Blessed are the pure in heart

Blessed are the pure in heart-
"Self discipline, repression, and rational arguement are inadequate weapons to use in fighting the impulse toward impurity. Muriac ont found one reason to be pure, and that is what Jesus presented in the Beatitudes. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." Muriac's words, "Impurity separates us from God. The spiritual life obeys laws as verifiable as those of the physical world...Purity is the condition for a higher love- for a possession superior to all possessions: that of God, Yes, that is what is at stake, and nothing less."

"Reading Muriac's words did not end my struggle, but I must say beyond all doubt that I have found his analysis to be true. The love God holds out to us requires that our faculties be cleansed and purified before we can receive a higher love, one attainable in no other way. That is the motive to stay pure. By harboring lust, I limit my own intimacy with God. The pure in heart are truly blessed, for they will see God. It is as simple, and as difficult, as that."

Scared Little Fishies...

"I learned a lesson about incarnation when I kept a salt water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium. I discovered, is no easy task.  I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped in vitamins and antibiotics and sulfa drugs, and enough enzymes to make a rock grow. I filtered the water through glass fibers and charcoal, and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one "emotion" only: fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern.
To my fish I was diety. I was too large for them, my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and "speak" to them in a language they could understand.
A human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby, and yet according to the gospels that is what happened at Bethlehem. The God who created matter took shape within it, as an artist might become a spot on a painting or a playwright a character within his own play. God wrote a story, only using real characters, on the pages of real history. The Word became flesh."

I really loved this analogy. I'm taking a break from Facebook for a time during this quarantine. Instead, I have been reading "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancy. I'm enjoying it.