Lent with St. Francisco: Blessed are the pure in heart

In this fourth week of Lent with St. Francisco, we are focusing on the beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

On this notion, St. Irenaeus of Lyon said, “The Glory of God is a human being fully alive.”

When you are pure in heart, God’s glory emanates from your being and you live fully for Him.  St. Francisco adopted this beatitude in the depth of his being. He was so firmly fixated on pleasing and loving God, he could think of nothing else.

One night his father asked him why he was crying.  Francisco answered, “I was thinking about God who is so sad because of all the sins. Would that I were able to give Him happiness.”

His first profound experience of God happened after he received the chalice from the Angel of Peace, which contained the precious blood of Jesus. Francisco said he knew that God was in him.

His next experience of God occurred in the rays of intense light that radiated from Our Lady during the apparitions. The children saw themselves in that light and were immersed in God. Francisco exclaimed: “If (people) only knew what she showed us in God, in her Immaculate Heart, in that great Light!  What is God? We could never put it into words. We could never explain it.”

St. Irenaeus said, “The Father cannot be grasped. But because of God’s love and goodness toward us, and because He can do all things, He grants to those who love Him the privilege of seeing Him.”

Francisco was one who loved greatly. He loved so much that he told Lucia, when I get to Heaven, I am going to console Our Lord and Our Lady.  He saw God through Our Lady on earth, and now sees Him fully in heaven.