Two Hearts

The bosom of Abraham

We all have two hearts. One is a visible organ that keeps us alive, working for years ceaselessly. Feel your visible heart by touching it. Caress it, thanking it for its amazing job!     

The other is invisible. We know that our heart is real because we feel it. But we often cannot understand the heart that changes all around, moves up and down, feels crazy and calm at the same time. It seems true that everything depends on your heart. If your heart wants, you can do it! Amazing too!      

Do you well know your heart? What is in your invisible heart? How big is your heart?     

The prophet Jeremiah says today, “More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?”(Jer. 17,9)     

Our heart is a big task for us to understand, to discipline and to make it big for others.     

There is a saying in Buddhism. “Heart, oh my heart! When you are good, you have a room for the whole world. But when you are not good, you don’t have a room for a single needle.”     

We know the paradox of our heart: love and hate for the same person, good and bad in the same heart. We may have both hearts, of a rich man and of a poor man in the Gospel. 

Sometimes we are rich for ourselves and poor for others; on the other hand, rich for others and poor for ourselves. We need a balance of the heart, the heart of Jesus who says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart”(Mt. 11,29).     

In the season of Lent, we might need to have an open heart surgery by reflecting on our hearts and repenting our selfishness and sins.     

Our hearts are restless until they rest in God, as St. Augustine says. The bosom of Abraham is a place where our hearts find rest.