From the Deacon's Desk

If I were to give this homily a title, I would call it, The Evolution of Our Heart.

From Luke’s gospel, we heard the familiar story of the Road to Emmaus. In it, Jesus said to the travelers, “How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!”

A slow heart.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter addressed the other apostles, using the words of King David: “Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted…”

A glad heart.

Again in the Emmaus story, after Jesus vanished from their sight, the travelers said to one another: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us?”

A burning heart.

Slow heart…glad heart…burning heart.

I’ll use a brief personal story to illustrate this evolution of the heart.

My wife Carol and I have been married for 42 years. We went to high school together and were good friends, but were not high school sweethearts. We dated other people and maintained our friendship throughout our college years. 

We bumped into one another at an event in 1982 and neither of us were dating anyone. We had a long conversation that night, acknowledged what good friends we were, and decided maybe we should date each other.

My heart was glad. I knew what was happening was special.

My heart was so glad, in fact, that after dating just two months I knew what I wanted. I assumed Carol’s heart was as glad as mine, so I asked her to marry me.

It turned out that Carol was operating with a slow heart, open to possibilities but hesitant to commit. She wasn’t there yet and responded with, “Not yet.” She assured me it wasn’t a no.

After a very brief break, we resumed dating, me with a wounded, but glad heart and Carol with a slow heart. It soon became clear that Carol’s heart was evolving. 

I knew this because she dropped blatant hints like, “You could ask me that question again if you wanted!” 

So, after a grand total of four months of dating, we were both operating with glad hearts.

When I proposed – again – and she said yes, both our hearts were burning. We were all in. We were committed to one another and the relationship.

After 42 years of marriage, the condition of our hearts has been cyclical at times. Life circumstances can cause the intensity of the burning to ebb and flow; a burning heart can revert to a glad or slow state for a time and return at some point to full flame.

Let’s apply this evolution of the heart to our relationship with God.

Unfortunately, our relationship with God ebbs and flows just as it does in our relationships with  human beings – we feel close at times and distant at other times; we’re all in at times and have doubts about the relationship at other times; we’re content at times and restless at other times; we’re peaceful and calm at times and anxious and fearful at other times.

Our heart can be slow to commit to God, glad to re-connect with Him, and burn with love when we’re fully engaged with Him.

Let’s examine this phenomenon using Cleopas and his travelling companion on the road to Emmaus as our example: As disciples of Jesus, their hearts were glad. They appreciated everything Jesus taught them and recognized their relationship with Him was special. When Jesus said He must suffer, die, and rise again they heard Him, but they didn’t fully understand; they doubted.

They witnessed his crucifixion and because they didn’t fully believe, when Jesus died on the cross, their relationship with Him died as well.

But listen to how Cleopas described the events of the day. We can almost hear his heart being revived. A glad heart while a disciple, a slow heart when he considered the possibility that Jesus had risen, and a burning heart when Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. The burning in their hearts later intensified when they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. 

“The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people…”

A glad heart – Jesus was someone special.

“Some women…were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body…a vision of angels announced that he was alive…we went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described…”

A slow heart, open to possibilities but not ready to commit.

“…while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him…were our hearts not burning as he spoke to us…?”

A burning heart, fully engaged and committed.

Like Cleopas and his companion, the state of our heart in relationship with God is ever-evolving, ebbing and flowing with whatever we are experiencing in the moment. It is part of our human nature.

However, God does not operate with a human heart. God’s love for us is constant; His heart is always burning for us. God is all in, all of the time.

While we can never duplicate God’s perfect love, we can certainly do our best to emulate it. 

How is this possible? While a slow heart and a glad heart each show signs of life,  how can we increase the amount of time our heart burns with love for God?

The burning of our heart diminishes when we feel distant from Him, when we don’t feel His loving presence. With that in mind, a burning heart is more likely to be achieved when we recognize God’s presence in our lives and embrace it.

THAT should be our focus. We must create opportunities for our hearts to burn. We must be hyper-vigilant, always open to and aware of God working in our lives. 

We can’t allow the chaos of the world or the anxiety we feel to distract our hearts from what is good and beautiful. We can’t hope there is room for God in our lives; we must ensure there is room. 

Pope Francis once said, “Each day, the Lord visits us, speaks to us, and reveals Himself in unexpected ways.”

When the Lord visits us, speaks to us, or reveals Himself to us, it is always with a heart that is burning for us. Are we ready to embrace Him? What type of heart will he find beating in us?