by Corinne Medrana

I’ve been reflecting for weeks on what I can share on this topic of bridging belief and behavior. I’ve been asking the Lord what of my life with Him I can open up to you all today that will effectively illustrate the concept. Over that time I’ve had different ideas but none that fully took hold or resonated, but I think He clarified it for me just yesterday at 3:45pm in the school chapel as I tried my best to empty my mind of my own thoughts and notions in order to make space and silence to receive His lead.

I realized that the very thing that attracted me to Regnum Christi, the RC charism, perfectly bridges belief and behavior. The way that we are contemplatives in action who give equal importance to prayer and apostolate, that we are both Mary, attentively and lovingly listening at the feet of Jesus, and Martha, serving Him with love and devotion.

Backtrack to my life before RC..... I was a cradle Catholic, born into it and raised to meet the minimum requirements of a baptised member of Mother Church - Sunday Mass, standard memorized prayers before meals and at bedtime but not much more than that. In my teens my family met the charismatic movement and my spirituality was somewhat awakened as I was introduced to actually having a relationship with God. But still, my life of belief was essentially relegated to Sunday Mass, weekly prayer meetings or bible studies and the occasional weekend or Lenten retreat, but to be honest there was certainly no bridge connecting that part of me to my behavior on a day to day basis.

In my early married life and as a young mom I did seek to nurture my faith and spirituality because I wanted to be equipped to pass my faith on to my children, but I would say that was the extent of the impact of my beliefs on my behavior, quite myopic, self-serving and temporal. That the two, belief and behavior, could and should be bridged never crossed (pun intended) my mind.

By the pure grace and gift of God I was introduced to Everest and then quite naturally to RC. My thirst for spiritual nourishment continued and was satisfied through the monthly recollections and weekly encounters with Christ, much the way it was in the weekly prayer meetings and occasional retreats of my youth. But the format of the EWC that includes concrete resolutions to express my faith, live my faith and act on my faith introduced me to the possibility of behaving according to belief. Whereas my prayer meetings and bible study groups before would feed my spirit, theydidn’t challenge me to apply what I received and have that fullness overflow into my daily life. I was always receiving, but there was nothing compelling me to give. Allow me to share some examples of EWC resolutions my teams have made to drive home the point of how concrete the behavior can be:

1. One week we resolved to reach out to one person we were led to reach out to whom we offended or had been offended by and to make peace with them.
2. Another week we decided to counter uncharitable talk by finding something positive to say about the person to redirect the conversation.
3. As a last example, we committed to pause when feeling overwhelmed and in the midst of the frenzy and busy-ness to pray and allow God to give us His peace and clarity.

So in the simple format of having resolutions, the faith that is nurtured and nourished in the EWC extends into concrete ways to apply it in daily living. I invite all of us who attend EWC to see the resolutions in this way, if you don’t yet do so, and bridge your belief and behavior by consciously striving to fulfill your resolutions.

Another way that my belief and behavior are bridged is through organized apostolate, which basically is the behavior of bringing what I believe to others. Whether it be here in Everest working in admissions or fostering the RC spirit among the employees, service in the RC section or Family Missions, ... whatever it is, apostolic action is the expression and application of my prayer, and conversely, prayer is the inspiration and source of my apostolic efforts. We can take this morning as a concrete example to demonstrate what I mean. The fact that I am here today talking before you is because I believe that the opportunity to serve you today through the RC Women’s section is a gift from God to me. It’s a gift because as I prepared I spent more time in prayer talking to and trying to listen to God. It’s a gift because through that focused and purposeful prayer He revealed new insights to me. It’s a gift because His love for me was reinforced as I recalled all the ways He has been present in my life. It’s a gift because I can place the talents He’s given me to good use.... And the list can go on, and on. Because I am so grateful for the gift of this opportunitythat I believe He has given me, I am urged to express my gratitude through my behavior, which is to agree to be here to share this morning.

Another example I can give is my work and service in the school. I try to seize the opportunities that are presented to share one of God’s most precious gifts, which is the faith I’ve discovered through RC. I consider it to be such a privilege to have the trifold roles of a mom of the school, an RC member and an employee, and I accept the invitation that comes with these roles to humbly and happily spread what I’ve come to believe through RC. I do this in the way I try to behave as an RC mom and as a member of Everest administration. Be it helping new parents to discover that our faith is more than what they were made to memorize in school as we talk about encountering and experiencing the person of Jesus, our loving God, during admissions interviews. Or be it helping my colleagues to view their work as more than a job but a vocation and calling from God to participate in His mission of furthering His Kingdom through forming the students, families and ourselves. Or be it doing my desk work with dedication knowing that I can offer up the mundane and unite myself to Christ so that it becomes redemptive and supernatural. There are multiple and countless ways that we can behave according to our belief in our day to day relationships and responsibilities. We just have to shift our mindset to identify and be aware of them.

I do have to clarify that the realization of these opportunities and gifts was a journey. I did not start off as the kind of person to readily agree to speak at a recollection. I did not start off as a person who would readily volunteer to work on a committee. I did not start off as a person who would readily lead a group. But as my belief in God’s love for me strengthened, as my belief in HIs Kingdom strengthened, as my belief that He has invited me to cooperate with Him strengthened, my behavior slowly changed.

I truly believe that God loves me so much that I am less fearful and inhibited so that I can now agree to speak, volunteer to work or even lead. I truly believe that His Kingdom is where we are

all destined to be so I joyfully and eagerly speak, work and lead others towards the fulfillment of that common, universal destiny. I truly believe that I have the privilege of cooperating with Him that I dare not pass up the chances to speak, work and lead for Him when I perceive His invitation to do so.

I want to encourage each of you to dwell on what you believe for a while, ask God to enlighten you so that wrong beliefs about yourself, about Him, about your life can be revealed and rooted out, and that your belief in the truths about these things is strengthened. God has certainly given each of you your own gifts and invites you to make use of those gifts for His purpose and His glory. I pray that your eyes are opened to the countless opportunities to behave according to your belief. I pray that the beliefs that God reinforces fully solidify in your heart and mind, so much so that your behavior becomes an outward expression of your inner belief. I pray that you discover the gift of bridging your belief and behavior.

by Fr. John Bartunek, LC

The divine heart was represented to me as upon a throne of fire and flames. It shed rays on every side brighter than the sun and transparent as crystal. The wound which he received on the cross appeared there visibly. A crown of thorns encircled the divine heart, and it was surmounted by a cross.  (St. Margaret Mary)

FIRST SYMBOL: The Heart

Jesus decides to show his heart which is very significant in and of itself. When you want to get to know someone, when you want to let someone into your life, you open your heart to them. And if you don’t open your heart to someone, they can never get inside, in the intimate reality of you as a person.

No one can force their way into another person’s heart. If I don’t open my heart to you, you’ll never have access to that deepest core of my being, where I dwell, where the person dwells.

That’s the Biblical idea of the Heart.  It is not just the seat of emotion but it’s the center of the person. The place where the deepest identity is grounded, where the deepest decisions are made.

[The heart] is the intersection of all the other faculties of the human spirit – the mind, the will, the emotions. They all come together at the very core of the person – the heart. Jesus, by revealing his heart, the very core symbol of [the] devotion [to the Sacred Heart], is saying that “I actually really want a relationship with you. I really want you to know me and to enter into the intimacy of my person.”

Jesus wants us to be close to him. He wants us to know him. It’s the whole meaning of the Incarnation. In the Incarnation, Jesus, the Word of God, the second person, comes to earth to redeem us to bring us back into a relationship with God; that relationship which was shattered by original sin. (CCC 2560)

The fact that Jesus opens his heart, it means something that really is unfathomable. The infinite God who, in a sense, does not need us, he exists from all eternity; but he chooses to need us. He chooses to need our love, our friendship in order for him to be complete.

Sometimes we can think of religion as a series of beliefs, and practices, a series of rituals – all of those beliefs, practices and rituals, the meaning of them is to help us enter into and continue to grow in relationship with God. Religion is about relationship.

In Regnum Christi, this aspect of our relationship with God, our responding to God’s thirst, his desire to have us as a friend, is really the center of our spiritual life. One of the five core elements of life in Regnum Christi are spiritual life, our prayer and sacramental life is where we continue to have this encounter, continue to encounter God’s thirst for us and respond to it, continue to go deeper into Christ’s heart.

That’s the first of the symbols, the heart itself, God revealing himself. God saying, “Hey! I’m opening my heart to you. I want you in my life and I want to be in your life.”

SECOND SYMBOL: The Fire

The heart is on a throne of flames. It’s shining with the light itself. It’s glowing so that it’s clear as crystal.
                                                     
In the Bible, fire, whenever it has to do with the revelation of God, is always a symbol of God’s active saving love.

Fire is a symbol of God intervening, God coming, God wanting to enter into our lives. He’s not just waiting. He’s not passive. He wants so much for us to be a part of his life that he takes the initiative and intervenes.

If the heart of Jesus is enthroned in this bed of flames, what does that mean? God is constantly, constantly seeking to spread into our lives and into the world his light and his warmth. He’s yearning to sanctify the world.

Luke 12:49

God does not wait; he is going to find a way to touch us, to renew us, to redeem us, to lead us deeper into relationship with him.

We also express a real harmony with this, in our spiritual family in Regnum Christi, another of the five elements of our lives in Regnum Christi is the apostolate. We want to catch this fire of love from God and we want to spread it as well. This is part of what God has given us in our own charism.

God is always looking. He’s always this fire. It’s this active seeking love. He’s looking for ways for people to discover his love, to rediscover it.

The THIRD SYMBOL: The Wound

The wound that he received on the cross appeared on the side of the heart. Here we have a beautiful connection between the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ.

It was from the wound that the blood and the water poured forth. That’s the symbol of the Sacraments. The Sacraments come out of the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross right from his heart, which was pierced by the spear.

The Sacraments of the Church come right from the heart of Christ.

When we see the wound, you could think, “Well, this is a sign of weakness. He wasn’t strong enough to resist the powers of evil and so he was wounded.” But it’s just the opposite in actual fact. The wound is a symbol of self-sacrificing love. His love was so strong that he didn’t fight with the weapons of the enemy. He fought with the weapons of God, the weapons of love, self-sacrificing love.

He conquers by sacrificing himself. The wound is a symbol of a warrior who fights for those he loves.

Our God is a conquering God, the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of Victories, he conquers our hearts, just the love of a warrior.

The symbol of the wound shows that Jesus is going to fight for us, that he’s going to sacrifice himself for us. We can interpret that in a very special way linked to the Eucharist. The same perseverance, the same consistency, the same determination that Jesus showed throughout his passion is still being shown through the Eucharist. He fights to be present in every nook and cranny of the earth.

Christ is going to conquer us by the persistence of his love. He’s going to conquer more and more hearts by the persistence of his love. His Kingdom is wherever he is present and he’s present in the Eucharist.

There I was in front of the Eucharist, not knowing what the Eucharist was, but I had a sense that Jesus was there, God was there, and he was saying to me, “Don’t worry. I’m here. I’m with you. You’re on the right path, just keep going.”

Jesus stays in the Tabernacle, whether or not anyone comes. He’s continuing his self-sacrifice because he wants so much to win us over to his Kingdom.

The FOURTH SYMBOL: Crown of Thorns

His Heart was circled with a crown of thorns. This is an image of pain, of suffering, of horrible suffering. The tender flesh of the heart pierced with a sharp thorn? Imagine how much suffering, how much pain that is.

What type of suffering, what type of pain is at work here? What is it that causes him that intense pain, symbolized by the circle of thorns wrapped around his heart? It’s when people don’t respond to his love with love.

When his love is rejected, he experiences that pain even more.

Anytime someone says “no” to God, that’s what sin is. Sin is, in essence, a turning away from God, a saying “no” to God’s love. Each one of those thorns is a symbol of a sin of someone who’s rejecting God’s love.

This symbol is a very powerful symbol.

Our choices matter to God. He is not indifferent to our decisions. If we choose to say “no” to him, if we choose to rebel against him and his law, it pains his heart. And the reason that it pains his heart, primarily, isn’t because he just feels offended and he’s got some security issues or some identity issues, it’s because when we turn away from him, we’re hurting ourselves. Sin causes damage to our own souls, to the souls of those around us, to the world around us. Sooner or later, sin always causes damage.

He wants us to live life abundantly to the full; so when we sin and we cause damage, it pains him. When we sin, we alienate ourselves from the life that he wants.

When we’re stuck in inordinate self-love – a sinful attitude, sinful actions – it inhibits us from experiencing the peace, the joy, the meaning that God wants us to experience.

The crown of thorns is showing us that sin, that saying “no” to God really causes him pain. He is not indifferent to that.

The FIFTH SYMBOL: The Cross

The cross that surmounts the heart. It reminds us again of the passion. But, it also reminds us of the invitation that Jesus made to all his disciples. Remember the invitation from Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take us his cross daily, and follow me.”

This is the other side of the thorns.

If it pains Jesus when we say “no” to him, then it gives him joy when we say “yes” to him. Think about that for a moment. We can make the heart of God smile. We have the power to cause pain to Jesus, and we have the power to cause joy to God.

That what’s happens when he enters into our lives. He makes himself vulnerable. He makes himself able to be affected by our own choices.

So, when we say “yes” to follow him, we bring him joy. In a sense, every time we say “yes”, we remove one of those thorns. We have a chance to make him smile, every time we have a chance to say “yes” to him.

When we give joy to the one we love, the joy multiplies. We receive the joy, too.

When we give joy to God, when we say “yes” to follow him especially when it’s difficult, we give joy to his heart and it also fills us with joy.

As followers of Christ in this world that is less Christian than it was 100 years ago, I think we are called to be living images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to do that courageously. That is the language that can speak to people who have given up in religion – speak to them in a fresh way. The language of our own lives.