Stony or Fleshy?

Details: 08 April 2011

Are our hearts stony or fleshy? This is a life and death question.

One might think I’m talking about a medical condition akin to a sclerotic heart, one that has been ravaged by multiple infarcts or heart attacks or some inflammatory process that has rendered the heart with areas of scar tissue. Such a heart is an inefficient pump which could ultimately lead to further infarcts or heart failure or both leading ultimately in an untimely death.

No, I am talking about the human soul described sometimes as the ‘heart.’ This is what we mean when we talk about having devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which breaks when we sin.

Our souls, or hearts in this sense, were created to hold or contain the very life of God, or Sanctifying Grace. Our first parents were created with it. They lost it when they rebelled against God. After their disobedience against God, their fleshy hearts became stony. Covenant after covenant were broken, even the covenant with Moses.

It is God the Father who saves us through His Son, the "Word made flesh" (Jn 1:14), in the Holy Spirit. In Old Testament times, because of Original Sin, that Word from the Father had to be inscribed on stony tablets. They were given to Moses. Since the Word was inscribed on stony tablets and not on fleshy ones, no one was able to keep it. This was the reason that the "Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).

Now through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Word can be inscribed in our hearts. This was predicted by the prophet Ezekiel around the time of the fall of Judah. The Lord said, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses … a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you … I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ez 36:25-26).

Yes, it is through baptism Original Sin is removed, in that the person receives the very life of God into their souls for the first time, and if they are at or past the age of reason, actual sins are likewise removed. Since the effects of Original Sin remain, we need regular installments of Divine Life via the other sacraments especially Confirmation, Eucharist and Confession to not only remain in the state of Sanctifying Grace, but grow in it.

Days ago, a married man with cancer was at risk of losing his home because of the inability to catch up on his rent and utility payments. We were able to help only because our donors have fleshy hearts. Only a fleshy human heart is able to obey the greatest two commandments of the law, words that were formerly inscribed on stony tablets but now on the fleshy hearts of people living in the state of grace, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind … You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:37- 39).

Thank you to all who are generous with Catholic Social Services, for without you we would not have been able to help this and many other individuals and families who come to us in crisis. Please know that you all remain in our special prayers. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us, Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!!