Open Your Heart, Ears, and Eyes to Grace
To understand what it means to Open our Heart, Ears, and Eyes to Grace, let us meditate on the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 13:15—“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”—offers a sobering portrayal of spiritual resistance, as Jesus reflects on the unwillingness of people to open themselves to divine truth. This verse highlights the hardness of hearts, blindness of eyes, and deafness of ears, capturing a recurring biblical theme: the tragedy of rejecting God’s invitations to healing and transformation. Many of the Church Fathers addressed this topic, seeing it as both a description of sin’s grip on humanity and a call to greater openness and responsiveness to God.
Hardness of Heart
A Willful Resistance to God
The concept of a “hardened heart” appears throughout Scripture as a state in which a person becomes resistant to God’s grace, truth, and call to transformation. The heart is portrayed as “calloused” or “hard,” symbolizing an obstinate or stubborn disposition that resists God’s will. Saint Augustine, in his Confessions, writes about this hard-heartedness as rooted in pride and self-centeredness. According to Augustine, a hardened heart is one that has lost the sensitivity to God’s presence and promptings because it clings too closely to the self and the world’s pleasures. He reflects on how his own life was characterized by hardness until he surrendered to God, recognizing that pride and attachment to sin had blinded and deafened him.
In a similar vein, Saint Gregory the Great speaks of the “stony heart” as a result of habitual sin that makes a person insensitive to spiritual realities. He emphasizes that a heart becomes hardened not by a single act of disobedience, but through repeated choices that neglect or contradict God’s will. Gregory argues that this hardness becomes a form of spiritual numbness, a state in which one no longer feels contrition, guilt, or the movement of the Holy Spirit. The remedy he proposes is repentance, especially a repentance that continually softens the heart through humility and the acknowledgment of one’s dependence on God.
Blindness of Eyes
A Refusal to See God’s Truth
The blindness Jesus speaks of in this passage is not a physical blindness but a spiritual one, a refusal or inability to see the truth of God. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons speaks about spiritual blindness as a self-imposed barrier that results when people choose to remain in ignorance or to reject divine wisdom. For Irenaeus, this blindness represents a willful turning away from the light of Christ, who reveals God’s truth. He argues that this blindness is a tragic form of self-destruction because it prevents the person from perceiving reality as it truly is, instead remaining trapped in illusions and deceptions.
Origen also addresses the theme of blindness in his Commentary on Matthew, noting that it is a symptom of the soul’s disorientation from God. He describes how those who are blind in spirit are unable to see the divine plan and purposes in their lives because they are “turned inward” rather than “looking outward” to God. Origen believes that this spiritual blindness is a form of judgment upon those who persistently reject God’s light, yet he emphasizes that it is also curable through repentance, the sacraments, and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Deafness of Ears
Ignoring God’s Word
In discussing the deafness of ears, the Church Fathers often draw attention to the failure to heed God’s voice. Saint John Chrysostom, in his homilies on Matthew, points out that many people have physical hearing but lack the “ears of the heart.” They may listen to Scripture, sermons, or words of counsel but fail to internalize and live out the message. Chrysostom warns against the kind of selective listening in which people “hear” only what they want to hear, closing themselves off to challenging truths or calls to conversion. This selective deafness, he argues, is especially dangerous because it allows the listener to remain comfortably within their existing beliefs and habits, avoiding the discomfort of change.
Similarly, Saint Basil the Great emphasizes that deafness to God’s Word leads to spiritual stagnation. He notes that to truly “hear” God’s Word is to act upon it. For Basil, the ears must be “opened” by prayer and a desire for holiness, for without this openness, the Word cannot take root in the soul. He warns against the passive reception of God’s Word, urging believers to actively cultivate their receptivity through contemplation, obedience, and love.
The Invitation to Turn and Be Healed
In Matthew 13:15, Jesus speaks of the possibility of turning and being healed, highlighting the merciful nature of God. This healing is not merely physical but profoundly spiritual, involving the restoration of the whole person. Saint Ambrose reflects on this theme, arguing that God’s desire is always to heal rather than condemn. He writes that even the most hardened hearts are within reach of divine mercy, provided they are willing to turn towards God. For Ambrose, healing is the restoration of the image of God within us, the reclaiming of our identity as God’s beloved children.
The Church Fathers generally agree that healing begins with humility, the willingness to acknowledge one’s need for God. Saint Augustine, for example, describes his own conversion as a moment of turning from pride to humility, from self-reliance to a recognition of his dependence on God. In his view, the process of healing involves a gradual softening of the heart, opening of the eyes, and attuning of the ears. Augustine’s own story is a powerful example of how God’s grace can break through even the hardest heart, gradually illuminating the truth and drawing a person into a transformative relationship with Him.
The Modern Relevance of Hardened Hearts, Blindness, and Deafness
The insights of the Church Fathers on this passage remain strikingly relevant today. Many of us struggle with a hardened heart when we resist forgiveness or cling to resentment; we experience spiritual blindness when we fail to see God’s work in our lives or in others; and we are spiritually deaf when we ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit or avoid difficult truths. This passage from Matthew serves as a reminder that these states of resistance are not fixed conditions but are reversible. Through repentance, prayer, and the sacraments, our hearts can be softened, our eyes opened, and our ears attuned to God’s voice.
Practical Reflection
- Examine the Heart: What areas of our lives reveal hardness or resistance to God? Are there situations where we have become callous or indifferent, either to God’s will or to others’ needs? Daily examination, such as the Ignatian Examen, helps reveal these areas and invites God to soften our hearts.
- Pray for Sight: In moments of confusion or doubt, we can pray for the gift of spiritual sight. “Lord, open my eyes to see you at work.” As Saint Ephrem of Syria taught, spiritual sight grows when we actively seek God’s perspective, especially through contemplation on Scripture and the sacraments.
- Listen with the Heart: True listening involves openness and a willingness to act on what we hear. Like Samuel, who prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” we can cultivate this posture by quieting ourselves, resisting distractions, and preparing to respond to God’s promptings with trust.
Matthew 13:15 reminds us that the obstacles to God’s grace are not insurmountable but often self-imposed. The Church Fathers’ reflections emphasize the mercy and patience of God, who waits for us to turn, open, and be healed. Through repentance, openness, and humility, we can allow God to break through our resistances, leading us into deeper communion with Him and a fuller participation in His transformative love.
A Call to Open
A transformative invitation to move from resistance to receptivity, echoing the passage’s message of turning to God for healing.
Yes, “Open Your Heart, Ears, and Eyes to grace”. It highlights the call to receptivity and openness, inviting a transformative encounter with God.
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