All to often we may harden our hearts not realising that we are actually doing so. God may be talking to us through ways that if we were spiritually awake, we would be able to hear His voice. Many times though we enter a spiritual slumber and ponder as to why we are unable to stand firm against temptation.
Following on from the theme of repentance, we must beseech the Lord and ask for the prayers of the Blessed Virgin and of all the Saints so that our Lord softens our hearts and awakens us from our spiritual slumber. James 5 verse 16 we read "the prayers of a righteous man avails much", so beseech those who are alive in Christ so that together with your prayers our Lord will grant you your request.
If we are staggering in our faith it may ultimately be due to our own doubts, in Luke 18 verse 8 Jesus laments and asks "will I find faith when I return?" referring to His second coming. Do we have faith brethren? Do we believe in the power of God through the blessed Sacraments, such as the Eucharist? Or the Absolution of sins? Do we, as our blessed forefathers did, believe that the Church of God is not separated by death and that those who reached the perfect level of sanctification and righteousness are able to pray on our behalf? Do we believe that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us? If not, then this may be the reason for our struggles, for the hardness of our heart will bring calamity upon us, it will bring doubt, fear, worries and anxieties. However if we believe that God can do all things and work in ways that do not conform to our own wisdom, God will be faithful to us and provide for us a path, in which to escape from all our doubts and fears. Didn't Jesus say "believe and do not doubt"?
To overcome the hardness of our hearts let us affirm the truth of Jesus Christ through His blessed Apostolic Church that has held true to the faith through times of joy and desperation alike. Do not allow the wisdom of men, some who confess the Lord with lip service, to make you stumble from the true faith the faith that Jesus Christ was crucified for. St Paul stated -
2 Timothy 3
1 But realise this, that
in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be
lovers of self,
lovers of money,
boastful,
arrogant,
revilers,
disobedient to parents,
ungrateful,
unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable,
malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal,
haters of good,
4 treacherous,
reckless,
conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
Let us not be like these that St Paul warned us about, do not harden your hearts as many have turning away from Christ's Church with the belief that they know of another way, but confess and hold firm to the true faith and by the power of God's grace we will pass from death unto life eternal.
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