16 March 2023
Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s responsorial psalm is “if today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” This is taken from psalm 95, and it serves as a kind of mantra during mass. We repeat it over and over again, hoping to gain something from it. The problem with a hardened heart is that it cannot yield at all to impulses from without. It is tough when it needs to be tough, which is good, but it stays tough when it really needs to soften up. The heart needs to be soft, above all, when God invites it to expand and grow and flourish.
Consider two great disciples of Ignatian Spirituality, beginning with St. Francis Xavier. It was on this date in the year 1540 that he left Rome for the Indies. His heart was soft enough that, when the time came, when St. Ignatius ordered him to leave Europe on short notice, to leave his friends and family, probably forever, he set out in peace and confidence. Xavier’s heart was also tough when it needed to be, making an iron defense of Christianity among the pagans and laying rock-solid foundations for the Asian Church.
Today’s date is important for another great follower of St. Ignatius: St. Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary to modern-day Canada. When the direction came for him to leave home, most likely forever, Brébeuf had cultivated a heart that was soft enough to reply with enthusiasm, like St. Francis Xavier. On this date in 1649, his heart was rock-solid. Facing torture and martyrdom, Brébeuf stood firm in professing the truth until the end, winning for himself the palm of martyrdom.
It may be that God is about to invite your heart to expand and grow and flourish in a way you cannot imagine. If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.