On Hardness of Heart

First Point - God, as well as man, is concerned in hardness of heart. Man by obstinately remaining in sin causes it, and God in punishing it places the seal of reprobation upon it. Man contributes to hardness of heart by resisting the light of grace; God, by withdrawing unheeded light and withholding extraordinary grace, punishes man's resistance. Man is unjust and wicked in hardening his heart. God is just and holy in leaving the unrepenting sinner to himself. Spiritual blindness is the cause of hardness of heart, and hardness of heart is the cause of spiritual blindness. When God punishes other sins, He often punishes only as a father in mercy; when God punishes hardness of heart He does it in just anger. Other punishments often make penitents, but the punishment that God inflicts for hardness of heart confirms willful reprobation. If you do not fear hardness of heart, woe to you, for it is a sign that you are already contaminated by it.

Second Point - Hardness of heart is nearly always followed by fatal consequences. The light of grace either blinds or dazzles a hard heart; it does not enlighten it. The punishments of God which lie heavy on it, cause it to revolt and fail to bring it into subjection. The purifying scourges that God sends it, crush it, but do not humble it. Miracles astonish it but do not convert it. A hard heart shows forth the power and the grandeur of God but only by manifesting the effects of His justice. The power of God was shown forth none the less in the punishment of Pharaoh than in the conversion of Nabuchodonosor. In the one God showed forth the grandeur of His power and His justice and in the other the grandeur of His mercy. The more a hardened heart has need of remedies, the more it fears and flies from them. Alas! when it will desire to make use of them, it will be too late. Does not the aversion that you feel for these remedies, and their uselessness when you try to use them, give you cause to fear that your heart may, in some degree, be hardened?

Third Point - Do you desire to know the signs of hardness of heart? Saint Bernard says of a hard heart that it is not moved by compunction, that it is not softened by devotion, that it is not touched by prayers, that it does not yield to menaces, that it only grows harder when punished, that it shows nothing but ingratitude for the benefits of God, and that it is unfaithful to His grace. A hardened heart is not ashamed to do disgraceful things; it does not fear even the greatest dangers; it has no charity for its brethren, neither has it respect or fear of God; it forgets the past, neglects the present and cares not about the future. In short, it forgets its duties, and even its own condition. Behold, then, the signs of a hardened heart!

Examine yourself well to see if you have not some of these signs.

Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts. - Psalm 94:8

Do you desire to know what is meant by a hardened heart? If you do not fear hardness of heart, your own heart is hardened. - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

- text taken from Meditations for Every Day in a Month, by Father François Nepveu