Developing a big, compassionate heart

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

SINCE we are patterned after Christ, we should also have the same heart as that of Christ which is full of compassion. This was shown, for example, in that episode where a big crowd followed him in a desert place and was moved with compassion and healed their sick when he saw them. (cfr. Mt 14,13-21)

We actually have a thirst for loving, though we must also realize that that thirst can only be completely quenched by the infinite love of God as shown to us by Christ. That is why in the Book of Proverbs we read these words from God: “Give me, my child, your heart, and let your eyes guard my ways.” (Prov 23,26).

When we struggle to give our heart to the Lord, we would actually be expanding our capacity to love others, because our loving would go beyond its purely human and natural ways and would enter into the spiritual and supernatural ways of God.

It’s a love that is given gratuitously, without measure, and continues to be given despite being rejected. For this supernatural kind of love to enter into our heart, we should little by little change our heart of stone into a new heart, a heart of flesh, and the flesh of Christ. This is when our heart would be enabled to love in a supernatural way.

To be sure, when our heart is immersed in the heart of Christ, we would find it easy to carry out our duties and tasks, whatever they may be, with order, understanding and magnanimity. That’s when we can rightfully echo St. Paul’s words when he talked about having the same feelings that Christ had. (cfr. Phil 2,5) We would be very generous in our self-giving.

It’s when we learn to love the way Christ loves us that we can manage to be merciful, willing to take upon ourselves the miseries of others, and to give ourselves decisively until death itself, if only to achieve the reconciliation of everyone with God.

When our heart manages to love the way Christ loves, we would be able to purify sins, regenerate hope and true human love. It’s when we can have the fullness of love that would attract “grace upon grace” for us. (cfr. Jn 1,16)

If we truly love God and everybody else, with a love that is nothing less than a participation of the love God has for us and as commanded by Christ to us, then we will never say enough in our self-giving.

Even if such attitude would already seem to be going beyond common sense, our reason and other human and worldly standards that we usually use to measure our love, we would still go on giving ourselves, never saying enough. We would just give and give, even if we seem to consume ourselves till death.

This is, of course, an overwhelming prospect, but that is what true love is. It is some kind of madness that knows no limits. It is given without measure, without cost, without any calculation.

We have to be wary of our tendency to say enough because we might think that we have already done or given enough of ourselves. People around us may even tell us so.

But that is a very dangerous attitude to have, since it has no other way but to lead us to self-satisfaction, to complacency and spiritual lukewarmness. It would give an opening to more serious predicaments of pride and conceit, vanity, lust, sloth, etc. Hypocrisy will surely enter into our system. And instead of always being mindful and thoughtful of others, we would just be thinking of our own selves, our own interests.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com