XXVII — BLESSED ARE THE PURE OF HEART

Presence of God. — Increase, O Lord, purity of my heart and mind so that I may know You ever better.

Meditation

1 — To gift of understanding corresponds beatitude: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8). There is first purity of heart that is indispensable condition for abundant influence of gift of understanding. It is purity resulting not only from absence of sin, but also from even smallest earthly affections.

It is a fact God does not communicate Himself totally to creature unless it has total purity of heart, that is, unless it reserves for Him whole affective capacity. As long as some attachment to creatures remains in us, some search for their affection, some complacency in being loved by them, our heart is not pure enough to enjoy divine communications.

Therefore, before introducing soul into penetration of his mysteries, God subjects it to purification of affections. These are detachments, tearings that at times cost blood, but if accepted generously they finish unbinding heart from creatures and render it completely free for Creator.

If God makes us pass through these trials, let us not draw back, let us not flee his action, but cooperate with it, fully persuaded He reserves fullness of his gifts and light only for souls pure from every shadow of creature, only for hearts wholly belonging to Him. In this sense one may truly say vision of God is reward promised to pure of heart.

Indeed, when heart keeps some attachment, however slight, to creatures, intellect remains clouded and “has no capacity to receive light of God’s wisdom, just as darkened air has none to receive that of the sun ... Oh,” exclaims St. John of the Cross, “if men knew how much divine light’s good is taken from them by blindness caused by their affections and desires!” (Ascent I, 8, 2 and 6).

Instead, when heart is pure, then intellect, like clear glass, can be wholly penetrated by light of Holy Spirit.

2 — There is also another purity of heart that is no longer disposition for receiving gift of understanding, but fruit of this gift. Here word heart is understood in broader sense of spirit and mind, usual in Sacred Scripture.

Our mind is so coarse we can always err in understanding divine things: imagining them materially on level of earthly things, or interpreting them according to personal views, or grasping only one aspect and neglecting other essential ones, and so forth. Precisely thus, unfortunately, many heresies arose in Church.

Gift of understanding, by communicating to us light of Holy Spirit Himself, purifies our mind from these errors, frees it from deceits of imagination as from all other false interpretations. Through this purity of mind, gift of understanding ensures integrity of our faith, makes us penetrate objective reality of divine mysteries, gives true sense of Lord’s law, commandments, and counsels.

Moreover, this gift, making us penetrate divine things by infused light of Holy Spirit, makes us understand well God cannot be enclosed in our coarse imaginations nor in our short ideas, but is infinitely above all we can think and imagine of Him. “Because God is inaccessible,” says St. John of the Cross, “seek not to stop at what your powers can understand and your senses perceive, lest you be satisfied with less and your soul lose lightness needed to ascend to God” (Sayings).

If we want to cooperate with movement of gift of understanding, we must be detached from our ideas. We must be ready to renounce them even if very dear. We must not be too sure of our way of understanding things of God, but seek Church’s discernment. Above all, we must humbly ask for gift of understanding so it may free us from errors and give right understanding of divine things.

Finding in us a pure spirit, Holy Spirit will illumine us more and more. Greater light will correspond to greater purity and vice versa, and thus, from clarity to clarity, we shall reach deeper penetration of divine mysteries making us foretaste something of beatific vision: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God!”

Colloquy

“O Lord, give me right sentiments concerning You and grant that I may seek You with simplicity of heart. My heart says to You: ‘I will seek your face.’ Your presence I seek, O Lord, when with my heart I seek You. You dwell where You abide; and where do You abide if not in your temple? Your temple is our heart. Teach me how I must welcome You. You are Spirit, and in spirit and truth I must adore You.

“Enter my heart and let all idols fall.

“I shall now listen to your voice and learn to desire You; I shall learn to prepare myself to be able to see You. Blessed are all who see You! And if they see You, this is not because during life they were poor in spirit, or meek, or mournful, or hungering and thirsting for justice, or merciful, but because they were pure of heart. Good is humility for possessing kingdom of heaven, good meekness for possessing earth, good mourning for being consoled, good hunger and thirst for justice for being satisfied, good mercy for obtaining mercy; but it is purity of heart that makes one see You.

“I want to see You: great is thing I want, but it is You who tell me to want it. Come to purify my heart, because pure is what I want to see and impure is means with which I want to see it. Come to me, O Lord, and purify me with your grace. Purify my heart with your helps and consolations. If I receive You in my heart during this life, after present life You will admit me to your presence” (St. Augustine).

“Come, O Holy Spirit, and speak always to my heart; or at least, if You prefer silence, let your very silence speak to me, because without You I am always in danger of following my errors and confusing them with your teachings” (cf. St. Bernard).