An Open Mind and a Closed Heart

What happens when others cannot see hope as you do, what an interesting question. This weekend I had the misfortune to talk to a lot of people who already made up their minds on an issue and didn’t want to discuss it. They just wanted to walk by and be done with it.

It seems many have just made up their mind. But when we say made up their mind what do we really mean? Do we really mean we’ve closed our minds? We have already decided? We don’t want to discuss the issue? We don’t want to be open? So we must ask the question is it really our mind that’s closed or is our heart?

Often our defense for not listening to another perspective is often we don’t trust the source. It might be a news channel, a newspaper, a Facebook feed, a book, a relative, or someone we don’t trust. So, we apply an automatic assumption that everything that comes from that Channel or person is false, or at least disagreeable to my previously predetermined position. Whatever that might be.

Then, if we look at the scripture which tells us to love our enemies, what the heck does that mean in this context? It doesn’t mean that what our enemies are saying is true or that we have to believe it. But in order to love our enemies, if indeed they are enemies, we at least have to listen to what makes up their opinion or position on something. If we have a predetermined mindset on something doesn’t that automatically mean that we have a closed mindset, or rather I should say closed heart set, on that person or that Channel?

People say they have an open mind, but they also have made up their minds. I was talking to someone today who said that EVERYTHING since Vatican 2 has been terrible for the Catholic Church. They also described some local gardens in a religious setting that needed weeding, and how disgraceful it was that they did need weeding; and that the owners of that organization should be ashamed of themselves for not weeding the garden.

If we are not careful, we just become a series of judgment statements. One opinion after the other, each irrevocable, each true, each unassailable. This is a world without research without discernment, without analysis, without science, without God. If you leave God out of the picture and you are unwilling to listen, let alone love your neighbor and your enemy alike, then what is the point?

You cannot have a closed mind and an open heart. A deaf person listens with their eyes. A blind person sees with their touch and their ears.

So, the gateway to an open heart is an open mind, but an open heart will blow any closed mind wide open. You cannot cry with joy or sadness purely from your mind. It is your heart that’s touched. If we surround that heart with barbed wire, venom, and predetermined opinions, the something happens. We become what we desire. A walking judge, a judge without judgment, just opinions which we use to whip those in shape around us who disagree, and to separate us, tribally, from those who don’t agree.

This may be the malaise of our time. A cancer of the soul that seems uncurable to many. Which can only be healed by love, and a disposition to receive it. An opening of hearts is the only way to open a mind. With love, kindness, and a willingness to say and live the truth, no matter the consequences.

And hope, God’s precious gift, will return.

Memorial of Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr

Lectionary: 343

Reading I

Jas 4:13-17

Beloved:
Come now, you who say,
“Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town,
spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”–
you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
Instead you should say,
“If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”
But now you are boasting in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil.
So for one who knows the right thing to do
and does not do it, it is a sin.

Responsorial Psalm

49:2-3, 6-7, 8-10, 11

R.        (Matthew 5:3)  Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Hear this, all you peoples;
            hearken, all who dwell in the world,
Of lowly birth or high degree,
            rich and poor alike.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Why should I fear in evil days
            when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
            the abundance of their riches is their boast.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
            or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one’s life; he would never have enough
            to remain alive always and not see destruction.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!
For he can see that wise men die,
            and likewise the senseless and the stupid pass away,
            leaving to others their wealth.
R.        Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

Alleluia

Jn 14:6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mk 9:38-40

John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle

Lectionary: 535

Reading I

1 Pt 5:1-4

Beloved:
I exhort the presbyters among you,
as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ
and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.
Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Responsorial Psalm

23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6

R.        (1)  The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
            In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
            he refreshes my soul.
R.        The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
            I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
            that give me courage.
R.        The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
            in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
            my cup overflows.
R.        The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
            all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
            for years to come.
R.        The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Alleluia

Mt 16:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church;
the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”