In watching this beautiful video, one fundamental idea came to me:
Christ wants my heart.
All that He did and continues to do is in hopes that I will allow him to truly enter into the core of my being, to allow his life to enter into mine and to make it full, to allow his friendship and salvation to free me from the bonds of sin and draw me into his holiness.
The words of the Prophet Joel ring clearly: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning” (2:12).
Speaking of this verse, Benedict XVI explained the following:
The expression “with all your heart” is important: it means from the core of our thoughts and feelings, from the wellspring of our free decisions, choices and actions, in an act of complete and radical freedom. But is such a return to God possible? Yes, because there is a power which does not reside in our own hearts, but springs from God’s own heart. It is the power of his mercy. The prophet goes on to say: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing” (v. 13). To return to the Lord is possible as a “grace”, for it is God’s own work and the fruit of our faith in his mercy. This return to God becomes a concrete reality in our lives only when the Lord’s grace penetrates and deeply shakes us, enabling us to “rend our hearts”. Again, the prophet has God proclaim these words: “Rend your hearts and not your clothing” (v. 13). In our own day, lots of people are ready to “rend their clothing” in the face of scandals and acts of injustice – the fault naturally of others – but few seem prepared to do something about their own “hearts”, their own consciences and their own intentions, allowing the Lord to transform, renew and convert them.
We hear in the video that Christ had come to “make all things new”. Let it be clear that what he most desires to renew is our hearts. All his efforts, the sleepless nights, the agonizing moments in the garden, the excruciating pain on the cross, all of it so that we might say yes to him! All of our fasting, our activities or endeavors at work, our apostolic projects, all of it is important. But, let us never forget that what Christ wants above all, what is most precious to his eyes, is our hearts.
Let us also ask our Mother Mary to intercede for us, to teach us how to love her Son as she did, and to give us the strength to accompany him till the end, to the foot of the Cross.
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