Isn’t the Mount of Beatitudes beautiful, Catholic Pilgrims? Can you imagine being taught here by Christ?
As I was meditating on the Beatitudes today from our Gospel reading, I was drawn over and over again back to one—Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
It is incredibly difficult to have a clean heart these days. One the one hand, you want to remain pure and innocent, but then on the other, you can’t bury your head in the sand and not be unaware the uncleanliness going on all around.
Specializing in the study of s€xual crimes has brought me face-to-face with some of the darkness places and people in society. It truly does become a burden on your heart. Detectives and police officers have to witness some pretty heinous stuff and it can leave you jaded.
Many times, when I would be involved in some case, I’d sit stunned that a person could reach such lows in their life. Nobody grows up wanting to become a monster and, yet, here they are doing unspeakable acts.
Part of my job was to study behavior and look into the lives of those that commit some of the most egregious crimes. It was always the same pattern—a slow walk down a path of impurity typically started in childhood.
Too many people think they can compartmentalize a good life and some dabbling in the impure. You cannot. Opening the door to impurity, even a little, will eventually seep into your life and take over.
Too many people digest pornography.
Too many people encourage and celebrate s€xual fetishes and deviances from what God intended.
Too many people refuse to monitor what they watch, listen to, or read, because “it’s just entertainment, it won’t affect me.”
Too many people think a clean heart means a boring life.
A burden I carry is the visions of all the impurity I’ve dealt with through my work. It is not easy to enter that dark world and come out unscathed. Sadly, it’s all around us because people thought they could crack open the door just a tad on this stuff and be okay.
Protect your families, Catholic Pilgrims. Protect your own soul. A clean heart is a beautiful and a joyful thing.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
