Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God. (Mt. 5:8)
December 29, 2006
For us to be able to see, the light must be neither too bright (or it will blind us) nor too dim (or we will see indistinctly or not at all). Furthermore, even when the light is right, our eyes must be able to focus precisely or our vision will be blurred and hazy.
By analogy we speak of our intellectual vision, as when we say that we see when we mean that we understand. To understand, we also need illumination. To understand clearly, we need the right perspective. We need the correct focus.
St. Paul tells us “God dwells in light inaccessible” (1 Tm 6:16). He means that God is a spirit who cannot be seen with our bodily eyes and that he is infinite truth, so he can never be comprehended (seen) by our finite and limited minds.
How, then, can the pure of heart see God?
When Phillip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” Christ responded, “Phillip, who sees me sees the Father” (Jn 14:9).
The Apostles could see Jesus with their eyes and touch him with their hands, but only by faith could they see (understand) him to be the Son of God. Faith alone gave them the insight, the understanding, the right perspective to see him as divine and his whole public life, his death, and his resurrection as redemptive. For this they needed the illumination of the Holy Spirit, who, Christ told them, “would lead them to the complete truth” (Jn 16:13). So do we. Now, like the Apostles when they were on earth, we can see God only through the eyes of faith.
Sin prevents us from understanding clearly. For sin distorts our perspective. When we sin, our unregulated passions cloud our minds so we do not think clearly. This is the reason we tell people to calm down before they come to regret what they say or do in a fit of anger. Habits of injustice and selfishness also distort our vision in ways we do not always realize. This is why we pray to be forgiven from our hidden sins, i.e., sinful actions we don’t always recognize as sinful because sin has darkened our minds and blinded us to our self-centered attitudes.
Who then are the pure of heart? There are those who seek God with their whole heart and soul and mind and strength (Mk 12:29). They are the single-minded who serve God and not mammon. They are those who are committed to seek first the kingdom of God and his holiness (Mt 6:33). The pure of heart see God’s power and beauty in the created world about them. They see God’s loving providence in all the events of their lives, both pleasant and painful. They see God in their neighbor, friend and foe, rich and poor. They see God in their own hearts, where God dwells and where they feel at home (Jn 15:4). And because the pure of heart, the single- minded, consistently open wide their heart to God in grateful love and to their neighbors, God’s children, in generous selfless service, they allow him to take possession of their hearts. The pure of heart see God everywhere.
In heaven, St. John tells us we will see God “as he really is” (1Jn 3:2). All who are saved of course will see God, but the clarity of our vision will depend upon our proximity to him. The degree of our intimacy with him will, in turn, be in proportion to the single-minded, openhearted, generous love that we have manifested in our lives here on earth.
“Blessed,” indeed, “ are the pure of heart, for they,” more clearly than anyone else, “shall see God.”
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