Enlarging the Heart

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they got together, and to put him to the test, one of them put a further question. ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it. You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole law and the prophets too’” (Matt. 22:34-40).

This dialogue between Our Lord and a doctor of the Law expresses the inseparability of love for God and love for others.

But this doctor of the Law asked Him what the first commandment was. Our Lord did not limit Himself to indicate that love for God is the first and the greatest commandment. He included the need to love one's neighbor in the first commandment.

Pope Benedict, in his Encyclical Caritas in veritate–Charity in Truth–writes, “As a spiritual being, the human creature is defined through interpersonal relations. The more authentically he or she lives these relations, the more his or her own personal identity matures.”

He says this “requires a deeper critical evaluation of the category of relation…so that man's transcendent dignity can be properly understood” (Pope Benedict, Encyclical, Caritas in veritate, June 29, 2009).

All of us, in very different ways, and from many different perspectives, are dedicated to caring for and dignifying people, especially those most in need. In the family, it may be the care of babies, the elderly, those with special needs; or neighbors; or maybe we're professionally involved in caring for people.

Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, says, “As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called by a new title—'Christian’—to care for people and to care for the world.

“What do we see in the world? Together with new possibilities for human development due to advances in healthcare and technology, communications, and so many inspiring examples, we also see injustices and wounds from which humanity bleeds.

“In today's world, poverty presents many faces: sick and elderly people treated with indifference, the loneliness felt by many abandoned people, the drama of refugees, and the destitution in which a large part of mankind lives, often as a result of injustices that cry out to Heaven” (Fernando Ocáriz, Pastoral Letter, February 14, 2017; Enlarging the Heart, January 22, 2023).

He says we can't be indifferent to any of these things. We're all created “to exercise ‘the creativity in charity’ (John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Novo millennio ineunte, January 6, 2001) in order to bring the balm of God's tenderness to all our brothers and sisters who are in need.”

That's a very beautiful phrase: “the creativity in charity.” Every father of a family, every mother, has to try and think and see: How can I creatively bring charity to my family life with my words, with my example, with my family actions, helping my children to be more aware and reach out more and to see people around us who are in need and see everything that they have as gifts that God has given to them to use well and to pass on to other people? —Because we all have “to bring the balm of God's tenderness” to everyone in need, to infect other people with these ideas, this disposition, and the social dimension of property in all its aspects, and to try and transmit this to fellow students, to colleagues, to neighbors.

If we're involved in some organization or some group that's having some sort of a celebration, we'll try and make sure that there's always this social dimension to that celebration. We think of others who are not having this celebration.

He says, “When human beings ignore or neglect their condition as children of God, all their relationships are affected: with themselves, with others, and with creation.

“As Pope Francis has said, this ‘interdependence becomes dependence: we lose this harmony of interdependence and solidarity’ (Pope Francis, General Audience, September 2, 2020). We are jointly responsible for taking care of the world, establishing relationships founded on charity, justice, and respect, especially overcoming the disease of indifference. St. John Paul II wrote: ‘Every man is his brother's keeper, because God entrusts us to one another’ (John Paul II, Encyclical, Evangelium vitae, March 25, 1995).”

Some of us are “moved by the same inspiration, work in organizations of different types and focuses, because we feel impelled to ‘do something,’ not to sit with our arms crossed” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

We have to try and transmit that spirit to our children and grandchildren.

“It's at the heart of the spirit of Opus Dei to turn ordinary realities into a place of encounter with God and service to others; it is the aspiration of mature people, professionally competent and sensitive to others, seeking to make the world a more just and fraternal place” (Ibid.).

That's our role, to think, What can I give? What can I contribute? What can I do?

“The phrase of St. Josemaría, ‘passionately loving the world,’ means knowing it, caring for it, serving it.”

In a letter published in the 1950s, St. Josemaría said, “Christians cannot be individualists who forget about the needs of others. Nor can Christians live selfishly and turn their backs on the world; they are essentially social, responsible members of Christ’s Mystical Body” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Collected Letters (Vol. I, Letter No. 3).

“It might seem utopian to think that we are capable of doing something to alleviate the suffering of humanity.” But we know that it's Our Lord acting in us and through us and is going to do things.

Somebody once asked Mother Teresa: Did she think she would be effective in solving the problems of poverty in India—that huge, enormous problem—did she really think she was going to solve all of that?

She answered, “I'm not called to be successful. I'm just called to be faithful.”

So, each one of us has a role to play. Each child has his or her role to play, knowing that Christ carries the burden.

“The wounds in his side, on his hands, and on his feet are reminders of the wounds of the world. And Jesus has told us: ‘Whatever you did for one of these, you did for me’ (Matt. 25:40). The path of identification with Christ transforms the human heart and opens it to charity. Union with Our Lord, in the sacraments and in prayer, leads us to discover our neighbors and their needs and to pay less attention to ourselves” (F. Ocáriz, Op. cit.).

I heard someone say that we solve all our problems by thinking about others.

“Charity changes our way of viewing other people. St. Josemaría says, ‘The charity of Christ is not merely a benevolent sentiment for our neighbor.’ My thoughts and my prayers are with you. ‘It is not limited to a penchant for philanthropy. Poured out in our soul by God, charity transforms from within our mind and will. It provides the supernatural foundation for friendship and the joy of doing what is right’” (J. Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, Point 71).

In this meditation, we could ask Our Lord to enlarge our hearts—"to give us a heart to the measure of His.”

That's why this meditation is entitled Enlarging the Heart “so that into our hearts,” says the Prelate of Opus Dei, “there may enter into it all the needs, pains, and sufferings of the men and women of our time, especially the weakest” (F. Ocáriz, Op. cit.) —so that we have a special sensitivity, the sensitivity of the Heart of Mary.

“A prayerful heart in the middle of the world supports and accompanies others in their needs. Identification with Jesus opens us to others' needs. At the same time, contact with those in need leads us to Jesus” (Ibid.).

A young professional, a married professional in Manila one time, had a business of transporting, I think it was oil, to different islands of the archipelago.

He was having a bit of trouble in his business. He said that things weren’t going well. Creditors were banging on his door every day. It was a particularly bad week.

In the middle of all of this, there was a phone call from the wife of one of his seamen. But he was too engrossed in his problems. He told his secretary, “Tell her to call back this afternoon.”

When she called back in the afternoon, all the problems still existed. “Tell her to call tomorrow.”

She called back the following morning, and he was still in the midst of all sorts of problems and challenges. He refused the call.

But then, when they had put down the phone, he realized, ‘This lady has called three times. She must have a problem. Her husband is away at sea.’

He felt guilty and felt he had to do something. He asked his secretary to call her back, but she had been calling from a public phone—it was the time before mobiles—so they couldn’t call her. So, he asked the secretary to get her address.

He got the address and he drove to where she lived. It was an hour and a half on the other side of the city. He had to cross a field to get to where they were living.

It began to rain. They were living in a shanty area. He said, “As I crossed that field and saw the living conditions of these people, I began to realize that these people had problems. I thought I had problems, there in my office feeling sorry for myself. But these people have real problems.”

He found the family. There was a hole in the roof; the rain was coming in. The three-month-old baby had got a chill; was blue in the face. That’s why the mother was calling. They were short of food.

He spent three hours there. He got the baby to hospital, got some medicine, brought in a supply of food for the family, got someone to fix the roof.

“After a few hours,” he said, “I went back to my office, thanking God for what he had shown me—opened my eyes to the fact that I didn’t really have problems.

“Contact with those in need leads us to Jesus.” Try and have some sort of regular appointment in your week, in your month, whereby you can bring your children or your neighbors to those in need, so that they also may find Christ.

In the Furrow, Point 827, it says, “A friend of ours used to say: ‘The poor are my best spiritual book and the main motive of my prayers. It pains me to see them, and in each of them, Christ. And because it hurts, I realize I love him and love them” (J. Escrivá, Furrow, Point 827).

“Jesus had a predilection for the poor and the suffering, but he also wanted to suffer need and to be a victim himself. In those who are suffering, we glimpse Jesus who speaks to us” (F. Ocáriz, Pastoral Letter, February 14, 2017).

Pope Francis says: “The poor, always and everywhere, evangelize us, because they enable us to discover in new ways the true face of the Father” (Pope Francis, Message for the Fourth World Day for the Poor, November 14, 2021).

Try and never pass a poor person without giving them something—if not something material, something spiritual.

Pope Benedict said, “From the time of the early Church, it has been understood that the Gospel message is based on concern for the poor and that it is a recognizable sign of Christian identity and an element in its credibility” (cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical, Deus caritas est, December 25, 2005).

St. John startlingly and astonishingly tells us in his Gospel that Judas did not care for the poor. That's a terrible condemnation.

Judas was an apostle, so close to Christ, so trusted. He got all the formation that the apostles received. He saw all the miracles. But the most basic element of Christian sentiment did not penetrate into his hardened heart and soul.

St. John says, “He said this not because he cared for the poor, but because he was in charge of the purse. He used to take what was put into it” (John 12:6).

Judas used the poor to justify his stinginess. “‘Why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?’” (John 12:5).

“He knew the price of everything but the value of nothing” (Fulton Sheen, Sermon). He used to steal from the poor. It's super ugly.

Yet Our Lord gives us that example, that bad example, in the final week of His life. It's like a wake-up call.

“We want to place Christ at the heart of all human activities, sanctifying professional work and the Christian's ordinary duties. This mission is carried out in the street, in society, especially through our work” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

In Conversations, Point 56, St. Josemaría says, “The value of ordinary work, which can be a highly effective means of loving and serving God and others, whether it stands out in others' eyes or is lowly from a human point of view.”

This morning somebody sent me a WhatsApp message saying they had to go to the doctor last night, a bit unexpectedly. But the lady doctor they got was particularly attentive, showed special affection, went the extra mile.

The person wasn't expecting that. They remarked in writing, in this message, how beautiful that was, how joyful.

From doing our ordinary work well, with cheerfulness, with detail, going the extra mile, we can bring an awful lot of joy into the lives of other people.

St. Josemaría invited everyone “to work in the way they personally see fit to eliminate intolerance and to make society more just” (Ibid.).

“For those who wish to follow Christ, all work is an opportunity to serve others, especially those most in need.

“There are professions in which the social impact is more immediate or evident, working in organizations focused on improving the living conditions of disadvantaged people or groups. But this dimension of service is not just for some; it has to be present in any honest work.”

We have to imbue society with a service orientation, mindful of the fact also that children love to serve.

“From the time when St. Josemaría began to spread his message, he used to say that to sanctify the world, it was not necessary to change one's place, or profession, or environment. It is more a matter of changing oneself, whatever the place.

“Charity and justice converge in the Christian ideal of work. Far from the logic of ‘success,’ service to others is the best criterion for a Christian's work performance.”

“Christ came not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45).

“Satisfying the demands of justice and professional work is a lofty and ambitious goal; fulfilling our own obligations is not always easy, and charity always goes further, asking each person to generously go out of him or herself for others.”

But first, charity is justice.

“In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the innkeeper remains in the background: all we are told is that he acted professionally. His conduct reminds us that the exercise of any professional task gives us an opportunity to serve those in need.

“At times, the temptation to ‘take refuge in work’ could appear, in the sense of not discovering work's transformative social dimension, conforming ourselves to a false spiritualism. Sanctified work is always a lever for the transformation of the world, and the usual means by which the changes that dignify people's lives are brought about, so that charity and justice truly permeate all relationships.

“The work thus accomplished will be able to contribute to purifying the structures of sin (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis, December 30, 1987), making them into structures within which integral human development is really possible” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

John Paul II talked a lot about the “structures of sin.” He said the concept of social sin that may exist in society, misery, injustice, and oppression, is all a consequence of personal sin (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, December 2, 1984).

If we want to do something about social sin, we have to do something about our personal sins.

“Faith helps us to maintain our confidence in the future. St. Josemaría said, ‘Our apostolic work will contribute to peace, to the collaboration of people with each other, to justice, to avoiding war, to avoiding isolation, to avoiding both national and personal selfishness. It will do so because everyone will realize that they are part of the whole great human family, which is directed by God's will towards perfection. In this way, we will help remove the all too common anxiety and fear of a future marked by fratricidal resentments. In addition, we will strengthen in souls and in society peace and harmony: tolerance, understanding, mutual relations, love’ (J. Escrivá, The Collected Letters (Vol. I, Letter No. 3).

“The message of Opus Dei urges us to strive for the transformation of the world through work. This also includes having compassion, like the Samaritan (Luke 10:33), as a requirement of love, which brings the law to its fullness (Luke 13:8,10). Love makes our freedom ever more willing and ready to do good” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

St. Josemaría wrote: “The wider spread of social remedies for the plagues of suffering and destitution—which make it possible to achieve humanitarian results today that could not have been dreamed of in other times—will never be able to supplant the efficacious tenderness, both human and supernatural, of immediate, personal contact with our neighbor; with this poor person in a neighborhood nearby, with this sick person living in pain in an immense hospital…” (J. Escriva, Letter, October 24, 1942).

I'm reminded of a major earthquake that there was in San Francisco about thirty years ago, during the presidency of the older Bush.

There was a massive humanitarian effort to help people there, and there was a national broadcast by the president on the occasion of this emergency.

The first thing he said was, “Thank goodness for the volunteer effort.” It's a very interesting statement.

Here is the president of the most important and powerful country on the whole planet, with all the Air Force and the Navy and so many other possibilities, the fire department, at his disposal.

But he's saying that even with all those means we can't hack it. We need the volunteer effort. We need the effort of every last person to try and do something to help those in need. Christ says something similar.

“We have before us a vast panorama in the family and in society, and those with a big heart will try earnestly to care for their elderly parents, to give alms, to take an interest in their neighbors' problems, to pray for a friend overwhelmed with worry, to visit a sick relative in the hospital or at home, to stop and talk to a person they see regularly who is living on the street, to listen patiently.”

“It's not…a matter of adding new tasks to the ones we already perform; it is rather a matter of trying to make manifest, from our own identity, Christ's love for others” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

As I was growing up, I witnessed what my mother was trying to do, and my father also, were trying to do a lot of these things.

My mother came in contact with Opus Dei. She became a supernumerary member of Opus Dei. My father never did. But I could see the sort of change in my mother, in those ordinary simple things as a housewife, that we got drawn into in a very simple way. The power of a mother.

“The question of charity is not only about what I have to do but, first, who am I for the other and who the other is for me. In this daily cultivation of solidarity, we find ourselves with others, and so others' needs also become a place of encounter between people of goodwill, Christians or non-Christians alike, united in facing situations of poverty and injustice.

“This dialogue with necessity and vulnerability will bear fruit in greater sensitivity and a life of prayer close to the reality around us.

“We will be prepared to make decisions of greater personal austerity, avoiding consumerism, the lure of novelty, luxury… and we will know how to renounce unnecessary goods that, in our professional situation, we could perhaps afford.

“In this way, we will be receptive to personal change, to opening our ears to the Holy Spirit, and listening to what he tells us through poverty” (F. Ocáriz, Ibid.).

A Christian conscience thinks twice. It's not enough just to have a social consciousness, taking very good care of everybody around us. That needs to be accompanied by a person living out of the virtue of detachment and poverty.

We’re told that Our Lady went “with haste into the hill country” (Luke 1:39). She immediately thought of Elizabeth. What can I do? What can I contribute?

There were challenges. There was an uphill climb; the hill country. It was Mary, but Mary was bent on focusing on that goal that God has placed before her.

We could ask Our Lady during this time to infuse into us that same spirit of solidarity that she had with St. Elizabeth.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW