a half and half life, new things, but patched on a structure that is not open to the voice of the Lord. A closed heart, because it is not able to change the “skins.”
Francis explained that this was the sin of King Saul, by which he was rejected. It is the sin of many Christians in relation to what has always been done and who do not allow the change of skins. So, they end up with a life in half, patched, meaningless. The Pope explained.
“Diehard Christians in ‘it has always been that way, this is the way, this is the road, Sin: SIN of deification. It’s like a fortune teller. It’s more important what was said and that it does not change;What I feel, in me and my closed heart, more than the word of the Lord. It is also the sin of idolatry. And what is the way? Open your hearts to the Holy Spirit, to discern what is the will of God. “
The Holy Father concluded his homily stressing the message that the Church leaves today, that is this strong word of Jesus: new wine in new skins. “Given the newness of the spirit and of God surprises, habits must renew. May the Lord grant us the grace of an open heart, a heart open to the voice of the spirit, to learn to discern what should not change because it is unfounded, of what must change in order to receive the news of the Holy Spirit. “