"Lockdown, quarantine, pandemic, sickness . . . this is just the beginning of the things that occupy space in our hearts. How will I get what is important to me? How will I see the ones I love? Each of us has been forced to ask these questions. Throughout the pandemic each of us has had to consider life's priorities anew. We've had to take stock and inventory what is and isn't central to life.
"Believers must make value judgments based on our faith. Our love and expression of our desire for God comes first. To fall away from the Lord, to begin to seek comfort and consolation in things other than Him, causes our hearts to harden. We become less and less capable of loving if we fail to love the one who is most loveable. God, the origin of all love, pours love into our hearts and thereby gives us the ability to love in return.
". . . As we begin this Advent season, we are called to a new examination. To prepare our hearts to relive the holy mysteries of God's love, we must look into the depths of our inner selves and cast out all that is an obstacle to love. We must exercise our hearts, stretching them, keeping them ever able to spread life and love."
In a
recent commentary, Father Patrick Briscoe, O.P.,
reflected on some of the ways in which we may know if we have a hardened heart (including asking ourselves if we are bitter, proud, and/or indifferent).
To access Fr Patrick's complete post, please visit:
Aleteia: Fr. Patrick Briscoe, OP: 6 Questions to determine if your heart is hard (27 NOV 20)
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