I TREASURE YOU IN MY HEART, OH MY GOD

The other day, the priest who was celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass made a very powerful statement during his homily.  He warned us to be careful what we keep stored up in our hearts.  He said that if we are not watchful about what we have there, we could act in such a way that someone could be seriously hurt by a reflex action coming from our heart.  He warned us to work at storing only good things there so that our response from the heart would always be lovingly caring.
At the time that I heard this, I was moved and I wondered where he had encountered this piece of advice because it was not contained in any of the readings for that day.  To this day, I pray that if he had suffered an accident over which he was repenting, that his public confession would be recognized by God who would cleanse him and provide him with the courage to reconcile with the offended soul.
Furthermore, I have been thinking about this and asking myself why it was that I was so deeply moved by the warning.  I am becoming surer and surer that it is because I myself, like so many of us, I am sure, am not really totally pure in what it is that I treasure in my heart.  I know for a fact that it is not always loving kindness that leaps out of my heart during relationships with God's beloved people.  I was sitting there in church, happy and self satisfied that I had got out of bed in time to make it to Mass.  Then, the dynamic youthful pastor, shepherd of my soul, dug in, shook me and reminded me that I still have a long way to go.
The amazing thing about this warning is that it should not be new to me.  I know what Luke says about our Mother Mary, about how she kept loving things in her heart...

Besides the famous quote from psalm 119, 14, we have more places in the Sacred Scriptures where we are enjoined to keep our hearts clean so that what comes our of our mouth will always be holy.  For instance, Matthew quotes Jesus, "You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil. (Chapter 12, verses 34 and 35)

Matthew has more to say about this in chapter 15 as well.  There is a lot to think about when we ponder about what to store in our hearts.  Let's all join together and work at making sure that what is stored within us is nothing but LOVE.

Peace to you all.