Day 6 - Saturday, March 21st

2020 Online Lenten Retreat
Saturday, March 21

Today's Scripture

I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you back to your own soil. I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean….  I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (cf. Ezekiel 36.24-28)

Today's Reflection

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”

   This Beatitude speaks of those whose hearts are simple, pure and undefiled, for a heart capable of love admits nothing that might harm, weaken or endanger that love. The Bible uses the heart to describe our real intentions, the things we truly seek and desire, apart from all appearances. “Man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). God wants to speak to our hearts (cf. Hos 2:16); there he desires to write his law (cf. Jer 31:33). In a word, he wants to give us a new heart (cf. Ezek 36:26).

   …Nothing stained by falsehood has any real worth in the Lord’s eyes. He “flees from deceit, and rises and departs from foolish thoughts” (Wis 1:5). The Father, “who sees in secret” (Mt 6:6), recognizes what is impure and insincere, mere display or appearance, as does the Son, who knows “what is in man” (cf. Jn 2:25).

   Certainly there can be no love without works of love, but this Beatitude reminds us that the Lord expects a commitment to our brothers and sisters that comes from the heart. For “if I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have no love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:3). In Matthew’s Gospel too, we see that what proceeds from the heart is what defiles a person (cf. 15:18), for from the heart come murder, theft, false witness, and other evil deeds (cf. 15:19). From the heart’s intentions come the desires and the deepest decisions that determine our actions.

   A heart that loves God and neighbor, genuinely and not merely in words, is a pure heart; it can see God. In his hymn to charity, Saint Paul says that “now we see in a mirror, dimly” (1 Cor 13:12), but to the extent that truth and love prevail, we will then be able to see “face to face”. Jesus promises that those who are pure in heart “will see God”.

For Your Reflection

Take a moment to think about the words, phrases or ideas that struck you in today's reflection.
Then think about these questions:
-- On a scale of 0(low) to 6(high) rate the difference between how you act and your real feelings inside.
-- Over the years, has your ability to really care and not just pretend to care changed or improved?
-- In what ways have you tried to fool or mislead others about your true intentions?
-- In what way do you need to grow in genuine love right now?

Let Us Pray

O Lord, We may think that we give glory to God only by our worship and prayer, or simply by following certain ethical norms, but we cannot forget that the ultimate criterion on which our lives will be judged is what we have done for others.  The best way to discern if our prayer is authentic is to judge to what extent our life is being transformed in the light of mercy. For mercy is not only an action of the Father; it becomes a criterion for ascertaining who God's true children are. Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life. Mercy is the fullness of justice.  Mercy is the key to heaven.  Help me, O Lord, to accept this truth and allow it to reshape my life.