[Ep 125: Monday motivation]
Have you ever been at a skating rink right after the Zamboni has polished the ice? It’s smooth as glass. Just watching the Zamboni go by and transform the choppy ice into a pristine glassy surface is fun in and of itself. For that matter, just saying Zamboni puts a smile on your face.
If you can’t relate to the Zamboni imagery, you can probably relate to this – Steve’s grandmother made a magnificent double chocolate layer cake. The frosting was her own chocolate butter cream recipe. She had unmatched skill with the spatula and when she was finished the frosted surface of the cake was so creamy and smooth you could almost dive into it. It was flawless.
As we all rethink what we’re having for dessert tonight, let’s return to considering the heart. Last week we looked at Jesus’ Sacred Heart – which shows us everything that a human heart is capable of.
What of Mary’s Immaculate Heart? Where does that enter into the development of our interior life?
This brings us back to the buttery-smooth frosting and glassy ice surface. Mary’s heart was immaculate. It was pristine, pure, flawless, spotless. In and of itself that sounds pretty great – who doesn’t want a spotless heart? But it’s what you can do with it, that is truly majestic.
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “the object loved is in the lover … the beloved is contained in the lover by being impressed on his heart.” When you truly love something, that something is imprinted on your heart. It’s not for nothing that the first affection St. Thomas associated with love is “melting.”
Love gives you a soft heart (just as bitterness and anger makes a person hard-hearted).
What you love becomes imprinted on your heart.
But what if our heart is marred with all manner of blemishes and debris from attachments to fallen things? The imprinting will be disfigured by those contaminants.
Mary’s immaculate heart was soft and pure – so that Christ’s Sacred Heart could be perfectly imprinted upon it.
And that is what we desire. That is why Mary is a model for us. She shows us exactly what it looks like when a human being has the Divine Heart imprinted on a human heart. The perfection of Christ is reflected through a pure heart.
This is why praying and working toward purity of heart is such a noble undertaking. Working with God to cleanse and purge our memory and imagination, and to give us purity of intention – undertaking everything for love of God and neighbor.
Tomorrow we will look at some very specific ways to do just that.
Now, about that chocolate cake…
Steve and Karen Smith – Interior Life
– Get the book.