According to the Christian Revelation man has been shaped from the clay (the body) and created in His own image, in His likeness according to the spirit, the divine Ruah who permeates matter since the beginning of the Creation and vivifies it. It’s not about a biological life, but a spiritual strength which animates our physical life.(Genesis 2,7; John 6,63) So man guards this spiritual heart from which he brings spiritual nourishment and thanks to it he gives a sense to his choices and to his life.
Spirit, consciousness, reflected thought, soul, spiritual heart can be used as synonyms of this man’s interior reality even keeping shades of different meanings. We prefer calling it spiritual heart or love, which doesn’t totally belong to us, it deeply roots in the infinite mystery of God. To use a metaphor we could compare it to a deep well whose water restores us and vivifies us but doesn’t belong to us, it’s always donated to us independently from our merits.
It’s loyal to itself, it’s like a bridge of connection between the man and God and breaking this link means removing from us the possibility to be ourselves. The pursuit of this mystery is the walk which everyone starts in his/her life, being aware or not, sometimes without succeeding to name it. All the religions show this our spiritual reality.
The soul never dies, as God is immortal, so it's needed to pay attention in what we choose, and what we cultivate in this heart, because if we follow our selfishness we risk building our hell. In several occasions Pope Francis doesn't stop warning the spread of a serious illness of our century called “cardiosclerosis”1 which doesn't refer to the muscle of the real heart, but the spiritual one. It's the heart's closing, a sort of paralysis, indifference, collective selfishness of the nowadays’ society.
Pope Francis continues complaining about the spread of the culture of waste which we have to rebel to. You can find the key of this rebellion in tenderness, in the contagion of its sweetness, its solidarity towards the next, its beauty of the gift , its good which fortifies us.
Like in the parable of the good Samaritan, we shouldn’t wait for someone to ask us for help, but we ourselves should be at the disposal of who needs us. Salvation starts from this deep motivation and it is its essence. Because the poor before being fed, dressed… need tenderness, need to feel important to somebody and need to feel loved. And who doesn’t need it? We are all thirsty for this water, we all have this same hunger!
Let’s rescue the heart, let’s give it the breath it asks for, let’s wake up from everyday’s indifference, in every moment!