Opening One's Heart: a reflection from Madonna House

Gudrun Schultz, a member of Madonna House, describes how ordinary relationships and small acts of intentional love opened and transformed her heart after years of inner struggle.

I reflect on how Gospel love opens the heart through everyday relationships, based on years lived at Madonna House. I describe an upbringing on a small farm in western Quebec as the child of American parents and the sense of being an outsider. As a teen I developed social anxiety and a protective persona that drew admiration but did not lead to deep friendship. After joining Madonna House in my mid-30s, a period of about seven years of interior suffering gradually broke that facade and opened my heart. Key points: - Gudrun Schultz grew up on a small farm in western Quebec as the child of American parents and felt like an outsider. - In adolescence she developed social anxiety and adopted a crafted "persona" that attracted admiration but not true connection. - She joined Madonna House in her mid-30s and experienced about seven years of interior suffering that helped open her heart. - The essay emphasizes that ordinary situations, conflicts, and small intentional acts of love are the means by which God brings personal transformation and mutual renewal in community. - The piece closes by referencing Madeleine Delbrêl's image of ordinary public encounters as occasions for the heart to open and love to be offered. Summary: The essay presents ordinary life and small, intentional acts of care as the ways God worked to transform the author's limited and self-protective heart, leading to personal renewal and deeper communal bonds. The immediate implications are described in terms of ongoing personal and shared change. Undetermined at this time.