Pope Francis’ Shares His Life-Hack: Know Your “Spiritual Passwords”

At his general audience this week, Pope Francis shared great spiritual wisdom for discernment.

“Often, we do not know how to discern because we do not know ourselves well enough, and so we do not know what we really want.” 

Speaking to pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square, he said: “spiritual life, too, has its passwords that touch the heart because they refer to what we are most sensitive to.”

“Living in the age of information technology, we know how important it is to know the password in order to get into the programs where the most personal and valuable information is stored.”

He explained its “important that we know them too, so as not to find ourselves where we do not want to be” because “the tempter, that is, the devil, knows these passwords well.”

“Temptation … hypnotizes us with the attraction that these things stir in us, things that are beautiful but illusory, that cannot deliver what they promise, and therefore leave us in the end with a sense of emptiness and sadness … a sign that we have embarked on a path that was not right.”

Knowing “the passwords of our heart” will help “protect ourselves from those who present themselves with persuasive words to manipulate us” and “recognize what is truly important for us.”

Pope Francis concluded his advice saying we should all be doing a “general examination of conscience” daily.

“The good habit of calmly rereading what happens in our day, learning to learning to note in our evaluations and choices what we give most importance to, what we are looking for and why, and what we eventually find. Above all, learning to recognize what satiates the heart.”

Watch his general audience below!