Explore "The Hardening of Hearts" by Jorge Mario Bergoglio on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
THE MANIFESTATION OF Jesus Christ makes evident the presence of the spirit of evil, the spirit of sin. Jesus says it clearly: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil" (John 7: 7). No one can know the true reality of sin except by the grace of God, that is, by the manifestation of Jesus Christ: "The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3: 8). Jesus is the cornerstone of contradiction. Through his incarnation and his sacrifice "the inner thoughts of many are revealed" (Luke 2: 35). The epiphany of Jesus Christ is most definitely judgment: "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 3: 19). In his presence, "nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known" (Luke 12: 2; cf. Matt 10: 26; Mark 4: 22; Matt 5: 5).
IN OUR SINFUL HUMAN HEART, as well as in our mysterious clinging to the realm that Paul calls "the law" (cf. Rom 7: 13), there exists a secret sector that we guard with special zeal. It is our hidden shame; it is the wound with which we torture ourselves; it is the fear that makes us adhere to law's domain; it is our attachment to death as a way to ward off the life that threatens us; it is so many other things. Each of us knows where in our hearts that zone is located, and often we find ourselves seeking refuge there. We see that space as our private domain, and we believe that only we need see it. Nevertheless, the vision we have of our inner heart is tenuous and myopic. Only the brightness of Jesus' judgment can provide the light we need to correct the distortions of our vision and judgment: "I came into the world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind" (John 9: 39). We are blind, and by ourselves we are incapable of envisioning salvation. By holding on to our impotence, we try to keep hidden that shadowy sector of our hearts; not wanting to be saved, we end up becoming ever blinder until our hearts are hopelessly hardened.