Hajja Salesjana

becomes the perfect ground for all positive energy to flow into life. Why don’t we Speak with the Heart? Speaking with the heart is not a spontaneous gesture. Often our minds and hearts are filled with prejudices, fears, anxieties and insecurities that our communication becomes very much guarded. On the one hand feelings of pride, envy, ego, and selfishness prevent us from opening our hearts. On the other hand, bitter emotions of anger, guilt, and revengeful feelings also do not help us recognize the heart in the other. We want to communicate more of ourselves, and often truth and charity are scarce or are found to a lesser degree. We do not communicate to listen and to understand the other person. Our communication doesn’t involve tuning in, listening with patience and understanding the other with an unbiased attitude. We are also so stubborn with our ideas and thoughts that we keep filtering or prejudicing what the other person is saying. At times, in our communication, our intentions and purpose are not benign, but vengeful, argumentative, and mean-spirited. As a result, we do not recognize the other person as our brother or sister, and often race, colour, language and social status become vital blocks to our communication. ‘Heart to Heart’ Communication of Jesus Jesus was an outstanding communicator who spoke with his heart. He had a magnetic personality and could penetrate the heart of every person, touch them, heal them and transform them as he spoke from his heart to their heart. The example par excellence is the episode of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), which Pope Francis also offers us for reflection in the light of this theme. The Risen Jesus accompanies the two disciples of Emmaus, without any invitation. He is patient and listens to them without interruption. He then speaks to them with the heart, accompanying the journey of their suffering with respect, proposing himself and not imposing himself. His attentive listening and speaking with the heart makes the two disciples feel truly heard and realized, and Photo by Shubham Raikwar - Unsplash.com Photo by Mayur Gala - Unsplash.com 7 Lulju-Settembru 2023 hajja