How do we attain purity of heart?
The verse our Lord Jesus said: “ Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. The verse is very noteworthy. If your heart is pure, you shall see God. You will see Him possibly before you get to heaven. You may see him in Nature, or in visions.
This is something very appealing. Of course, this means you will see Him in heaven and you will be in His presence eternally. Purity of heart is surety you have a place in God’s Kingdom.
Purity of the heart is a long path that starts with continuous repentance. The 1st thing for someone to be purified is to offer repentance continuously. We remember the parable used by Our Lord, glory be to Him, when He was talking to the Pharisees: O you blind Pharisee, clean first inside the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also (Matthew 23:26).
What does this parable mean? It means when you go to purify something, some people wash only the outside. So from the outside, things appear sparkly, but from the inside, it’s unclean.
The Lord examines the hearts. It’s more important for God what you look like from the inside, not your outward appearance; because what will continue onto Heaven is the inside, not the outside.
Our teacher, St Peter, uses a lovely expression: “the hidden person of the heart” (1Peter 3:4) Which do you concentrate on? The hidden person of the heart or the outward person? Because there are 2!! One inner and one outer. If you’re always busy with the outer, then you’re only cleaning the outside. So before people, you look pure but before God, you’re not.
Thus He said: O you blind Pharisee because the Pharisees beautified the outer appearance. He told them you are like whitewashed tombs from the outside. Imagine a tomb, covered with sparkling marble on the outside. Would you go and sit inside it? It’s full of bones of the dead and all that is unclean. So we can be like that, looking great from the outside, like the marble covering the tomb. But inside, is a disaster; a lot of sin, evil desires, and thoughts.
The Lord works on the inside as He cares for the inner not the outer. O blind Pharisee, clean FIRST: meaning put this inner purity as your number one priority.
We’re always busy trying to look good before one another. When are we going to look good before the Lord?
This requires continuous repentance. This is the first and most important step towards purity. That’s why David says: “wash me and I will be whiter than snow”, “wash me with hyssop and I will be clean”.
Hyssop is a plant they used to rub things with like we do with antiseptics. David is saying: It’s not easy for me to be purified. All these years and all these sins, You need to thoroughly wash me from inside. That way my heart is cleansed from years of hatred, envy, evil desires, love of money, the world, the gossiping.
Purify FIRST. Let purity be before your eyes.
The 2nd step towards purity: is the word of God. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples when He said “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”John 15:3.
Even though some of what Our Lord Christ told them, they did not understand, sitting with the Lord and listening to His words, benefits. The words of God cleanse the heart. This works independently in the heart. “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12
What discerns right and wrong within the heart? The word of God. Will guide: this thought is not from God; his counsel is not from God; this goal is impure. He who wants purity, read the Bible. If you want inner purity, you need to sit a long time with the Bible.
You know the story of the simple monk who used to go to his father telling him: I read but I don’t understand. The Father tells him: read again; and so on. The father then told the monk, take the basket and put it down into the well, and get water in it. The monk obeyed and later came and told the father: the basket is not collecting the water. The father answered: but the basket is cleansed. So even if you don’t gather information, you will be cleansed, and that’s more important.
You will not enter heaven by gathering information from the Bible. What is surety for a place in heaven is that you are pure from the inside. Sit a long time with the Bible, you will feel the purity of heart within you. You will find that you are hating the sin you had failed to hate before. Sins will leave just like the cockroaches who run from the light in fear.
When light enters, all those who love darkness will flee from you. All evil spirits and sins will flee. They will not bear the light of the world. However, he who reads the bible every now and then doesn’t get the chance to be cleansed.
“you are pure because of the words I have spoken to you”
The path to purity needs continuous struggle. Struggle means effort. St Paul says in Hebrews 12:4 “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin”. There has to be striving. You will find attacking thoughts and throughout all your life. There will be desires, difficult people, difficult situations, etc.
Do not lose hope! Strive! Resist! Flee!
They strike you, strike back. Fall and get up again. DO not worry. God does not count how many times you fall, He counts how many times you get up! This is very comforting.
Self-examination leads to purity. The saints say: do not let a day pass by before you self-examine and do not let a night pass by before you do the same. Even if you do that for just a few minutes every day: which commandments have you broken. Which opportunities to do good have you missed? When was the time you were distanced from God and lost the connection? Was their prayer? Were the words of the Bible in your thoughts or lost by the end of the day?
When we self-examine, we are purified. If we say, we are good and don’t self-examine, we never move forward.
Glory be to God forever, Amen.
