Jesus begins his preaching with the Sermon on the Mount. On a broad low hill, a few hundred yards from the Tiberias lakeside, near Capernaum, Jesus sits down, as was customary for teachers, and proclaims to the crowds about those who will have lived by the beatitudes. The word “blessed,” that is, the exaltation of those who fulfilled the word of the Lord in a variety of ways, resounds a number of times in the Hebrew Scriptures.
The beatitudes of Jesus were in part an echo of the ones his disciples already knew. For the first time, however, they were hearing that the pure of heart were not only worthy of going up the mountain of the Lord, as sung in the Psalm (Ps 24:3-4), but they could even see God. What sublime purity was this that could merit so much? Jesus would explain it several times during the course of his preaching. Let us try to follow him then so as to draw from the fount of authentic purity.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
First of all, Jesus says that there is one supreme means of purification: “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you” (Jn. 15:3). His word, more than the practice of religious rites, purifies a person’s inner self. The word of Jesus is not like human words. Christ is present in his word, as he is present, although in another way, in the Eucharist. Through his word Christ enters within us and, provided we allow him to act, he makes us free from sin and, therefore, pure of heart.
Thus purity is the fruit of living the word, all the words of Jesus, which free us from the so-called attachments into which we inevitably fall if our heart is not in God and in his teachings. These could be attachments to things, people, ourselves. But if our heart is focused on God alone, all the rest falls away.
To achieve this, it can be useful to repeat throughout the day to Jesus, to God, the invocation of a psalm which says, “You, Lord, are my only good” (Ps 16:2). Let us try to repeat it often, especially when various attachments seek to pull our hearts toward those images, sentiments and passions that can blur the vision of what is good and take away our freedom.
Are we inclined to look at certain advertising posters, to watch certain television programs? Let’s repeat to Jesus, “You, Lord, are my only good.” Re-declaring our love for God will be the first step toward going out of ourselves. And by doing so we will have grown in purity.
Do we sometimes feel that a person or an activity is coming between us and God, like an obstacle that mars our relationship with him? It is the moment to repeat, “You, Lord, are my only good.” This will help us to purify our intentions and regain inner freedom.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Living the word makes us free and pure, because it is love. The divine fire of love purifies our intentions and all our inner self because the Bible considers the heart to be the deepest seat of intelligence and will.
But there is one kind of love that Jesus commands us to practice and that enables us to live this beatitude. It is mutual love, being ready to give our life for others, following the example of Jesus. It creates a current, an exchange, an atmosphere whose dominant note is precisely that of transparency, purity, because of the presence of God, who alone can make us pure of heart (cf Ps 51:12). It is by living mutual love that the word produces its effects of purification and sanctification.
As isolated individuals we are incapable of resisting at length the solicitations of the world. Instead mutual love provides a healthy environment capable of protecting the whole of our authentic Christian existence and, in particular, our purity.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
These then are the fruits of purity, to be constantly regained. We can “see” God, that is, we can understand his action in our own life and in history; we can hear his voice in our heart; we can discern his presence in the poor, in the Eucharist, in his word, in brotherly communion, in the Church.
It is a foretaste of the presence of God that already begins in this life, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7), but then “we will see face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12) for all eternity.
Chiara Lubich
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