ONLY THROUGH PURITY CAN WE SEE ALL WE NEED TO SEE AND IN THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

Do you see what is really there? Do you see the truth, the full truth, and nothing but? Are you sure there are not distortions in what you observe -- even things imagined?

We go through life with a vision that's imperfect. Sometimes it is more imperfect than at other times. Sometimes, it's outright distorted, as through a prism (or the mirror of a funhouse). Sometimes, we're outright blind.

And the reason is that truth is seen in proportion to our purity, our goodness, and our honesty.

That's a heavy remark but the eye is the window of the soul and when the soul is murky, when it is blocked, so is what we see.

Sin after sin pile up to block us.  We imagine that someone doesn't like us. We imagine they are talking behind our backs. We imagine they have done all kinds of things they may not have done. We fret about what will happen to us.

Remember what it says about the "log"? There is the log in our eyes and there are also the logs we dump into our living waters (the part of us that flows from God). Look at what happens in the Northwest when they're lumbering. Logs pile up, obscure the water, and almost halt it.

The same is true with us. Sin. Bad habits. Negative thoughts. Pride. These are all logs that stop the water and thus the tree that could bear fruit alongside it.

It's also like a spring: Clear water allows us to see the bottom (and the fullness of a creek) while water that's muddy can hide what is in it (even danger: did you every notice where alligators live?).

The truth is clear only when the soul is pure, and so purify this Christmas and see like you have never seen! See the truth. See the full picture. Stop imagining the worst.

Ask Our Blessed Immaculate Mother to give you immaculate vision. Purify yourself by elevating yourself into a mindset of love. Go to Confession. Fast before the feast.

This will help you observe matters in a new, fuller way -- and that can be the source of what Christmas is all about: comfort and joy. Go for it!

It is the time of year when matters can be unusually lucid and you should take advantage of it: "Lord, let me have new eyesight. Let me see what I should see, clearly. Let me see reality in more fullness."

"Let me see what is backstage."

Remember how when you opened to God you suddenly saw things differently? There are further vistas to open.

But sin trips us up. Sin -- even minor sin -- distorts. It darkens. So do bad habits. We stir up the muck when we are anxious, when we have anger, when we have lust, when we are tapping into a frenzy of the soul. When our thoughts are "dirty."

When we're lustful, we see only through that lust. It clouds us. It skews our thinking.

And when we're jealous, our vision stops at the object of our jealousy.

Deceive others and you deceive yourself!

When you're selfish, meanwhile, it's like trying to walk while holding a mirror in front of you (seeing not what is in front of you but only yourself, or what is behind you and should stay there).

On the other hand, when we have purified -- when we're clear, when we're humble -- we get the living waters from Heaven. St. Teresa of Avila once said that the light of Heaven is like "a very clear stream, in a bed of crystal, reflecting the sun's rays," while Sister Lucia of Fatima described the angel she saw as "whiter than snow, transparent as crystal when the sun shines through it."

It is with that light that purity sees.

Look at the Infant. Look at the chaste father. Look at the immaculate mother.

Invoke them. They will help you purify. They will help you see. They had the foresight of the Holy Spirit.

The eye is the window of the soul and impurities cloud it. We see worries that we really don't have to worry about. We argue with members of the family when there really is not something there to argue about. This happens especially at Christmas  (when the devil is so active).

If we lie, or cheat -- if there is a bit of deception in us -- our vision is limited in proportion to our deception (or negativity). The same is true if we lack love. Love brings the clearest waters.

Good water is clear and bad water is murky from pollution or algae or some other imbalance.

In the maintenance of a pool is the need for the right pH, the right chlorine, and the right filter that keeps the water from obscuring what we can see. So too in our lives.

This is why we must remove the "log" to see what we really can see. How often we try to form judgments based on partial perceptions!

The answer is living and thinking rightly. The answer is in being a blessing to everyone. The answer is in rising above the tugs of worldliness through purity. This holiday season -- this season that is so pure -- resolve to cause everyone around you to feel better. Give everyone a blessed day. Watch your interior life closely (every thought). Do you know how it is when you have a day where everything goes right -- when all seems to flow with grace? Pray that everyone you come across has that experience: give everyone the gift of a day's blessing.

Such will elevate you. Such will purify. Christmas is a terrific time to purify! Make it the gift to God this holiday -- and to yourself.

And see like you have never seen before -- all the way to Bethlehem.

[resources: Christmas package]

[see also: purity website]

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