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Our Lord said to His disciples in the sermon on the mount: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God!” How sweet is the solace which these words contain for the chaste maiden!
Many persons undertake journeys to distant lands, to famous spots, in order to see wonderful things. We, also, are wanderers; we are traveling along the steep and stony road of our life on earth. Our body is like luggage; we hasten on our way, our heart beats quickly, and each throb of our pulse brings us a step nearer eternity. And if this life, this journey to eternity, ofter appears tedious, it is for the most part because we have bad weather; I mean, because we meet with crosses and sufferings.
Whither are we going, for what are we seeking? We are striving to reach the heavenly Jerusalem, we are desirous to behold our God and Father. When we are permitted to gaze up at Him all will be well with us; care and sorrow will vanish, and we will be happy forevermore! But whose is the blessed privilege, not only to gain an entrance into heaven, but also to possess the right of citizenship, of eternal citizenship in heaven? “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”
Every Christian yearns to enter heaven. Men meet with many trials in the course of their life; God strews them like thorns along their path that their hearts may not cling to the earth, that they may not take delight in the tinsel of this world, but may seek for the true gold, tor eternal happiness.
If at a later stage of your journey through life you meet with gloomy and inclement weather, if you long more ardently than ever for the perpetual sunshine of heaven, then open your guide book, which is your conscience, and if on not one of its pages is there recorded a sin against chastity I shall indeed rejoice in union with your guardian angel, for then you will be truly “blessed.” “Blessed are the clean of heart.”
As St. Gregory the Pope remarks, chastity by itself is not sufficient to open heaven for us. You would resemble the foolish virgins who had no oil in their lamps, and on this account were excluded from the marriage feast, if you were to observe only the sixth and ninth commandments, and violate some other commandment in an important matter; for in that case you would have no true love of God, without which no one can enter heaven. But note well the reason why “many are called, but few chosen.” It is because so few preserve chastity according to their state of life.
A maiden who really preserves her chastity out of love to God usually keeps the other commandments. If she conquers in the difficult struggle—and in the case of many persons no struggle is more difficult than that which must be waged if chastity is to be preserved—she will not give way in less difficult encounters with the enemies of her salvation. She would be foolish indeed who, after succeeding in doing what was difficult, should fail in regard to what was comparatively easy.
O chastity, how sweet a solace thou art for all men, and for young girls more especially! “The clean of heart shall see God!” Must not the heart of a maiden be filled with rapture if she is conscious of spotless chastity both of soul and body? Take courage, therefore; it is after all not so very difficult to get to heaven. Tend with the utmost care the lily of chastity; for this is the token whereby God recognizes His children.
Though you are very far from being a saint, a heroine in regard to virtue, yet you perform a large number of good works every month, perhaps even every day. Doubtless you often pray, hear Mass, attend divine service, examine your conscience, confess your faults with sincere contrition, receive the body of the Lord with love and devotion, perform your daily tasks with a good intention, undertake one or other pious practice in honor of the Mother of God, etc., etc. God rewards even a cup of cold water given to a thirsty man out of love for Him; will He not therefore reward all these good works if done for love of Him? Most assuredly He will; He will give you an eternal reward in heaven, if you persevere in the grace of God and bear in your hand the lily of purity.
An ancient heathen legend relates that Hermione, the beautiful Persian princess, wore in her hair a magnificent opal of priceless value. This brilliant jewel possessed, however, a very peculiar property. A single drop of water fell upon it and dissolved it, with fatal consequences to the wearer.
Now look, my daughter; this flower of paradise, the lily of chastity, is just as beautiful, just as precious as that opal, and no less delicate and easily injured. This virtue is indeed a sublime moral force which enables the poor human heart to rise superior to its own frailties, and unite itself to God, the God of infinite purity. Hence it is said, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”
Yes, it may be said that even on earth the chaste soul enjoys a foretaste of eternal felicity. The chaste soul is in itself a paradise, a garden of delight, wherein the Holy Ghost takes pleasure, a throne of the Divinity, whence flow graces and blessings to enrich the period of its existence here below, during which it is united in sweet harmony with a body no less pure and chaste than itself.
Now tell me, Christian maiden, is it not worth sacrificing everything, surrendering everything, for the sake of this virtue, the lily of chastity will admit us to the beatific vision of God? Ought we to shrink from any exertion, from any struggle which it may cost us to preserve it? And ought we not every day, and many times a day, to invoke the Mother and patroness of chastity, saying to her: “O Mary, obtain for me this fair virtue. Enable me to preserve my chastity. On account of thy spotless purity thou wast exalted above the choirs of angels to a glorious throne in heaven. Help me to be clean of heart, in order that hereafter I may be privileged to enjoy the beatific vision of God forever and ever.”
Look down upon us from above,
Mother of mercy and fair love;
Until, bright Queen of heaven, we see
Thy face to all eternity.