Guard Your Heart!

Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart, 
which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; 
give me an unconquered heart, 
which no tribulation can wear out; 
give me an upright heart, 
which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.   
By St Thomas Aquinas 

In this week’s reading, Jeremiah warns us of the dangers when our hearts turn away from God. He says when our hearts are rooted in worldly pursuits and idols- eventually, our hearts will turn into a salted land uninhabited and we become lifeless because we have cut ourselves away from the source of life. (Jer 17: 5-8)

Why is the heart so important?

St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the heart is the primary organ- the principle and natural mover of the body. Proverbs 4: 23 tells us that all our issues in life originate from there. “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” If our hearts are right with God, our lives will be in order- everything falls into place.

The heart is the centre of our lives, our conscience – it is there our decisions are made. All desires good and bad stem from there. If our hearts are cold, deceitful and worldly then we are no longer connected to God; we stop hearing the voice of God- it has now become the centre of worldly desires, thoughts and pursuits where relativism rules. We are unable to differentiate what is right and wrong, what is good and bad and what is true and false.

It is the heart which perceives God and not the reason. That is what faith is: God perceived by the heart, not by the reason.-Blaise Pascal  

Jesus (LK 6: 17, 20-26) tells us today that our happiness, our satisfaction and our entire well-being come not from giving our hearts to the world. He is telling us to get our hearts right- not to give it away to fleeting pursuits of wealth and pleasure because these things do not give us everlasting joy.

So what must we do to guard our hearts?

Pope Francis (2015) suggests, “pushing away every noise that doesn’t come from the Lord, pushing away so many things that take peace away from us”….“when these things — these passions of ours — are pushed away, the heart is prepared” to receive the grace of God. “Ask Our Lady for the grace of meekness, humility and goodness, which really safeguard our hearts, …. in order not to accept in vain the gift, the grace that the Lord gives us”.

We need to examine our conscience regularly to see if we are right with God. We can also heed some suggestions given by Dante:

1. Look deep into our hearts and acknowledge our failings

2. Do not make wealth and accomplishments a measure of success but rather virtues

3. Think of sin as our failure to love genuinely