When the late Blessed John Paul II began his pontificate, he said "Open, indeed, open wide the doors for Christ." This was a constant theme of his many years of leadership and a continued thread of his teaching. Accompanying that admonition was an encouragement - "Be not afraid!". Good solid words that are still as necessary as they were in the late 70's.
What brings this to mind was the necessity of having new garage door openers installed today. For a week, we have been having troubles, and while our doors do not open wide but rather up and down, they have needed encouragement to open or they have developed a mind of their own, and after all of these years, when the neighbors came and went, our openers randomly decided to work on my house. It was confusing, and a bit of a concern. But all is well now (I hope).
Sometimes life is the same way. We want to have control of when and why, for whom and how the doors of our heart open, but that is not always the case. There are moments when an outside source interferes and we need to take action, there are times when we need an overhaul of the mechanism if that is possible, and there are times when we just need to be renewed in Christ.
I hate to say this so soon after Christmas, but with Lent approaching, it may be a good time to take stock of the condition of the mechanism that opens our heart wide to Christ, so that nothing stands in the way or delays our journey to him.
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