When we speak of the "heart" in the field of Education and faith, we run the risk of encountering resistance to what could be mistakenly taken as mere sentimentality. If this were the case, we would be as far from Christianity as if we were dealing with the hardness of the heart. It is not a question of overcoming sentimentality with hardness, but of the strength to love.

Pope Francis' message for Lent 2015 is degree scroll "strengthen your hearts" (James 5:8). What he proposes is a renewal staff and ecclesial renewal to overcome the two most current forms of hardness of heart: indifference and withdrawal into oneself or one's own group. And as always, this is of great importance for the Education of faith and affectivity in the Christian life.

We live in a culture -the Western culture- that is characterized by indifference to the weakest, and that transports this indifference to its "idea" of a distant and indifferent God (deism), while a good part of this culture closes in on itself, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the needs of others.

In this context, the Pope begins by affirming that God is not indifferent to us: he is interested in each one of us, he cares for us and seeks us out because he loves us. It is we who "when we are well and feel at ease, we forget about others (something that God the Father never does), and we are no longer interested in their problems, their suffering or the injustices they suffer".

And, beware, this does not happen to just a few, but affects us all:"I am relatively well and at ease, and I forget about those who are not . This selfish attitude of indifference is today reaching a worldwide dimension, to such an extent that we can speak of the globalization of indifference" . Well, Francis proposes, we Christians must face this status precisely as Christians.

Using a very graphic image, he tells us that the Church is like a hand that holds open the door of love that God offers us. Since the world tends to close in on itself and to close that door, we should not be surprised if that hand, which is the Church, is rejected, crushed or wounded. What we Christians must do is to renew ourselves so as not to be indifferent or close in on ourselves. To this end, he proposes three points for our consideration.

1. The reality of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. If we want to help others, we first need to let ourselves be helped. The Christian "is the one who allows God to clothe him with his goodness and mercy, to clothe him with Christ, so that he may become like him, a servant of God and of men. Only those who let themselves "have part with Christ" (cf. Jn 13:8). 

How is this done? By listening to the Word of God and attending the sacraments, especially the Eucharist where we become what we receive: "Body of Christ. There is no room there for indifference, which so often seems to take hold of our hearts. Whoever belongs to Christ belongs to one body and, in Him, one is not indifferent to the others. If one member suffers, all suffer with it; and if one member is honored, all rejoice with it'(1 Cor 12:26)". Those who are united to God can also do something for those who are far away, helping them to open themselves to salvation.

2. Fraternity among Christians. If we form one body, which receives and shares what God wants to give, we must recognize our weakest, poorest and smallest members. It is not, therefore, a matter of taking refuge in a falsely universal love for those who are far away, while, like the rich man Epulon, we forget Lazarus sitting at our own closed door (cf. Lk 16:19-31).

This falsely universalistic love is a first danger: the distortion of charity and fraternity (which entails indifference towards the inside of the body itself). The other danger is the closure in one's own group, in one's friends or in one's closest family, without opening oneself to the needs of others (which entails indifference towards the outside).

To overcome these dangers, he proposes that we take two directions, one inward and the other outward: first, the path of the interior life, prayer (through prayer the saints overcame indifference, hardness of heart and hatred, and continue to help us to do the same); and at the same time, take the path of Christian mission statement , opening ourselves to the poor and the distant in order to bring all reality and every person to God. In this way Francis wants Christians to become "islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference".

3. Personally strengthen the heart (cf. James 5:8). The Pope goes on to detail what we can do to overcome this temptation to indifference to others. An indifference, he adds, that results from a mixture of comfort and feelings of fear, insecurity or incapacity. And he proposes three remedies.

First of all, he insists again on the power of prayer.

Second, he stresses the importance of gestures of charity: "to show concern for others, with a concrete sign, however small, of our participation in the same humanity. In fact, we must avoid two extremes: doing nothing out of indifference or comfort, and the illusory thought - Francis calls it a diabolical temptation - that we can change everything and even save ourselves.

At the center is the simple and realistic power of virtue. Gestures of humanity and charity are small but effective signs because, being the fruit and manifestation of love, they are capable of truly changing our hearts and the hearts of others.

The third means is the most staff and perhaps for that reason the most costly, but it is also the one that is at the root of the others. Conversion is necessary: "The need of my brother reminds me of the fragility of my life, of my dependence on God and on my brothers and sisters. This leads us to humbly ask for God's grace - by going to the sacrament of Confession -, to accept our limitations and to trust in the infinite possibilities that the love of God offers us reservation .

As a synthesis of these means, and to overcome both indifference and pretensions of omnipotence, Francis proposes that we live this Lent as a journey of training of the heart.

It is an expression used by Benedict XVI to ask, especially those who work in ecclesial institutions, to be concerned not only with their professional preparation, but also to meet with God so that he may awaken in them love and openness of spirit to others. In this way "love of neighbor is no longer a commandment, so to speak, imposed from without, but a consequence of their faith, which works through charity (cf. Gal 5:6)" (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, n. 31).

Francis adds: "To have a merciful heart does not mean to have a weak heart. Whoever desires to be merciful needs a strong, firm heart, closed to the tempter, but open to God. A heart that allows itself to be permeated by the Spirit and guided along the paths of love that lead us to our brothers and sisters. In final, a poor heart, that knows its own poverty and gives everything for the other".

He concludes by proposing that we ask the Heart of Jesus for a heart like his. "Thus we will have a heart that is strong and merciful, vigilant and generous, that neither allows itself to be closed in on itself nor falls into the vertigo of the globalization of indifference".

A whole program for the training of the heart. If Benedict XVI appealed to "believe in love" (cf. 1 Jn, 4,16), Francis sample the concrete path that, from the Christian life, leads to participate in the mission statement of the Church: to go out of oneself to collaborate with the love of God that saves.