Pope Benedict once wrote, “Man was created for greatness – for God Himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched.”
As we enter this Advent season, I’d like you to consider two characters whose hearts were too small and had to be stretched: St. Augustine and the Grinch. One was human, the other a fictional character, but they were very similar in several ways. Both were wrapped up with their own selfish desires and sinfulness. Both of them ended up being pro-foundly affected by music. And both of them experienced a great change of heart, a great conversion that completely changed the course of their lives. They are perhaps two of the best-known conversion stories in history.
There is the famous story St. Augustine tells of his youth when he stole pears from his neighbor’s tree. It seems like a trivial thing to us today, but the reason he dwells on it is that he knows he did it for no other reason than the desire to do wrong. He wrote, “I loved my fall. The pears were not stolen for their beauty, their taste, or their nourishment (there were better pears at home), but out of sheer mischief.” He and his friends carried off the huge load of pears – not to eat, but to dump out to the hogs. Augustine said, “Doing this pleased us all the more because it was forbidden. It was foul, and I loved it. I loved my own undoing. I loved my error – not that for which I erred but the error itself.”
The Grinch, of course, came up with his “great Grinchy trick” as he called it, impersonating Santa Claus and stealing everything from the “Whos” – the presents, the food, the decorations and even the last can of Who-hash. He did this more or less for exactly the same reason St. Augustine stole the pears: it was “forbidden, it was foul, and he loved it.” Dr. Seuss considers three possible motivations for the Grinch here – first, his head wasn’t screwed on right; second, his shoes were too tight; and third, (and this is what he believes is the true root cause) his heart was two sizes too small.
We know that when Augustine threw the huge load of pears to the hogs, he hadn’t had his conversion quite yet – that would happen when he was in his 30s. The Grinch, however, when he was about to dump the huge load of presents, food and decorations off of the side of Mount Crumpit, had his great moment of conversion, his change of heart. The Grinch, Dr. Seuss tell us, is 53 years old. Maybe he gives us that detail to let us know that it is never too late to have a conversion.
We all know what happens to the Grinch next. Despite the “Whos” having all of their presents, food and decorations stolen, they still greet Christmas with a joyous song. Singing, that sound which the Grinch despised and thought was somehow bound up with all the presents, food and decorations, was in fact a joyful greeting to the coming of Christ-mas, to the coming of the Lord, to the coming of love into the world. This, of course, was incomprehensible to the Grinch and he “puzzled three hours till his puzzler was sore.” But as we all know, conversion might start in the head, but it has to happen in the heart. And that is just what happens: the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes that day. Perhaps we can change the quote from Pope Benedict that we began with and say “The Grinch was created for greatness – for God Himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched.” And so his heart was stretched, three sizes bigger.
St. Augustine goes through a similar experience when he has his conversion. He goes off by himself to a garden one day because he is tormented by his inability to leave his sin behind. He is tormented by the fact that all of his knowledge and education has not freed him from his sinfulness. While he is weeping and sorrowful, questioning him-self about why he is always saying he will give up his sins but never does, he hears a child singing a song he has never heard before. A childlike voice sings, “Take it and read, take it and read.” The Spirit moves him to pick up the book of St. Paul’s epistles and the first thing he reads is “Arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, spend no more thought on nature and natures appetites.” In an instant, he tells us a “light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the dark-ness of doubt was dispelled.” And so, St .Augustine’s heart was stretched that day.
We all have pears that we steal or last cans of “Who-hash” that we steal, our own sins we wrestle with every day. We all need to have our hearts stretched just as the Grinch and St. Augustine had their hearts stretched. Sometimes our hearts are stretched in a joyful way, but often it is painful and difficult. We experience both types of “heart stretching” over the course of our lives. Rarely, too, we might have a great epiphany, a moment of conversion where our hearts are stretched three sizes bigger, but not often. But however quickly or slowly it happens, we just need to remember that the bigger our hearts grow, the more room we make for God and the more grace He will pour into our hearts.
Deacon Martin Sheehan serves at Our Lady of the Highways Church in Thomasville and as the youth ministry director at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Winston-Salem.