The "Heart": The Core of the Person

By the "heart," Jesus means the core of the person, from where morality really springs. In Tagalog, the "heart" refers to the "kalooban ng tao." For instance, it is Lent again and people will again engage in the usual Lenten devotional practices, like the Way of the Cross, "visita Iglesia," "pabasa," "canaculo," etc. But I bet that despite these external practices, the hearts of many will remain unchanged. After Holy Week, "balik sa dati." Why? Because there has never been any real conversion and renewal that happened. Everything was "panlabas lang."

Jesus is calling us to a change of heart. He is calling us to a "living morality" that really springs up from a heart truly transformed by Him. Just look at us Filipinos: we are more than 85% catholic in our country. But look at the way people drive on the road, look at the corruption in the government, look at our local movies that full of immoralities, etc. Look at the mediocre way people live their catholic faith! But those people will be in our churches, will join village-wide Way of the Cross, will join processions, etc. As parish priest, I have noticed that people die na lang without even having understood many things about our catholic faith, like the Mass, Baptism, the sacrament of marriage they got themselves into, etc.