Many ancient and contemporary religions regard the heart as more than a physical organ. In philosophy, the heart often stands as a counterpoint to rabid rationalism. We do not live by reason alone. We are also moved by faith, desire, pleasure, hope, and other essential elements of being human.

Today, many people no longer say, “I love you.” Instead, they form a heart with their fingers or send a heart emoji or icon to express approval and support. The heart has become a sign of validation Receiving a heart icon can boost our sense of worth, while its absence may leave us feeling ignored or disliked.

Among us Filipinos, the heart remains a vivid metaphor for character and emotional disposition. A person with a pusong bato (stone heart) is incapable of giving or receiving love. A pusong mammon (soft heart) refers to someone who loves easily and is easily hurt. An insincere person has a pusong plastik (plastic heart), while someone recovering from a breakup nurses a pusong sugatan (wounded heart). These expressions affirm that the heart is not merely about romantic love. It represents the core of a person’s intentions, desires, and moral tendencies.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses familiar human issues such as anger, lust, divorce, and dishonesty. Rather than offering a purely legal or rational solution, He directs attention to one basic truth: the heart of these problems is the problem of the heart.

Consider anger. Many people know that unrestrained anger can be destructive, but this does not stop them from committing violence, even murder. Why? Because knowledge is often overpowered by resentment and hatred that fester within. Even before any harmful outward act occurs, we may already be rehearsing it in our hearts. Jesus teaches that nurturing a bad intention is as lethal as committing the act itself.

The same is true of lustful thoughts. These distort a person’s moral vision even before any sexual act, such as adultery, takes place. The familiar question, “Why is this wrong if it feels right?” reveals how disordered desires in the heart can override moral judgment.

Regarding divorce, while the Jews looked for legal loopholes, Jesus focused on God’s original intention in instituting marriage: a union of hearts that serves as a sacrament of unity between Him and all creation. He clarified: “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your heart. But it was not this way from the beginning” (Matthew 19:8). The breakdown of marriage often begins not in courtrooms but in hearts slowly hardened by selfishness, pride, and indifference.

Finally, in speaking about dishonesty, Jesus’s command remains strikingly relevant: “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37). In an age marked by misinformation and fabricated narratives, the heart can become habituated to duplicity and falsehood. Honesty and integrity are not merely about correct statements, but about a truthful heart.

God has endowed us with an intellect capable of discerning objective truth and moral principles. Yet knowledge does not automatically produce virtue. Even when we understand what is right, we may still be drawn elsewhere by powerful desires. St. Paul also speaks candidly of this inner conflict: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want” (Romans 7:15).

Mind and heart are not enemies, but they mature differently. The heart learns slowly because it is shaped less by abstract reasoning than by habit, memory, affection, and repeated choices. Blaise Pascal observed: “The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.”

The heart may be slow to learn, but divine grace hastens its transformation. By God’s grace, guided by steady reason and faithful practice, the divided heart can become whole. When grace reshapes the heart, what we know to be true no longer remains a distant ideal. It becomes what we desire, choose, and genuinely love.