The Lord makes clear in today’s scripture that words are empty if our hearts are not in them.

Jesus is asking us to check up on our hearts. If vengeance, manipulation, hostility, and dishonesty pump through the human heart, all the laws in the world cannot provide the corrective. Many people, during the time of Jesus, suffered from a hardening of the spiritual arteries. Many people today, including Christians, suffer from the same disease. All their paths to life seemed to be filled, unfortunately, with minute laws, very difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill. But an accumulation of laws, pursued with the best of intentions, is doomed to failure. They do not add up to a change of heart. How often do we come across people who follow all the rules but their hearts are not in them. Rules, Jesus instructs us, will not add up to a whole-hearted, full-hearted person.

To be sure, laws must be followed and it is only after the faithful following of the ten commandments, for example, that we are equipped to enter into the heart of God’s wisdom which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard.” But, even the Ten Commandments must back-track to the state of the human heart which must set itself in God’s presence. Jesus is asking us to look deeper within ourselves. He asks us to learn from Him for He is “meek and humble of heart.” He is asking us to take His message to heart, to feel it and live it, not just to hear it. It is not the person who shouts “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom, but “the one who hears my word and keeps it.” Matthew 7: 21.

There is a big difference between the person who gives lip service and the person who gives Christian service. There is a big difference between the one who gives a notional assent to Jesus’ message and the person who gives a real heart-felt assent. Our faith should not be just a matter of the head. It needs to be a matter of the heart; that is, a full-hearted acceptance of the message that leads to a change of life.

“Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God.”

—Fr. Hugh Duffy