2nd Week of Ordinary Time 2023 - Friday - Keep your heart fixed on Christ

 Over the past two weeks, our weekday readings have made their way through just over half of the Letter to the Hebrews.

Remember, the letter was written first to those jewish converts to Christianity. For accepting Christ, they were kicked out of their synagogues, they were persecuted by the Romans, and their gentile brothers and sisters in Christ were probably a bit skeptical of them at times too. 

So the author to the letter to the Hebrews writes to these dear ones and reminds them to hold fast to their Christian faith, don’t fall back to the old way of life, but throughout all of your troubles, everything that you are going through, your rejection by former friends and family, the hostility from the Romans, the very slow acceptance of gentile Christians, throughout all that, keep your heart and mind focused on Christ.

And the same is true for us: going through an illness, keep your heart focused on Christ; a family drama—keep your heart focused on Christ; an economic crisis, a temptation of an addiction you thought you had long-ago overcome? Experiencing paralyzing anxiety? Keep your heart focused on Christ. Imagine him. Imagine his face. Imagine him nailed to the cross for you. With real effort of will, fix your heart on Him.

This mid-section of the letter to the Hebrews is highly Christocentric. Chapters five, six, seven develop a rich theology of Christ’s priestly sacrifice. He is the eternal high priest. He is the fulfillment of the both the priesthood of Melchizedek and the priesthood of the Levites. He himself is the sacrifice, offering himself to his Father out of love for us.

Today, from chapter 8 we hear how the Lord having died and risen, has ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven, into the heavenly sanctuary. The perfect sacrifice has risen to the heavenly sanctuary itself. The self-sacrifice of the obedient Son is now in heaven and is a guarantee of the promises of salvation—a guarantee of the new and everlasting covenant.

This explains the Letter to the Hebrew’s emphasis on keeping your heart fixed on Christ. For the Father Himself in the heavenly sanctuary fixes his eyes and heart on his crucified-and-risen Son. To keep your heart fixed on Christ is a divine thing. It’s a foretaste of heaven that can carry you through the most difficult moments of life. It’s the act of the will that can be justified at every moment of every day, Keep your heart fixed on Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her, care for her, and aid her in her mission.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may establish and preserve harmony among us.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may grant them relief and move Christians to come to the aid of the suffering.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.