Heart to heart with Jesus

ON the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, what we are reminded of is the invitation to give our whole heart to Jesus so as to transform it and unite it with the very heart of Jesus. It should remind us of God’s appeal to us as mentioned in the Book of Proverbs: “My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” (23,26) 

 On this Solemnity, we should have a personal and most intimate encounter with Jesus himself—especially his pierced love—and respond with trust, love in action and a life shaped by the Gospel. We need to spend time in some quiet and secluded place—better still, before the Blessed Sacrament in a church or chapel—so that we can have a heart-to-heart interaction and experience with him. 

 This is always possible if we would only activate our faith and piety. Perhaps what can be helpful is to take a break from our usual daily activities so we can have a devotional communion with him who is everything to us. 

 If we want our heart to be in its best and ideal condition, it should be conformed after Christ’s Sacred Heart. It should not be allowed to throb for anything else, something that we should train our heart to avoid. Instead, we have to do everything for it be raised to God all the time, whether we are in our good or bad times, in our successes or failures, in our joys and sorrows, etc. 

 Our heart, which is the very core of our being, the most intimate part of our life, the place where things start and end, where we meet God and hear his voice,…this heart of ours comes from God, is actually shaped after the most sacred heart of Jesus who is the pattern of our humanity, and belongs to God. We should be clear about this fundamental truth of our faith. 

 That could be the reason why Christ, when asked what the greatest commandment was, said that it is to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37) God is not asking too much from us with that commandment. He is not asking something unreasonable. In fact, he is offering what would be the best deal for us. 

 We need to broaden and deepen our understanding of the true nature and character of our life here on earth, and of the role of our heart in it, always guided by our Christian faith and not just by any purely human estimation, no matter how brilliant it is, if only to realize that we need to conform our heart to Christ’s Sacred Heart. 

 We need to constantly ask ourselves as we go through the many affairs of our day, “Where is my heart? Is it with God? Is it throbbing in synch with Christ’s Sacred Heart? Do we really know what is in that Sacred Heart of Christ?, etc.” 

 That way we would get some ideas of what to do to conform our heart to Christ’s Sacred Heart. Yes, there will be some difficulties, awkwardness, even mistakes, but if we persist, for sure the way to see and imitate what is inside Christ’s Sacred Heart would open to us. 

 If we become more and more familiar with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we would know why we always have to be patient, understanding, compassionate, magnanimous, etc. The very image of Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, would be formed in us. 

 We can echo the same words of St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!” (Gal 2,20)

Seeing God, seeing all

I LOVE music and I like to sing. And one song that captivated me almost completely during my youth was entitled, “I only have eyes for you.” It’s a romantic ballad with a timeless, sentimental quality. 

 The music is characterized by a gentle, soaring melody that complements the tender lyrics, creating a dreamy, nostalgic atmosphere. The tune is catchy and easy to sing along to, with a simple, yet effective harmony. The lyrics are classic, focusing on the theme of being completely devoted to someone, with a sense of simplicity and sincerity. 

 Part of its lyrics talk about not giving a hoot whether the stars and the moon are out tonight, or whether there are millions of people passing by. They all disappear because “I only have eyes for you.” A similar song came later, entitled, “Can’t take my eyes off you.” It was an upbeat, catchy pop song about being infatuated with someone. 

 Both songs talk about how our eyes are affected when we fall in love. Of course, in these songs, they talk about falling in love with someone that hopefully will end up in marriage. It’s a human love that is exclusive since it involves the use of the body. 

 That’s because if love involves total self-giving, that love which involves the body can only be between one man and one woman, since the body when given totally to one person cannot anymore be shared with anybody else. 

 It’s different when we talk about loving God. When we give ourselves totally to God as is proper of what true love is, then we cannot help but also love everybody and everything else. That’s because God loves everyone and everything, he being the Creator of all creatures, creating them out of love. It’s a love that is all inclusive and universal in scope. 

 We therefore should see to it that our eyes, as a function and instrument of love, should first of all be directed to God so that we can learn to love everyone and everything in the way God loves them. 

 Here we have to train ourselves to use our eyes to look for God first, so that seeing him in everyone and in everything, we can manage to love everyone and everything. 

 Or we have to train ourselves to love everyone and everything, irrespective of how they are, so we can truly say that we love God, following what St. John said in his First Letter that we can love the unseen God by loving the people we can see. (cfr. 4,20) 

 We can do this if we activate our faith that eventually will lead us to charity, enabling us to love everyone and everything, including the enemies and all the other negative elements in our life. 

 We should be wary of using our eyes and all our other human faculties to only pursue an exclusive kind of love, a love that is only lived in the human and natural level. Our true love should go beyond that level. It has to be supernatural, nothing less than the divine love that God shares with us. 

 We should therefore try to develop the instinct of always looking for God so we can see him in everyone and in everything, and from there start to love everyone and everything the way God loves them. This we can do by seeing to it that everything that happens to us, every event in our life, whether considered humanly speaking good or bad, should be referred to God. 

 We should have an intense desire to see God in everyone and in everything. And all this driven by our faith, hope and charity.

“Teach me your paths, my God”

THAT’S a beautiful psalm (25,4b) that should remind us that we need to be aware that it is God’s continuing, loving, merciful and effective providence that guides us toward our ultimate and real goal in life. 

 It would be good if we can repeat this psalm often so we can protect ourselves from our strong tendency to think that we can just depend on our own selves to navigate life’s complexities and steer through life’s challenges. 

 For this, we need to humble ourselves and always feel the need for God’s guidance. We have to be guarded against our tendency, especially when we happen to be quite gifted, to think that we can depend mainly, if not solely, on our own human powers. 

 We should give full trust on God’s providence because even if our plans would look uncertain and our actions appear to only yield failures, God’s purpose for us will always be established. With him, everything will always work out for the good. (cfr. Rom 8,28) 

 We should strengthen our belief that nothing escapes divine providence. As the creator and the cause of all things, God’s providence must include the preservation and guidance of all the creatures down to the smallest details. His guidance is not only about “big picture” outcomes, but about the ongoing order by which creatures reach their end. 

 But we have to understand also that God’s providence is not a controlling force that would nullify our freedom. Rather, he grounds the existence of all creatures on himself and guides them according to the nature he gives them. In short, God does not compete with his creatures. He considers them as instruments of his providence. And even if a creature acts contrary to his providence, his guidance cannot be stopped. 

 We should understand then that God’s providence is his continuing love for us. On our part, we should try our best to be always aware of his constant guidance over us, ever trusting it without allowing it to replace our responsibility. 

 This certainty of God’s constant guidance over us should enable us to face the complex and often confusing conditions of our life with hope and courage. We can face life’s unpredictability without panic. 

 We need to learn how to be discerning of God’s guidance over us. We have to realize that since God’s providence is “concrete and immediate,” our prayerful discernment should not only be general. We can bring our concrete decisions, fears and hopes to God who actually cares for the least things. 

 Again, a good attitude to assume in this regard is to continually ask God, “Teach me your paths, my God.” Especially when our plans appear to be uncertain, let us strengthen our trust in his providence. 

 In short, this beautiful psalm should remind us that we ought to have a humble dependence on God, seek concrete guidance for our conduct, reject counterfeit and often broad direction, expect ongoing formation that we always need, and submit ourselves to God’s authentic teaching. 

 Indeed, we just cannot teach ourselves about how to live. It is God who is the proper teacher of how to live. And as mentioned in the gospel, God’s paths differ from the big and wide ways that lead to ruin. (cfr. Mt 7,13-14) We have to make a moral and spiritual discernment that is distinct from just following what is popular and easy. 

 We also need to realize that asking God to teach us his ways means that it is a continuing process and that he teaches through revealed “ways” and not through some private improvisation.