In his homily in Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis addressed the “fool,” saying he does not know how to hear God's Word. This “deafness” thus leads not to love, nor freedom; but only to slavery.
POPE FRANCIS
“The fool does not listen. He believes he is listening, but he does not listen. He does his own thing, always. For this reason, the Word of God cannot enter into his heart, and there is no place for love. If it enters, it enters distilled, transformed by my own conception of reality. The fools do not know how to listen, and this deafness leads to this corruption.”
He concluded by asking Christians to remember the nostalgia Jesus had for His people whom He loved, but who ignored him for foolishness, appearances, idols, or ideologies.
SUMMARY OF POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
“Folly is a form of ‘not listening’, one might literally say a nescio, ‘I do not know’, I do not listen. The inability to hearken to the Word: when the Word does not enter, I do not let it in because I do not listen. The fool does not listen. He believes he is listening, but he does not listen. He does his own thing, always – and for this reason the Word of God cannot enter into his heart, and there is no place for love. And if it enters, it enters distilled, transformed by my own conception of reality. The fools do not know how to listen, and this deafness leads to this corruption. The Word of God does not enter, there is no place for love and in the end there is no place for freedom.”
“They are not free and do not listen: this deafness leaves room neither for love, nor for freedom; it always leads us to slavery. Do I listen to the Word of God? Do I let it in? This Word, of which we have heard in the singing of the Alleluia – the Word of God is alive, effective, revealing the feelings and thoughts of the heart. It cuts, it gets inside. Do I let this Word in, or am I deaf to it? Do I transform it into appearance, transform it into idolatry, into idolatrous habits, or into ideology? Thus, it does not enter: this is the folly of Christians.”
Let us look at the icon of foolish Christians and beside this folly let us look on the Lord who is always at the door. He knocks and waits. We should consider the Lord’s nostalgia for us: “of the love He had for us first: if we fall into this stupidity, we move away from Him and He feels this nostalgia – nostalgia for us – and Jesus wept with this longing cry, weeping over Jerusalem: it was nostalgia for a people He had chosen, a people He loved, but who had gone away for foolishness, who preferred appearances, idols, or ideologies.”
