PURITY OF THE HEART

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Matthew 2:13

"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."

We can now see it everywhere – the magazines we read, the songs we sing, the music we dance to, the billboards along the busy highways – pictures or themes or messages that promote sex and sexuality. And the bad news is that these same messages are picked-up by our children. Today’s sex-obsessed culture forces children into roles they are not mentally, physically or emotionally ready to handle. Innocence is dying in our children. When will parents act like adults and stand up to say, “enough!”?

Two-thousand years ago, the devil used Herod to execute all innocent male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, in the hope of killing the Child Jesus. Today, the devil is using another tool to take that innocence out of our children – taking their mind out from godly existence, to live a life full of lust and worldly anxieties, in the hope of killing Jesus in their hearts.

Almighty Father, as parents, teach us to share with our children the purity of mind, body, soul and spirit:

1. MIND. Let them know how to control his/her own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust.

2. BODY. Let them be busy in doing good deeds, praying and attending to needs of others. By doing good deeds, they can definitely attain a reasonable level of purity of mind.

3. SOUL & SPIRIT. Let them know that they are loved by “holding them close to our hearts”, so they may understand Your love towards them, generating a sense of serenity and simplicity as their soul connect with You, in oneness with You.

Oh Lord, through our prayers, may we reach purity. Through our prayers, may we be example of purity. Through our prayers, may we teach others purity. Through our prayers, let all things we are become pure.

“If my heart and mind is pure,
God lives in me, I am sure.”

Purity is a yes to the goodness of God's creation – Pope John Paul II