Reflecting on the day's Gospel reading last Friday which was about Jesus walking on water and how it ignited fear in the disciples, Pope Francis delved into narcissism and the cause of fear.
The Holy Father gave the homily in the chapel of the Vatican's Saint Martha guesthouse. He said that a lack of love and the Holy Spirit ignite fear.
Pope Francis described people who are filled with fear as individuals who "are constantly afraid that something painful or sad will occur which will cause their life to go badly or will endanger their eternal salvation...What an (over-active) imagination, because he or she can't love!"
The Roman Pontiff further commented that fear is caused by fear of punishment thus anyone who has fear is not truly free. Perfect love, the kind the apostle John wrote about, the Pope observed, is what's lacking.
"You can follow thousands of catechism courses, thousands of spirituality courses, thousands of yoga or Zen courses and all these things. But none of this will be able to give you the freedom as a child (of God)," he said.
Pride, vanity and self-sufficiency, Pope Francis explained, are the usual reasons for a closed heart. People create "a world within oneself, all closed in. Closed within oneself, in one's community or parish, but always closed in."
He added, "Only the Holy Spirit can prompt your heart to say 'Father' and break the hardness of heart so that it is free to love."
The Pope is set to land in Sri Lanka on Monday night for a 3 day tour where he plans to canonise the country's first saint, Joseph Vaz, before flying off to the Philippines to meet Typhoon Haiyan survivors and address a youth gathering.