The Image Of the Heart As A Meeting Place Of Conflicting Forces

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uring my 30-day retreat, November 2023, I was carrying with me two versions of the bible, one in English and the other version in Greek. Why? Because some words in the English versions have been lost in translation.

One of the words that I look for always is the Greek "καρδία" (kardía). It is the most common word for "heart." A few times I observed that it is translated in a different way other than heart. When I cannot find the word heart, for me, the meaning is not as deep, there is no tension, there is no depth, no flesh. That is why I carry with me the Greek version. When I see the word kardia within a scripture passage, I would naturally be filled with a natural consolation exclaiming "I found the heart."

The heart is the seat of emotions, courage, or inner strength. In the first reading from Ezekiel, the word is mentioned three times where we hear one of God’s most beautiful promises, which is, God’s pledge to give us a new heart and a new spirit. There is the heart also in the responsorial psalm.

A stony heart is one that is hardened, resistant to God’s love, and closed off to His will. But God promises to replace this heart with a heart of flesh, a heart that is alive, responsive, and open to His Spirit. This is the heart that is capable not only of relating, of communicating as God relates and communicates, but this is the heart that is capable of loving as God loves.

In a sermon by St Bernard of Clairvaux, he writes, “Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal it may be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved…”

The second point from our Gospel. Springing from yesterday's gospel reading which was about the generous landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. But there is something more in our parable today. It is not just about ordinary day-to-day concerns at the vineyard that are at stake. Today is about a feast. And it is not just any feast, it is a wedding feast for the son. Indeed, it is a time of great joy. All weddings go through a very long preparation, putting so much care and attention to details, e.g. from the choices of food and drinks to serve at the banquet.

It is a different story all together for the guests who did not show up after the king had prepared the best food and wine there could be in the land. But all these preparations had been wasted on the day of the wedding because of the stony hearts of guests. And this pained the Lord so much. Jesus has revealed in this parable that God too has a heart where he feels joy and pain. That is why the Lord made a promise: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you..." (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

The word "heart" is not used in today's gospel text. But we can find two images closest to the image of "heart.” First is one's inner disposition or readiness to accept God's invitation. This is particularly evident in the rejection of the invitation by those initially called. The second image is the inappropriate attire of the man without the wedding garment. The garment can be seen as symbolizing the proper inner disposition or the "heart" necessary to enter the kingdom of God.

For our third and final point, a word about the BVM, whose feast we celebrate today. Mary is one of the greatest proofs that the human heart is the meeting place of conflicting forces, the place of dynamic tensions. Twice in identical words, Luke’s gospel writes that Mary “kept the words in her heart.” These could be very loaded words about Mary. I am reminded of St Augustine when he opened his spiritual biography with one of the most famous statements about humanity’s relationship with God: “You stir us to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (translation, Chadwyck). Each time it is said that Mary kept the words in her heart. If we go to these two occassions in Mary’s life there were conflicting forces and tensions. And that is ok. It is very human. It is what our heart of flesh is created for. And it is our greatest gift from God. Let us try to balance our view of Mary so it will not be too manicured. Mary’s fiat (be it done) to God’s plan was not predetermined or push-button. Her life was filled with dynamic tensions day by day, to which she responded faithfully and lovingly, deep in her heart. Like any ordinary person, she had to deal with doses of normal life struggles and their immediate implications. Many of us miss out on a lot of the ‘here and now’ moments that Mary went through from birth until her last breath on earth. But tensions and conflicts will not in any way diminish this woman’s very strong heart. May we learn from Mary who kept contemplating and conceiving God’s Words in her heart. Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ