His open heart has gone before us and waits for us, unconditionally, asking only to offer us his love and friendship. The symbol of the heart has often been used to express the love of Jesus Christ.
Some have questioned whether this symbol is still meaningful today. Yet living as we do in an age of superficiality, rushing frenetically from one thing to another without really knowing why, and ending up as insatiable consumers and slaves to the mechanisms of a market unconcerned about the deeper meaning of our lives, all of us need to rediscover the importance of the heart.
For Homer, it indicates not only the centre of the body, but also the human soul and spirit. In the Iliad, thoughts and feelings proceed from the heart and are closely bound one to another. In this way, it speaks to us of the heart as a core that lies hidden beneath all outward appearances, even beneath the superficial thoughts that can lead us astray. The disciples of Emmaus, on their mysterious journey in the company of the risen Christ, experienced a moment of anguish, confusion, despair and disappointment.
The heart is also the locus of sincerity, where deceit and disguise have no place. Mere appearances, dishonesty and deception harm and pervert the heart. Despite our every attempt to appear as something we are not, our heart is the ultimate judge, not of what we show or hide from others, but of who we truly are. It is the basis for any sound life project; nothing worthwhile can be undertaken apart from the heart.
False appearances and untruths ultimately leave us empty-handed. As an illustration of this, I would repeat a story I have already told on another occasion. When she dropped the strips of batter into the oil, they would expand, but then, when we bit into them, they were empty inside. Instead of running after superficial satisfactions and playing a role for the benefit of others, we would do better to think about the really important questions in life.
