Lesson 8A - Opening Thoughts on Blessed Are The Pure of Heart.

What or Who are you looking for? The pure of Heart are looking for . They want to know Him and to be more like his son, Jesus. The impure are looking for things but the more things they gain, the emptier they feel.

Jesus is the perfect model of a human who was pure of heart.

We become pure in heart by surrendering to the and focusing our souls on being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit and The Devil are spirits. Purity—and impurity—originate in the heart and soul. They are only expressed in the body.

Jesus through his Holy Spirit offers the faithful Truth, Goodness and Beauty for their salvation; the Devil offers only Lies, Evil and Ugliness for the condemnation of the unfaithful.

Sin reflects a lack of purity in our hearts. We often repeat our sins and this is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit’s grace dispensed in confession to redirect our hearts away from our weakness and towards a greater love of God. We can only have a clean heart through the supernatural grace of God.

David means, "beloved".

It was King David's sincere desire to conform his will to the will of God that gave him the kind of heart that earned him the name of God's "beloved" and a man "after God's own heart".

God loves every sinner who repents. God always loved David because when he sinned he always repented and sought God’s mercy.

Face to face with a pure and holy God we become aware of our imperfections and taking the next step we mourn our sins and the sins of the world. Our sincere contrition purifies us and He comforts us and strengthens us in our struggle to conquer sin. Drawing close to God we desire to be more perfectly conformed to His will. We yield our selfish will to His eternal will and in a spirit of renewal our Father gives us our inheritance.

We become children of a pure and holy God. Children in whom a new heart had been planted "a heart called to purity, peace, and self-sacrificial love

The singleness of heart which submits itself in perfect love to God's will is the purity God seeks. We cannot live the "New Law" of the Beatitudes without Christ any more that the Jews under the Old Covenant could perfectly keep the Law of Moses .

Purity of heart then identifies the true internal self of the believer in union with God. Purity of heart is to will conformity with God's will with all of one's being "internally and externally in one's thoughts, words and actions. The clean of heart:

Can stand before God and offer Him worship.

Do not worship idols [material or spiritual].

Do not lie or make false promises.

Love God and "seek His face" so they do His will.

Their reward will be blessings and justice

One of the principal effects of purity (and impurity) is that it determines not only what we see, but the way we see it. “To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure;

Jesus came to demonstrate a new way. You can see it in the signs he works. In each story, Jesus encounters somebody who would render him “impure”. But instead, Jesus remains pure and they are rendered clean and whole. He offers us this power as well by his Holy Spirit. It is the power to see differently—and to live differently. Jesus gets at this need for a change in the heart—in the way we see as well as in what we see—when he tells us:

“What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.” (Mark 7:18- 23)

Christ is the ultimate witness. He helps us testify by our witness. We have to live Holy lives by living the Beatitudes through the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

United with our Father in spirit and in will, He gives us a hunger and thirst for righteousness as manifested in His Son. This is the turning point in the spiritual journey, when we turn from what we need to give God to focus on the Son of God and what He will give us.

God knows the depth of each human heart. It is from the heart that we must seek God. It is from the heart that we listen to God and hear Him speak to us. It is from the heart that we must serve Him, praise Him, and love Him.

Lesson 8B Closing Thoughts on Blessed Are the Pure of Heart for They shall See God

FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD

We are all born looking for something. In the end, what we want is to see the face of God. The Beatific Vision is the Pearl of Great Price. Those who purify themselves from all that stands in their way, by calling upon the power of the Spirit, those who love all earthly things in the fierce awareness that they are secondary to the love of God, these shall see God and be satisfied.

Purity of Heart is seeking Holiness and leads to our Happiness. They are both based on becoming Humble, Obedient, Loving and saying Yes to God’s will.

1. Christ is the Image of our Holiness:

We easily fall prey to imagining our holy self as that perfect, faultless, individual — no weaknesses. A fantasy through and through! Our goal is not the achievement of this imagined self, but rather of Christ. He is both source and summit of our holiness.

2. Holiness is Allowing God to Take the Driver’s Seat:

We have to let go. We have to give him control in our pursuit of holiness. Then, and only then, will that pursuit be genuine.

3. Holiness is knowing that the Lowly Will be Exalted:

Growth in Holiness Entails Growing in Humility. While holiness certainly entails growth in virtue and a consistency in remaining in the state of grace, it hardly means the absence of faults, failures and venial sins of all sorts. No wonder so many saints frequented sacramental confession once a week, if not more often! This is why St. Augustine once explained that, in the pursuit of holiness, three virtues are fundamental: the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is … humility!

Seeing God means to dwell in God’s presence. Seeing God’s face depends on a purity of heart that represents total commitment to God’s plan. This inner dedication is manifested by sharing with those in need. Seeing God is the reward for purity of heart, for doing good, for showing care.

We witness to our faith and teach the way of God by living it every day. Living out the revelation that we must love God and love others is our testimony of the Good News. A pure heart is built upon Gratitude and Humility and implies that our love is wholly directed toward the good of the other person. Purity of heart means dying to self and living for Christ.

How do we purify ourselves? Piety is the gift of the Holy Spirit which makes me want to serve God and my neighbor. What norms of piety do you use to purify your heart? Frequent attendance at and receiving the , time in adoration, confession, , , novenas, reading scripture and church teachings, performing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. These are just some of the ways the Spirit helps us to purify our hearts.

Blessed Teresa often recounted that when we look into another’s face, we are looking into the face of God. As those made in His image and likeness, we are called to image His love and mercy and forgiveness to others? And by doing so, we dwell more deeply in God’s presence.

Face to face with a pure and holy God, we become aware of our imperfections and taking the next step, we mourn our sins and the sins of the world. Our sincere repentance and contrition purifies us and He comforts us and strengthens us in our struggle to conquer sin. Drawing close to God we desire to be more perfectly conformed to His will. We yield our selfish will to His eternal will and in a spirit of renewal our Father purifies our heart so we may see him now and forever.