A Softened Heart
By Faith Flawn
The silence and lack of solidarity from the Church is what has hurt the most. It would be very comforting if members of the church would walk with us and comfort us, because for many, many, many, many, years black people have been holding up each other. But who has been there to hold us? This is my only request. That instead of turning a blind eye, you look at our pain and suffering and listen. That you see us in distress and you hold out your hand. That you see us crying and you give us a shoulder to lean on.
It seems at times, though, that you did hear. And then I wonder, did you not believe us? Did you think it wasn’t as bad as we were making it out to be? Were our songs, stories, poetry, and movies depicting our struggles not enough for you? At other times I think you did hear, and you continued to keep walking as we lay on the ground yet again. I was talking to a friend earlier this month who called to see how I was doing; she knew that I was sad given these recent events and decided to check in. We talked for a little while and she said to me, “I think this whole thing has been very humbling for white people.” I wonder why it was specifically the death of George Floyd that ended up allowing so many people to hear what black people have been saying for many decades, but I think the answer to that question lies with what my friend said next: Her heart had been “broken and softened to this.” “This” being the experiences of other people. And she concluded that “People’s hearts have to break.”
I think in order for people’s hearts to be opened to hear the hurt of their neighbor, apart from listening and being in conversation, people need to pray. We can’t go anywhere unless we are willing to allow our hearts to be softened to the pleas of our black brothers and sisters in Christ.
So how can we open our hearts?
By going to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus’s heart burns with love for each and every person, with no exceptions. If we love like He does, we will start to care about people we may not know personally. We need to ask Jesus to give us the grace to see, love, and care about others in the way He does. We need to pray for a softened heart that loves with a “burning furnace of charity.”
A few days before I had this conversation with my friend, I was praying. It isn’t very often that I read the Gospel passage where Lazarus dies and Martha is saying “Lord if you had been there…” But I found myself wanting to read that passage anyway. Not because of what Martha will say after she first sees Jesus in that situation, but because I wanted to see how Jesus spoke to her. To see how He comforted her.
In reading this passage I was comforted by how much Jesus cared. How Jesus cared about the heart-wrenching sorrow which Martha carried and likewise how He cares about what I carry too.
A few days after reading from the Gospel of John, I was flipping through the pages of my Bible to find a psalm of lament and pray with it. Instead, I felt drawn to read the passage in Matthew that says: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). I found comfort in these verses knowing that I can go to Jesus and bring to Him the sadness and pain that I have held in my heart these past weeks. I know that I can find consolation in his heart when I go to Him.
So let us turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for comfort and for the grace to love others in the way He does.
Faith Flawn is a junior at the University of West Florida. She loves reading about the lives of the saints, painting, and playing with her dog Daisy, or any dog for that matter. Spending time with her friends is her favorite pastime.
We would like to feature a series of articles around the topic of race. If you would like to contribute, please email us at hello@theycw.com. Even if you have only a few sentences to share, whatever color your skin is, we want to hear from you
