" Clean of Heart":
A Deeper Clean

...nothing unclean will enter [heaven].(Rv. 21:27)

I don't know about you, but I sure would like to go to heaven. Of all the beatitudes, this is the only one that promises the Vision of God. This is the one that always stuck out for me even when I heard it as a child. Our American culture is a clean-obsessed culture. Most people wouldn't want to go for long without a shower or bath (especially once they've experienced good, handcrafted soap ). We spend a ton of money on our physical appearance. So why not do we not care how we look on the inside? Why do we not strive as much for purity in our inner self?

Just what did Jesus mean by "clean of heart"?

He meant more than the external purity emphasized by many of the laws of purification in the Old Covenant. In fact, as the prophets of the Old Covenant had emphasized, these laws were a sign of the purity within that God desired for His people. Jesus taught that it is not what comes from the outside that makes one unclean, rather it is from the heart that sin arises (see Mt 15:18-20). In this passage Jesus notes that impurity can manifest itself as any number of moral evils: evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. The heart has long been considered that inner sanctuary within every person from which all one's thoughts and actions spring. To be clean of heart is to be free of our slavery to sin, whatever that may be. Our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II spoke of a loss of a sense of sin among many in the world today. A climate of relativism reigns where people choose for themselves whether something is good or evil. With no one objective standard of morality it doesn't take a genius to see that this attitude leads to a state of chaos. Imagine for instance what driving in a car would be like if there were no traffic laws. Many people would get hurt. Which is exactly what happens when we sin. It does not just hurt us. It hurts everyone. The moral law exists for our good and our happiness. We are all connected. We are all called to a life of love, a love that puts the good of other people on the same or higher level as our own. We need to learn how to see ourselves and all other human beings from the smallest and weakest to the greatest and most powerful through God's eyes: as beloved children created in His image, possessing dignity and worthy of love.

So, how does one unaccustomed to living a holy life become clean of heart? Or, rather, how do we learn to "see" as God sees when we really prefer to focus on ourselves and our own needs? To be clean of heart we must attempt to do these things:

1. Pray to God regularly - and that means often - every day. To clear away our sin-cluttered vision and begin to understand the heart of God we must start by spending increasing amounts of time with Him. More than any other relationship it is important that we cultivate a deep relationship with God, the loving Father Who created and sustains us. The discipline of daily prayer is as necessary to our spiritual life as breathing is to our mortal life. Neglect it and we die spiritually. Now as Creator, God obviously already knows us and certainly knows everything we will speak to Him in prayer, but He so loves when we remember and turn to Him. Through prayer we can better appreciate the many gifts God has given and continues to give to us.

2. Practice chastity in whatever state of life you are in. This is only possible through relying on God's grace to help us.

3. Try to discern the intentions and motivations behind your actions. Have you treated everyone the way that you would want to be treated? This is done through a daily examination of conscience .

4. Begin to cultivate a distrust in yourself - yes, you read that right (don't worry, this is easy if you have been faithful to the first three steps). Instead, have complete trust in God.

5. Read prayerfully from the scriptures every day asking the Holy Spirit to guide you to Truth.

6. Read lives of the saints for inspiration and examples for your life. Go to www.tanbooks.com for a wide variety of titles at an affordable price.

Once you make up your mind to begin in seeking purity of heart it is inevitable that you will find it difficult. The decision toward becoming clean of heart is a huge and supernatural undertaking. The evil one knows this and will do everything in his power to get you to stop. You will fail - and we all do, but the most important thing is that we get up after each fall and seek forgiveness from God and begin again, relying on His grace to help us to do better. These falls are actually a blessing of sorts because through them we learn that on our own we are incapable of doing any good. This knowledge leads to humility, the foundational virtue in the spiritual life. And as one of my favorite teachers, Father Emmerich Vogt says of humility, "It [humility] is not thinking less of oneself but rather thinking of oneself less."

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Okay, I didn't come here for this. Show me some soap!