CINDY WOLFE
STAFF WRITER
Weronika Janczuk, the regional director of North America at World Youth Alliance, spoke Feb. 21, on the importance of forming the human heart to establish a culture of life.
The talk, “To Form the Human Heart: Building a Culture of Life Through Integral Human Formation,” raised awareness regarding the effects of love on humanity physically, psychologically and spiritually.
Janczuk began by stating that all questions regarding gender and sexuality are related to the heart. Prior to addressing the confusion regarding these questions, the Catholic Church must promote the development of the heart as a psycho-spiritual dynamic.
“That in God which is love translates into human nature… as the human heart of Christ,” Janczuk said. The center of the person in both the natural and spiritual world is the heart. Physically, humanity requires love or affirmation to thrive.
Janczuk said, “Any kind of deficiency in love will completely taint a person’s capability of intellect and will.”
Moreover, said Janczuk, wounds to the heart caused by lack of love have repercussions spiritually.
Through the heart, people experience the God who is love, said Janczuk. While a person is meant to worship God with their mind, they must also worship God on a different level; that is with the heart.
The Church can work to mend those who are broken due to a deficiency of love and to restore the culture of life by educating people of the importance of forming the human heart, said Janczuk.
Janczuk said there are three steps in this formation process. The first is to make people aware that they have a heart which requires love. Second, the multiple capacities of the heart must be made known. Finally, as a church, people must learn to pray through contemplative prayer.
This formation of the heart is the key to defending human dignity, said Janczuk.