Harden Not Your Heart
The Gospel reading for daily Mass on Jan. 6 ends with two sentences that ought to give all of us pause. After recounting the story of the loaves and fishes, which is the Gospel for Jan. 5 Masses, Mark tells us (on Jan. 6) of Jesus calming stormy seas as he climbs into the apostles’ boat. The Gospel reading concludes with Mark 6:52 – “They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.”
That’s a chilling thought. Mark is telling us that, rather than embracing the truth of God’s only begotten Son walking with and among them, the apostles resisted – and in doing so, they resisted God’s will.
We live in a world full of people struggling with hardened hearts – and I dare say that many of them don’t even realize it. Our way of life has reached a point where many rarely pause to think about the “whys” and “hows” of things that happen.
On page 8 of this issue, columnist Kaitlin Emmert talks about her simple resolution to trust in God’s will … God’s plan for her. It occurs to me that doing so really isn’t that difficult if we are able to make what, for many, is a monumental leap of faith. We have to acknowledge our total lack of control … to “let go and let God,” as we’ve all heard countless times, I suspect.
While I was driving home from a personal pilgrimage of sorts – Christmas Eve Mass at St. Nicholas Church in Santa Claus – my daughter Jenny texted with an invitation to join her and her in-laws for Christmas. Keith, Jenny’s husband, grew up about 100 miles from Evansville, and they had traveled there from South Carolina to be with his family.
My initial reaction welled up from a heart trying to harden. I resisted the thought of driving almost two hours each way for the visit. My Guardian Angel got indignant with me. “Are you nuts?!” I heard a voice cry out from inside. “How long has it been since you’ve gotten to spend Christmas with Jenny? And you love Keith and his family. Just … go.”
In that moment, I surrendered to God’s plan.
He rewarded me with the most splendid Christmas I’ve enjoyed in longer than I can remember.
Some of you know that the outdoors is a very important part of my life. I fish and hunt, and enjoy time in the outdoors more than I can truly describe. Driving to Keith’s home on Christmas morning, I saw a big flock of turkeys crossing a field. Driving home after dark, I saw a few deer, too – being ever vigilant that they wouldn’t decide to step into the roadway at the last second.
Keith grew up in the country, and he took me on a tour of the family farm. Driving around the fields and through some woodlots on a “Gator” ATV, we saw another flock of turkeys and plenty of deer sign. As if getting to spend Christmas with my only child wasn’t enough of a Divine gift, God blessed me with my first chance to be afield with my son-in-law. I’ll never forget it.
Jenny posted to Facebook that it had been 15 years since we were together on Jesus’ birthday. Although that sounds about right, all those years got erased in just a few hours.
Please … don’t harden your heart to God’s will. You may not realize it, but you have too much to lose in the process.
