From 16-19 September the Catholic community in Britain will be presented with an unprecedented home mission opportunity on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit. Such will be the anticipated media coverage that it will be appropriate to respectfully share our faith with people. Spiritual questions will come up in our daily conversation within the context of reports about current news items. There will be many different situations when we will be able to, as the theme of the visit suggests, speak from the heart about our faith. All the baptised are invited to use these final few weeks to get ready to serve and witness (1 Peter 3:15). How, though, does the theme of the Papal Visit support us in these preparations?

In Mark’s Gospel we read the story of the rich young man (chapter 10:17 - 22) speaking to Jesus from the heart; the young man asks Jesus what must be done to inherit eternal life. The Lord responds that the young man must keep the commandments and go beyond doing that by selling all that he owns, giving the money to the poor.

There will be many different situations when we will be able to speak from the heart about our faithWhen Jesus tells the young man this, we are told, ‘Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him’ (v 21). We read that the young man went away sad as he was a man of great wealth.

One of the truths that this passage teaches us is that if we are to inherit eternal life, if we are to make manifest the heart of God in our lives, we must go beyond the letter of the law, we must go beyond a superficial way of living. If we are to speak with God and others heart-to-heart we are invited to surrender all that we are in self-gift. The Scriptures repeatedly challenge us to deep interior conversion which means that we become totally dependent on God’s providence, love and mercy.

Of course, the more that we give of self, the more space there is in our hearts to receive God’s presence; this enables us to see others more clearly through his loving eyes and so more intimately speak with him and to others. This truth and others underline the theme of the Papal Visit.

In speaking with God heart-to-heart, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, we also gradually begin to understand the world and those around us as God does. A very moving encounter to draw on here is when Jesus meets the woman at the well (John 4:1-18; 25-36). The story begins with Jesus asking her for a drink of water, which surprises her because Jews and Samaritans didn’t normally associate with one another. The Lord explains that he wants to offer her living water saying, ‘If you only knew what God is offering’ (v 10). Still the woman doesn’t understand the spiritual significance of what Jesus is saying and she thinks he is talking about created water. The moment of realisation comes later in the encounter when Jesus tells her that she is right to say that she has no husband, ‘for although you have had five, the one you now have is not your husband’ (v 18). In saying this the woman recognises Jesus as a prophet, and shortly after, tells her friends, ’Could this be the Christ?’
(v 29).

One of the remarkable observations that can be made from this passage is that in the encounter of Jesus and the woman speaking heart-to-heart, the Lord shows a remarkable depth of understanding of human nature. He knows her past and present situation in all its complexity and Jesus meets her precisely where she is at on her journey; he totally accepts her in it. In reading this the baptised are invited, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to do the same with those that they encounter – when we begin to know people at their deepest level (warts and all) we are called to love and accept them as Jesus did.

In speaking with God heart-to-heart, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, we also gradually begin to understand the world and those around us as God doesThe story of Zacchaeus in Luke (19:1-10) has always captured my imagination, particularly the detail about the tax collector being too small to see Jesus from the ground so he had to climb a tree. We read that Jesus caught sight of Zacchaeus and said that he would stay in his house that night. Members of the crowd are shocked by this because the tax collector is a known sinner. Moved by the encounter with Jesus the tax collector resolves to, ‘give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount’ (v 4).

In this passage we witness again the miraculous fruits of a heart-to-heart encounter with Christ. Tax collectors were outcasts and were publicly known to cheat and lie about the taxes they collected for personal gain. Yet, in a moment’s encounter with Christ Zacchaeus’ whole life is transformed, he is converted from pre-occupation with self-gain to putting things right with four-fold generosity. There is a clear challenge for us today in reading this: firstly to say ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to turn away from sin, and also to seek justice in all our encounters in our daily living. This seeking of justice is a direct fruit of speaking to God from the heart and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to make time to pray.

Finally, in the feeding of the five thousand, in Matthew 14:13-21, we witness Jesus taking pity on the people and not only healing their sick but also feeding everyone. As evening came in the lonely place where they had gathered, Jesus blessed five loaves and two fish and gave them to his disciples to distribute. We read, ‘They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps left over, twelve baskets full’ (v 20).

A lesson that the Lord teaches us again and again is that nothing is impossible to GodA lesson that the Lord teaches us again and again is that nothing is impossible to God. Even from the smallest and seemingly most insignificant things can extraordinary things happen. God’s providence is everywhere and we are invited to trust in him. As St Thérèse of Lisieux understood, it’s through the Little Way of being faithful to God in the small things that miracles happen in our hearts and in our lives - God uses even the slightest gesture of love and selflessness that we might offer. This story also clearly teaches that we are called to be attentive to the physical needs of others by feeding and serving them: To desire to serve is a fruit of letting God feed us with his Spirit.

In speaking to God heart-to-heart we are converted at our deepest level. In allowing God to touch our hearts we give him permission to fill us so that we in turn can share his loving and merciful heart with others in union with the life of the Trinity.

As we prepare for the Pope’s arrival it’s clear to see why Heart Speaks Unto Heart has been chosen as our shared focus. The baptised are invited to seek out authentic encounters with others so as to make manifest the heart of God through seeing, understanding, loving and serving them as God does. In this way we will go some way in realising the desires expressed in one of Cardinal Newman’s prayers; he desired to shine as Jesus shines, to radiate Christ, through the sympathetic influence of what he did, to spread Jesus’ fragrance everywhere.