A broken heart hurts. This is a metaphor for the pain of either a grief, such as death, or unrequited love, or some sort of tragedy.
But, God calls us to break our hearts. For God, a broken heart is a contrite heart, a heart repentant.
Psalm 34:16 states, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit. DR
Some other translations, other than this, the Douay-Rheims, uses the term "brokenhearted".
Self-will and self-love must be broken. This discipline proves to be a balancing act for a parent, who must break the will of the child, but not the spirit.
Too often, when our wills are broken, our spirits are as well. God does not want a broken spirit, but the carnal part of us broken, the part under the spell of sin and death.
Purity of heart means that the heart has been broken so that the Love of God can stream into the heart.
A heart not broken has no room for God and His Love.
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Those who have followed my blogging since early 2007 know how much I love the poetry of John Donne.
Here is on of my favorites.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
