A Pure Heart

“...Let others, Lord, ask you for all sorts of gifts. Let them increase their prayers and entreaties. But I, my Lord, ask for one thing only and have only a single prayer—give me a pure heart! How happy we are if our hearts are pure! Through the ardor of our faith we see God as he is. We see him in everything and at every moment working within and around us. And in all things we are both his subject and his instrument. He guides us everywhere and leads us to everything. Very often we do not think about it, but he thinks for us. It is enough that we have desired what is happening to us and must happen to us by his will. He understands our readiness. We are bewildered and seek to find this desire within ourselves, but we cannot. He, though, sees it very clearly. How silly we are! Surely we know what a well-disposed heart is: one where God is found. He sees all the good intentions there and consequently knows that this heart will always be submissive to his will. He is also aware that we do not know what is useful for us, so he makes it his business to give it to us. He cares nothing about thwarting us. If we are going eastward, he makes us turn to the west. If we are about to run onto the rocks, he takes the helm and brings us into port. We have neither map nor compass, know nothing of winds or tides, yet we always make a prosperous voyage. If pirates try to board us, an unexpected gust of wind sweeps us beyond their reach.

Good will and a pure heart! Jesus well knew what he was doing when he set you among the Beatitudes. Can there be a greater happiness than to possess God if he also possesses us? It is a state of charmed delight in which the soul sleeps peacefully in the bosom of providence, plays innocently with the divine wisdom (Prov. 8:30), and feels no anxiety about the voyage which continues on its even, happy way in spite of rocks and pirates and continual storms.”

~Jean-Pierre de Caussade