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"Blessed
are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God."
St.
Matthew 5:8
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Jesus offers nine benedictions:
Three pertain to the Kingdom (the poor in spirit, the persecuted,
the calumniated).
Three to consolation (those comforted, those satisfied,
those obtaining mercy).
And three to possession (of land, of sight, of childhood).
But only one promises
God Himself:
the pure in heart
Every other blessing
gives something other than, something less than,
God Himself.
This is kept only for
the pure of heart.
All the other blessings
pertain to God's justice in the way of recompense, and this justice
is inseparable from His love.
But only this one pertains
solely to God's love, and not His justice.
It is not a matter
of recompense: it is a spontaneous gift, the unsurpassable
gift, the most sublime gift, of Himself to those whose hearts are
a pure reflection of His own love. Having been created in the
imago Dei, the image of God, that image once again becomes,
as it had been long ago at Baptism, pure, free from sin, untainted
by selfishness – with nothing in the soul that is contrary to God.
The mirror is unblemished and reflects nothing other than God Himself;
it is the giving of God to the soul in
the soul – not in anything outside of it, but in the very soul itself!
These, St. John, tells us
in today's readings, are
"the ones who ... have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."
(Apocalypse
7.14). Spotless, unblemished before God.
Strive for
mercy, peace, meekness; thirst for holiness, for justice
– but seek first purity in heart ... and when you see God,
you will see the beginning, the purpose, and the end ... of all
lesser things.
Geoffrey K. Mondello
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