Do Not Obey Your Heart

[Shin]

‘Until you have eradicated evil, do not obey your heart; for it will seek more of what it already contains within itself.’

St. Mark the Ascetic

Found this one particularly inspiring. . .

 

[Student09]

If I didn’t obey my heart, I would not be converting to the Catholic Church.

 

[Shin]

Conversion is more than feelings. Feelings come and go. Truth and faith, right belief stays.

The parts of your heart that are wicked will have to be overcome, it will not always be milk and honey, this is given out at the beginning.

God can prompt your heart to come to the Church, but if you always obey your heart, unless your heart is with God, you will sin as well as find good, and be led astray as well as home.

 

[Janet1983]

‘Until you have eradicated evil, do not obey your heart; for it will seek more of what it already contains within itself.’

St. Mark the Ascetic

Found this one particularly inspiring. . .

Here is a little more for you…

Ecclesiastes 9:3
This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

 

[Shin]

Nicely quoted. I know them well, and it is good to hear them again.

 

[Shin]

‘“Thy will be done!” This is what the saints had continually on their lips and in their hearts.’

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

 

[shondrea]

Huh. Guess we have a different definition of heart. Fleeting feelings cause someone to do evil. Something TRULY taken from the heart is something of kindness, compassion and giving. Fleeting compulsions and emotions does not equal heart, in my eyes

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Huh. Guess we have a different definition of heart. Fleeting feelings cause someone to do evil. Something TRULY taken from the heart is something of kindness, compassion and giving. Fleeting compulsions and emotions does not equal heart, in my eyes

I find it interesting that even uber religious/spiritual types have had that kind of mix up. Then again, all these quotes from both the saints and the Bible were written before our contemporary times when writers began associating the heart with the conscience or the kindness of the human person.

 

[Student09]

Huh. Guess we have a different definition of heart. Fleeting feelings cause someone to do evil. Something TRULY taken from the heart is something of kindness, compassion and giving. Fleeting compulsions and emotions does not equal heart, in my eyes

Exactly. My definition of heart is not “feelings” or “passions”, it is the deepest desires of the human person, and the catechism says at the very beginning that the desire for GOD is written on the human heart. I am converting because I am following what I believe to be Truth, but the reason I desire Truth in the first place is because the desire is written on my heart.

 

[simple_soul]

*Our heart is drawn to where our treasure lies.
If God is our only treasure then by all means give your heart to God and trust in Him that you can follow your heart to Himself.
But make sure God is your only treasure and that your heart is completely His.

 

[Janet1983]

Our heart is drawn to where our treasure lies.
If God is our only treasure then by all means give your heart to God and trust in Him that you can follow your heart to Himself.
But make sure God is your only treasure and that your heart is completely His.

That is what happens when we get saved…

GOD:

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (Context)

 

[Shin]

Having a pure heart is our work as Christians… and there are constant trials as we try for this purity… to gain it… we need mortification of our desires and penance… because we are constantly desiring that which is not pure… concupiscence… and our own will’s instead of God’s… pride and selfishness… and so these desires enter our heart when we acquiesce to them…

So instead we mortify these desires… we give to these desires their opposites and so overcome them…

‘A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life; whereas an assiduous heart is an open door.’

St. Mark the Ascetic

Take from Me My Heart of Stone
Aufer A Me Cor Lapideum
by Baldwin, Bishop of Canterbury (12th century)

O LORD, take away my heart of stone, my hardened heart, my uncircumcised heart and grant to me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a clean heart! O Thou who purifieth the heart and loveth the clean heart, possess my heart and dwell in it, containing it and filling it, higher than my highest and more intimate than my most intimate thoughts. Thou who art the image of all beauty and the seal of all holiness, seal my heart in Thine image and seal my heart in Thy mercy, O God of my heart and the God of my portion in eternity.

Aufer a me, Domine, cor lapideum, aufer cor coagulatum, da mihi cor novum, cor carneum, cor mundum! Tu cordis mundator et mundi cordis amator, posside cor meum et inhabita, continens et implens, superior summo meo et interior intimo meo! Tu forma pulchritudinis et signaculum sanctitatis, signa cor meum in imagine tua: signa cor meum sub misericordia tua, Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aternum.

 

[poetryforjesus]

Dear Shin, this is exactly what I need to hear today. It’s so easy to be caught up within our own little world of feelings, desires, perceptions. My problem is with self-pity and melancholy, as if God has not done enough for me.

 

[Shin]

Gratitude for the gifts God has given us is the secret to happiness!

Deo gratias et Mariae semper Virgini!

Thanks be to God and to Mary Ever Virgin!

 

[simple_soul]

*Dear Shin,

Just wanted to add my thoughts to yours here and try to clarify and understand if we are saying the same thing or not.*

Having a pure heart is our work as Christians… and there are constant trials as we try for this purity… to gain it… we need mortification of our desires and penance… because we are constantly desiring that which is not pure…

• It is my understanding that it is only God who can purify us. So I would believe that we should not hesitate to acquiesce our hearts completely to Him and His Divine Will. *

we need mortification of our desires and penance… because we are constantly desiring that which is not pure…
concupiscence… and our own will’s instead of God’s… pride and selfishness… and so these desires enter our heart when we acquiesce to them…

What could be a better form of complete mortification than to completely surrender our heart’s desire to God and His Divine Will? I have personaly found that in putting my heart into His hands and letting Him mold me to His Will has allowed Him to work wonders in me and my struggles with my will, pride and selfishness become harder when I do not put my complete trust in Him and His Divine Will.

So instead we mortify these desires… we give to these desires their opposites and so overcome them…

So, by us choosing God and putting our hearts into His hands to mold to His Divine Will is good. Correct?

'A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life;

So true, if we do not learn to surrender our hearts to God and His Divine Will and let Him purify us our closed hearts will become our worst prison.

whereas an assiduous heart is an open door.’

That, I believe, would depend on what an assidious heart leaves the door open to. Is the assiduous heart putting itself in God’s Divine Will and then leaving the door open for God to purify it?

St. Mark the Ascetic

Take from Me My Heart of Stone
Aufer A Me Cor Lapideum
by Baldwin, Bishop of Canterbury (12th century)

O LORD, take away my heart of stone, my hardened heart, my uncircumcised heart and grant to me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a clean heart! O Thou who purifieth the heart and loveth the clean heart, possess my heart and dwell in it, containing it and filling it, higher than my highest and more intimate than my most intimate thoughts. Thou who art the image of all beauty and the seal of all holiness, seal my heart in Thine image and seal my heart in Thy mercy, O God of my heart and the God of my portion in eternity.

Aufer a me, Domine, cor lapideum, aufer cor coagulatum, da mihi cor novum, cor carneum, cor mundum! Tu cordis mundator et mundi cordis amator, posside cor meum et inhabita, continens et implens, superior summo meo et interior intimo meo! Tu forma pulchritudinis et signaculum sanctitatis, signa cor meum in imagine tua: signa cor meum sub misericordia tua, Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aternum.

This is a beautiful read. Thank you for sharring.