"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." - Matthew 5:8"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." - Matthew 5:8
The vision of God is the end of man's existence and the utmost perfection of his happiness. To be shut out from seeing Him to all eternity involves not only the blackness of darkness, but the lowest depth of despair and misery. The enjoyment of all possible earthly pleasures for a million of years would not compensate for the loss of that vision, if only for a moment. The endurance of all possible miseries would be a small price to pay for one instant of the entrancing joy it brings with it. Hence I must frame my life so as to secure this vision of God at any cost.
To do this I must fulfill the condition our Lord here lays down. I must be clean of heart. I must never allow my affections to fix themselves on any creature of earth, when I know that in so doing I am acting in opposition to the will of God. I must not indulge any pleasure or passion, how ever attractive or intense, if I know that God forbids it, else I shall be in danger of forfeiting the vision of God to all eternity.
Shall I lose any solid happiness or pleasure by this self-denial? On the contrary, I shall be the gainer even here. I shall earn peace of mind, health of soul and body, cheerfulness, a good conscience; and on earth already I shall begin to taste the happiness of seeing God in such way as is possible during our mortal life. My faith in God and my love of Him will make me despise and hate those gross pleasures which are the husks of swine.
- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ