The Head and the Heart

In the field of economics, there’s a term called homo economicus, which is the assumption that across different economic theories and models, human beings act rationally.

Now, it doesn’t take an economist to see that that’s not always true. We act irrationally all the time. Here’s an example: someone who spends money they don’t have on things they don’t want, simply to impress people they don’t really care about. Nothing about that is rational.

In matters of faith, we see a similar phenomenon. So often, we’ve heard and understood the faith — we might even know it like the back of our hand — but it doesn’t necessarily affect our actions. We assume that knowing the Truth means that we will act in Truth. But again, that’s not always the case.

Take sin as an example. We know what sin is, and we know we shouldn’t do it, but then we go ahead and sin anyway.

On one hand, we must remember that we aren’t perfect and we have Confession.

On the other hand, we must remember the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.

We might know what we're supposed to do or say (head knowledge), but we don’t feel the joy of the Gospel in our soul (heart knowledge). We might know the proofs and arguments for the existence of God, but we haven’t experienced the love of God.

The question is how? How can we move past head knowledge to heart knowledge?

To get started, show up with an open heart. Bring yourself before God, and pray to be moved.  God is waiting to give us graces during Mass, Adoration, and Confession. We just need to show up with open hands and an open heart.