«It is in the heart that the true treasure is preserved, not in the safes of the earth, not in large financial investments, which have never before been so crazy and unjustly concentrated, idolized at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation”. Pope Leo continues the catechesis on “Jesus Christ our hope” and reflects on the theme “The Resurrection of Christ and the challenges of today’s world. Easter as a haven for the restless heart”. It takes up the phrase of Saint Augustine: “Lord, you made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you” and speaks of the daily worries of modern life. «We are absorbed in many activities that don’t always make us satisfied», he explains. «Many of our actions have to do with practical, concrete things. We have to take responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, face hardships. Jesus also involved himself with people and with life, not sparing himself, but rather giving himself to the end. Nevertheless, we often perceive how too much doing, instead of giving us fullness, becomes a vortex that stuns us, takes away our serenity, prevents us from living to the fullest what is really important for our life. We then feel tired, dissatisfied: time seems to be dispersed in a thousand practical things which however do not resolve the ultimate meaning of our existence. Sometimes, at the end of days full of activities, we feel empty. Why? Because we are not machines, we have a “heart”, or rather, we can say, we are a heart.”
The evangelist Matthew also reminds us that “Where your treasure is, your heart will be there too” to say how important thoughts, feelings, desires are, how the heart is the invisible center of people.
«It is important to reflect on these aspects», adds Leone, «because in the numerous commitments that we continually face, the risk of dispersion, sometimes of desperation, of lack of meaning increasingly emergeseven in apparently successful people. Instead, reading life in the sign of Easter, looking at it with the Risen Jesus, means finding access to the essence of the human person, to our heart: cor inquietum. With this adjective “restless”, Saint Augustine makes us understand the impetus of the human being aimed at its full fulfillment.”
Restlessness, the Pope further underlines, «is the sign that our heart does not move at random, in a disorderly way, without an end or a destination, but is oriented towards its ultimate destination, that of “returning home”.. And the authentic goal of the heart does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving that which can fully fill it, that is, the love of God, or rather, God Love. This treasure, however, can only be found by loving the others we meet along the way: brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, whose presence solicits and questions our hearts, calling it to open up and give of itself. The next person asks you to slow down, look him in the eyes, sometimes to change plans, maybe even to change direction.”.
And this is the secret of the human heart: «Returning to the source of its being, enjoying the joy that never fails, that does not disappoint. No one can live without a meaning that goes beyond the contingent, beyond what passes. The human heart cannot live without hope, without knowing that it is made for fullness, not for lack. Jesus Christ, with his Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection gave a solid foundation to this hope. The restless heart will not be disappointed if it enters into the dynamism of the love for which it was created. The landing is certain, life has won and in Christ it will continue to win in every death of everyday life. This is Christian hope.”
