(AsiaNews) - To prevent evil from entering into our hearts, there is an ancient, but very good, practice, the examination of conscience. We should carry this out every evening, to "ensure" the devil who "is patient" and "very clever" does not enter . This was the focus of Pope Francis' homily at morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the Gospel of the day which reminds us that the devil always returns, he never stops tempting man: "The devil is patient", "he will never give up on what he wants for himself".
As reported by Vatican Radio, the Pope observed that "After the temptations, in the desert, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, in Luke's version it says that the devil left Him for a time, but during the life of Jesus he returned again and again: when they put Him to the test, when they tried to trap Him, in the Passion, finally on the Cross. 'But if you are the Son of God... but you come, you come from us, so we cannot believe.' And we all know that these words touch the heart: 'But can you do it? Let me see! No, you can't.' That's how the devil even to the end [dealt] with Jesus... and likewise with us."
We need to guard our hearts, where the Holy Spirit dwells, the Pope said, "so that other spirits do not enter. To guard the heart, as a house is guarded, with a key." And then to watch the heart, like a sentinel: "How often," he asked, "do wicked thoughts, wicked intentions, jealousy, envy enter in? So many things that enter in. But who has opened that door? Where do they enter from? If I do not realize [how much] enters into my heart, my heart becomes a piazza, where everything comes and goes. A heart without intimacy, a heart where the Lord cannot speak and cannot even be heard."
"And Jesus says something else here - doesn't He? - that sounds a little strange: 'He who does not gather with me scatters.' He uses the word 'to gather.' To have a gathering heart, a heart in which we know what happens, and here and there you can perform a practice as old as the Church, but good: the examination of conscience. Who of us, at night, at the end of the day, remains by himself, by herself, and asks the question: what happened today in my heart? What happened? What things have passed through my heart? If we don't do this, we have truly failed to know how to watch and guard [our hearts] well."
The examination of conscience "is a grace, because to guard our heart is to guard the Holy Spirit, Who is within us": "We know - Jesus says clearly - that the devil always returns. Even at the end of life, He, Jesus, gives us an example of this. And to guard, to watch, so that the demons don't enter in, we must be able to gather ourselves, that is, to stand in silence before ourselves and before God, and at the end of the day ask ourselves: 'What happened today in my heart? Did anyone I don't know enter? Is the key in its place?' And this will help us to defend ourselves from so much wickedness, even from that which we could do if these demons, who are very clever and at the end would cheat all of us, even if they enter."
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-an-examination-of-conscience-to-defend-us-from-the-devil-who-is-patient-and-very-clever-32388.html
教宗清晨彌撒：守護心靈，如同守護一個家、一把鑰匙
良心省察幫助我們抵制罪惡
（亞洲新聞及梵蒂岡電台訊）- 我反省，「在初期教會時代十分普遍的做法，也是很好的。」每天晚上這樣做，有助於「監督」以便防止魔鬼進入到我們的心裡。魔鬼是很「有耐性的」、「狡猾的。」這是今天教宗方濟各在彌撒聖祭講道中圍繞福音講解的道理。福音記載魔鬼總是會來，永遠也不會放棄誘惑人。「撒旦有耐性」， 「不會放手他們想要的。」
據梵蒂岡廣播電台報導，教宗指出「耶穌在曠野中遭到魔鬼誘惑後，《路加福音》指魔鬼離開了祂一段時間，但在耶穌的生活中又回來了、多次回來：當他們考驗祂時、試圖給祂設置陷阱時、在祂受難時、直到十字架上。『如果你是天主子，那你就來呀，來到我們中間，這樣我們就相信了』。我們都知道這句話直接觸動了人心：『你有這個本事嗎？讓我看看！不，你沒這個本事』。正如魔鬼最後對耶穌所作的，也對我們這樣做。」
需要保護我們的心，那居住著聖神的心，「不讓其他神進來。」守護心靈，如同守護一個家、一把鑰匙。要像哨兵一樣警惕自己的心靈。「多少次，我們的心裡有過壞的想法、壞主意、嫉妒、仇視。許多東西進來了，但誰開啟了那扇門？它們又是從什麼地方進入的呢？如果我沒有註意到」多少「進入了我的心裡，我的心便成了廣場，所有人都進進出出。一個沒有隱私的心、一個上主不能講話的心，甚至不能被聆聽的心。」
「耶穌說了另外的，不是嗎？似乎有些奇怪：『誰沒有接納到我，便迷失了』。」採用了「接納」一詞，「擁有一顆接納的心、一顆懂得在發生什麼的心。這裡可以採用初期教會十分常用的方式，也是好的：自我反省。我們中的哪一個人，晚上，也就是一天結束前，只剩下自己時、孤獨一人時，自問過：『今天我的心裡發生了什麼？有什麼我不認識的進來了嗎』？如果不這樣做，那我們真的不知道怎樣警惕和保護好我們的心了。」
最後，教宗指出，自我反省「是恩寵。因為保護我們的心是保護聖神、在我們內的聖神。」「我們知道，耶穌說得很清楚，魔鬼會回來、總會回來。即便是在臨終時，祂也給我們作出了榜樣，耶穌給我們作出了榜樣。為了監督，不讓魔鬼進來，就需要懂得接納我們自己，即學會在自己、在天主面前保持沉默；在一天即將結束時自問：『今天我的心裡發生了什麼？有什麼我不認識的進來了嗎？鑰匙放好了嗎』？這將有助於我們免遭許多壞東西傷害，包括我們自己能做的，如果魔鬼進來了，他們是狡猾的，最後就會詐取一切。」
--Pope Francis, 10 October 2014, Santa Marta
Pope Francis: Put a lock in your heart
How Christ dwells in us
Footnotes for 2 Corinthians 13:5
Christ dwells in the intellect by faith, in the heart and affections by charity, in the soul by grace.
HOLE IN THE HEART
The big, blazing truth about man is that he has a heaven-sized hole in his heart, and nothing else can fill it. We pass our lives trying to fill the Grand Canyon with marbles. As Augustine said: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee".
-- Peter Kreeft
Effúndam super vos aquam mundam, et mundabímini ab ómnibus inquinaméntis vestris, et ab univérsis idólis vestris mundábo vos. Et dabo vobis cor novum et spíritum novum ponam in médio vestri et áuferam cor lapídeum de carne vestra et dabo vobis cor cárneum; et spíritum meum ponam in médio vestri et fáciam, ut in præcéptis meis ambulétis et iudícia mea custodiátis et operémini.
I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances.
(Ezekiel 36:25 - 27)
Hold fast to God, the one true good
Where a man’s heart is, there is his treasure also. God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since he is good, and especially to those who are faithful to him, let us hold fast to him with all our soul, our heart, our strength, and so enjoy his light and see his glory and possess the grace of supernatural joy. Let us reach out with our hearts to possess that good, let us exist in it and live in it, let us hold fast to it, that good which is beyond all we can know or see and is marked by perpetual peace and tranquillity, a peace which is beyond all we can know or understand.
This is the good that permeates creation. In it we all live, on it we all depend. It has nothing above it; it is divine. No one is good but God alone. What is good is therefore divine, what is divine is therefore good. Scripture says: When you open your hand all things will be filled with goodness. It is through God’s goodness that all that is truly good is given us, and in it there is no admixture of evil.
These good things are promised by Scripture to those who are faithful: The good things of the land will be your food.
...
Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.
Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.
Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For the fountain is God himself.
(Saint Ambrose, bishop. From the Treatise on Flight from the World)
Of [my] free choice My God and out of love for You--
I desire to remain and do what ever be Your Holy Will in my regard. ...
Even if I suffer more than now--I still want to do Your Holy Will.--
This is the dark night of the birth of the Society.--
My God give me courage now--this moment--to persevere in following your call.
...
Today--my God--what tortures of loneliness.--
I wonder how long will my heart suffer this. ...
My God, give me courage now to fight self and the tempter.
Let me not draw back from the sacrifice I have made of my free choice and conviction.--
Immaculate Heart of my Mother, have pity on thy poor child.
For love of thee I want to live and die an M.C.
...
The more the work is spreading the more clear it becomes [it is] His Will.
Soon it will be one year [since she had left Loreto]--
though there has been plenty of suffering and tears,
there has not been one moment of regret. I am happy to do God's will.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 134-136)
O Jesus, only love of my heart,
I wish to suffer what I suffer
and all Thou wilt have me suffer,
for Thy pure love
not because of the merits I may acquire,
nor for the rewards Thou hast promised me
but only to please Thee,
to praise Thee,
to bless Thee as well in sorrow as in joy.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 124)
25 Quis enim mihi est in caelo?
Et tecum nihil volui super terram.
26 Defecit caro mea et cor meum;
Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aeternum.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.
(Psalm 73:25-26)
[W]e can refuse Christ just as we refuse others: I will not give You my hands to work with, my eyes to see with, my feet to walk with, my mind to study with, my heart to love with. You knock at the door but I will not open. I will not give You the key of my heart.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")
24 Tollam quippe vos de gentibus
et congregabo vos de universis terris
et adducam vos in terram vestram;
25 et effundam super vos aquam mundam,
et mundabimini ab omnibus inquinamentis vestris,
et ab universis idolis vestris mundabo vos.
26 Et dabo vobis cor novum et spiritum novum ponam in medio vestri
et auferam cor lapideum de carne vestra et dabo vobis cor carneum;
27 et spiritum meum ponam in medio vestri et faciam,
ut in praeceptis meis ambuletis
et iudicia mea custodiatis et operemini.
28 Et habitabitis in terra, quam dedi patribus vestris,
et eritis mihi in populum, et ego ero vobis in Deum.
I will take you from among the Gentiles,
I will bring you together from all the earth,
I will lead you into your own land.
I will pour clean water on you,
and you will be cleansed from your filth:
from all your worship of idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the stone heart from your breast and put a heart of flesh in its place.
I will put my spirit among you,
so that you will walk in the paths of my law,
keep my judgements and obey them.
You shall live in the land I gave to your fathers.
You shall be a people for me, and I will be your God.
(Ezekiel 36:24-28)