Deacon Tom Writes,
Obstinate of Heart
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
In our first reading, Ezekiel has a profound experience that he describes, “As the Lord spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet”. Thus, the Lord has chosen Ezekiel to be his servant to deliver a message to the Israelites that they have become a “rebellious house”. They are a people who are “hard of face and obstinate of heart” because they have turned away from God and “rebelled against him”. This is a theme we hear time and time again in the Old Testament. It is like the ebb and flow of the tides, this turning to and then away from God. The one thing that is constant throughout the ages though, is that God never does the turning away. He always remains faithful to his people, always calling them to return to him. And so, God sends Ezekiel to deliver the message that a “prophet has been among them” urging them to change their ways and turn their hearts to the Lord.
In today’s gospel, we see another prophet at work among God’s people. The prophet is Jesus, chosen by God, indeed, God in human form! But, worker of miracles though he is, he is rejected by the people because they can’t get beyond their judging, skeptical hearts and minds that are closed to the truth; they are “obstinate of heart”! So, we read that Jesus, “was not able to perform any mighty deeds there” and “He was “amazed at their lack of faith”.
These scripture passages point out our tendency to resist the Holy. Indeed, God actually names the condition that plagues us. He refers to it as having an “obstinate heart”. An obstinate heart resists God’s invitation into the mystery of the divine presence. An obstinate heart is closed to the transformation that the divine presence is able to bring about in us and actually desires to bring about in us. We develop this condition when we refuse to be open to an alternative way of thinking or seeing the reality around us. This is very much a part of our human condition, inherited, perhaps, through “original sin”. We all have a large degree of obstinacy in us.
One remedy for overcoming an “obstinate heart” that impairs our spiritual growth is prayer, that time we spend opening our hearts and minds to Our Lord. This is the traditional way of letting God into our lives so we may be filed with his presence. Of course, the very desire for prayer comes from God who never abandons nor turns his back on us. Prayer will always turn the hardest and most obstinate of hearts to ones full of love and compassion.
Enjoy the day!
Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacs engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those thinking of coming into or leaving it.
OTHER RESOURCE
Recommended Reading: The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism has been one of the bestselling religious histories of the past two decades and a mainstay for scholars, students, and others looking for a definitive, accessible history of Catholicism. A good Summer Read!
Recommended YouTube Video: Authentic Happiness and Human Flourishing Series - Week Four - In this four-week series, Dean Steve Thomason draws on resources from Martin Seligman, Berne Brown and Richard Rohr, using scientific work to explore elements of human experience that lead to authentic happiness, flourishing and deep meaning, and set all that against a backdrop of the gospel as good news, inviting all people into the fullness of life.
Deacon Tom
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