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Living from the Heart

Written by on September 24, 2011 - 8 Comments

Are you living in your head or from your heart?

What does it feel like to live in our heads? When we live in our heads we over think, we easily tire, we literally feel our minds buzzing with distractions.  We feel mentally, spiritually, and emotionally cluttered.  Living in our heads is heavy, burdensome, and tiring.

What does it feel like to live from our hearts?  We feel connected to God, to ourselves, and to others.  We feel passion and love.  We enjoy the moment.  We’re serene and happy.

Living in our heads is draining; living from our hearts is invigorating.  Living in our heads drives us to isolate.; living from our hearts leads us to connect more deeply with others.

I think many of us are disconnected from our hearts.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the heart is “the place of encounter.”  The heart is the deepest center of the person, the place where we are most authentically ourselves, the place where we encounter the living and Triune God.  The more we connect with our hearts, the more we connect with the Lord who dwells in us.

So how do we make this journey from living in our heads to living from our hearts?  I’ve been trying to do just that.  I’ve consciously distanced myself from technology.  I’ve gotten off of Facebook and Twitter and disabled email on my iPhone.  Yes, I still use the internet and email daily, but I’ve consciously stepped away from a lot of it.  It’s made a big impact in a short amount of time.  I’m more peaceful, and I’m more connected to the Lord, myself, and others.

So here are some steps you can take to get out of your head and into your heart:

  • Minimize distractions in your daily life.  Let technology be your servant not your master.
  • Declutter.  Get rid of the clothes you don’t need.  Clean off your desk.  Get rid of those items you’ve been wanting to throw away.
  • Consciously slow down during the day.  Remember that you are a temple of the Lord.
  • Make time for daily silence; open your heart to the Lord in deeper prayer.
  • Be present to people.  Look them in the eyes.  Be conscious that God is present in your encounter with each and every person.
  • Commit to some type of physical exercise.
  • Enjoy nature.
  • Laugh.

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How to Know Your Purpose

Written by on April 25, 2010 - 7 Comments

“Don’t ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive” (Howard Thurman).

Do you believe that God created you for a specific purpose?  I do–with every fiber of my being.  However, not everyone believes this.  To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, many people lead lives of “quiet desperation.”  In other words, some people simply make it through the day, without believing they have a specific mission.  This is a great tragedy.

To live with passion and purpose, we must believe in the depths of our hearts that we’re alive for a mission, that God has placed us here do something great.  This doesn’t mean that every day will be perfect or that we won’t suffer.  But it does mean that when we encounter difficulties we can always remind ourselves why we’re here.  The more we’re aligned with our God-given purpose, the more fully alive we will be.

So how can we know our purpose?  I don’t pretend to have a magic formula, and I’m not going to promise you any life-changing insights.  What I can offer are some simple spiritual steps that you can take to begin to know your purpose and to live it.  I offer these spiritual steps to you in the form of an acronymn, using the word “Purpose.”  In two posts I’ll use each letter to offer a particular insight.  This post will concern the first three letters and will be focused on how to know your purpose. Read more »

Are Fun and Holiness Compatible?

Written by on March 7, 2010 - 16 Comments


When I speak to young people about my life as a priest, inevitably the question is posed: What do you do for fun? In other words, they want to know if I’m “normal.” So, my friends, if you are interested, here are some “normal” things that I enjoy:

• I’m a diehard New England Patriots fan (still not over that February 2008 game). I literally try to plan my schedule around their games.
• If I’m driving on the highway on a warm day, I love to roll my windows down, blast James Taylor or John Mayer, and sing at the top of my lungs.
• I look forward to watching 24 on Mondays with my friend Fr. Dave while we snack on pretzels and sip Dewar’s on the rocks.
• I think 18-holes of golf with friends on a sunny summer day, followed by dinner, is as close to a perfect day as it gets.
• I cherish Sunday afternoon dinners with my family, sitting around the kitchen table for hours, and laughing a lot.
• Some of the most enjoyable moments I’ve had over the last several years have been on cruise vacations with my family.
• An unrushed dinner with friends, with lots of laughter, is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening.
• I love to travel.

Are these holy moments? Are they compatible with living a holy life? I believe they are. Now, I’m not claiming to be holy; but I’m striving for holiness, and I just don’t see how the above-mentioned list is incompatible with a holy life.

For some, the image that comes to mind when they hear the word “holy” is a monk or a nun in deep contemplation, cut off from the world. And it’s true that many monks and nuns are living very holy lives; but most of us are not in convents or monasteries. We are in the world. So is it possible to live a holy life but to really enjoy our lives? To have fun?

The Lord created the world. Creation is good. So we ought to enjoy the goodness of creation: relationships, food, drink, leisure, travel, music, theater, etc. True, all of these things can be abused. People can drink too much. Music can be bad—even sacrilegious. Leisure can be abused to the point of avoiding work or life commitments—at which point it becomes laziness. However, taken in moderation, everything that I mentioned above is compatible with a holy life and is even the expression of a holy life. Holiness is more than just being in the chapel. (Although if we’re striving for holiness then it goes without saying that we need to spend time in daily prayer).

God wants us to enjoy our lives. Holiness doesn’t mean walking around with a sourpuss. In fact, the holiest people I know possess the most joyful and warm personalities. They are fun to be around. Being holy means being authentically human, being fully alive. The closer a person is to the Lord, the more fully alive will they be. Being holy means embracing what is authentically human. That is precisely what God did: He became man in the Person of Jesus Christ. If anything validates the goodness of creation it is the fact that God took on our human nature and lived among us!

Jesus cherished family and friendship. He dined in peoples’ homes. He went to weddings and drank wine. The Incarnate Word of God—the Way, the Truth, and the Life—loved life! And His saints did too:

• St. Philip Neri had a tremendous sense of humor.
• St. Josemaria Escriva enjoyed love songs
• Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati loved to hike with friends and enjoyed smoking a pipe.
• Pope John Paul II loved to ski

In our daily lives, while we are engaged in non-religious activities, it is still possible to live in God’s presence and to feel His presence. In fact, that’s a good way to gauge whether or not what we are doing is holy: With a clear conscience, can I thank the Lord for this moment (this music, this place, this sporting event)? Is this moment leading me closer to Him or farther away?

Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and if we’re living an authentic Christian life then we ought to be joyful. So don’t be a depressed Christian! Enjoy your life, and let other people see that you enjoy it! Everything that is good comes from the Lord. People will be drawn to Christ through you if you embrace what’s good in the world and the culture.

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Are You Fully Alive?

Written by on September 20, 2009 - 5 Comments

St. Irenaeus, a bishop and early Church Father, wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  I love this quote.  In one sentence he describes what it means to be holy.  To be holy means being fully alive; to be holy means being fully the persons God created us to be.

thumbnail.aspTo be fully alive is not equivalent to the modern notion of “living life to its fullest.”  When many people talk about living life to its fullest, what they really mean is that we should indulge in as many pleasures as possible, pamper ourselves, and just be comfortable.  Not that there’s anything wrong with pampering ourselves once in a while, but that’s not exactly what St. Irenaues meant.

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