Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Arsonists of the Heart
In one of his Easter poems, John Shea has the following
line:
And in the
breaking of the bread
they knew the impostor for who he was -
the arsonist of the heart.
This references the Easter story of the two disciples on
their way to Emmaus. They bump into a stranger who joins them for supper when
they arrive at their evening destination. During the meal they recognize him
for who he is, the Risen Jesus. But what is most interesting is the way they
describe their encounter with him: “were not our hearts burning with fire, when
he spoke to us on the road?” Long before they actually knew who he was, they
had a particular experience which served as a harbinger of things to come.
Simply talking to this man left them changed, with their hearts on fire.
Even lesser figures in history were known to impact the
people they came into contact with: Bill Clinton has, by all accounts, an
amazing presence which leaves you speechless; mother Theresa, though small and
sometimes gruff, invariably touched a nerve in people, so much so that many
wanted to join her in her mission. And I recently had the opportunity to see
Gideon Kremer live: he is a world famous violinist and gave an interview at the
end of one of his concerts. His manner is very quiet, almost hushed, but his
enthusiasm for music leaves you breathless, as the long conversation proved
which I had with my friends once we left the concert hall. Our hearts were on
fire.
What point am I trying to make? Surely not every human
encounter can be life-changing, but what is people’s experience when they spend
time with us? Boredom, because we have nothing meaningful to say? Or worse,
negativity, because we complain about our circumstances or about other people?
Or are they energized, fired up, enlightened. I know this is a high bar to
clear, but what would happen if we made lighting fires the goal of all human
encounters? Arsonists of the heart everywhere, and people catching vision,
energy, encouragement…quite a dream, no?
# posted by tino @ Tuesday, April 29, 2014 
