Heart (Open or Closed)

“The human heart is an unfathomable depth, the innermost place of the human being. The grace of God works mysteriously in it…spirituality is aimed at sanctifying the heart, since through the heart the whole person is sanctified. Our prayer is a journey to the heart. The mind is the energy of the heart. In prayer it must constantly go down into the heart. This is the only way to keep thoughts from scattering so that later we can feel peace and joy as the fruits of grace.” (Metropolitan Serafim Joanta)

“The “beachhead”, if you will, of the coming of Christ and His kingdom, was the human heart – not territory nor judicial power….the battleground between God and the devil is the human heart. It is into that human heart that Christ was born in Bethlehem: first into the heart of His mother – who “pondered” all these things. Then into the heart of His foster father, who provided a heart of welcome to a child not of his own fathering. Then into the heart of shepherds and wise men, who were simple and wise enough to hear the voice of angels and to obey the movements of the stars.” (Father Stephen Freeman)

“Why is the heart so important in our lives? Because it is the center and focus of the human being, and all his physical and psychological processes—that is, the energies flowing through him, gather and concentrate in it as in a focus….matter is nothing but energy that has thickened and become plastically tangible. In the beginning God created light: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen. 1:3). In its innermost depths, all of God’s Creation, including man, is energy filled with light. Man, created in the image and likeness of God, concentrates all creation in his heart. The whole universe is concentrated in the heart of every human being.” (Metropolitan Serafim Joanta, St. Dumitru Staniloae)

“According to this parable [The Parable of the Sower], the receiving of the seed depends on the state of the earth. Has it been cultivated, is it deep, are there no stones in it, do thorns grow in abundance therein? According to the explanation of Christ Himself, the earth is (represents.—Trans.) a human heart. In modern man, this land is flooded and littered with garbage. It is difficult for the seed of the word of God to arise in such soil. The pride of ignorance, the unmoving self-love, the greed and arrogance of consumeristic consciousness, a cult of egotism, a view of the world as a resource for our passions, or as a stage for self-expression—these are the stones that interfere with the growth of the seed; these are the thorns that choke him. It is hard for modern man to bow his unsubmissive neck to the blessed yoke of the Lord’s commandments.” (Sergei Komarov)

“When Christ dwells in your heart, locks break, doors open, and with open arms you go out to meet the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the wounded, the suffering, the imprisoned—to comfort, to warm, to feed, to bind up wounds, to calm, to speak a gentle word, a word that makes the lonely feel less alone, a word that helps the lost find new meaning in life. Each of us stands before the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven, the eternal Kingdom of Christ, and each of us holds the key: a life according to the Gospel commandments, active repentance, and tireless mercy. Yes, we enter the Kingdom not by our own merits or virtues, but only by the grace and love of God, who expects mercy from us toward others and is ready to forgive any sin—as long as we confess it sincerely before Him. In the Kingdom of Heaven, there will be no locks, no closed doors. Everything will be open to everyone.” (Artemy Slezkin) 

#MetropolitanSerafimJoanta #FatherStephenFreeman #St.DumitruStaniloae #SergeiKomarov #ArtemySlezkin