“Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the Throne of God."  - St Nektarios of Aegina (1)

Reflection:

Our heart, the inner-most depth of our soul, is the meeting place between God and humanity. We invite Christ to dwell in our hearts through our repentance, by having a heart full of humility and love. When Christ is in our hearts, we have His peace, which leads us to see the beauty, joy, and happiness in everything and everyone around us.  

Christ says, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”(2) With Christ in our hearts, we see our neighbor through the eyes of our soul, from God’s perspective. Then we desire their salvation and have compassion for everyone. We are moved to sacrifice our ego, time, and talents to do our best to give everyone the love of Christ. 

We can change the world by each of us looking inward to first change ourselves, uniting our hearts with God, making our heart His Throne so that our perspective in life is united with His. Let us work with God through reading of Scripture and the Sacraments to purify our heart, making more room for Christ.  This way we may see our life and everyone around us more clearly through the joyful eyes of our soul.  

Resources:

1) St Nektarios on Happiness

2) Matthew 5:8-10