Purity of Intention

Paragraph 140 of St. Faustina’s Diary says, “Pure love is capable of great deeds, and it is not broken by difficulty or adversity.”   Only in pure love can you have purity of intention.  What is purity of intention though?  It is action which requires no re-action.  In other words, it is something done for another without expecting anything in return.

When I go to work and complete my work, I turn in a time card and expect a paycheck in return.  In giving me a paycheck, my employer expects me to work.  It is an arrangement which benefits both of us.  This logic applies to many normal day to day situations.   What I’m talking about here is different.

A friend of mine called and asked for a ride to church and I did gave her one without expecting anything in return from her, but I did benefit from giving her the ride.

First, I was able to enjoy her company for the short drive to church.  Second, I was able to be a driver for Christ.  As He has no hands or feet but ours, we must be willing to use our hands and feet for Him.  This was a very small act of kindness, done in the name of Jesus.

There are probably millions of examples of actions done with purity of intention and hopefully, they outnumber the actions done without purity of intention.  I’ve often wondered what our world would be like if every single person on earth did an act of charity for someone else, without expecting anything in return.

Remember the movie, “Pay it Forward?”  Kevin Spacey played a teacher who challenged his students to do a project to make a difference in the world.  His student, played by Haley Joel Osment, does a good deed for a homeless guy.  That homeless guy in turn does a good deed for someone else and the projects takes off, with beautiful results.  All these good deeds done for others without anyone expecting or wanting anything in return.

I think of all the missionaries in the world who travel the globe to help people they have never met.  To help others who can never repay them.  Why?  Because it is what their hearts tell them to do.  They are compelled to help others.

Conversely, I think of all the politicians in the world, especially in our own country, who do whatever they can to help themselves, usually at the cost of others.  Some of them believe they are doing us a favor by “serving” in government and therefore they are “entitled” to whatever they think they “need.”

Have you ever met anyone who just exuded love?  Their actions or deeds are done in the spirit of Christ and they love doing for others and are always willing to do more.   These people are an absolute joy to be around.  Giving, giving and giving and rarely taking.

In a society where everyone wants what they want when they want it, it is refreshing to be around people who love purely, not themselves, but those around them.

Attitude is Everything

Several years ago I came across a sign that said, “Everyone brings happiness into your life, some when they come and others when they go.”  Where do you fit in?  Do people like to see you leaving much more than they like to see you coming?

People have asked me many times why I am so happy.  Oddly, some of them have the ability to make that sound like a bad thing.  I don’t have an answer except to say that it’s a decision. 

Happiness is a situational emotion.  If you are with friends and having a good time, you’ll probably be happy.  If you are stuck in traffic on a hot day without an air conditioner, you probably won’t be happy.  Happiness comes and goes with what happens in our lives, but we can still choose to be happy more often than we are not.

The reason I think I am happy so much of the time is because I have a great joy within me.  The joy of knowing that I am the daughter of the creator of the universe and that one day, I will be residing with Him in heaven for eternity.  God dwells within me and He brings joy wherever He is.

Joy is ever present no matter what happens in our lives.  When God dwells within us we can be at peace whether it is raining or the sun is shining, whether we are hot or cold or whether we are healthy or sick.  Rainy days can bring us down, the temperature may not be to our liking or we may be unhealthy and these things can play a factor in our happiness, but never our joy.  Joy comes from God and happiness comes from our conscience decision.

Have you ever met anyone who lights up the room just by walking in?  You find yourself smiling just at their presence?  They are filled with joy and it overflows to others.  Pray that God will continue to bless them.

Have you ever met anyone who brings a room down just by their presence?  Everyone averts their eyes to avoid eye contact.  This poor soul doesn’t have joy and may very well not have happiness either.  Pray that God will bless this person with a great joy, to live in His beauty.

So whether you are happy when someone comes or when they go, keep them in your prayers – they need them!

Seen and Unseen

Comedian Bill Engvall coined the phrase, “Here’s your sign.”  In the way only a comedian can, he tells us people should wear “signs” so everyone else will know who they are (he’s referring to people who tend to do or say things that aren’t exactly intelligent – such as touching a hot iron and saying, “Ouch, that’s hot!” leaving us inwardly thinking, “no kidding Einstein”!)

In a sense, we do wear signs, they just aren’t evident to everyone.  On the front, we wear a “sign” which we present to everyone only what we want them to see.  We are nice, loving, caring, hardworking, faithful, successful, rich or whatever it is we ourselves want others to see in us.

We wear another “sign” on the back.  This sign lists our faults.  We don’t want anyone to know what this sign says and we really believe no one has any idea what’s on it either.  We don’t want anyone to know we are insecure, afraid, have an anger problem, in debt up to our noses, in a suffering marriage, estranged from our children, self-righteous, stuck-up or whatever it is we don’t want others to know about us, including sometimes, ourselves.

We are not supposed to, but we judge people based on what we can see.  We tend to forget that there is a whole other side to the story that we cannot see.  We get upset because Father didn’t stop and talk to us after Mass because he was in a rush to get out of church and on with his day, but we didn’t know the hospital just called and he was needed at a dying person’s bedside.

Our in-laws call and invite themselves for a week long visit and we feel put out because it doesn’t fit into our schedule and then we find out at the end of the visit that dad has been diagnosed with colon cancer and nothing can be done.  He’s dying and wanted to see us one last time.

We get angry when a young woman goes in to have an abortion because we know for a fact it’s wrong.  We forget that she has probably been taught that it’s perfectly okay to do because she has a “choice” and that she needs love and forgiveness instead of anger and resentment from us.

On and on and on we judge each other, instead of loving each other, because of what we think we see.  Only God can see all things and He loves us infinitely more than we will ever love one another.

Every time we start to judge someone, we must stop and pray for that person instead (this will take practice).  If that person truly has the defect we are making judgments about, then they need our prayers.  I urge you to pray for yourself though, asking God to keep you from falling into that defect as well (if you haven’t already!).