New Heart

Thus says the LORD: I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it. Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you. 

For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 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. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:23-28)

“I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.” Now that’s quite a responsibility! Do we prove God’s holiness by what we say and do? Perhaps we need a little help to live up to our responsibility.  

Prayer certainly helps because most of us have stony hearts, and we need a cleansing.  We are chock full of impurities we call anger, envy, greed, and malice just to name a few contaminants.

Very fortunately, God gives us a new heart and places a new spirit within us, taking from our bodies our stony hearts and giving us natural hearts.  That’s just one function of the Eucharist.  So, let’s taste, eat and see the goodness of the LORD reflected through us.

Deacon David Pierce