8TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: TO CULTIVATE YOUR HEART FOR GOOD

The final words of Jesus in today’s gospel are weighty and call for deeper reflection, “for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:45). What does your heart look like? Does your heart store enough goodness against infestation by filth? To cultivate our hearts for good means to “receive with open hearts the love of God, who makes us brothers and sisters in Christ” (Pope Francis’ 2021 Lenten Message). 

 Sirach begins the narrative with the metaphor of, “a tree’s care” in the first reading. The wise prophet maintains that when a tree is well cared for, it produces good and healthy fruits. Otherwise, the tree’s fruits get messed up. Sirach affirms, “So too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.” Spoken words give insight and signal the nature of the heart. In the gospel, Jesus says, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good.” Jesus further orchestrates that the blind cannot lead the blind. Being preoccupied with the splinter in a neighbor’s eyes while neglecting the plank in one’s own eyes points to a lack of proper cultivation of the heart, because, as he said, a rotten tree cannot produce good fruits.

Imagine the feeling when you are out of groceries in your house and your fridge is smelly with rotten foods. The house gets messed up. Your fridge is meant to store good food but with bad food inside it, the atmosphere becomes discomforting and pathetic. This poor analogy can be likened to our hearts and what is stored therein.

Christ reinforces, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil.” In the homes, parents are supposed to train their kids by setting good examples. Consider when parents are in constant fight before their children. Mom says nasty things in front of her daughter against dad. Dad calls mom nasty names before the children and denigrates her worth. Children observe these negative behaviors almost daily. Imagine that blind parents like these still expect their children to turn out healthy amidst the dysfunction that they entrench. Can blind parents lead children to healthy, functional relationships?

The question is to identify the best ways to cultivate our hearts so they become a store of goodness. Saint Teresa of Avila is apt on this in her teaching on The Interior Castle. Written out of obedience, Saint Teresa compares the soul to a castle with seven rooms and provides guidelines on the spiritual path to get to the seventh room where one can experience the indescribable joy of union with God. Saint Teresa recommends: “The door to enter this castle is prayer.” Through prayer we can store good things in our hearts by constantly asking God to fill us with his grace, to make us joyful, and peaceful. Like Saint Francis of Assisi, we can always ask, “Lord, make me a channel of your peace,” with no toxicity in my heart.

Jesus once said to the disciples, “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person” (Mk. 7:20-23). That “all these evils come from the inside” means they are stored in the heart. To cultivate our hearts means to align our behaviors with Jesus’ teachings to purge those evils from within. It means to seek intimacy with Jesus and to strive to live out his demands. That is the way to holiness, peace, and justice.

In terms of human relationships, our hearts would experience fewer conflicts, hatred, meanness, and betrayals if we cultivate them for good. Kindness, compassion, inspiration, joy! These reveal hearts cultivated for good. If we cultivate our hearts, we will become leaders with vision. We will build healthy homes and children. We will establish a society of love, truth, and justice. Jesus’ truth is glaring because a blind teacher cannot form/lead healthy students. A blind parent cannot breed healthy children. A blind pastor cannot create a healthy church. A blind CEO cannot build a healthy company. It’s simple logic.

Cultivating our hearts is interior work. It is the basis for our relationship with God. That interior work is necessary to produce good and pure fruits. Through prayer, let us ask Jesus to make our hearts meek and humble like his own. Our joys come alive when we encounter people with love, hearts properly cultivated for God’s goodness. Do you remember the feelings Jacob had when he woke up from his dream to encounter God at Bethel? Jacob exclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place” (Gen. 28:16). That is how it feels when you encounter a person with a good heart. You will say to yourself, “Surely God is in this heart.” Encountering individuals with good hearts can be uplifting. What if you are the person with such a good heart?

Readings: 1st- Sir. 27:4-7; 2nd- 1 Cor. 15:54-58; Gospel- Lk. 6:39-45