We Must Learn to Keep Watch Over Our Hearts
SharePope Francis begins new series of catecheses on vices and virtues
We must learn to keep watch over our heart and not enter into dialogue with the devil
At the General Audience on Wednesday morning, 27 December [2024],Pope Francis began a new series of catecheses on virtues and the vices opposed to them. When temptation arises, he said, let us close our doors and keep watch over our hearts, in order to defend ourselves against the seductions of the devil. The Following is a translation of the Holy Father's words which he shared in Italian with the faithful gathered in the Paul VI Hall.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!
Today I would like to introduce a series of catecheses on the theme of vices and virtues. And we can start right from the beginning of the Bible, where the Book of Genesis, through the account of the progenitors, presents the dynamic of evil and temptation. Let us consider the earthly Paradise. In the idyllic picture represented by the garden of Eden, a character appears that will be the symbol of temptation: the serpent, this character that seduces. The snake is an insidious animal: it moves slowly, slithering along the ground, and sometimes you do not even notice its presence — it is silent — because it manages to camouflage itself well in its environment, and above all, this is dangerous.
When it begins to converse with Adam and Eve, it shows that it is also a refined dialectician. It begins as one does with wicked gossip, with a malicious question. He says, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” (Gen 3:1). The phrase is false: in reality, God offered man and woman all the fruits of the garden, apart from those of a specific tree: the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This prohibition is not intended to forbid mankind from the use of reason, as is sometimes misinterpreted, but is a measure of wisdom. As if to say: recognize your limit, do not feel you are the master of everything, because pride is the beginning of all evil. And so, the story tells us that God establishes the progenitors as lords and guardians of creation, but wants to preserve them from the presumption of omnipotence, of making themselves masters of good and evil, which is a temptation — a bad temptation, even now. This is the most dangerous pitfall for the human heart.
As we know, Adam and Eve do not manage to resist the temptation of the serpent. The idea of a God who is not so good, who wanted to keep them in submission, insinuated itself into their minds: hence the collapse of everything.
With these accounts, the Bible explains to us that evil does not begin in man [and woman] in a clamorous way, when an act is already manifest, but that evil begins much earlier, when one begins to engage with it, to nurse it in the imagination, in thoughts, and ends up being ensnared by its enticements. The murder of Abel did not begin with a thrown stone, but with the grudge that Cain wickedly held, turning it into a monster within himself. In this case too, God’s warnings are worthless.
Dear brothers and sisters, one must never dialogue with the devil. Never! You should never enter into conversation [with him]. Jesus never dialogued with the devil. He cast him out. And during his temptation in the wilderness, he did not respond with dialogue. He simply replied with the words of Holy Scripture, with the Word of God. Be careful: the devil is a seducer. Never dialogue with him, because he is smarter than all of us and he will make us pay for it. When temptation arises, never dialogue. Close the door, close the window, close your heart. And in this way, we defend ourselves against this seduction, because the devil is astute. He is intelligent. He tried to tempt Jesus with quotes from the Bible, presenting himself as a great theologian. Be careful! One must not converse with the devil, and we must not entertain ourselves with temptation. There is no dialogue. Temptation comes: we close the door. We keep watch over our heart.
We have to be the custodians of our hearts. And that is why we do not converse with the devil. This is the recommendation — guard the heart — that we find in various fathers, in the saints. And we must ask for this grace of learning to keep watch over the heart. Knowing how to guard our heart is a form of wisdom. May the Lord help us in this work. Those who keep watch over their heart, guard a treasure. Brothers and sisters, let us learn to guard the heart.
L'Osservatore Romano
5 January 2024, page 6
