Jesus did not intend his statement “Blessed are those who
weep” (Luke 6:21) to be sentimentalized or remain unnoticed. Hard-heartedness,
or what Zechariah and other prophets called “hearts of flint,” prevented the
people from hearing the law and the words that YHWH had sent by the Spirit. A
heart of stone cannot recognize the empires it builds and the empires it
worships. Lamentation does. It moves us through anger and sadness, empowering
us to truly hear and respond to the always-tragic now.
The prophet Ezekiel says: “I shall give you a new heart, and
put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and
give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you…. You shall be
my people and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:26–28). This is the organ
transplant that we all long for, the interior religiosity that all spirituality
seeks.
Richard
Rohr, Daily Meditations, 3/6/2025
______________________
I often wonder
How people with ashes on their foreheads
and crosses hanging around their necks
can be so cold
so calculating
can talk Jesus and deny him at the same time
how they can, without, it seems
even a moment's pause
cut funding for the poor
hand out money to the rich
make people unemployed
deny the existence of beautiful (trans) souls
how they can blithely lie
manipulate
oppress
suppress
and deport
while claiming to be the chosen ones
the blessed
it is as if they simply
have disconnected from their hearts
or is it that their hearts have simply
died
shriveled away
until they simply do not work
until those heart things
that make us sacred children
and make us people with
compassion, integrity, ethics
love
are simply gone
How did we end up here?
In this place where we are in a state of spiritual
Asystole
where the Spirit no longer flows
and our hearts are still
hard
stony
what toxins have attacked our hearts, rendering them
frail and ineffective?
until there is no life in us?
and ashes
and crosses
are markers on a tomb
and nothing more
we need heart transplants
we need hearts that are no longer
stony and cold
(making us hard and cruel)
but hearts of flesh that beat
and feel
and connect us to other hearts
and connect us to Sacred, to Love
We need to feel the surge of the Spirit
The heat of love
With every beat of our heart
It is a terrible thing
To be in that place
Where no matter how much wealth or power we have
No matter how much privilege
We are simply the walking dead.
Those with no life in us
Where in the end
We are cut off
From our own true self
From others
And (above all) from You
Create in us a new heart
O lord
Fill us anew with your spirit
Give us new hearts,
Hearts that feel everything
pain, compassion
love
and joy
Lord, come to us in this time of Lent
Walk with us
Teach us, rebuke us, affirm us, love us
Renew us
We need a resurrection.
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