Harden Not Our Hearts

The Holy Spirit says: Oh, that today you would hear his voice, “Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”

Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end. (Hebrews 3:7-14)  

Hebrews gives us a very relevant message for today.   First, we must take care – take care of our faith by serious observance and reflection, and not just on dogma and Church teachings, but on Christ and our duty as Catholics especially as it pertains to social justice, honor, and integrity.

Second, we must not harden our hearts but keep them from becoming evil and unfaithful.  We must pay attention to hardness daily and not just once-in-a-while.  Our hearts can be like the surface of lakes on very cold days – skim ice eventually thickening to impenetrable ice.

Third, we are partners with Christ; therefore, let’s keep to the oaths we swear every weekend at Masses when we recite our creed and reflect on our baptism vows: “Do you reject Satan?  And all his works? And all his empty promises?”  Have we?

Deacon David Pierce