The Sixth Beatitude: Purity of Heart and the Vision of God

After mercy comes purity of heart. For mercy cleanses the heart from bitterness toward others, but purity removes disorder within the soul itself. A heart cannot be made pure if it is divided, seeking both God and lesser goods. Purity of heart is simplicity of intention, by which a man desires God alone.

This Beatitude follows in proper order. For the merciful heart has learned to forgive others, but the pure heart has learned to be free from inward corruption. Mercy removes cruelty; purity removes duplicity. The soul now seeks not only to act rightly, but to be rightly ordered within.

Purity of heart does not mean freedom from bodily temptation alone, but freedom from every disordered affection. For a heart is impure whenever it is turned toward what is inferior, even if outward conduct appears upright. The pure heart is one that loves God without division and seeks nothing else as its final end.

The reward promised is the vision of God. For God is seen not with bodily eyes, but with the heart. And only a pure heart can see Him, because nothing impure can endure the presence of perfect truth. As the eye must be clear to behold light, so the heart must be cleansed to behold God.

Thus the ascent reaches a higher stage. The soul that has been humbled, purified by sorrow, made meek, filled with righteousness, and trained in mercy, is now made capable of contemplation. For only when the heart is purified can it be lifted to behold God, toward whom all the Beatitudes have been leading.

Source: St. Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Book I, Chapters 6–7.