Custody of the Heart

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Last month we learned that the heart of the human person is a garden where God dwells and, as for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, our fundamental task is to care for this garden of our soul. The heart is the point of contact between God and man. We must guard the door to our heart with vigilance, so that no stranger can enter the house. What is the nature of our hearts since the Fall and subsequent exile of mankind from its original innocence and unity? Why are we not at peace — with ourselves and with others?

The Desert Fathers viewed the Christian life as a battle against the demons. But in the mystery that is the human heart, there is a place where not only do we battle the adversaries of God, but where God Himself may be found (St. Teresa of Jesus, Interior Castle).  Within the heart, man enters into relationship with everything that exists. Within the heart, we spiritually encounter and know ourselves. To discern the various good and evil spirits with clarity, the soul must be present to itself. The state of prayer requires a steadfast disposition of the heart and an attentiveness to every one of our thoughts and desires and the Holy Spirit. This is the means of perfecting the image of God in us and acquiring purity of heart.

With regular practice, ‘attention to the heart’ means to guard and keep all evil thought from entering in from outside; by attention to the heart, the heart is educated and healed through watchfulness. The entire process is called asceticism, or spiritual training. The natural desires of the heart are our tendencies toward the good, the just, the beautiful, God. But the ‘demons’ can also impose a kind of tyranny over us, especially through the passions — from the senses, from our temperament, through our memory and imagination. These upset the state of the heart and give rise to our impulsive actions. One can therefore say with the Gospel that ‘from the heart come evil intentions’ (Mt 15:19). But it was stated earlier that evil thoughts come from without. 

The fathers explain it this way. The human heart is an abyss where divine inspirations and ‘serpents’ mix. Once corrupted, once wounded from the outside, the heart becomes a source of passionate movements. This is a perversion of the nature which God intended in creating our hearts and which asceticism seeks to heal. For this task, we learn ‘watchfulness’ — a spiritual method which, over time, can free us, even completely, with God’s help, from impassioned thoughts, words, and evil actions.