June 12, 2025 // Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26
Reflect on the Word //
The heart matters. Imagine the massive shift of the early Church beginning to realize that what the Savior was requiring from them was conversion of heart. The law that once was the centrality of the faith for the Jews was now something that would be internalized for the believing Christian. We can see this in Christ’s words, such as those in today’s Gospel, when He says, “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:22). The law now would both be written on their hearts and would transform them into living breathing alter Christus, other Christs—whose mission would then be for the world, to love them with the love of Christ Himself.
Now, maybe I don’t find myself in the early moments of Christendom, but every day in my life Jesus asks me the same thing—has my heart been transformed? Is it showing? In what I do and say, in my relationships, in my cheerfulness and my demeanor? What bitterness lies below the surface, what self-pity?
Matters of the heart: they matter to the heart, they matter to His Heart.
It struck me recently how much this conversion is meant to be ongoing and how much it impacts the people around us—for me, that’s my husband and my children. If we are not constantly turning our hearts back to Christ and resolving to begin again and again, those in our periphery will inevitably suffer. Moods, sleep, tiredness—it’s all at play. And it all matters. It matters because if we are to evangelize our own homes, workplaces, and schools, we need to be resolved to this type of docility, humility, and growth. An emptying of ourselves that can only result in the filling love of Christ in our hearts—it transforms us, and then it transforms the world. It was always meant to.
Relate to the Lord // Allow Christ to fill your heart today in prayerful silence, time in creation, or through His Word.
Blythe Fike is the wife of Kirby and mother of eleven smallish kids in small town SoCal. She firmly believes sanctity is found in the everyday and is trying hard to live that truth, despite her countless fumbles. She enjoys sunshine in heavy doses, good music, and babysitters. She is a contributing author to our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. Find out more about her here.
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