Spiritual Gift of the Week
We pray for the grace to be pure-hearted servants for the sake of Jesus Christ who suffered for us. Most Pure Heart of Mary—Our Lady of Sorrows—pray for us.
Spiritual Instruction of the Week
In prayer, God sees us—God sees the beauty and purity of our hearts…Let us pray.
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Dear Beautiful Daughters of Mary,
Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear…Then the King will desire your beauty. (Isaiah 45:10-11)
Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Our beauty, dear daughters of Mary, begins in prayer. It is a work of grace. And yes, we aspire to become even more beautiful—ever more beautiful—women of prayer. We pray and ask for the grace to be good, pure hearted, and chaste servants. And we do so in September, in a special way, for chastity is our fruit of the month.
In the Old Testament, the Greek term for beauty is ‘kalos.’ This expression refers to what is good, what is useful for good, or what is morally good, and it was always used in reference to one’s character—to what is authentic, pure, and intrinsic. For the Hebrew writer, ‘kalos,’ linked beauty to goodness, and goodness to purity and chastity. ‘Kalos’ described the divine image: Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is beautiful (kalos) (Ps 135:3). ‘Kalos’ in other words, describes that which gives us dignity.
Isaiah 53 uses the term ‘kalos’ to describe the ‘just one’ —the one to come—God’s chosen Messiah. Pointing to to the just one’s dignity and intrinsic beauty, this text prefigures Christ—Christ who is not accepted for his outward appearance—but rather for his pure heart—his chaste heart—which led him to serve the will of God: “He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him…My servant, the just one, shall justify the many, their iniquity he shall bear.” (Is. 53: 2, 11)
The New Testament reiterates this understanding of beauty. Two Greek terms, ‘agathos,’ which means good, and ‘kalos’, are used interchangeably when speaking of the good seed, the good fruit, and the Good Samaritan. The seeds of goodness are within us, and we bear good fruit. The pure and chaste heart, such as the Samaritan’s for example is seen in acts of goodness. The beauty of a chaste heart is not hidden in other words—for one who is chaste has dignity, and acts upon the beauty and dignity she sees in others. As we are told in 1 Thessalonians: ’Prove all things; hold fast to that which is beautiful. (kalos).’ (5:21)
Our salutation—beautiful Daughters of Mary—says a great deal about who we are and who we aspire to be. Each week we meet. Our concern is less about outer appearance, and more about inner character. We pray knowing the we are more than mere bodies, we are both body and soul. We know that we are more than outer appearance. We know that in prayer, God sees what is hidden. And we know, as Fr. Anthony said on our Day of Prayer, not to hide from God. God sees our hearts, created in his image; and his gaze transforms our entire being, into his likeness. God’s love gives us chaste, pure, and beautifully exquisite hearts.
Our greeting then, dear beautiful (‘kalos’) Daughters of Mary—has meaning—
Let us pray,
DEB
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