Among the things that doctors tell parents to do right after their baby is born is what is called “kangaroo care.” This is where one of the parents—let’s say the father—nestles his son or daughter to his chest so that there is skin-to-skin contact. It is recommended that this be done for long stretches of time. This helps to regulate the baby’s heartbeat. Nestled close to her father’s heart, a newborn baby girl’s heart gradually calms and comes to match the steady, strong rhythm of her father’s loving heart.
Proximity causes a conformity of the heart. Christ invites us to come to him: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves (Mt 11:28-29). When the Savior draws us close, the beat of our heart begins to match his.
The healing and renewal of the heart is one of the consistent promises of God in the Old Testament: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26). This promise is carried on into the New Testament: The love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom 5:5). If we are to be saved, it must happen through a transformation of the heart.
The heart is the absolute foundation of the person. “The heart is the dwelling place where I am…the place of decision…the place of truth” (CCC 2563). What is true of my heart is true of me in the most radical sense. It is there that we need healing, there that we need transformation.
The heart “is the place of encounter” (CCC 2563). It is where my “I” meets the “I” of the Lord and is transformed. Think of the Apostle John, the Beloved Disciple, as he reclined next to Christ at the Last Supper, his head reclining on our Lord’s chest, hearing the steady rhythm of that Sacred Heart, which would be pierced for love of us.
We too can listen to the heart of Jesus Christ. We hear what John heard every time we attend Mass: “Take this, all of you, and eat of it. For this is my Body, which will be given up for you.” Take this, all of you, and eat of it… You can hear the eagerness of Christ’s heart, his desire to give himself to us for our salvation. “Take this! I want you to have it! This is for you! Eat it!” If the heart is the place of truth, what is the truth in the heart of Jesus Christ? It is this: God saves, God loves, God is love, and that love is for you, is for all of us.
What is our response to all this? The word Eucharist itself means “thanksgiving.” A necessary consequence of our hearts beginning to beat like that of Christ—which the Eucharist accomplishes—is that we will become more grateful. Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful (Col 3:15).
