What does it mean to follow the Lord with our whole heart? What does it mean to love the Lord with our whole heart? What does it mean to return to the Lord with our whole heart? As soon as we hear language about the heart, we think in terms of feelings or emotions. If you and I have a ‘heart to heart’, it means we are opening up about our feelings. If you are ‘heart-broken’ it means your feelings have been hurt. And from Valentine’s day cards to novelty t-shirts, the heart has become like a stamp of approval on what you just happen to like.
But it hasn’t always been like this. In biblical use, the heart is primarily the seat of the will, the will being the part of the soul that makes decisions and acts upon them. This means that following the Lord, loving the Lord, and returning to the Lord in repentance for our sins is a choice. This choice doesn’t depend on our feelings, because our feelings are fickle. We don’t always feel very holy or devout – often we find it difficult to focus in prayer, we find temptations to sin particularly appealing. When this happens, the choice we have to make is to persevere despite our feelings, to keep trying to aspire to a life of virtue and holiness.
Sometimes our feelings can help us choose to live for Christ, if we are lucky enough to experience sweetness in prayer… but we must remember that this consolation is a grace given by God to strengthen us on our journey, it is not an end in itself. In fact God will often take away His consolations for a time to test us, to give us a chance to prove that we love Him for His own sake and not just for the good things He gives us. In these times especially we must persevere in prayer, and pray for the grace of devotion, pray for the Holy Spirit to set our hearts on fire with love of God and love of neighbour. And the best way to persevere in prayer is to make it a habit, a daily routine, like getting up in the morning, which you do the same way every day whether you feel like it or not. Every morning, we must say ‘yes’ to the Lord.