Purity of Intention

Tuesday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 11:37-41

After Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”

Opening Prayer: I praise and I thank you Father for sending your Son, Jesus, to save me. Praying with Psalm 119, I beg you “Let your mercy come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise. Take not the word of truth from my mouth, for in your ordinances is my hope. And I will keep your law continually, forever and ever. And I will walk at liberty, because I seek your precepts. And I will delight in your commands, which I love. And I will lift up my hands to your commands and meditate on your statutes.”

Encountering Christ:

1. Inviting God In: “After Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home.” Since Abraham welcomed the three strangers, as described in Genesis (18:1-8), hospitality has been woven into the faith and culture of the Jewish people. Jewish tradition considers it “mitzvah,” meaning commandment. It is said when one knows of strangers who are hungry or need a place to relax, it becomes a legal obligation. For this Pharisee, inviting Jesus to dine in his home also meant inviting all those traveling with Jesus. It also included many dishes, many courses, and long conversations. It was not a small thing for this Pharisee to open his home to Jesus. Was his intention purely hospitality? Do we invite God into our life because we think we are supposed to? Because we will be punished if we do not? Or do we want to speak more personally with God? It is a question we need to ask ourselves honestly. May we seek the Lord with the purest of intentions.
2. Scrutinizing Jesus: “He [Jesus] entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.” It seems by this verse that the Pharisee had an intention other than being hospitable. He was using this occasion to scrutinize and judge Jesus. We do not read that the Pharisee spoke at all. It was to the Pharisee’s critical thoughts Jesus responded, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools!” What does this tell us about Jesus? It tells us that he knows what we are thinking, and that he despises duplicity. We have encountered this elsewhere in Scripture. Before Nathaniel even spoke, Jesus complimented his future Apostle saying, “There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47). He also spoke against the sin of duplicity saying, “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). We can let this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisee be an opportunity for self-examination of our personal integrity. God welcomes our honest questions about what we do not understand in our faith. However, if we criticize Church teachings to prove ourselves right, we are behaving like this Pharisee.
3. Considering Our Maker: “Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” Even in admonishment God is Love, always providing a way out of spiritual bondage to sin. He is always working to free us from what keeps us from him. Jesus counseled the Pharisee to make reparation for his duplicity by acts of charity. If done with purity of intention, acts of charity can cleanse us from all that keeps us from living as authentic followers of Jesus. St. Faustina wrote of purity of intention in her Diary of Divine Mercy (1566), “When I was apologizing to the Lord Jesus for a certain action of mine which, a little later, turned out to be imperfect, Jesus put me at ease with these words: ‘My daughter, I reward you for the purity of your intention which you had at the time when you acted. My Heart rejoiced that you had my love under consideration when you acted, and that in so distinct a way; and even now you still derive benefit from this; that is, from the humiliation. Yes, my child, I want you to always have such great purity of intention in the very least things you undertake.’”

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to be a genuine person, authentic in my thoughts and actions. I want there to be no reason for you to admonish me for my duplicity. But I know that I sometimes fool myself. Thank you for the gift of the sacrament of Reconciliation so I can repent of my sins and be made whole. 

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will perform an act of charity with purity of intention.

For Further Reflection: Purity of Intention and the Way of Life, Divine Mercy Message, Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Nan Balfour is a wife, mother, and grandmother. She volunteers as a writer and speaker for Pilgrim Center of Hope, a Catholic evangelization ministry that answers Christ’s call by guiding people to encounter him so as to live in hope as pilgrims in daily life.