Heart (and Words and Actions)
“…the heart is the innermost center of our being. It is the seat of our thoughts, emotions, will, self-awareness, and conscience. It follows that the state of the heart determines the condition of our bodies, minds, and souls.” (Fr. Basil)
“What we say and do is a reflection of what is in our heart. Our external actions reflect our inner spiritual condition. This truth is reflected in many ways in our lives. Something I noted when pastoring (something which I recently also read about in a magazine article) is how we often assume that others think like we do. I noted in counseling parishioners that when a couple came in if one was more honest and one more deceitful, the deceitful person often assumed the honest person was lying, and the honest person often assumed the liar was being honest. Angry people sometimes accused their spouses of being angry as they projected themselves on their partners. What they projected on others actually reflected their own inner spiritual condition and they assumed the other thought like they did.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“It is not enough to have good intentions. You must also put them into effect with genuine willingness and a happy heart…The heart is like a root and contains within itself all the fruit of the action which proceeds from it. Someone who operates from a spirit of jealousy and strife will do nothing which is not tainted with evil, however good it may appear to others…When we do the works of godliness, it becomes apparent that we are of the truth which is God, because we are copying his perfect love to the best of our ability. When we love our neighbors in deed and in truth, we see clearly that we are reassuring our hearts in the light of the supreme truth.” (St. John Chrysostom, St. Bede)
“What is most important for us as we strive to live for Christ? As with field and garden, both scarcity and bounty are constant possibilities that affect our giving and helping. As the apostle says, we choose when we give. However, let us remember that God is concerned with our heart as we care for others. Our actions cultivate either a loving heart or a stony one, blessings or sterility, spiritual riches or dullness, plenty or blight. The wise gardener and prudent farmer takes good seed in hand to sow for a bountiful harvest. Similarly, an obedient servant is careful to use the Lord’s select seed to sprout and mature under divine cultivation.” (Dynamis 10/24/2021)
“Our thoughts, our words, and our actions and deeds must be loving and in congruence with a heart that is filled with God’s grace and love. Unfortunately, they are not always loving and often incongruent. We do the opposite of what we say. We may do one thing in public and another in private. We may say one thing but really think another. Sin is the infection that causes this disharmony. Christ offers us the cure through union with Him. The more we are in union with Him the more our thoughts, words, and actions will be of one accord and will be loving.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
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