What is going on in your heart? Probably more than you think

Spiritual reflections on Sunday Reading: Video Homily to Follow

What's going on in your heart?

I hope that as you read this, the answer to that question is that, through electronic stimuli, the muscle in your chest a contracting rhythmically to push blood around your arterial system. If that is not the answer, then you will not be reading this for much longer. However, reading that question, I suspect that is not where your mind immediately went.  

In pastoral work, in the Confessional, but, perhaps, most especially in spiritual direction this is a question which I quite often put to people. Where is your heart? What's going on in your heart? Will you open up your heart? And when I do so, I almost always get an answer about how the person feels. 

This is not wrong, and often it is what I want to know. Yet, it is important to remember that our hearts contain more than our feelings - at least Biblically speaking. 

The Bible uses the word 'heart' countless times, and yet it is never referring to the internal organ which keeps us alive physically. It is always used to refer to that non-material part of ourselves - the centre of our inmost being. Whilst today, we locate the heart as the centre of our feelings and emotions, for the Biblical authors the heart was also the seat for many of the powers which we today attribute to the brain. Specifically, the heart was the centre of knowing, the centre of man's moral consciousness and the place of the will - his power of choosing. 

Feeling, Knowing, Choosing & Sensing Moral Reality

So, what's going on in your heart?

The answer to this question, really, must be much deeper than how do I feel. Amidst the swirl of human feelings, what are the truths that I know and hold onto? And in what choices do those feelings and that knowledge manifest themselves? In action that are in accord with my consciousness of moral reality or not? These are the kinds of questions that are really implied, when asking what's going on in your heart?

It is with this understanding of the human heart that we can begin to make sense of Jesus' contention with the scribes and pharisees of Jerusalem.

Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men's hearts that evil intentions emerge. (Mark 7.14-15)

We may feel all sorts of things in our hearts, some good and some bad. However, the greatest expression of our hearts is found in what comes out? Having felt evil, what are the truths that I hold onto? How to I express that in my choices? When I feel like doing or saying or thinking something wrong, I nevertheless have the knowledge that that is only a feeling; and, having felt it I can choose to act in accordance with what my conscience tells me is right, or not. And it works the other way round, too. I may feel all sorts of great impulses to goodness - but knowing that they are good, I still have to choose to put them into effect... or not.

Examining our Hearts

As human beings, and especially as Christians, we need to be in touch with our hearts; but, as we have discovered, that means more than simply knowing how I am feeling. We need to look at what is coming out of our hearts, because, as Jesus tells us, that expresses what is going on inside.

Our Lord Himself gives us some warning signs that things might be going wrong: "fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’" (Mark 7.21-23)

However, in our Old Testament and New Testament readings, we are given a guide as to the fruits of a good heart. Firstly, Moses tells the people of Israel in Deuteronomy:

[K]eep the commandments of the Lord your God just as I lay them down for you. Keep them, observe them, and they will demonstrate to the peoples your wisdom and understanding. (Deuteronomy 4.6)

The heart being the seat of knowledge - ie. wisdom & understanding - expresses the goodness of its knowledge of God by choosing to keep His commandments. As St. John will later put it, this is the ultimate test of whether we have love for God in our hearts:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. (1 John 5.2-3)

In the New Testament readings St. James offers another guide as to the fruit for which to look, emerging from our hearts:

Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world. (James 1.27)

By looking out for the dangers - the sins - of which Jesus warns us, and by looking for growth in the good signs - attentiveness to God's commandments and caring for the poor and vulnerable - we can get a good picture of where are hearts are. And we should be aware of our hearts, because, in a real way, they are the most important part of ourselves. 

Don't Panic, Heart Transplants are Possible

Please God, you are looking at your heart and finding it full of love for Him. If so, thank Him. Even that love is a gift of His grace.

If, however, after having a good look, things aren't as great as you'd hoped - don't panic. With God's help, there is always great hope. There is indeed the possibility of a heart transplant - it's called Conversion of Heart.

If you find that there is sin in heart that you need confess - go to confession and receive God's mercy. It is the sacrament of conversion and it brings about conversion of heart. We may need to go again and again, but each time, we convert a little more.

And once we have converted from our sin, then is the time to grow; to grow in our faithfulness to God and  in our love of our neighbour, for love of Him. As St. John Henry Newman puts it:

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

While we live on this earth, as Christians we should always be looking to God, asking Him where we need to grow, next. What new challenge or calling does He have for me? Where can I give myself more to His service? Which part of my heart does he want to change and enlarge now?

When we have the bravery to invite God into our hearts - not just our feelings, but allowing Him to shape what we know, our vision of the moral universe and the choices that we make within it - then we are giving Him the room He needs to unite our hearts with His own. And when we allow Him to do this, then our hearts will begin to beat to His rhythm; and you just know that that is a heartbeat that will go on, forever.

(Photo: Photography is in my heart, Nina Matthews from Sydney, Australia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.)

The Moral Questions the Climate Change Lobby are afraid to ask

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The amusing admission this week that Dr. Gail Bradbrook drives a highly polluting, diesel engine car would, in a more thoughtful world, be a moment for those engaging in climate activism to pause and reflect a little more deeply on precisely what the goals of their movement are. This would be surely the least the general public could reasonably ask of them, before they embark on a renewed campaign to disrupt the lives of ordinary citizens. Unfortunately, I assume from past experience, the moment will be left to pass by.

Bradbrook's defence was that she cannot afford an electric car, and that she needed to drive her children to various sports fixtures, for which the public transport does not exist. The Telegraph noted that in the past she was also criticised for flying 11,000 to Costa Rica, justified, apparently, by the need to seek medical care unavailable in the U.K.

The problem underlying Dr. Bradbrook's defence, and the kind of environmental reforms for which many campaigners are looking, is that they assume the we can reach 'net-zero' without drastic changes to the western lifestyle. However, that is simply unrealistic, unless we understand the 'net-zero' target in a quite a facile way.

We all know that the world's resources are consumed in a vastly disproportionate way. According to Friends of the Earth, the average European consumes more than 4 times that of an average African, and an average American or Australian as much as 10 times more. Even if these figures can be debated, it comports with a reality we can all recognise, the the West consumes more than it fair share of what the earth has to offer. 

The goal of reducing U.K. emissions to at least 100% below 1990 levels does not include emission associated with U.K. consumption. This means that, inevitably, in the future our lifestyles will be buttressed by the benefit of carbon emissions released in other countries to provide us with goods and services. The batteries in our electric cars will continue to depend on minerals dragged out of the ground in other places, where governments and industry may be unable or unwilling to find green ways of conducting energy intensive mining. 

It is not unreasonable for the very great many people caught in poverty in poor countries to desire some of the comfort enjoyed by wealthier countries. Yet, it is inconceivable that the world can justify everyone living the lifestyle of a British or an American person; and it is dubious whether we can make it genuinely carbon neutral, even for ourselves. Does this mean that climate concern means we plan to leave the poorest in the world with their rather terrible, but very environmentally friendly, lot in life?

I hope not.

Which means, it seems to me, that we need to begin to ask the questions about what are the radical changes to the way in which we need to make in order to simplify the modern lifestyle expectations, in order to reduce our impact on the planet? This may mean not expecting to be able to make all the journeys to which we have become used - ferrying teenagers to every sporting activity they desire, just as an example. I suspect it will rule out travelling half-way across the world, for medical treatment that a tiny fraction of the world's population could ever afford. It will certainly involve genuine sacrifice and facing an absence of easy answers.

When climate activists begin to ask these sorts of questions, however, I'll begin to get really interested.

The Choice We All Make

Homily for Sunday 22nd August

The opening collect or prayer from this Sunday's Mass makes a number of interesting observations and requests.

1. God is called the one "who cause[s] the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose."
2. He is then asked to first grant his people to love the things that He commands, and to desire the things that He promises;
3. So that our hearts, in an uncertain world, may be fixed in the place of true gladness.

I would suggest that the intention in the first part refers to God's role of uniting his people with one another in their minds. That is to say that God is trying to direct Christians to 'think together' towards a common purpose. It does not necessarily mean that we all have to think exactly the same things, however, we should all be thinking towards the same end or goal. This goal is given to us in the conclusion: "that our hearts may be fixed on that place where true happiness is found" - ie. heaven.

While the prayer is speaking of uniting individuals, I think it is worth reflecting that inasmuch as God unites different people in mind, He also unites us as individuals within our own minds. As an effect of the Fall, we humans beings are even now divided within ourselves. We want conflicting things, sometimes; and, often we can behave in ways that are counterproductive to our larger goals in life. One inescapable consequence of an active spiritual life is that it brings greater unity to our fragmented psyche. 

But what is the means for bringing us to the end? How do our hearts come to be fixed on heaven? The answer is in the second part of the prayer - by loving God's commands and desiring His promises. It is by doing this that our minds and hearts become oriented towards heaven, because heaven is the place where God's will is most fully accomplished.

In the end, the most important power of our souls is our power to will. As Venerable Fulton Sheen puts it: 

We are what we are not by our emotions, our feelings, our likes, and dislikes... but by our choices. (Death & Judgement, 15:05)

When we make choices, we express our will. We may not always feel like doing the right thing, we may not like doing the right thing - but when we choose to do the right thing, then we express the fact that that is what we really desire. Nevertheless, as the prayer points out, we need God's grace to be able to make that choice.

Joshua, the leader God had chosen to guide His wandering people in the Promised Land, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, having settled them, gave them a stark choice: are you going to worship the gods of the Amorites, the gods of this place? Or, are you going to worship the Lord, the true God of Israel? The people answered enthusiastically - ‘We have no intention of deserting the Lord and serving other gods!' (Joshua 24.16). However, the history of the Hebrew people would prove to be, in many ways, a consistent story of backsliding and falling away from that commitment. In a fallen world, it is difficult to remain faithful to that commitment to a holy decision to follow God - we need his help.

A similar choice was put, as the Gospel recalls, to the disciples, when the crowds began to turn away from Jesus, unable to accept His teaching on the Eucharist. Those who had been so enthusiastic about following our Lord, when He was giving them what they wanted, left Him when His teaching began to challenge their worldview, their own understanding, the way they wanted to see reality. Jesus, left with His closest followers, puts the simple question to them:

‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ (John 6.67)

It is Simon Peter who answers for the twelve:

‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life.’ (John 6.68)

The same question is put to you and to me, today. In a world where people are increasingly falling away from the authentic teaching of Jesus, finding it too hard, too much of a challenge to their world view, he asks you and me: do you want to go away too?

If we are slightly scared to answer, that is ok. It is a big question. Even St. Peter, after his inspired response to our Lord's question, would, when the big moment came, backslide, like His ancestors had done. He would deny our Lord three times on the night he was arrested. The saints know how hard it can be to choose for Jesus, and God knows it, too. Which is why we need God's grace to do it.

As our opening prayer acknowledged it is God who brings unity of purpose to the human mind and heart, and it is God who grants us the will to follow His commands and desire His promises - that our hearts may be fixed in heaven. And how does He do it? Through the channels of His grace which are the sacraments and prayer. Perhaps most specifically, through the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, and through the life of intimate, heart-to-heart prayer.

• In Confession, the wrong decisions we have made are healed. Indeed, we uproot those decisions by allowing God's grace, flowing from the Cross, to fill up those spaces in our souls. 

• In Holy Communion, we renew our commitment to give ourselves to Jesus Christ. As He pours Himself out on the altar, we should come to meet Him with hearts running towards Him, eager to pour ourselves out for Him. We may not feel it, and we may not feel like it - but remember, our hearts are located where our will is - we should come to Him committing to choose His will wherever He makes it known to us, and trusting that He is giving us the grace of Himself to sustain us.

• Finally, in personal prayer we come alongside Jesus, as friend - and by spending time with Him we are changed, as indeed all the people with whom we spend time, change us. Slowly, but surely, if we spend meaningful time regularly with Christ, He will change our hearts and our minds, so that we do love His commands and desire His promises.

In the end, the spiritual life not so much about what we choose to do, as about choosing to let God do the work in us. But we do have to choose to let Him. Confession, Communion and Intimate Prayer - these are, if you will, the three legs of the spiritual stool, upon which God desires to raise us. Each essential to the flow of grace into souls, which allows God to accomplish His work. 

Are you choosing to let Him in?