Episode Transcript  

One

An Undivided Heart

In the sixth Beatitude, Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." What does it mean to be pure? Think about pure gold. It isn't mixed with other metals. Think about pure water. Nothing else is in it. Pure means unmixed. Undivided. So what is a pure heart? A pure heart wants God more than anything else because it knows God alone can make us perfectly happy.

How do we know if our heart is pure? Ask yourself three questions. What steals your peace? If your peace depends on something other than God, then we love that thing more than God. What are you most afraid of losing? If God allowed it to be taken from you, could you still be happy? Could you trust and love Him? Could you still say, "God is enough"?

What do you believe you must have to be happy? What can you not imagine living without? What would you be unwilling to surrender to God? Whatever you cannot surrender is competing with God for your heart. A pure heart possesses good things, and delights in them, and even grieves their loss, but it loves God more.

Two

The Great Competitor

So what makes a heart impure? Our hearts become impure whenever we think we need something more than God. The Bible calls that idolatry. An idol is usually some good thing that we've made the ultimate source of our identity, security, peace, or happiness. It might be our profession. Something we’ve built. Our marriage. Our children or grandchildren. Success. Wealth that we depend on. Health. None of these things are bad. But the moment I say, "I can't be happy unless I have this," then I have an idol.

Here's one simple test. What keeps you from spending time with God in meditative prayer? Or what distracts you whenever you try to pray? The Catechism tells us that our distractions in prayer reveal our idols.

Three

The Divine Refiner

If our hearts are mixed and we love things of this world more than him, how does God make them pure? We must go through a purification process. Another word for purification is purgation. Why does purifying our hearts have to be painful? Why does it have to involve suffering? Here’s why: our hearts are impure because there’s something other than God that we’ve turned into an idol, something other than God that we’ve made ourselves believe our happiness depends on. There’s something other than God we’ve set our hearts on.

And when something we’ve set our hearts on gets taken away, do you know what we call that? We call it heartbreak. If there’s a woman who believes that her happiness depends on a particular young man’s love, and then that young man breaks up with her, she’ll be heartbroken.

If there’s a young man who believes that his happiness depends on success in a certain area, and then he doesn’t, his hopes are disappointed; he’ll be heartbroken. If any of us set our hearts on anything of this world, guess what? Things of this world will bust out on us. They won’t happen, or they won’t deliver. And we’ll be heartbroken. But if this heartbreak teaches us to place our happiness in God alone, to set our hearts on God alone, then that heartbreak becomes purification of the heart.

Which will lead us to the supreme happiness that is called beatitude. As in the beatitudes. As in, “Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for they shall see God.”

Four

Identify Your Attachments

So what are your disordered attachments? I know my big three. Ask yourself: What steals my peace? What do I fear losing? What do I believe I must have to be happy? What occupies my mind when I try to pray? What am I unwilling to surrender to God?

Your answers reveal where your heart has become mixed. Don't be discouraged. This is good news. God only reveals a disordered attachment because He wants to empty you to give Himself more perfectly to you.

Five

Detachment

If you have an attachment to something that is bad or evil, cut it off, get rid of it immediately. But if you have a disordered attachment to a good thing like a profession or a child or good health, you don't need to get rid of it. We just need to practice loving God more.

So, as a resolution, let's do three things: First, choose God over that thing. Make an act of the will. Say, “Lord, I thank you for this good thing, but I love and want you and need you more. Detachment is first an act of the will. Second, if God gives you the benefits from some good thing, thank him. If he allows it to be taken away, accept it peacefully and trust him joyfully. Because God only empties you in order to fill you with himself. Third, fill your heart with what it really needs: God. Receive him as often as you can in the Eucharist. Spend time with him in daily meditation and just sitting with him in silence and solitude, just being with him. Because the more you fill your soul with God, the more you will love him over everything else.

Love lesser things less. Love the Greatest Thing more. You will become pure of heart.

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