My heart is not yet fully human. It is at times quite primitive, fearful, angry, and vengeful. This is often something beyond my control, though how I deal with it is up to me and my response to grace.

Our hearts are wounded, divided, wanting to do one thing, but doing the exact opposite. We often sin because we cannot stand the pain that life brings to us, so we seek relief in many ways, many of them only adding to our problems, and suffering. They bring suffering and chaos into our lives, and into the lives of others.

Jesus’s heart was fully human. In his Sacred Heart, there is no hatred, contempt, pettiness, nor any desire to seek revenge. There is only love and compassion. The closer the Lord draws us into his embrace, the more human our hearts become. The more merciful.

With all we have to deal with, how can we become more loving and merciful? We are not loving and merciful by nature. Yes, for our families, and friends, tribe, and country we can be kind and loving as long as we get along, and do not cause too many waves. We do not normally love those outside of our circle. We can treat those outside of our circles treated with indifference, hostility, and even violence.

Yet, we are called to imitate Christ Jesus the merciful, who looks at life, at least for us, in an upside-down fashion. Though I believe we are the ones who do not get it right.

A Life-long Project

There is a Catholic devotion that was revealed to Sr. Faustina by Jesus on how to pray in such a way that it calls down Divine Mercy on the whole world. The Chaplet of Mercy can be a prayer of deep healing for those who say it with awareness. Prayer is the lifeblood of the soul, it deepens our connection with the infinite, revealed to us in Christ Jesus, who tells us of the Father’s love. To see Jesus is to see the Father.

Hearts are wounded, divided, wanting to do one thing, but in reality doing the exact opposite. We often ‘sin’ because we cannot stand the pain that life brings to us, so we seek relief in many assorted ways, many of them only adding to our problems, and yes suffering. Some of our strategies do not adversely affect our relationships with others. However, some of the ways of coping can bring suffering and chaos into our lives.

The Chaplet of Mercy is a prayer that invites us to truly becoming a manifestation of the Heart of Christ to the world. To not run from the often tragic circumstances that enter into all lives. We slowly start to see with the eyes of Christ the deep beauty in all hearts, and we desire with Christ Jesus that all men and women will grow into their true humanity and allow both the Mind-Of-Christ, as well as the Heart-Of-Christ to take hold and to be transformed.

Suffering is part of this path. The type of suffering that heals and does not embitter. It is a difficult path because it is a call to die to stony hearts, to letting go of the desire for justice or revenge, and to wake up and see who the men and women around us actually are when they are seen in their mystery and depth. My own heart is often a mystery to me. Why should I think it any different for anyone else?

The deeper in we go, the more we understand that we are the ones in most need of mercy, and in that we become one with all and do not feel the need to judge, for we cannot even judge ourselves. To judge an action is not the same as judging the heart of another human being. Only God can see that deeply.We learn to accept the love, compassion, and mercy of Christ for us and for all.

 

Brother Mark Dohle, now seventy-two, has been a monk of the Trappist Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia, since 1971. He runs the monastery’s retreat house. His previous article was Mercy is the Way God Shows Love.

 

Photo credit: Striking Solidarity workers of the Gdansk shipyards line up for confession during a open-air mass at the Lenin shipyard in August 1988.(Marek Druszcz/AFP via Getty Images).

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