Heavens, distill the dew; clouds, pour out the victory. Let the earth open and salvation spring forth.
Christmas is a light in the night, and this light will never be extinguished. All who look to Bethlehem will be able to contemplate the Child Jesus, accompanied by Mary and Joseph; all who look with a pure heart, for God only manifests himself to the pure in heart.
Christmas is a call to inner purity. Many men may not see anything when this feast comes, because they are blind to the essential: their hearts are full of material things or dirt and misery. It is impurity of heart that causes insensitivity to the things of God, and also to many upright human things, including compassion for the misfortunes of men.
From a pure heart is born joy, a penetrating gaze for the divine, trust in God, sincere repentance, knowledge of ourselves and our sins, true humility, and a great love of God and others.
On one occasion, some scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus: Why do your disciples break the tradition of the ancients by not washing their hands when they eat? The Lord takes advantage of this to make them see that they neglect very important precepts. And he says to them: Hypocrites! No wonder Isaiah prophesied of you, saying: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Jesus then called the people together, because he is going to declare something important. It is not a matter of a more than one interpretation of the Law, but of something fundamental. The Lord points out what truly makes a person pure or impure before God.
And he called the people to him and said, "Listen to me and listen. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles man, but what comes out of the mouth, that defiles man. And a little later he will explain it to his disciples: That which proceeds out of the mouth proceeds out of the heart, and that is what defiles man; for it is from the heart that evil thoughts proceed, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these things indeed defile man, but to eat without washing one's hands does not defile him. What comes out of the mouth comes out of the heart. The whole man is stained by what happens in his heart: bad desires, nonsense, envy, resentment The same external sins mentioned by the Lord, rather than the same external action, have already been committed in the inner man. It is there that one loves or offends God.
Sometimes, however, the external action increases the goodness or malice of the internal act, by a greater intensity in the will, by the exemplarity or scandal that follows such action, by goods or damages caused to the neighbor, and so on. But it is the inner man that must be kept healthy and clean, and all the rest will be pure and pleasant to God.
The Lord calls blessed and happy those who keep their hearts. And this is a daily task.