{"id":27298,"date":"2026-07-14T10:21:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27298"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:55:12","slug":"27298","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27298","title":{"rendered":"What Is Purity of Heart?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nina Simone - I Shall Be Released | Lyrics Meaning\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C-Jq5mlY0jM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuesday, July 14, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.<br>\u2014Matthew 5:8<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Richard Rohr explores Jesus\u2019s metaphor, connecting the eyes and the heart:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this beatitude, Jesus is saying, \u201cWhen the heart is right, seeing will be right.\u201d He ties together heart and sight. We might have heard the saying, \u201cBeauty is in the eyes of the beholder\u201d\u2014so is God. <strong>All we need to do is keep the lens clean and the heart pure. <\/strong>If our heart is cold, our vision is distorted. If we hold coldness and unforgiveness, the desire to do violence with words or actions, or avert our loving gaze so that another will feel our rejection, we will not be able to see clearly. Our heart is not pure. <strong>Jesus calls us to purity of heart with the promise that correct seeing will follow. [1]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The author and spiritual director Carl McColman reflects on what Jesus might have meant by \u201cpurity of heart,\u201d calling it \u201cthe beatitude that points toward <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the goal of every restless heart\u2014to see God<\/span><\/strong>\u201d: &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the centuries,&nbsp;<strong><em>purity<\/em>&nbsp;has been used for religious and political control.<\/strong> It can be a dangerous concept\u2014used to justify genocide like the Shoah (Holocaust) as well as a code word for controlling people\u2019s sexual behavior. But the word Jesus uses\u2014\u00adthe Greek word&nbsp;<em>katharoi<\/em>\u2014 carries a different meaning.&nbsp;<em>Katharoi&nbsp;<\/em>is a root of the word&nbsp;<em>catharsis<\/em>. <strong>Catharsis, in the annals of Western mysticism, is the necessary first step on the journey toward union with God<\/strong>. Here&nbsp;<em>pure<\/em>&nbsp;not only suggests a freedom from contaminating elements; it also could simply be rendered as&nbsp;<em>clean<\/em>. We might rephrase the beatitude as <strong>\u201cBlessed is a free and cleansed heart, for it shall see God.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSeeing God\u201d doesn\u2019t happen automatically. The God of love is gentle and not willing to force the divine presence on those who just don\u2019t want it. <strong>Most of us are a paradox: we want it, and we don\u2019t want it. We have mixed hearts, hearts that know the only true rest is in God but nevertheless remain invested in all sorts of other pleasures\u2014\u00adsome perfectly benign and others not so good<\/strong>. With this reality in mind, it\u2019s important to read Jesus\u2019s beatitude as a challenge as well as an invitation\u2014\u00adnot as an accusation or a shaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus knows that no human being has a perfectly clean (pure) heart. But in his wisdom, <strong>he\u2019s asking, \u201cAre you willing to show up? Are you willing to do the work? Are you willing to clean up your mess?<\/strong>\u201d <strong>To answer yes to these questions is to commit to the path\u2026. <\/strong>There\u2019s the cleansing right there. Are we willing to begin to let go of gratuitous cynicism, nursed resentments, dispiriting bitterness, and the kind of negativity that leaches away our energy and gives us nothing in return? <strong>Letting go of those kinds of afflictive thoughts launches us on the journey of catharsis, of inner cleansing, that prepares us to receive the presence of the<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> One who is already there<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>==============<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/app-link\/post?publication_id=2894235&amp;post_id=205646466&amp;utm_source=post-email-title&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=2dkj2&amp;token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTkyMzY2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoyMDU2NDY0NjYsImlhdCI6MTc4MzM2NTkxMiwiZXhwIjoxNzg1OTU3OTEyLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjg5NDIzNSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.KJVSCXUDKm6PToChNbS5oTcE7jWhiaLVnqDgF6Dum2o\">BZ with BZ on the 4th of July<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reflections On A Special Night with Bob Dylan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@brianzahnd\">BRIAN ZAHND<\/a>  JUL 6<\/td><td><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@brianzahnd\"><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/04594fc8-4e54-44a9-b685-84525fa1672e?j=eyJ1IjoiMmRrajIifQ.ND0qR5RKsmVnltuWgIlyr3BY7uwq2Kt9ZzX29UJK4cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Vc2j!,w_1100,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11f53099-3e3d-4900-9db0-0ce054bccd1a_959x720.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I spent the 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;of July at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri with another BZ\u2014Bobby Zimmerman. Although sixty-four years ago the other BZ walked into the St. Louis County courthouse in Hibbing, Minnesota and legally changed his name to Bob Dylan. Once, when asked what influence Dylan Thomas had exerted on him to adopt the name of the Welsh poet, the erstwhile Robert Zimmerman merely quipped, \u201cI\u2019ve done more for Dylan Thomas than he ever did for me.\u201d And that\u2019s probably true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As is well documented, I\u2019ve been an ardent fan of Bob Dylan for over fifty years, and of course I\u2019ve been to many a Bob Show, as I call them. But for the last few years quirks of schedule have caused me to miss the Dylan shows. Either I was out of the country when he would come to Kansas City or nearby, or I would just miss him by a few days for some date in Europe. Last year Peri and I had tickets to see Dylan at the Thunder Ridge Nature Arena near Branson, Missouri\u2014a four-hour drive. We left right after church on a Sunday and arrived just in time for the show to be cancelled due to a thunderstorm that rolled through and wrecked a lot of equipment. Oh, well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But then the stars finally aligned. Bob Dylan at Starlight Theatre on the 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;of July\u2014his most recent tour date in what has been popularly dubbed as the Never Ending Tour ever since Dylan began touring more-or-less nonstop in June of 1988. Over the past thirty-eight years Dylan has performed nearly four thousand shows\u2014that\u2019s over a hundred shows a year. That would be impressive for any artist, but for someone who is now halfway into their ninth decade it\u2019s truly astounding. Bob Dylan is the truest and most traveled of all the troubadours. You don\u2019t really have to go to Dylan\u2014wait long enough and he\u2019ll come to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Geographically that is. Artistically you come to Dylan on his terms. He\u2019s not going to \u201cplay the hits,\u201d he\u2019s not going to try to ingratiate himself to the audience, he\u2019s not going to endear you with lively repartee between songs. In fact he\u2019s not going to speak a word. No, \u201cHello, Kansas City.\u201d No, \u201cLet me introduce the band.\u201d Not even a single, \u201cThank you.\u201d These days the songs do all the talking for him. And that\u2019s just fine. At eighty-five I believe Dylan has finally become what he always wanted to be when he first left Hibbing at eighteen\u2014a wizened old bard who has nothing to offer but his songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So meet the artist on his own terms. You can\u2019t say you saw Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre, but you can say you saw Dylan at Starlight Theatre. Or at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota if you go see him tonight. These days I always wonder if the latest leg of the Never Ending Tour will be Dylan\u2019s finale. But just last night Dylan posted the first shows of a fall tour in Europe. The Never Ending Tour kicks off again in mid-October in Oslo and Bergen. So to all my newfound friends in these recently visited cities, do yourself a favor and go see Dylan when he shows up in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the things that continues to amaze me about a Dylan show is how many young people attend. Not long ago I took a fourteen-year-old grandson to see ZZ Top, and I\u2019m convinced he was the youngest person there by about fifty years. It was&nbsp;<em>all<\/em>&nbsp;old folk. Not so at a Dylan show. Young people continue to find the poet laureate of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and want to see the legend in the flesh. Good for them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I saw Dylan once again. This time on the 250<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;birthday of America. To be honest that\u2019s the most American thing (in a good way) that I can think of. The only way it could have been more American is if the ghost of Johnny Cash had joined his old friend on stage for a duet of \u201cGirl from the North Country.\u201d Lucinda Williams and the John Doe Folk Trio were the openers. Both were excellent, and both made cryptic and not so cryptic references to the difficult time America is passing through on a jubilee anniversary. Many in the crowd were there for the solace they knew they would find in the songs of the one who wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><em>They say that patriotism is the last refuge\nTo which a scoundrel clings\nSteal a little and they throw you in jail\nSteal a lot and they make you king\n<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Then at about the time that \u201cthe evening shadows and the stars appear\u201d the headliner took the stage. There was no introduction. The giant screens were turned off. Our phones were put away. (As we had been warned to do in no uncertain terms.) Dylan took his place behind a piano at the back of a nearly dark stage. He wore a hoodie pulled down low. Dylan wasn\u2019t there to be seen. If he could get away with it, I think Dylan would perform behind a screen\u2014like an Orthodox priest performing mysteries behind an iconostasis. The octogenarian minstrel from Minnesota didn\u2019t want to be seen but he did want to sing us his songs. A stripped down four-piece band is all Dylan needs these days. (A shout-out to Chicago guitarist Joel Paterson who was playing just his fifth show with Dylan\u2014he was brilliant!) The whole performance was magical and better than I could have hoped for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first words we heard sung were,&nbsp;<em>To be alone with you, just you and me . . .&nbsp;<\/em>And it felt that way. On the third song the crowd sang along with \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Me, Babe\u201d\u2014a song that Dylan was performing for the 1,153rd time since the first time he performed it in 1964. In \u201cTryin\u2019 to Get to Heaven,\u201d the fourth song, Dylan sang the line,&nbsp;<em>There\u2019s a rumbling in the skies<\/em>\u2014indeed there was. Starlight Theatre is located in Swope Park, and fireworks were booming overhead for the whole show. The \u201cbombs bursting in air\u201d provided a strange, but maybe these days an apropos, juxtaposition as Dylan softly sang,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><em>Sitting on my terrace lost in the stars\nListenin\u2019 to the sound of the sad guitars\nBeen thinking it over and I\u2019ve thought it all through\nI\u2019ve made up my mind to give myself to you.<\/em>\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>The highlights for me in the ninety-minute set were \u201cWhen I Paint My Masterpiece,\u201d \u201cCrossing the Rubicon,\u201d and \u201cUnder the Red Sky.\u201d Lately Dylan has been closing with the achingly beautiful \u201cEvery Grain of Sand.\u201d But on this night the eighty-five-year-old Noble Laureate closed with a gorgeous rendition of \u201cI Shall Be Released.\u201d In the late autumn of his life the lyrics take on a more poignant meaning than when they were written sixty years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><em>They say everything can be replaced\nYet every distance is not near\nSo I remember every face\nOf every man who put me here\nI see my light come shining\nFrom the west down to the east\nAny day now, any day now\nI shall be released.<\/em>\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>BZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tuesday, July 14, 2026 Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.\u2014Matthew 5:8 Richard Rohr explores Jesus\u2019s metaphor, connecting the eyes and the heart: In this beatitude, Jesus is saying, \u201cWhen the heart is right, seeing will be right.\u201d He ties together heart and sight. We might have heard the saying, \u201cBeauty is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27298"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27304,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27298\/revisions\/27304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}