The Heart of the Matter

Dolores: 00:00:00

Following Jesus is all about following the way of love.

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No wonder that there is a beatitude

that speaks about the heart, . So let's

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dive in with our Good News team Lynn

Shematek, Lauren Welch, and Jon Shematek.

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Jon: Our Beatitude for today is, Blessed

are the pure in heart, they shall see God.

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What is it that comes to mind

when you hear that phrase,

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Blessed are the pure in heart?

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Lauren: For me, A pure heart

is someone who is totally

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aligned with the heart of God.

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Someone who has spent their life

following Jesus and learning how to be

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a person of love, when we come to know

that person of love that we call God or

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the divine, we do see that presence all

around us, and, and all creatures and all

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people, I think, to be pure of heart is

to be able to see the divine, First in

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ourselves, if we don't see the divine in

ourselves, it's going to be hard to see

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it in other people, and all creation.

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Jon: Lynn, do you have anything

that pops into your mind when you

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hear that phrase, pure in heart?

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Lynn: it's very interesting that

what pops into my mind is a pure

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act of kindness, a pure act of love.

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Agree with Lauren as she was talking

about people that, have spent their

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lives trying to be pure of heart.

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But then it's open to all of us.

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we can do it in little ways.

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the pure act of love doesn't have

to be to someone a stranger, it

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could be to someone we loved.

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what I'm saying is that all these

little acts of kindness and love

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are the things that build up and

make a whole society, pure of heart.

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Jon: they add together.

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They multiply.

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Some people would say, raised to a power.

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Other people would say,

that's pretty intense.

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sometimes people make a

dichotomy between mind and heart.

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Head and heart, which is a

false dichotomy, but people do.

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there are prayers that, include a phrase

where you're asking to be given the mind

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of Christ, to know what God really wants.

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That's what the mind of

Christ probably means.

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But I like this saying because

it's really talking about the heart.

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It's talking about feelings.

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perceiving with the heart.

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there's just so many ways

people think about the heart.

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Even in older language before

confession in the Episcopal church,

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it talked about bending the knee

of my heart to pray, to confess.

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We talk about our hearts

having ears and eyes.

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it's a way that we can sense.

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and understand the universe that is much

broader than our normal physical senses,

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and much more long lasting and robust.

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It doesn't fade with age

like so many things do.

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this can stay as strong as ever, no matter

what your state of age or health is.

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A lot of these beatitudes sound

like you have to do something

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first then you get something.

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I don't think that works quite as

much for this one because whatever

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it means to be pure in heart enables

you to see God in everything.

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some people say being pure

in heart means thinking about

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your motives for doing things?

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What is your motivation for what you do?

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these days, it can be many negative

things that people think about, right?

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Power, money whatever, those kinds of

things are what seems to motivate people.

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But if it's love that motivates you.

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That's more powerful than anything.

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And that actually establishes more deeply

this relationship with the divinity.

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this is one of my favorite Beatitudes.

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there's so much promise in all of

them But I really love the promise

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of this, because it is something

that seems like it's not far away and

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impossible to achieve It seems like it's

something that could be here every day.

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You can see God everywhere

and in everything

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Lauren: Jon, I think you're right.

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I think we are called to be love

just as God is love many people

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can do that in their daily lives.

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I know many who seem to always

be able to love no matter

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what is going on around them.

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they've inspired me To

try to be more like that.

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I'm not like that every minute.

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but to embody love is, I think,

who we are anyway, it's coming to

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know that we are embodied love.

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we're, created out of love.

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And love is our essence.

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We have to be in touch with

that love and live it out.

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I think that's the work of our life,

to be that love energy in the world.

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Jon: And I think Lauren, what you were

saying about the person or people you

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have seen, this love is really motivating

them and is, the gift to you and any

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of us If we can be open to recognizing

the power of love as we see it, I know

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I tend to grade myself on everything

and rank myself, which I don't think

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Jesus has asked us to do at all, right?

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We don't get grades for how good

a Christian we are, how close

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we're following the way of love.

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But let's say that I'm aware

that some people just seem

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to be really good at this.

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They are just awesome.

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You can really say, wow,

that person is so loving.

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I don't know if I could.

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be that way in that same

kind of circumstance.

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But that's a gift to see from your heart

that this person is showing love and

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that this love is coming from a very

good place and their heart is pure.

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I was thinking about the people in

your own life you've known or seen.

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it seems like the scriptures are filled

with people who are pure in heart.

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a lot of them are unsung.

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heroines and heroes of the scriptures

that their purity of heart led them to

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become really close to God, there are

many, great leaders of the church or

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the, Hebrew people But I'm thinking of

others that maybe aren't the ones that

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get best actor or best actress award.

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They're some of the people in the

background, but they're just showing this

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incredible love that is helping others.

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I think there are certainly that, but

I'm with you, Lauren I see that more

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in modern day life with everyday people

caring for each other and doing it

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out of goodness of their heart

and purity of their heart.

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And you think of people that

are so involved in, doing good

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works for people that are in

very unfortunate circumstances.

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Lauren: Jon, as you were talking,

I was thinking about all of the

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people we interviewed on our

Good News podcast last year.

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So many of them were reaching out

to people in other countries as well

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as people around them where they

live out of love, out of compassion

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Jon: yeah, you're right.

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we had a lot of amazing examples

of that in our Good News

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podcast, the first season we did.

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it was pretty awesome.

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And humbling.

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one of the common threads in all of

those 22 episodes was that love was the

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force that helped overcome obstacles

that broke down barriers between people.

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That, and that led to Hope led to inner

healing, led to healing of the world.

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So these are yeah that's just what's deep

about the concept of being pure in heart.

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so much flows from that when

people are pure in heart.

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Lynn: People are pure in heart

What it does is it allows to do

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the good deeds, but then also it

comes back to help you do more.

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it builds on each other because

you do a good deed out of love.

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That love makes you feel so good that

you do another good deed and another one.

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Jon: Yeah, it fuels those, doesn't it?

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And I think that's when we talk

about those things in wherever

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circles we happen to be.

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it fuels that ability for us

to show that kind of love.

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What does it mean?

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to be pure in heart what does that

allow to happen if one is pure in heart?

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Have you witnessed any situation or person

where someone has shown purity of heart?

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what was the outcome of that?

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Sometimes you don't get to see that.

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the outcome could be generations later.

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Maybe just planting some

seeds as people often say.

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what have you seen?

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And are you ready to try, do an

experiment, try to be pure in heart in

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some way, to do something for another?

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Lauren: Thank you

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Jon: Yeah, thanks for being with us.

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We really enjoyed having you today.

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how many more Beatitudes

are there to come?

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We have two more Beatitudes, to come.

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So this is number six.

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And each one different special

and provocative in some ways.

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Lynn: Thank you.

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Lauren: Peace and blessings

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..............

Dolores: This episode on the Beatitudes has been brought

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to you by listening for clues.

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You can find us at our

website listeningforclues.com,

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on our YouTube channel or on just

about any audio podcast channel.

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hope to see you soon.