JOHANNINE HOURS  February 1995 Psalm 24,1-6

[The "Johannine hours" are meant as a way of seeking God in silence and
prayer in the midst of our daily life. During the course of a day, take
a moment to read the Bible passage with the short commentary and to
reflect on the questions which follow. Afterwards, a small group people
can meet to share what they have discovered and perhaps for a time of
prayer.]

This song, used thousands of years ago for a entrance liturgy into the
Temple of Jerusalem, offers a context to understand the significance of
one of the Beatitudes of Jesus: "Happy the pure in heart: they will see
God!" (Matt 5,8).

The song begins by a confession of faith in God as creator and master of
the universe. Walking toward the holy place, the faithful thus express
the fact that they are undertaking a pilgrimage to the Source, an act
that is not partial but that commits the whole of their existence. On
the threshold of the Temple built on Mount Zion (the "mountain of the
Lord"), they ask what conditions are required to enter the holy place,
to "see the face of God" (cf. Ps 42,2; Deut 31,11) and thus to live in a
deep communion with the divinity. Then the answer comes: more important
than rites or outward practices are "clean hands," in other words acting
according to God's commands. And even this is not enough, for the acts a
person accomplishes must come from a "pure heart," a heart that places
God at the centre and that seeks him in all things.

This does not mean living a life with no mistakes, or striving after an
impossible perfection by acts of will-power. The person with a pure
heart is someone who does not wish to walk along two roads at the same
time but who knows that he will find happiness in God alone. Searching
for God as the only thing that matters and avoiding behaviour that
betrays a divided soul (Jas 1,8), such a person receives from God the
gift of greater life (blessing), the fruit of a relationship of
communion (justice).

* What does this expression mean for me: "to walk along just one road,
not two at the same time?"

* What aspects of our society make it difficult to try and live for God
alone? How can I express, concretely, that God is the centre of my life?

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