We continue to reflect on this great beatitude of the pure in heart with Pope Francis:
84. “Guard your heart with all vigilance” (Prov 4:23).
Nothing stained by falsehood has any real worth in the Lord’s eyes. He “flees
from deceit, and rises and departs from foolish thoughts” (Wis 1:5). The
Father, “who sees in secret” (Mt 6:6), recognizes what is impure and insincere,
mere display or appearance, as does the Son, who knows “what is in man” (cf. Jn
2:25).
85. Certainly there can be no love without works of love,
but this Beatitude reminds us that the Lord expects a commitment to our
brothers and sisters that comes from the heart. For “if I give away all I have,
and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have no love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor
13:3). In Matthew’s Gospel too, we see that what proceeds from the heart is
what defiles a person (cf. 15:18), for from the heart come murder, theft, false
witness, and other evil deeds (cf. 15:19). From the heart’s intentions come the
desires and the deepest decisions that determine our actions.
86. A heart that loves God and neighbour (cf. Mt 22:36-40),
genuinely and not merely in words, is a pure heart; it can see God. In his hymn
to charity, Saint Paul says that “now we see in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor 13:12),
but to the extent that truth and love prevail, we will then be able to see
“face to face”. Jesus promises that those who are pure in heart “will see God”.
Keeping a heart free of all that tarnishes love: that is
holiness.
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