Blessed are the clean of heart, 

for they will see God

From the book addressed to Autolycus by Saint Theophilus of Antioch, bishop

If you say, “Show me our God,” I will say to you, “Show me what kind of person are you are, and I will show you my God.”  Show me then whether the eyes of your mind can see, and the ears of your heart hear.

Spiritually blind 

It is like this.  Those who can see with the eyes of their bodies are aware of what is happening in this life on earth.  They get to know things that are different from each other.  They distinguish light and darkness, black and white, ugliness and beauty, elegance and inelegance, proportion and lack of proportion, excess and defect.  The same is true of the sounds we hear: high or low or pleasant.  So it is with the ears of our heart and the eyes of our mind in their capacity to hear or see God.

God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that they keep the eyes of their mind open.  All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun.  Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine.  The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes.  In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds.

A person’s soul should be clean, like 

a mirror reflecting light.  

If there is rust on the mirror his face 

cannot be seen in it.  

In the same way, no one who has sin 

within him can see God.

But if you will you can be healed.  Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart.  Who is to be the doctor? Is it God, who heals and gives life through his Word and wisdom.  

Through his Word and wisdom He created the universe, for by his Word the heavens were established, and by his Spirit all their array.  His wisdom is supreme.  God by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he arranged the heavens, by his knowledge the depths broke forth and the clouds poured out the dew.

Saint Theophilus of Antioch, bishop

If you understand this, 

and live in purity and holiness and justice, 

you may see God.  

But, before all, 

faith and the fear of God 

must take the first place in your heart, 

and then you will understand all this.  

When you have laid aside mortality and been clothed in immortality, then you will see God according to your merits.  God and then, once made immortal, you will see the immortal One, if you believe in Him now.




Taken from The Liturgy of the Hours

Divine Love

Baldwin Bishop of Canterbury

Love is as Strong as Death

from a treatise by Baldwin, Bishop of Canterbury

Death is strong, for it can rob us of the gift of life.  Love too is strong, for it can restore us to a better life. 

Death is strong, for it can strip us of this robe of flesh.  Love too is strong, for it an take death's spoils away and give them back o us.

Death is strong, for no man can withstand it.  Love too is strong, for it can conquer death itself, soothe its sting, calm its violence, and bring its victory to naught.  The time will come when death is reviled and taunted.  O death, where is your sting?  O death, where is your victory?

Love is as strong as death because Christ's love is the very death of death.  Hence it is said: I will be your death, O death! I will be your sting, O hell! Our love for Christ is also as strong as death, because it is itself a kind of death: destroying the old life, rooting out vice, and laying aside dead works.

Our love for Christ is a return, though very unequal for His love for us, and it is a likeness modeled on His.  For He loved us and, through the example of love He gave us, He became a seal upon us by which we are made like Him.  We lay aside the likeness of the earthly man and put on the likeness of the heavenly man; we love him as he has loved us.  For in this matter he has left us as an example so that we might follow in His steps.

That is why He says: Set me as a seal upon your heart.  It is as if He were saying: 

"Love Me as I love you.  

Keep Me in your mind and memory, 

in your desires and yearnings, 

in your groans and sobs.  

Remember, man, the kind of being I made you; how far I set you above other creatures; the dignity I conferred upon you; how I made you only a little less than the angels and set all things under your feet.  Remember not only how much I have done for you.  Yet look and see: Do you not wrong Me?  Do you not fail to love Me?  Who loves you as I do?  Who created and redeemed you but I?"

Lord, take away my heart of stone, a heart so bitter and uncircumcised, and give me a new heart, a heart of flesh, a pure heart.  You cleanse the heart and love the clean heart.  Take possession of my heart and dwell in it, contain it and fill it, you who are higher than the heights of my spirit and closer to me than my innermost self!  

You are the pattern of all beauty and the seal of all holiness.  Set the seal of your likeness upon my heart!  In Your Mercy set Your seal upon my heart, God of my heart and the God who is my portion for ever! Amen.

The Beatitudes

What are the Beatitudes?  Matthew 5:3-11

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.                                    His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Matthew 5:1-2

There are at least 

FOUR WAYS

to understand the Beatitudes:

1. They are a code of ethics for the disciples and a standard of conduct for all believers. 
2. They contrast kingdom values (what is eternal) with worldly values (what is temporary).
3. They contrast the superficial "faith" of the Pharisees with the real faith Christ wants. 
4. They show how the Old Testament expectations will be fulfilled in the new kingdom. 

These beatitudes are not multiple choice--pick what you like and leave the rest. They must be taken as a whole. They describe what we should be like as Christ's followers.

Each beatitude tells how to be blessed. "Blessed" means more than happiness. It implies the fortunate or enviable state of those who are in God's kingdom. The Beatitudes don't promise laughter, pleasure, or earthly prosperity. To Jesus, "blessed" means the experience of hope and joy, independent of outward circumstances. To find hope and joy, the deepest form of happiness, follow Jesus no matter what the cost.

 

 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is 

the kingdom of heaven"

Nothing happens until we come to the realization that we are so bankrupt in our own spirituality that we must depend on an outside/external source—our Heavenly Father. John Wesley said, “It is a recognition of personal, moral, and spiritual unworthiness. Spiritually, morally, personally, socially, in every single realm that you can think of in the human life, that you’re showing you are in need of God.” Our good works won’t get us to heaven. We have nothing within ourselves that is worthy of presenting to God. We need God to bless us, to save us, to make us worthy of being in His presence.

"Blessed are 

those who mourn 

they shall be comforted"

Once we realize that we are morally and spiritually empty without the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and that we are sinners by nature, the natural emotional response is to mourn over our bankrupt souls. This doesn’t mean that we should be sad sacks, constantly depressed, morose, or brooding. We are not commanded to sink into a never-ending depression because of the fact that we have a sinful nature. When Jesus tells us to be sad, or mournful, He is simply referring to spiritual sorrow. We are to recognize our sinfulness for what it is and we are to refrain from rationalizing it. We are to humbly beg God to wash our sins away because we are powerless to defeat sin alone.

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall 

inherit the earth"

There is a lesson there for Christians. When Jesus says we need to be meek, He means that we should be gentle and humble in our words and actions, not brash or self-promoting. Jesus wants us to be strong and outspoken about our faith (read about Peter in Acts 4) but also wants us to adopt a servant attitude (read John 13:1-20) so that we will be willing to serve God in any way that brings Him glory. He wants us to see ourselves as God sees us—sinful and in need of salvation. How could we possibly be boastful or prideful if we recognize our own sinfulness? Jesus wants us to apply His Holy Word to our lives because we know we’ll die without it. He certainly doesn’t want us to beat people over the head with the Bible in a haughty, self-righteous manner. He does, however, want us to humbly share His Good News with others. Above all else, Jesus wants us to love and worship God so completely that we will humbly follow His will for our lives, wherever that may lead.

 

"Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty 

for what is right 

they shall be satisfied"

Do you see how the Beatitudes offer us a step-by-step progression? If we recognize that we are indeed poor in spirit, and we mourn over the depth of our sinfulness, and we meekly put our lives in God’s hands and follow His will because we are all too aware of our own impotence, we must take the next step and beg God to wash those sins away. We are commanded to hunger and thirst for the Holy Spirit to transform us (and others) just as a starving man would hunger and thirst for bread and water. We must yearn for God’s goodness and righteousness, both in ourselves and in the world. We have to know that this world is so very temporary and that God has a permanent home reserved for us in heaven where righteousness will reign forever. We must strive daily and hourly and minute-by-minute to live as God has commanded with our eyes on that eternal prize. If we yearn for worldly possessions, material wealth, or earthly, vulgar excitement, we become of the world and there is no room in our hearts for righteousness.

 

"Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy"

Because of the great mercy that God has shown us, God expects us to be merciful to others. We are to clothe the poor, feed the hungry, minister to the sick and dying, and proclaim the Gospel to a dying world. We are to work to relieve suffering wherever we find it. We are to show active, working compassion that makes a difference. This is what churches are talking about when they use the word “mission”. 

As Christians, our mission is to be Christ in this world, 

and we do that by being merciful.

The message is clear—

we serve Christ 

when we are mercifully serving others.

  

"Blessed be 

the pure in heart for they shall see God "

The Holy Spirit will give us a new heart that is responsive to God, if we are open to the transformation. Ezekiel 11:19-20 says “…I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Psalm 51:10-12 says, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”