Medicine has all kinds of maladies concerning the heart. Heart attack? Call 911. Enlarged heart? Drugs for the rest of your life.
Those medical alerts are conversely spiritual gifts. A heart attack in spirituality is called passion and a deep love that is so enveloping, it jolts our pumping organ. An enlarged heart? What better definition for spirituality than an “enlarged heart.” To be afflicted with an enlarged heart means that you have opened yourself up to something or someone greater than yourself and by doing so, the graces that flow to you are huge. An enlarged heart so much better than our petty little ones that so easily get caught up in jealousy, competition, paranoia and selfishness. An enlarged heart has room for so much more and so many more.

We look at others to see how we can improve our lives. We model and we look for models. In medicine it is called “contagious.” Scary word with even scarier consequences. Spiritually, “contagion,” of God’s heart is a wonderful and inviting event. It becomes infectious. (Another bad medical word but a cherished spiritual one.)

Let us infect each other with enlarged hearts that break down divisions that are so common these days. Find a common ground with someone who disagrees with you on most issues and build from there.

Strengthen your heart with an attack of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness. What a better beating sensation can there be?