“Have pity on me”, says the blind man. “What do you want me to do for you” says Jesus? “I want to see” replies the blind man (Mk 10:45-52). Do we ever cry out in prayer, ‘I want to see’? Do we ever wonder if I am seeing with the ‘light’ of Christ? Do we ever ponder if we are truly seeing outer reality truthfully, meaning persons or situations? Do I ever question how I am seeing, or reflect on all the stuff that comes up within my heart? Jesus tells us: “The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is sound, your whole body too is filled with light; but when it is diseased your body too will be all darkness. See to it then that the light inside you is not darkness” (Lk 11:34-35). How serious do we take this exhortation from the One who is the Word of life and truth?
“Seeing” is an important image used by Jesus in the gospels. Here is another strong exhortation of Jesus: “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother or sister’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How dare you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your own eye’, when all the time there is a plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother or sister’s eye” (Mt 7:4-5). To wake us up Jesus calls those of us who think we see “hypocrites”. Why is he so strong on this teaching? He sees the pitfalls, the danger of inflation which blinds us from seeing as God sees. For ultimately this is the path forward: to see with the Divine heart, the heart of compassion, mercy, love.
What is the ‘key’ to seeing as Jesus sees? In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says: “Blessed the pure in heart: they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). The ‘pure in heart’ see…they shall see God and they shall see as God sees. This brings us to one of the essential monastic values, ‘purity of heart’. Longing to see, longing for a heart that is pure in its intention and pure in how it sees. Our first humble movement is to acknowledge that we do not see that we see in a partial way, and that we are on the path to deepen in purity of heart, which will directly affect how we see. We are in process, knowing that a dimension of the heart is devious and susceptible to evil, to untruths, to a partial seeing of reality. John Cassian writing in the fifth century tells us in his Conferences that the immediate goal, or in Greek scopas, is ‘purity of heart’ and the end goal, in Greek, telos, is the ‘kingdom of God’. He emphasizes that we will not reach the end goal without living into, daily, purity of heart.
If we turn to the Rule where do we find this concept, ‘purity of heart’? In chapter 20:3 titled “Reverence in Prayer” we hear the following: “We should also realize that it is not in much talking that we shall be heard, but in purity of heart and tearful compunction.” Fr. Terrance Kardong says there are two senses of the meaning of purity of heart in the Rule: first, following Cassian, he says purity of heart is a matter of ‘aiming the heart at the target’ or “focused on one thing” namely God (Benedict’s Rule, A Translation and Commentary, p.208). The second sense or connotation is to guard, watch over the heart which is susceptible to becoming “soiled” and so Benedict in Chapter 49:2 on “The Observance of Lent” calls us to “guard our lives with all purity” (p.402-403).
“I want to see” is the cry of the soul. “Search me O God and know my heart”, so that I can know myself better, that is, know my heart as you O God see and know it. Being watchful over the heart, and staying focused on the end goal, of seeing God face to face. “The word of God is alive and active…it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts” (Heb 4:12). As we pray, we bring who we are to the prayer encounter, and the Divine word, to the degree that we are open, helps us to see our emotions and thoughts, and to pray for more purity in our intention and in our heart….Purity of heart helps us to see within the interior depths and ultimately this seeing flows into our lived life, our daily choices and interactions. Whenever we hang on to ‘being right’ with a lot of energy in a situation, this should be a red flag calling us back to the heart to ask God to help us see, and to see with the Divine heart.
The Flemish mystic John Ruusbroec said: “Blessed are the eyes that see in the divine light, for they possess eternal life.” To repeat the words of Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Sr. Kathy DeVico, Abbess
30th Sunday of the Year – October 27, 2024, cycle-B
