The Light of the Heart

Moving out of the shadows of the head into the light of the heart

09/09/2017

Luke 6:1-5 While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions?" Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

             One of my favorite Christian authors is C. S. Lewis. By the way, one fascinating coincidence in his life is that he died on the same day as President John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963. If you’re looking for a clear and cogent presentation of Christianity, look no further than C. S. Lewis. He puts the tough teachings of the faith into layman’s terms so that everyone can understand.  Interesting.

But his academic acumen is only half of the story, and in my opinion, it’s really the less interesting part of the story. To really know someone you have to know what they love; you have to get out of their head and peer into their hearts, if you want to know someone. One movie that showcases the love life of C. S. Lewis is called “Shadowlands,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. The reason the movie is called “shadowlands” is because Lewis felt he had moved out of the shadows of learning and into the sunlight of love when he fell head-over-heels in love with Joy Gresham, his love. When the light of love becomes blinding to Lewis, he says this to Joy: “Now, I don’t want to be somewhere else anymore. Not waiting for anything new to happen. Not looking around the next corner, not the next hill. Here now. That’s enough.” Lewis experienced love as moving out of his head and into his heart, out of the shadows into the light. A close friend of mine had fallen in love recently, and he received a letter from the girl he was crazy about, and the letter said she likewise loved him. After reading the letter, he remarked: “I looked around and the daylight seemed brighter than it was before.” Love moves us out of the shadows of the head and into the light of the heart.

              In the gospel today, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for staying stuck in the shadows of their heads, and not moving into the light of the heart. Jesus apparently violates a Sabbath rule of not working by picking grains of wheat and eating them. The Pharisees object and question him, saying: “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus calmly replies: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” In other words, the Pharisees are still stuck in the their heads: they know the law, they understand the Jewish traditions like keeping the Sabbath. But these things are only shadows of the Reality to come, namely, Jesus. Their real failure is they have not fallen in love; they have not entered the heart which is where you will really find Jesus, if you are looking for him. And when you find Jesus with your heart, everything else changes, even the daylight seems a little brighter when you’re in love with the Lord. Sadly, the Pharisees preferred the shadowlands of their heads to the bright light of Jesus’ love shining in their hearts.

             My friends, what do you love? More to the point: do you love Jesus, have you fallen in love with the Lord? Now be careful: don’t answer that question with your head but rather with your heart. I would say that’s the clearest characteristic of a Christian: not lots of knowledge, but lots of love. St. John of the Cross said that “in the evening of our life we will be judged on love.” A true Christian, in other words, has moved out of the shadowlands of his or her head into the bright light of love shining in the heart. Please don’t misunderstand: It’s good to read the Bible, to study the Catechism, to read spiritual writers like C. S. Lewis, but it’s only good if it leads you to greater love of Jesus. Don’t settle for the shadows, like the Pharisees did, but come into the light.

                 You know, it’s always easy to tell when you’re talking to a true believer: everything in their life revolves around Jesus, just like all the planets in the solar system revolve around the sun. That’s why we go to daily Mass, why we pray the rosary, why we enduring suffering, why pray for our enemies, why we love our neighbor, why we study the Bible, why we help the needy. Why? Because all these things revolve around our love for Jesus, the “Son” at the center of our solar system.  Everything seems brighter and more beautiful when seen in the light of the heart filled with love for Jesus.

                   A true Christian would say this about Jesus: “Now, I don’t want to be somewhere else anymore. Not waiting for anything new to happen. Not looking around the next corner. Not the next hill. Here now. That’s enough.”  And by the way, may I add, that will be the more interesting part of your life story.

Praised be Jesus Christ!