Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for They Shall See God
Jesus promises, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8).Is He exaggerating? Ask Gemma Galgani, Catherine of Siena, Maria Goretti...
In the world to come they will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me, ‘Why were you not Zusya?’—Rabbi Zusya in Brothers Karamazov
Introduction
In 1976, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in his garage. By 1985, Apple was bringing in $150 million a year and held nearly 20% of the global computer market. But Jobs’ fiery personality clashed with his board, and he was forced out. By the time he returned in 1996, Apple was bleeding $800 million a year and had fallen to just 5% of the market.
Fifteen years later Apple had become the most valuable tech company in the world, with $25 billion in yearly profit and a $350 billion valuation.
What changed? And what does that turnaround have to do with holiness?
The Father’s Promise
Jesus promises, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8).
Is He exaggerating? Ask Gemma Galgani, Catherine of Siena, Maria Goretti, Peter and Paul, Padre Pio. The saints truly saw God — not just with their eyes, but with their lives. And Jesus promises that we can too, if we become pure of heart.
That’s what purity of heart is: becoming fully yourself, the one God made you to be.
The Condition for Seeing God
In modern speech, the heart is either an organ (“heart disease”) or the seat of emotions (“I love you with all my heart”). Both are true, but Scripture goes deeper.
In the Bible, the heart is the core of the person — the hidden center, the place beneath all our masks. It is who you are when no one is watching — except One who always is.
In short: your heart is the real you.
To be pure of heart means to live as that true self, the one God created, stripped of anything false or unnecessary.
Purity of heart is being fully yourself — without clutter.
From “Fake Me” to “Real Me”
Psychologist Kurt Lewin once described life as a balance of two forces:
- Driving forces that push us forward.
- Restraining forces that hold us back.
Change, he said, can happen in two ways:
- Add more driving forces.
- Remove restraining forces.
Imagine you’re camping on a cold night, building a fire. At first, you add kindling, then sticks, and lastly logs. But if one log is wet, the fire dies down. What’s the best way to revive it? Not by piling on more wood — but by removing the wet log.
Holiness by Addition or Subtraction
At the beginning of the spiritual life, growth often comes from adding: daily prayer, weekly church, small group, spiritual reading. All good.
But sooner or later, adding more no longer feeds the flame. It smothers it.
When the problem is “too much,” the solution is not “more.”
Just as we cannot breathe in without ever breathing out, we cannot endlessly add devotions without also letting go of what no longer belongs.
Holiness isn’t only addition. Sometimes it’s subtraction.
Purity comes not just from doing more, but from eliminating impurities.
Conclusion
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, the company was making over 400 products. Jobs erupted: “This is insane. We can’t be world-class at 400 things. We’re going to do 12 things. Everything else goes.”
They cut hundreds of products — even profitable ones — and focused with laser clarity. Out of that pruning came the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad. The rest is history.
What about you? What are your “400 things”? What distractions, habits, or commitments clutter your life?
The saints teach us: holiness doesn’t come from being busier. It comes from being simpler.
If you are someone who benefits from journaling and putting pen to paper, check out the "Eliminating Impurities Worksheet".
