Today's Meditation: Lk 6:27-38

Homily of the Day: Is Your Heart Shrinking Your Life?


September 9th, 2010 by Monsignor Dennis Clark

Some years after the Civil War was over, the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee went to visit a friend’s plantation in Kentucky. Out in front of the mansion were the sad remains of a grand old magnolia tree whose limbs had been blown away by the artillery of the Union Army. Despite the passage of years, the lady of the house was still bitter and she wept angry tears as she showed Lee the scarred and blackened tree trunk. Then she paused, waiting expectantly for him to denounce those hated Yankees. The general was silent for awhile and then, looking at the tree, he said, “Cut it down, dear lady, and forget it!”
For years that woman had been poisoning and shrinking her life by clinging to bitter memories, and it was long past time to stop. But stopping would take a profound change of heart. For it is with our heart that we see the world, and take its measure, and decide how to react to it.

If our hearts are bitter, mean or small, they’ll project their own narrow, ugly image on the world. We’ll find there exactly what we expect to find — nothing good. We’ll shrink friends into enemies and shrink opportunities into problems. And in the process our hearts themselves will shrink smaller and narrower, with less and less room to take in the friendship and love that people want to give us. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “The measure you measure with will be measured back to you.” Our own hearts do the measuring — in both directions, out-going and in-coming.

But what if our hearts aren’t cold, hard and small? What if instead our hearts are warm, open, and hopeful? What will we see then? A very different world, a world filled with good people who just aren’t done yet, a world of people who are struggling to get life right, people who will get it right if we lend them a hand instead of turning away. Large hearts can see that, and they can turn enemies into friends and can love people into wholeness, just the way that God does.

And in the process of searching for the goodness in others and helping it grow, those large and open hearts will themselves grow larger and larger. And we’ll find ourselves with a whole new capacity for receiving and taking in the joy, love and friendship that people want to give us. “The measure we measure with will be measured back to us” by the hearts we have built.

What kind of world do we want to live in? A hostile one full of enemies and empty of joy? or a peaceful world filled with brothers and sisters? The choice is ours. And whether we know it or not, our hearts are creating the world of our choosing at this very moment.

With God’s help, may it be a bright and spacious world with room enough for all God’s children.