Each morning I pray morning prayer from the Breviary.  This prayer begins with two psalms with another passage from scripture in between.  A week ago Saturday the passage between the psalms was from the prophet Ezekiel.  In it it said, “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.”  I began to reflect on what exactly is a natural heart.  The heart spoken of here is not the organ with the four chambers that pumps blood through our bodies, but the center and core of our being where we find the motive for what we do and see who we truly are.  What is a natural heart?  Is it more natural to be loving or hateful?  Is it more natural to be understanding or suspicious?  Is it more natural to be selfish or generous?  Is it more natural to be forgiving or spiteful?  Is it more natural to think of others first or ourselves first?  Is it more natural to see the good in others or to talk about what we don’t like in them?  Is it more natural to get even with the person on our rear bumper on the expressway or to pull over and let him go by?  The natural heart Ezekiel is speaking of is the heart God has given us in creating us in his own image.  This heart is seen so vividly in the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  There we see the epitome of what a natural heart is.  It was from his heart on the cross that he said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  To St. John and his mother he said, “Son there is your mother, mother, there is your son.”  To the “good thief,” “This day you will be with me in paradise.”  In the midst of complete injustice, rejection and cruelty he remained a person of love.  That is what a natural heart enables us to do.  Too often we have the stony heart, a hard heart, where we close ourselves off to the needs of others.  Some people do take a lot of time and energy.  Others hurt or disappoint us.  But when we walk away or close our hearts, there is the gnawing feeling of guilt or anxiety that we should have done something.  That is a sign that we need that natural heart to be fully alive and at peace with God and one another. It is the natural heart God has given us that brings us into his life.  It is the natural heart that makes God’s presence so clear in our lives.  Last Monday we celebrated the feast of St. Matthew.  The gospel for that day was the familiar passage where Jesus walked by the Matthew’s custom station and said to him, “Follow me.”  Matthew responded immediately and got up and followed him.  Because he followed his natural heart the invitation from Jesus was a source of joy.  There was no fear, quibbling or hesitancy.  Matthew became one of the twelve apostles and the author of one of the four gospels.  Once Jesus called Matthew, Matthew became a part of the life of Jesus.  Then the other key experience happened.  Matthew invited Jesus to be part of his life.  Jesus went to the house of Matthew and was criticized by the Pharisees for eating with tax collectors and sinners.  That did not deter Matthew from inviting Jesus or Jesus from accepting his invitation.  We too are invited to be part of the life of Jesus.  That invitation was accepted for us at baptism.  Like Matthew, to complete the acceptance of Jesus’ invitation, we need to invite Jesus into our lives.  That means far more than praying everyday and coming to mass every week.  These can give us a false sense of security in that we think we are keeping God happy.  To invite Jesus into our lives is to allow him into all we are, all we have, all we say, and all we do.  It means having Jesus in our homes, at work, in the car, in the supermarket, on the soccer field and wherever else we are.  Jesus always accepts our invitation.  We do not always want him where we are or we get so immersed in what we think and what we are doing that we are not nurtured and encouraged by his presence.  Jesus is with us not to keep us in line or to remind us that failure to be faithful to him can result in eternal separation from him.  The last thing Jesus, with his natural, Sacred Heart does, is to make our lives burdensome, depressing or fearful.  Jesus is with us to love us into being.  It is his presence that gives us the life and desire to do what he did naturally: to do all things with unconditional, life-giving love.  Animated by our natural hearts we live more and more fully as the children of God.  That is exactly what God created us to be and why Jesus invites us to follow him.  It is unnatural to live any other way.

Father Walden