Our heart is the seat for God's transforming grace. I could see this powerful reality taking place before my eyes when I carefully read an excellent piece of wisdom by Saint Isaac the Syrian. In his second homily he suggests: "Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and so you will see the things that are in heaven - for there is but one single entry to them both. The ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within your soul. Flee from sin, dive into yourself, and in your soul you will discover the stairs by which to ascend".

On a rather negative tone, Jesus says that the heart of the human person is the place from which evil originates. Evil is emitted from within.

"But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man" (Matt 15, 18-20). On the other side of the spectrum the human being's heart is the cradle whereby the fruit of the Spirit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control" is conceived and given birth to a Spirit led life.

The treasure within us impels us to pray to God with the Psalmist: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me (Ps 51, 10).