Posted on 05/19/2016 7:11:03 AM PDT by Salvation
This post is a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s reflection from the Letter of James, in which we were summoned away from our double-minded ways.
One of the beatitudes taught by Jesus is often misunderstood, largely due to the popular translations of it from the Greek text: “Blessed are the pure of heart,” or “Blessed are the clean of heart.” Let’s look at three facets of the beatitude: its fundamental meaning, its focus, and the freedom it gives.
I. Fundamental Meaning – While the words “pure” and “clean” are not inauthentic translations of the Greek word καθαρός (katharos), a more literal translation is “to be without admixture, to be simply one thing.” Hence it means to be that one thing, purely and simply, with nothing else mixed in. Another helpful way of translating the Greek μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ (makarioi hoi katharoi te kardia) is “Blessed are the single-hearted.”
The reason I suggest that the phrase “single-hearted” is more descriptive is that in modern English the words “pure” and “clean” tend to evoke a moral sense of being free of sin, of being morally upright. And while this is surely a significant part, being single-hearted is a deeper and richer concept than simply being well-behaved, because to be well-behaved is the result of the deeper truth of being one thing, of not being duplicitous, of not having a divided heart.
II. Focus – Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange says, Simplicity is opposed not only to duplicity, but to every useless complexity, to all that is pretentious or tainted with affectation … Christ says to us “If thy eye be single thy whole body shall be lightsome” (Mat 6:22); that is, if our intention is upright and simple, our whole life be one, true and luminous, instead of being divided, like that of those who try to serve two masters … The perfect soul is thus a simplified soul … willing things only for God (Three Ages of the Interior Life, Tan Publishers, Vol 2, pp. 162-163).
The image of the rose window in my church (see upper right), which I have used before on this blog, is a good illustration of what it means to be single-hearted. It does not deny that life has different facets, but rather shows that every facet of life is ordered around and points to Christ, is subsumed in Jesus and His heavenly kingdom along with the Father and the Spirit as the ordering principle of every other thing. And thus career, family, marriage, finances, spending priorities, use of time, where one lives, and all other imaginable aspects of life are subsumed in Christ, point to Him, and lead to the Lord and His kingdom on high.
So the single-hearted life is a well-ordered life. Each step, each decision leads in the right direction. St. Paul said, This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). While Paul made many journeys to many places, he was really on one journey and headed to one place. This simplified and ordered his life. He was single-hearted.
A simple life is a well-ordered, singly focused life. But duplicity introduces many complexities and disorders. Jesus says, He who does not gather with me, scatters (Luke 11:23). Unfortunately, this image of scattering or being hindered describes many Christians whose lives are not ordered on the one thing necessary, who are not single-hearted, whose hearts are not focused on the one thing they should be. Such people have lives that are often scattered, confused, disordered, and filled with a jumble of conflicting drives that hinder them from the true goal of life. The double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that simplicity is related to the virtue of veracity, because it opposes the duplicity that James denounced (Summa Theologica IIa IIae q. 109 art. 2, the 4th).
III. Freedom – Finally, being single-hearted, being pure of heart, not only orders our life but it also grants us freedom. In modern Western thinking, freedom is often equated with doing more rather than less. Freedom is interpreted as “being able to do anything I please.” This attitude has led to the kind of jumbled mess that much of modern life has become: a tangled web of contrary desires with little unifying direction or purpose. We tend to think of freedom in abstract terms and hence we tend to get abstract and disconnected results.
But biblically and spiritually, freedom is the capacity or ability to do what is right, best, and proper. And thus, paradoxically, freedom often means doing less, not more.
Being single-hearted helps to focus us and to pare away a lot of the unnecessary baggage of modern life. Life gets simpler, and simplicity is a form of freedom that allows us to focus on what is important more so than on what is urgent. We discover that what often seems to be urgent is not really so necessary or urgent after all. Regarding the good options in life, St. Paul said, All things are lawful to me, but not all things are expedient (1 Cor 6:12).
Pray for the gift to become more single-hearted. More than ever in this modern age, with its myriad distractions and endless possibilities, we need to learn the lesson of the rose window and center our lives on Christ, the one thing necessary.
I have used the video below in other posts. Please pardon a brief profane word in the clip, but it does help to emphasize the point being made.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Happiness: Blessed are Those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness (Part 3)
Happiness: The first three Beatitudes (Part 2)
Happiness: Ancient and Modern Concepts of Happines (Part 1)
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake
Learning the beatitudes during Lent -- use your Rosary to learn the Beatitutdes [Catholic Caucus]
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are the Peacemakers [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are the Merciful
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
The Beatitudes: Blessed are the Meek
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
The Beatitudes: Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit
The Beatitudes
Lists Every Catholic Should be Familiar With: The 8 Beatitudes
The Beatitudes: Generosity and Happiness
Beatitudes by Bishop Fulton Sheen
Happiness of Sacrifice
The Danger of Spiritual Sloth [Reflection on The Beatitudes]
Satan's version of the sermon on the mount [Difficult read]
The Eight Beatitudes
Once again, Msgr. Pope makes me think. Thanks, Salvation.
Most welcome, Red.
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