The Heart of the Matter This Lent

By Madeline Mauro

As a Spiritual Director and foundress of a healing ministry, I offer my directees the opportunity to go on a picnic with Jesus as part of their Lenten journey. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:20 NABRE) I ask them to imagine Jesus sitting, tapping his hand on a blanket with a picnic basket, saying, "I have been waiting for you, and I'm so glad you came." (Inspired by Matthew 11:28-30 NABRE)

This allows Ignatius’s imagination to set a scene. Lent is a time of weeding and pruning for regrowth (John 15:2 NABRE). Let God take away every branch in you that does not bear fruit (the fruits of the Spirit), and prune every branch that does, so it bears more fruit.

This year, I lost a young cousin, which shocked us all. He leaves behind a family of young children, and while you hear this all the time, experiencing it firsthand is a different story. Recently, I was watching a TV show, High Potential Season 2, where Oz reflects on his father's death: “it takes loss to really know what you have,” and that “death is just the beginning of something new.” It had me thinking about loss and how the resurrection of Jesus helps us see death differently.

As Lent approaches, we all have an opportunity to go deeper within ourselves. I ask you to reflect on how we think and feel about death. Did you know the most difficult road to travel is between your mind and heart? In the gospel, Jesus makes it sound impossible to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20 NABRE). Both groups know scripture and can even elaborate on the Ten Commandments, extending them to 613 sub-commandments. What was Jesus trying to tell us? It is not all about intellect, the knowing, but the heart, too. The heart always amazes me; it is the life source, along with breath (Ezekiel 37:4-5 NABRE), which comes from God, that keeps us alive. The blood flowing through it goes to every organ, including the brain. God points to the heart, and Jesus’s heart is pierced at His crucifixion (John 19:34 NABRE).

Here are the Scripture verses about the heart:

§  “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”  —  Matthew 6:21 (NABRE)

§  “Create a clean heart in me, O God.”  — Psalm 51:12 (NABRE)

§  “I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.” — Ezekiel 36:26 (NABRE)

So now, when we look at Romans 12:1-2 (NABRE), we must consider the heart of the matter. Are your passions getting out of control? Is your mind aligned with God? You see, Jesus is telling us that metanoia must take place as He begins calling His first disciples (Mark 1:14-16 NABRE).

Let this death of our ways be transformed by God into a new season of living in love — with our family, friends, and even ourselves. Allow your darkness to encounter the light of Christ and rest in His presence. Let God prune you. Instead of trying to fix and problem-solve, see it as a predicament of life circumstances and explore possibilities for approaching it. Write them down. What if you decide to think of it differently as you surrender it in love and light? What if you decide not to let it define you, but rather draw you to God and rest awhile?

When was the last time you went on a picnic and rested your head on someone’s heart, listening to their breathing and heartbeat? Lent is a time to connect with God in this way. Spirit to spirit. Soul to soul. Think of St. John, who rested his head on Jesus’ chest (John 13:23-24 NABRE). God desires this intimacy with each of us, and we are not only His beloved disciple but also His sons and daughters through Jesus. Remember, Jesus shares everything He has with each of us, and all we need to do is ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7-8 NABRE). Take this Lenten Season to do just that. Speak to Him about His promises: Lord, you promise to provide for me, heal me, protect me, save me, and be my refuge.

Reflect on the Last Supper and the intimacy the beloved disciple shares with Jesus before the meal. Are you doing that at Mass? Resting your head on His chest before receiving His divinity?

Live your true baptism as a child of God, and what you lack, lean on Jesus and receive His gift of self. (2 Corinthians 12:9 NABRE) His death was to take away our sins, but we must give them to Him. When we do this, the great exchange happens. The Church has long called this the admirabile commercium — the wondrous exchange — where Christ takes what is ours so that we may share in what is His. We encounter the resurrection of His divinity. That is why the Eucharist is so precious and why reconciliation is key. We have to step out of our darkness into His light. “Return to me with your whole heart.” (Joel 2:12 NABRE) We have to cooperate with God and be courageous with a philo trust. Don’t let fear stop you. (Joshua 1:9 NABRE)  

We must understand Jesus’s baptism. He chose to stand with us in our fallen condition so that He could conquer death on the cross. (Hebrews 2:14-15 NABRE) Jesus felt everything that had ever happened to you. You are not alone nor abandoned by God. Always remember that. The heart of Jesus’s message is union with Him.

When you ask, "How can God allow this to happen to me?" it was not His choice but man's freedom. Yet God did something marvelous when Jesus came and stepped into the scene of our lives, feeling it with us. My hope and prayer for you this Lent is that you open your wounded heart to Him, because He already feels it, and it hurts Him that you don’t know He was there. Let Him share His divinity with you and resurrect you from this pain.

May you have a blessed Lent and know “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” — Augustine of Hippo