MEDITATION TIP —Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 29, 2023

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

　Why should one live righteously? Why should we not hurt others or tell lies? Some of you may have asked these simple questions when you were children. This is because we were taught at home, school, and church that we must live righteously and without deception, but it is also an intuition that we instinctively feel before anything else. This is called the dignity of conscience. It is something that parents in Japan have always cautioned their children who have done wrong by saying, “O-tendo-sama is watching” (God is always watching you, so you must never do anything wrong). There is also the saying, “God dwells in an honest heart.” We came to believe that God protects those who live honestly with a sincere heart, and that we are sure to receive his blessings.

　Why do human beings have this conscience? Its existence has not been scientifically proven, nor does it mean that it is not true or does not exist unless and until it is all scien-tifically proven. In fact, even those who are believers in science, who believe only in what has been scientifically proven, and even those who profess that there is nothing left after death, act according to this intuition of conscience, or the law of the heart, and care if others are in trouble, and believe that what they do not want done to them, they should not do to others. And the reason why people sometimes act against the voice of conscience and regret it later, when they have difficulty hearing the voice of conscience in complicated human relationships or when they are not emotionally at ease, is because the dignity of conscience rules the human mind as an absolute law, and in this we see the guidance of God. In other words, regret is inevitable for those who go against the voice of conscience, but we should try to feel God's mercy behind our regret.

　Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Jesus said. But Jesus is by no means demanding from us the perfect purity. I think it would be good if we take this to mean that “those who, despite their weaknesses and fragility, wish to live righteously according to the voice of conscience will see God in their hearts.” And so, to live according to this guidepost of conscience as much as possible is what makes our lives fruitful and meaningful. “In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.” (Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 16)

　Sometimes people regret not having loved their children or someone else enough in the past for various reasons. But the tenderness of the heart is important, and instead of remaining in that regret forever, Jesus asks us instead to transform that regret into a different kind of energy, this time to "expand our hearts" to continue to pour out that love to others who need the same help.

 　　　　　(Father Akabae)