The Owner of Our Hearts

Distressed and feeling powerless before evils of many kinds, we quickly forget that God our Father has full knowledge of our situation and of our spontaneous reaction to evil. We can begin with some most comforting phrases in the Bible:

“You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4)

Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

For you show your might when the awesomeness of your power is disbelieved. (Wisdom 12:17)

I like also to repeat to you what I found written somewhere many years ago: “to live in fear means to live believing in a power stronger than God.”

At times, we lose sight of God’s infinite power, and we disbelieve the greatness of his almighty arm. This is exactly like living with the gut feeling that there might be something/someone more powerful than God.

So, it is precisely in these dark moments that God, who proved his love to the mind-blowing extent of sacrificing his Son on the cross, displays his might. God shows his might, pointedly, whenever we disbelieve his infinite power. However, he is deeply displeased if we let fear and worries get the best of us. He is also displeased whenever we give him suggestions on how to relieve our anguish rather than trusting in his ways and in his salvation plan. So, correctly, St Paul tells us that we do not know how to pray as we should (cf. Rm 8:26). We do not realize how ridiculous it is to suggest to God what he ought to do for us “tunnel-vision people,” even though he alone has the full picture of the situation.

It is as if God, the owner of the field of our heart and of the world were not aware that an enemy has sown weeds amid the good grain. (cf. Mt 13:24-43) It is as if God who sowed the good grain in our heart were unaware of how much we suffer. Not only is God aware of all this, but he knows also how confused we get before certain events in our life and whenever huge things happen beyond our control and we feel overwhelmed and powerless. The Lord knows that, for a long while, the weeds look an awful lot like the good grain. We think in good faith to be making the right choices according to God’s laws and we find ourselves walking down the easy, comfortable path trod by the world. Perhaps, the fooling and the deception had been going on for a while already! Even our prayer life might not be pure but rather tainted by self-interest instead of being guided by trust in the infinite love of God for us.

We do not know how to pray as we should. (Rm 8:26)

Those weeds can do more damage than we had first anticipated: damage in the world, in our community, in our family, in our hearts! Have we ever wondered why we do the good that we do; why we behave the way we do? What percentage of our intention is truly genuine, i.e., we do good out of sincere love for the one whom we are helping and for the glory of God? A sizable percentage of that intention might stem from vainglory, pride, desire to look good, to be admired as generous and kind people, to be recognized, to be thanked, or in view of reciprocation when in need! Do you see how weeds look too much like good grain? So, confronted by this two-fold situation of the world and of our heart, what shall we do? Should we panic? Should we yank them out in a hurry? NO!

We are called to make an act of faith: the Lord God has always a strong grip of the situation of the whole world and, thus, he can afford to wait patiently the way a very strong army commander can wait for his enemy to wear out and collapse. We should, first, return to the Holy Spirit who is praying in us with inexpressible sighs and groans. The Spirit will help us pray as we should and renew our firm trust in the Lord’s infinite might.

He should also open our ears to God’s Word whenever the Word is proclaimed here in church but also met in the silence of our personal time. The Word will help us settle our worried hearts and trust again in the Lord. Little by little, we will ten realize that the Lord is working in our minds, in our hearts in a way that is subtle, humble, unassuming just like a mustard seed, just like a pinch of yeast. 

With trust in the power of the Spirit who is praying in us and in total docility to the Word active in our minds and hearts, that seed will grow to be a tree and the yeast will leaven the whole mass of dough. In this way, we too, justified by God’s grace will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of our heavenly Father.