Dull Hearts Or Resurrected Hearts? Series

Thursday of 16th Week in Course 2017

Joy of the Gospel

One would think that with all the smoke and lightning, and the other marvels that manifest God’s presence to the people of Israel, the last thing they would do after the Sinai event is to let their hearts grow dull. But that’s human nature, weak and prone to sin. Exodus and Numbers tell us that, time after time, God would be tempted to destroy the people because of their disobedience. Fast forward a couple of thousand years and God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ manifest Himself in signs and wonders. But the people of His day had dull hearts and ears heavy of hearing, and most of the Jews closed their minds to the truth. Why? Because it’s inconvenient to acknowledge the Truth, and to change our lives. Yet for those who do acknowledge Christ and open their hearts to grace, the power of the Resurrection begins to work wonders in every age.

The Holy Father continues in that vein: ‘Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force. Often it seems that God does not exist: all around us we see persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty. But it is also true that in the midst of darkness something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit. On razed land life breaks through, stubbornly yet invincibly. However dark things are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads. Each day in our world beauty is born anew, it rises transformed through the storms of history. Values always tend to reappear under new guises, and human beings have arisen time after time from situations that seemed doomed. Such is the power of the resurrection, and all who evangelize are instruments of that power.

‘At the same time, new difficulties are constantly surfacing: experiences of failure and the human weaknesses which bring so much pain. We all know from experience that sometimes a task does not bring the satisfaction we seek, results are few and changes are slow, and we are tempted to grow weary. Yet lowering our arms momentarily out of weariness is not the same as lowering them for good, overcome by chronic discontent and by a listlessness that parches the soul. It also happens that our hearts can tire of the struggle because in the end we are caught up in ourselves, in a careerism which thirsts for recognition, applause, rewards and status. In this case we do not lower our arms, but we no longer grasp what we seek, the resurrection is not there. In cases like these, the Gospel, the most beautiful message that this world can offer, is buried under a pile of excuses.

‘Faith also means believing in God, believing that he truly loves us, that he is alive, that he is mysteriously capable of intervening, that he does not abandon us and that he brings good out of evil by his power and his infinite creativity. It means believing that he marches triumphantly in history with those who “are called and chosen and faithful” (Rev 17:14). Let us believe the Gospel when it tells us that the kingdom of God is already present in this world and is growing, here and there, and in different ways: like the small seed which grows into a great tree (cf. Mt 13:31-32), like the measure of leaven that makes the dough rise (cf. Mt 13:33) and like the good seed that grows amid the weeds (cf. Mt 13, 24-30) and can always pleasantly surprise us. The kingdom is here, it returns, it struggles to flourish anew. Christ’s resurrection everywhere calls forth seeds of that new world; even if they are cut back, they grow again, for the resurrection is already secretly woven into the fabric of this history, for Jesus did not rise in vain. May we never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope!’

Indeed, we are all called to be either on the playing field battling for good against the forces of evil, or coaching or cheerleading or passing out the water to the players. All of us have a role to play in the missionary call of the Church. Let’s pray to know it and to never head for the locker room.