‘My child, give me your heart’

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S from the Book of Proverbs. (23,26) If we would just give some time meditating on these words, for sure we would be moved to realize that God himself is begging us to give our heart to him. He does not place obstacles in this regard. The problem lies in us—in whether we really would be willing to give our whole heart to him.

Here, God is asking us to conform our heart to his. That is why when Christ was asked what the greatest commandment was, he clearly said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt 22,37)

We need to realize that the ideal condition for our life is when we have the very heart of God in us. And the way to do that is to give our whole heart, our whole being to him. It involves a transformation that God himself facilitates for us as long as we learn to give our heart to him.

Yes, we need to develop a certain discipline which would always remind us that we need to pause as often as possible to see if indeed our heart is vibrating in unison with God’s heart. That awareness should be developed and as much as possible made stable or permanent.

Somehow, we would know that our heart is already with God when, as a liturgical hymn would put it, “The heart that truly welcomes Christ brings forth a conscience free from sin.” There would always be a feeling of peace that, as Christ himself said, is of the kind that the world does not and cannot give. (cfr. Jn 14,27) This is a peace that is not fleeting. It’s a peace that offers inner calm and strength even in the face of challenges.

We need to constantly ask ourselves as we go through the many affairs of our day, “Where is my heart? Is it with God? Is it throbbing in synch with Christ’s Sacred Heart? Do we really know what is in that Sacred Heart of Christ?, etc.”

That way we would get some ideas of what to do to conform our heart to Christ’s Sacred Heart. Yes, there will be some difficulties, awkwardness, even mistakes, but if we persist, for sure the way to see and imitate what is inside Christ’s Sacred Heart would open to us.

The secret is in our persistence and perseverance. Let’s not forget that God is a loving father to us. He cannot allow us to wallow in our difficulties without him helping us. And we also have to understand that the difficulties we will experience in this regard would always be helpful to us if considered in faith. There is always a reason behind them.

We should just try our best to attain that level where the very stream of our consciousness has God always in the middle of everything. Let’s always make our faith functional, so that this reality would be captured in our heart and mind. To be sure, we are not inventing things here. We are not playing make-believe. God is first of all already in our heart. All we have to do is to learn to acknowledge him.

If we become more and more familiar with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we would know why we always have to be patient, understanding, compassionate, magnanimous, etc. The very image of Christ, the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity, would be formed in us.

We can echo the same words of St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!” (Gal 2,20)

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com