“Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Mt 5, 8
On this IV Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church offers us the Gospel of the Beatitudes, which are undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pages of the New Testament and are also a true life program for those who truly want to be a Christian. Certainly each of the beatitudes would deserve a deep meditation. On other occasions we have already had the opportunity to meditate on this gospel, today we try to deepen one of its aspects, the sixth beatitude – as Jesus tells us in the gospel,
Happy the pure in heart, for they will see God.
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We generally interpret the purity of the heart that this beatitude speaks to us as related to the sexual aspect of our life, we associate this purity with chastity, the search to overcome carnal desires and control of our sensual impulses. However, in a society as eroticized as ours, where we are bombarded from every pore with all kinds of propaganda with sexual content, many times we feel frustrated and unable to achieve this purity of heart, which is the condition to be able to see goodbye.
Without denying this interpretation, it is important to understand that at the time of Jesus, and in the first centuries of Christianity, these words, purity of heart, were not understood and interpreted in relation to sexuality, but much more to the right intention, to sincerity, to coherence, to honesty.
A person who has purity of heart, is then a person who does not do things just to appear, just to be seen and noticed, but does it because it comes from the heart, and even if no one saw it, he would do it with the same purity. .
The pure of heart is one who acts without ulterior motives, who is not calculating the results. He is one who refuses to take advantage of others. He is the one who does not stab anyone in the back. He is the one who does not make of his life a theater of appearances, a role play, a recitation. He is the one who does not want to live with masks, who does not want to pretend what he is not.
The purity of the heart is then the opposite of hypocrisy, of superficiality, of the manipulation of others. It is having so much respect for the person in front of you that you present yourself as realistically as possible.
Purity of heart is not being duplicitous, it is not having two faces, it is the search for honesty in personal relationships.
The pure in heart is the one whom we can know and trust.
That is why the pure in heart can see God, because his eyes are not blinded by falsehood. Whoever does not have purity of heart can only see himself, and he only sees others in a crooked way.
I believe that our world today lives a great lack of pure-hearted people. Also in our ecclesial environments we are often too concerned with appearances and forget about authenticity. Let us ask the Lord to remove hypocrisy, falsehood and simulation from our hearts.
God does not require us to be perfect, but he does require us to be honest. He can only see God, know him, who knows how to assume his own limits, who acknowledges being needy. The proud and the arrogant will never be able to see God, because he is love and mercy.
The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make his face shine and have mercy on you.
The Lord turn his affectionate look and give you PEACE.
Brother Mariosvaldo Florentino, Capuchin.
