Homily
for June 16, 2017
While praying yesterday’s
evening prayer from the Divine Office, I took some time to reflect on the hymn:
Blest are the Pure in Heart and coincidentally, our Gospel passage this morning
happens to dwell on purity of heart.
As the lyrics of the hymn
says: Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see our God, the secret of
the Lord is theirs, their soul is Christ’s abode… Still to the lowly soul he
does himself impart, and for his dwelling and his throne chooses the pure in
heart. Lord, we thy presence seek; may ours this blessing be; give us a pure
and lowly heart, a temple fit for thee.
Basically, what Jesus
teaches us this morning is the need to be pure in heart. It is not only when a
man goes to bed with a woman that he has committed adultery. The sin of
adultery or fornication has already taken place the moment he or she looks at
each other lustfully.
In other words, so long as
we lack purity of heart, we are already on the path of sin. To be impure in one’s
thoughts and looks is to plant a tree which eventually bears fruits of
immorality, indecency, adultery, fornication, pornography, masturbation and so
on. Jesus does not want us to just deal with the fruits, he wants us to uproot
the tree itself which is impurity.
When we succeed in uprooting
the tree, then we have succeeded in overcoming the sin. Hence, Jesus says: “If
your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away.” How do you
pluck out your eye? Or your hand? By deliberately controlling the contents of
your heart.
Sexuality is a thing of the
mind! The battle is right there in your mind. You must start by avoiding lust. Each
time you look at a person, what do you see? Do you see God in the person? Do
you see a copy of God’s craftsmanship? Does the person’s beauty remind you of
God’s beauty and majesty? If you can win the battle in your mind, you will not
fall into sin.
When we are pure in heart,
the issue of divorce will not even arise at all. This is because the only
grounds on which Jesus permits divorce is unfaithfulness and unfaithfulness
cannot happen if both parties are pure in heart. If all married men and women
are pure in heart, their desire would only be for their spouse and they would
never give consider divorcing their spouses or marrying anyone else.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, as
you instructed me to cleanse my heart of all bitterness, unforgiveness and hate
yesterday, help to cleanse my heart from all impurities that it would be temple
fit for you. Amen.
*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday of the 10th
Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15 and Matthew 5:27-32).*
Fr. Abu.
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