Stubborn Hearts

"You're being stubborn!" the mother said to her daughter. "Yes, and I like it!" the daughter responded. When I was a child, conversations like this were extremely rare, and almost everyone was shocked to hear about it when it did happen. Today it is commonplace. This is because our hearts have changed. We have been heavily influenced to seek our own desires regardless of their consequences to others (and we often pretend like we do not care about the consequences to ourselves).

In today's first reading for Mass, Moses tells the Hebrews that they need to change their hearts and he uses the symbolism of saying "circumcise your hearts", as in "remove part of it". What part of your heart do you need to "remove" in order to stop being stubborn? Have you ever spent time actually meditating on this idea and asking the Lord to help you see it clearly (or were you just stubbornly against it?)? And, remember, few people who are stubborn believe that they are; they usually use other terms like, "steadfast", or "determined", or "knows what he likes".

Do not fall into the error of saying, "I'm just sticking to my guns" to justify your stubborn attitude. Also, it is quite easy to exalt our own wisdom above others and say to ourselves, "I don't need to give in because I am right". This too is a grievous self-deception. With so much in our society exemplifying and promoting stubborn willfulness in people, I strongly encourage you to seek the Lord's mercy to help you examine your own heart and ask whether you have given in to stubbornness. If so, then only God's grace can help you get out of it.