THE LAMP OF THE BODY IS THE EYE
2Kings 11,1-4.9-18.20; Ps 131; Mt 6,19-23
22 JUNE
The eye is the external heart of man as the word is his audible voice. If the heart is pure, the eye is pure. If the heart is impure, the eye is impure. But if the heart is impure, the word is also impure. David is the first in the history of salvation that sees the fruits of his unclean eye and asks God for the creation of a pure heart. Through the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah, the Lord responds to David and to every other that he is ready to make a new covenant, writing his Law in the heart and no longer on the tablets of stone. However, first, he will send the Holy Spirit to change the heart of stone into the heart of flesh, so that the eyes are also of flesh and the mouth is of flesh.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me (Ps 51 (50) 7-12).
The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more (Jer 31,31-34).
I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart, so that they will live according to my statutes, and observe and carry out my ordinances; thus they shall be my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their detestable abominations, I will bring down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God (Ez 11,19-21). Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt for you. Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God. Return and live! (Ez 18,30-32). For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your impurities; I will order the grain to be abundant, and I will not send famine against you. I will increase the fruit on your trees and the crops in your fields; thus you shall no longer bear among the nations the reproach of famine. Then you shall remember your evil conduct, and that your deeds were not good; you shall loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominations. Not for your sakes do I act, says the Lord God – let this be known to you! Be ashamed and abashed because of your conduct, O house of Israel (Ez 36,24-32).
Whoever gives the Holy Spirit is the Father. The Father gives him through Christ. Christ gives him through his Church. If the Church does not give the Spirit, man will remain forever with his heart of stone. His eye will be of stone and also his mind. If the Church loses faith in her mission, the world will remain with the heart of stone.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.
Mother of Jesus, Angels and Saints, make us with the heart of flesh to see according to God.