The Heart of Stone

We've started praying the Liturgy of the Hours morning and evening prayer as part of a discernment process Lucille and I are going through.

There are times when it's so mundane, almost painful, that it becomes an offering out of love and duty.

Sometimes, there is a moment where clarity ensues and somehow the Holy Spirit can get a message through the stone into the softer parts of the heart. ;)

Yesterday morning's reading, Tuesday Week III, was from the first letter of Saint John 4:12-15:

12 No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

13 This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit.

14 Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.

15 Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.

The reading reminds me of St. Paul in 1st Corinthians 12:3:

...[N]o one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the holy Spirit.

God in us ...

I'm not sure about you, but one thing that became pretty clear while meditating on that reading was my heart being more a rock than solid flesh. :(

Why?

Because, the reality stated above, that is God in us, has not really registered in my stony heart.

St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Bruno, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross come to mind and heart of folks who managed to allow the Lord's Blood and Water to slowly cleanse away the stone leaving a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

So much to learn and let go of. ;)

Pax,

John Everett
Feast of Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs