Every Human Heart Is Called By God

Yes, I believe that every human heart is called by God, including mine, and that God’s love and fidelity are constant, true, everpresent, and unconditional.   At the same time, I am aware of my own weaknesses, my constant struggle with temptation, my fears, and my occasional doubts.   Still, I trust Him.  But again, if I am honest, not enough.  I love him, though my failures seem to say, not enough.  I know this in my inmost being, yet, I am even more deeply aware of my desire to love Him more clearly and to be able to follow him more dearly.  I find myself praying often, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”  It is this attitude that is important here.

After the Resurrection and Jesus’ Ascension back to the Father, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s loving presence, that remains with us here and now in our hearts, in the Church, and in the world.  As has been true since the creation of Adam and Eve, we have also been given the gift of our Free Will.   The gift of the Holy Spirit must, then, be accompanied by our own free choices to follow the instructions He inspires into our hearts and minds and in the workings of our consciences. 

To accompany the Holy Spirit properly, we must choose to grow in our knowledge of what is really good in the eyes of God through prayer and scripture study and by observing those who reveal their faith through their works, in other words, those who practice what they preach.   And we have to freely choose, daily, to do the hard work that is necessary to develop the virtue of fortitude, so that we can bravely choose to follow His guidance, especially in those moments of temptation or trial or challenge that come to us in our lives. 

If we choose to go against the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our consciences and actions, the Spirit cannot help us, because he cannot violate our freedom.  He has given us the power to choose, yay or nay, and he honors it, perfectly.  But know this too, if we resolve in our hearts and minds, no matter how weakly, to struggle against temptation and sin, the Spirit can immediately rush into us to strengthen that weak resolve enabling us to resist those temptations and sins more effectively.  God knows our hearts. He is closer to us than our own thoughts.  He knows our internal struggles and our prayers for help.  “Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely” (Ps. 139:4).

Yes, every human heart is called by God.  That is not at issue here.  What is at issue is our attitude, our freely willed response to that call.  How do we respond to the gift of the Holy Spirit, or to the gift of our very lives, the gifts of the lives of our loved ones, and the countless graces that He has given us in every moment of every day all of our lives?   God needs nothing from us.  Rather, He gives us everything.  Most importantly, He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, who died for us so that we might have eternal life with him forever in heaven.   He invites each and every heart, each one of us, in the fullness of our freedom, saying to us, “If you can, come follow me.”

This, Lord, is our dearest desire, to come to know you and to follow you with all of our being.  But the world is full of temptations and we are often beaten down.  Our hearts are so often restless, lost, and weak.   Yet, you never abandon us.  You are always at our side.  In our weakness, we ask you, Lord, to increase our faith.  Give us the ability to know what is really good in your sight and the courage to willingly choose to do it more and more often.  May your Holy Spirit, give us the graces we need to respond to your daily invitation to ‘Come and follow You’, with a joyful, “YES!