Discover and Realize the Meaning of the 'Body' and Join the Journey for a Holy Life. A member of the Secular Missionary Society of the Kingship of Christ in the Catholic Peace Weekly gives the readers a meditation on Purity of Life.
Matthew 5:27-28 evokes the words, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Jesus presented 'purity' as a prerequisite for seeing God, and spoke of a different meaning from the purity of the Old Testament tradition.
In the Old Testament, "purity" was primarily understood in a physiological sense, linked to sexual impurity and ritual purification. However, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about charity, prayer, and fasting. He also redefined "purity" in the context of the debate over ancestral traditions (Matthew 15, Mark 7, Luke 11) and the call for humility and service, saying, "Do not imitate their actions". Ultimately, what defiles the vessel of the heart is greed (lack of gratitude), a lack of contentment, and a lack of mercy, or compassion.
Pope John Paul II emphasizes the new human subjectivity. Peter states that baptism purifies the heart (1 Peter 3:21). In his epistles, the Apostle Paul speaks of the inner conflict between what comes from the Father and what comes from the world—the conflict between living according to the Spirit and living according to the flesh.
The purity of heart that Christ spoke of can only be realized through a "life according to the Spirit." These two conflicts that arise within one's heart prove that one is with the Spirit and are what the Spirit desires. The flesh that the Apostle Paul speaks of is the visible, physical body, the external human being. Purity, as we now understand it, is both an ethical virtue and the fruit of the gift of the Spirit.
The Apostle Paul speaks of the overlapping and intertwining of the ontological dimension (flesh and spirit), the ethical dimension (ethical good and evil), and the pneumatological dimension (the Holy Spirit's activity within the world of grace).
Humans possess transcendence and expand themselves through this transcendence, but transcendence becomes difficult if one is confined to one's own desires. Transcendence is an inner and creative power. When harmful desires grow, our perspectives, our valuations, and our ways of loving can be overwhelmed by the power of the emotional realm rather than the desires of reason. This is why we cannot stop questioning.
Life according to the Spirit, freed from the life of the flesh, is liberation and new creation. New creation means becoming a child. It is a liberated life given freedom as a gift. This is a gift from Christ, but it is impossible without my participation in following Christ. Every choice I make in my daily life is a Passover, fulfilled in the Holy Spirit. This is because it takes the form of resurrection, leading not to the path of death but to the path of life.
Church ethics aims to make us like Jesus. Ultimately, it is an invitation to "become holy (perfect) people." The source of holiness already resides within me, and through "purity", I discover and realize the meaning of the body. The same holds true in my relationship with the world. Ultimately, purity lies in the journey of sanctification, justification, and deification, which participate in fundamental truth and enable a holy lifestyle.
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