“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:1-2; 14; 23-24)
Today we can define the heart simply as a very important muscular organ in our body in charge of irrigating blood throughout the rest of our body, although in biblical mentality it has always been considered at the center of our desires and the origin of our actions.
How marvelous it is to be human! How many prodigious works we have been able to achieve throughout the centuries!
Architecture, sculpture, music, literature, science, sports, in all times and in all cultures give testament to the greatness of thought and the indomitable strength of human desire. For us believers, all of this is a clear manifestation of the divine presence among us.
Such is the wisdom and love of our Creator who has not only wished to imprint his intelligence in our minds but has also gifted us with free will in order to accept or reject what we discover in our lives.
We gradually discover the truth in all areas of our lives, although we never come to possess it in its entirety. Perhaps that’s why the desires of our hearts are ever changing. As we gradually approach the object of our desires we see with greater clarity that it does not satisfy our deepest needs.
Our minds, like our hearts, carry the stamp of their Creator. That Creator is an infinite God, an immense God. Only that which is immense and infinite can fulfill the infinite desires of our hearts which are the prodigious work of his immense heart.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), in his famous literary work Faust (1808), expresses through the main character that “All that must disappear is but a parable.” It seems to me that this expression highlights the continual battle of our being, the many mistakes we commit in our daily lives and the constant corrections we have to make when we lose ourselves in the deep folds of our heart.
In those dark folds we find desires opposed to the truth we discover and which we slowly and painfully assimilate. I consider this to be the process of conversion, transformation, growth, maturation, which God himself has imprinted upon us, his prodigious works. This process does not lead us to an intellectual understanding, but it does enable us to find the true meaning behind the desires of our hearts and ultimately surrender ourselves to them.
What enormous potential and great risk is our heart! That is why we have to carefully watch what we put into it. As the Wisdom of Scripture invites us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Without a doubt, we will not have access to Absolute Truth until we have overcome the limitations of our mortal flesh. Until then, we will continue to examine that truth in parables. Beautiful parables, but in the end, only parables.
Jesus became a parable among us so that we could scratch the surface of what is immense and eternal.
As a reflection of the wisdom and the infinite desires of God present within us, St. Augustine exclaims in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Prodigious works come at a great price. Humanity cost our Creator the incarnation, death and resurrection of his Son Jesus, our model.
Mary unfolded her heart before God and in return found wonders worthy of praise. Let us trust as she did so that we may be joyfully surprised.