SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Contemplation in action
ーIn relation with othersー
[10] Praying to be given “broken heart”
When our heart is left as it is, it tends to become arrogant and judge others from above. This prevents us from maintaining beautiful and appropriate attitude in front of God and in front of others.
It is good for us to regard ourselves as somebody who tends to make mistakes and hurt others. We are blessed with many good things, but our heart could also be very chaotic. The truth is that we can be with others when we are forgiven.
We proceed towards our life goals and service to God. But we know that we have many things that we cannot do well. To keep moving and try to serve God although we cannot do things well is a noble attitude of human beings.
When this is achieved at the highest level, we are blessed with “broken heart.” In this state, we have absolutely no arrogance or conceit. It is a blessed way of being without any arrogance or conceit.
We are ashamed of our dirty, ugly heart. We feel that we have nothing to be proud of. And we feel that the end of the line of people is the appropriate place for us.
When we are blessed with broken heart, we no longer want to act based on our non-innocent intentions and get lost. We honestly want to stay as we truly are, and want to be carried to something pure and precious with an open heart. Because we are aware of the risks of our human power, we want to be carried.
We feel that we are supported by others and receive good things in our life. We feel that we are allowed to interact with the church community and the public because of God’s mercy and compassion as well as good will of others.
Jesus taught us, “How blessed are the poor in spirit.” When we are blessed with broken heart, we can set foot on that path. We try to imitate the way God does things, and serve others. We try to serve others humbly from behind.
When we do this, we come closer to God. Our life is fundamentally supported by God’s mercy and compassion. God forgives and supports us, and that is why we can live. We feel very grateful for God, who forgives and supports us. And we can also be kind and gentle to others.
When we are blessed with broken heart, we feel as if God is right next to us and empathizes with us.