Inner purity more than just following rules

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S what we can gather from the Gospel of St. Mark (7,14-23) where Christ said, “There is nothing from without a man that entering into him, can defile him. But the things which come from a man, those are they that defile a man.”

Further down, he explained: “Everything from without, entering into a man cannot defile him, because it enters not into his heart, but goes into the belly, and goes out into the privy, purging all meats.” Rather, he said, what can defile a man are the things which come out from him.

That’s when he listed what can come out of the heart of men: evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

This gospel episode teaches us that in order to have inner purity, we should take care of our heart, making it clean, pure and full of love, compassion, and the whole gamut of virtues.

Thus, in the Book of Proverbs, we have this invitation from God, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.” (23,26) This invitation should be clear in our mind and heart, and we should do everything to be able to correspond to that invitation properly.

Nowadays when our heart is glutted with so many worldly things, it is really a tall order to say, yes, to this invitation. But with God’s grace, which we can always receive with due humility on our part, there is no doubt that we can do it.

We have to remember that our heart is actually the very seat of our thoughts, desires and conscience. It’s that part that contains our whole being, and therefore the most precious part we have. Our whole identity, both in its stable and dynamic states, is found in the heart.

It’s the source of what our mouth would say as articulated by Christ once when he said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mt 12,4). It is what gives the motives for our thoughts, desires, words and deeds.

It’s also where we hear the voice of God as well as that of the devil, where we discern the spirit of God and that of the evil one. It’s where we make our decisions, promises and commitments.

Obviously to get a handle on our heart, we need to go to God. Our human estimations can never be enough. They can even be dangerous, since they are often very limited and, worse, biased. We have to be wary of the powerful pull these worldly and human estimations can exert on us.

This is where strict self-discipline is most needed. We cannot deny the fact that we are often dominated by passions inside us and fashions outside us. We have our usual weaknesses of pride, laziness, attachments, etc. Thus, we need to undertake a continuing struggle, using all kinds of spiritual armory to wage this daily battle and aim at nothing less than conquering our heart for Christ.

It’s where the dynamics of our faith, hope and charity is played out. But it can also be where merely worldly values, passing and relative, can dominate. Thus, it is where our interior struggle is done, where our choice to be with God or to be by ourselves is made.

Let’s see to it that our heart is always with Christ. Let’s make it a habit of doing regular examination of conscience in God’s presence. For this we would need some moments of silence and recollection, distancing ourselves for a while from the din of the world and the madding crowd.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com