HARDENED HEART

The Kerygma Family

A hardened face looks ugly, frightening, intimidating. A hardened muscle feels painful. But how does a hardened heart look? How does it feel?
I searched and searched to find a hardened heart. I found the object of my curiosity — inside a freezer! I saw a chicken’s heart inside a freezer, and boy, it was really very hard!
How does a hardened heart look? It looks like a stone. You can hardly recognize it as a heart. Throw it on a glass shield, and it breaks. Hit someone’s head with it, and the head gets bruised. Bite it and you certainly will lose a tooth. A hardened heart hurts and destroys. I do not like a hardened heart. Do you? How does a hardened heart feel? It feels so cold, terribly cold. It feels like solid ice, not snow. Squeeze it and its coldness bites you. Hold it and no sooner you will drop it. Place it near an open tooth and the ache will be unbearably painful. A hardened heart bites and inflicts pain. I do not want a hardened heart, do you?
But does a heart harden?
A heart hardens by not becoming what it should be. It hardens when it is isolated from the rest of the living body and kept inside a freezer. It hardens because it dies. It becomes hardened because it has turned exclusively unto itself. A heart hardens even more when it refuses to melt. It hardens when it has become stubborn. I do not like a hardened heart. Do you?
Jesus reprimands His disciples in the Gospel today for the hardness of their hearts. They are witnesses to His miracles. They heard His words. Yet their hearts seem to be impenetrable. Why? Fr. Bobby Titco

Reflection Question:
Do I have a hardened heart?

Lord, change our stony hearts into hearts of flesh. Touch our hearts always to keep them warm. Grace our hearts so that they may always be what they are supposed to be. Make us love You more and more each day. Help us love one another as You love us. And keep our hearts loving and true. Amen.

St. Georgia, pray for us.