Heart and Intellect

Obedience is the joyful training of our Hearts to hear things (like Calls) that the mind cannot.

“But now, hear, Oh Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!” -Isaiah 44:1

Today, I got an email from a friend recounting his friday at Mass, celebrating one of my former service counterparts consecrating himself to Mama Mary. How Beautiful. Praise God. My heart... Yes, I teared. A strong stir, after a week’s struggle with “analysis paralysis” and obedience. With today’s Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mother Mary, yesterday’s Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and today’s SFC Pre-con, the Lord completed His hard lesson of the week by calling me to a re-evaluation of my Heart.

I made a decision awhile back to grow in my faith by approaching it more through intellect: Knowledge and “spiritual rationalizing”. When I had made it, I was shortly affirmed of this decision after attending a Youth Ministry training in which we discovered our “spiritual pathways” (aka ways for spiritual development). The inventory revealed that my spiritual life identified with that of Saint Thomas Aquinas, “the path of intellect”. I took this identity and ran with it. I applied it to my writing style (I was an aspiring journalist and non-fiction writer back then). Hence, in blogs and reflections, I developed this natural mindset: Restrict your “Heart language” if it clouds the Lord’s Message. At the end of the post, readers need to be able to articulate its message in one sentence.

My undergraduate studies in Applied Human Sciences further enhanced the identity. Being an effective “Human Relations Specialist” is anchored in one’s ability to accurately observe and objectively describe behaviours and the level of  “emotional intelligence” (aka intelligence of the Heart) of a person, a group and an organization. I brought this “objectivity” to my service as well. The annoying sister during service meetings that was always trying to fix things? That always had something smart(critical) to say? Yeah, that was me. Path of Intellect, all the way. Yet… When I was first asked to become a Music Ministry Head, it wasn’t for my musical Intellect. In fact, I was and in many ways still am a musical idiot. My Area Heads simply talked about my exposed Heart for God through my passion for singing. Makes sense. My heart was in desperation to reconnect with God back then. Music was/is/will always be a connection.

Mother Mary, standing outside the Precon venue brought me my personal reminder of the week: Surrender the intellect in you. You think too much. “Fight the flesh”; remain sober-minded. Stop trying to hear with your mind, and start hearing more with your Heart. “Love grows there”, she says. It is the love in my heart that compelled me to profess my obedience to Him (Luke 1:38). It’s this love that continues my mission in reminding the world that His Love is enough. You are enough. Keep going.

(Prayer to Mary, Queen of All Hearts): O Mary, Queen of All Hearts, Advocate of the most hopeless cases, we have recourse to you, Oh Mother most pure and most compassionate, O Mother of Divine Love and full of Divine Light, consider our misery and our tears, our interior trials and our sufferings. Hear our prayers at your altar, where every day you give so many proofs of your love and power to heal both body and soul. Ask Jesus to cure us, pardon us, and grant us final perseverance. Oh Mary, Queen of All Hearts, we place all our confidence in you.