Pure of Heart

In today’s Gospel, Jesus wants his followers to be pure of heart. He wants us to behave correctly and to have our hearts in the right place. Our hearts should be oriented totally toward love.

In God’s kingdom, good actions are a good start, but our thoughts and attitudes must also be pure and holy. Jesus takes the Ten Commandments and internalizes them, making them a matter of the heart. One day, he saw the Pharisees teaching the people to wash their cups and kettles in a certain way. The Pharisees said, “If you don’t do it our way, you will be unclean.” Jesus then said, “That is false teaching.

The condition of your cups and kettles will not make you clean or unclean. Don’t get hung up on externals. What really counts is what is happening in your hearts. You need to purify your thoughts and you need to purify your intentions. If you are planning to hurt others, you are not pure. If you are planning to help others, you are pure of heart.” So Jesus was attacking the false teaching of the Pharisees and promoting God’s way of thinking. Following God’s Law is a matter of the heart. In order to follow God’s law, you have to have both holy actions and holy attitudes.

The words of Jesus are challenging. It is not easy to have our hearts in the right place. We have pride and greed and lust and selfishness and envy and laziness tugging at our hearts. Jesus does not abolish the old law. He keeps the Ten Commandments and then adds two new commandments: the laws of love—love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor. Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure of heart.” Blessed are those whose hearts are in the right place. Let us take a moment now for silent prayer. We ask the Lord to give us the grace we need to be pure of heart.