Dominica III in Quadragesima - Purity of Heart

Notes
Transcript

PRESENTATION: Walking in Love

The goal of this life is, quite simply, to dwell with God for all eternity. Of course, that is easier said than done in many respects, but St. Paul gives us an important insight at the beginning of today’s Epistle when he tells his readers to “walk in love.”
This phrase could be more accurately rendered as “your life must be controlled by love” or “whatever you do must be determined by the love you have for others.” This love was shown by Christ, who sacrificed His life for mankind, as He “hath loved us and hath delivered himself for us.”
St. Paul then goes on to present a list of sins that work against and diminish the love that we have for others, fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, obscenity, foolish talk, and scurrility. Taken together, we can place all of these under one category, impurity.
Although we often think of purity solely in terms of chastity, the Church, taking her cue from St. Paul, recognizes a far wider understanding of purity. As the Catechism teaches:

2519 The “pure in heart” are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him. Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as “neighbors”; it lets us perceive the human body—ours and our neighbor’s—as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty.

It further says:

2518 The sixth beatitude proclaims, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “Pure in heart” refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God’s holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; chastity or sexual rectitude; love of truth and orthodoxy of faith. There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith

If we wish to truly ‘walk in love,’ then these are the things we must cultivate in our lives.

EXPLANATION: Purity and Impurity

Man was created to be able to know and love God and serve Him through his body. He was created as a temple and a microcosmos. This is beautifully expressed by St. Clement of Alexandria, who speaks about how the Word of God fashioned man in harmony and to be a temple:
And He who is of David, and yet before him, the Word of God, despising the lyre and harp, which are but lifeless instruments, and having tuned by the Holy Spirit the universe, and especially man,–who, composed of body and soul, is a universe in miniature (microcosmos), makes melody to God on this instrument of many tones; and to this instrument–I mean man–he sings accordant: “For thou art my harp, and pipe and temple.”–a harp for harmony–a pipe by reason of the Spirit–a temple by reason of the word; so that the first may sound, the second breath, the third contain the Lord.”
We become impure as a consequence of his turning from God and toward some created good. In general, we speak of purity in terms of a precious substance being free from any admixture of another substance of lesser value. We would not call a baser metal which has traces of gold “impure.” It is more ennobled than impure. Whereas gold that has lesser metals mixed in is impure. So also with the soul. The soul can be joined through love to that which is superior, that is, God, but not to things that are below. The soul which turns from its goal, the Creator, to immerse itself in creation becomes impure. St. John of the Cross once wrote:
The soul that carries within itself the least appetite for worldly things bears more unseemliness and impurity in its journey to God than if it were troubled by all the hideous and annoying temptations and darknesses describable; for, so long as it does not consent to these temptations, a soul thus tried can approach God confidently, by doing the will of His Majesty, who proclaims: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you (Mt 11:28).
Our love for material goods must be ordered by the love of charity, as St. Clement of Alexandria explained:
Into the impure soul the grace of God finds no entrance. And that soul is unclean which is rich in lusts, and is in the throes of many worldly affections. For he who holds possessions, and silver and gold, and houses, as gifts of God; and ministers from them to the God who gives them for the salvation of men; and knows that he possesses them more for the sake of the brethren than his own; and is superior to the possession of them, not the slave of the things he possesses; and does not carry them about in his soul, nor bind and circumscribe his life within them, but is ever laboring at some good and divine work, even should he be necessarily some time or other deprived of them, is able with cheerful mind to bear their removal equally with their abundance. This is he who is blessed by the Lord, and called poor in spirit, a meet heir of the kingdom of heaven.
That being said, one of the most common enslaving forms of turning to creatures is through sins against chastity. Because it is something that can so easily captivate man’s mind, heart, and body, this sin, more than any other, is called impurity.

IMPLICATION: The means of purification

St. John of the Cross wrote, “A bird caught in birdlime has a twofold task: It must free itself and cleanse itself. And by satisfying their appetites, people suffer in a twofold way: They must detach themselves and, after being detached, clean themselves of what has clung to them.” We do not become pure simply by avoiding or freeing ourselves from defiling elements. There is also needed an active process of purification. But first, we have to get rid of the sources of impurity.
There are nine means by which we can strive for true purity of heart:
Strict custody of the senses protects the soul from the many defilements that come through them. In preparation for ordination, in the traditional rite, a man must first go through the minor orders, one of which is porter. He was given the task of guarding the door of the church to determine who or what could enter. This is an important function of our common priesthood in Christ: to guard the temple of God against defilement. All the senses are the gateways of the soul, over which we are to have vigilance.
Beyond the dangers against chastity, man must guard the heart against covetousness. Here, our Lord gives the surest remedy to the danger of defilement in this regard: “Give for alms those things that are within.” That is to say, those things which are your “treasure,” where your heart is, give them as alms. Then you will be clean.
Beyond the freeing of oneself, there is also the task of purgation. Our principal means of purification comes to us through the Sacraments. For all sins committed after our Baptism, especially mortal sins, Christ has given the Church the sacrament of Confession to cleanse our souls of the “dust” that we collect along the way.
Another powerful means of purgation is provided in the Church’s dispensation of indulgences. Indulgences are the Church’s way of indicating and distributing the means of removing “temporal punishment due to sin.” Prayer, alms-giving, penances, and the public profession of the faith are four ways to gain indulgences and, therefore, very effective means of freeing oneself of the “unhealthy attachment to creatures.”
One most powerful means of purity is the Word of God. The Word of God purifies first as a means of separation, but it is also the means of conversion back to Christ and union with him and the Father. The keeping of the word of Christ means not only living it but guarding it in the heart as Our Lady did.
Our fight for purity is not simply with flesh and blood but also against impure spirits. An indication that temptation comes from the devil is when it comes seemingly from nowhere and is vile and persistent. Our best defence is to flee from them, to turn the mind from them. But also make a clear act of will against them. Cut through the fog screen the enemy wishes to use to cloud our thoughts. Say: “I do not desire these thoughts. I praise you, God, for your Wisdom and Holiness and do not permit me to offend you in any way. Jesus, I love you; I trust in your love for me. Mary, by your Immaculate Conception, make my body pure and my soul holy.”
Apart from the attacks of the devil against purity, we have to deal with our own bodies. The source of difficulty is made worse by false love of self, pampering, care, and ease. The solution is equally clear: starve your longings, obedience, and humility. The pampered body is a like a spoiled child formed by the indulgence of the soul. As a result, the body controls the soul, making the soul to be its handmaid. The Guardian of purity is the opposite of giving in to the urge. Although Christ used a whip to cleanse the Temple, the type of chastisement that we observe to cleanse the temple of our body need not be so severe. But it does need to be consistent. Just as in the discipline of children, there is a need for very clear and consistent guidelines, so also in the discipline of the body. If you allow exceptions, the body, like any other brat, will always whine for the exception.
Disobedience to God causes disobedience in man. The disorder of the passions, called concupiscence, is the consequence of disobedience. The way that order is reestablished is through obedience–obedience to the law of God, to legitimate authority, and to a confessor or spiritual director.
A real key to purity is humility. It is important to note that spiritual writers teach that sometimes God will permit the evil of sins against chastity as a means of humbling a person’s pride. It is clear that God never wills any sin, and yet he will allow a person to fall into a lesser sin in order to save him from a greater, more deadly sin. Pride, especially spiritual pride, is often undetected on the part of the person who has it. Nevertheless, it has devastating consequences.
Today, Our Lord will once again come to us in Holy Communion as food for both body and soul. When He does, let us ask Him to purify our hearts from all impurity and uncleanness of any kind so that we may ‘walk in love’ in this life so that we will see God face to face and be like him forever in the next.
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