news.va

“Christians who say ‘it’s always been done that way,’ and stop there have hearts closed to the surprises of the Holy Spirit. They are idolaters and rebels will never arrive at the fullness of the truth. That was the message of Pope Francis at Mass on Monday morning at the chapel in the Casa Santa Marta…

‘It’s always been done this way’ is a closed heart… This, the Pope emphasized, was the sin of Saul, for which he was rejected by God. ‘It is the sin of so many Christians who cling to what has always been done and who do not allow others to change. And they end up with half a life, [a life that is] patched, mended, meaningless.’ The sin, he said, ‘is a closed heart,’ that ‘does not hear the voice of the Lord, that is not open to the newness of the Lord, to the Spirit that always surprises us.’ This rebellion, says Samuel, is ‘the sin of divination,’ and obstinacy is the sin of idolatry… Christians who obstinately maintain ‘it’s always been done this way,’ this is the path, this is the street—they sin: the sin of divination… Obstinacy is also the sin of idolatry: the Christian who is obstinate sins! The sin of idolatry.”