Changing our minds is hard work, something that most of us do only reluctantly. Even when the truth stares us in the face, we resist. Perhaps we are afraid of losing something with which we are comfortable. Or we think that changing our minds might be interpreted as disloyalty to someone in power or a friend. Whatever the reason for our resistance, opening our hearts, letting go and changing our minds in order to follow the Lord more closely is a clear mandate in the gospel, even when it seems we have good reasons not to change.
Most of us have lived faithful catholic lives. We have followed the commandments and tried to live the beatitudes, but the Lord often demands more. Perhaps we have been hurt by a colleague, a friend, even a spouse and we refuse to believe that they can and have changed. We avoid them, speak dismissively of their good works or smirk at their efforts to change. The problem is ours, not theirs, especially if they have discovered a way to follow Christ which we are resisting, not because their ideas lack value, but because we do not trust them as persons.
The questions all must ask are simple but difficult. What must we do to open our hearts so that the message of salvation can go forth? How can we be instruments of peace so that others can discover the face of Christ? St Paul tells us how Jesus did this. “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Humility is always in vogue.
Today, open your heart to a new idea or person.
What keeps you from opening your heart to God's desire for you?
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