have a single-hearted commitment to God and are distracted by nothing from God  

    seek accomplishing God's will

  make an effort to stay away from material things that will distract them from God

  are rich in virtue

   look for whatever the eyes cannot see and the mind cannot grasp

   are meek, humble, simple, trusting, true, gentle, and good

  they are not covetous, not envious, and are not adulterous

   can clearly see God’s real presence

   constantly seek the vision of God

   Don’t forget to pray every day-- you are never too busy for God.

   Realize that all good things come from God, so remember to thank him for your blessings!

   Don’t let material things like fashion and gossip distract you from God.  If your friend calls you with the new gossip, but you were in the middle of praying the Rosary, think about WWJD.  Avoid the temptation of gossip and finish praying.

   Avoid skipping mass due to pleasurable opportunities, such as a party, and don’t be influenced by others to skip mass.  If this is too difficult, dedicate your entire Sunday to worshipping God, and tell your friends to count you out if a party is on a Sunday so that you can accomplish this. 

   Pray that the Lord will give you spiritual insight.  Pray that he will give you the Holy Spirit, who will help us achieve this spiritual insight.

    Mary, the Mother of God lived with a pure heart. The Virgin Mary is called “most pure” because of her spiritual wholeness.  Her virginity made her body a spiritual temple.  The Virgin Mary’s mind was healthy and her heart was pure, and her entire life and soul glorified the Lord. She inspired saints and continued to inspire others to preserve their purity of heart. Following Mary’s example, the saints who followed her never allowed thoughts contrary to God into their hearts.

    All of these virtues characterized by Mary are qualities of a person who is Pure of Heart.

Remember to keep score of your answers!

1.  It’s Super bowl Sunday, and you haven’t gone to Mass yet.  There’s a Super Bowl party at your friend’s house, and everyone is going to be there.  Everyone who is there has decided to skip mass, and they don’t see the big deal in you skipping Mass that night either. They ask you to stay for the party, and you…
  A) give in to what your friends say.  It’s just one Sunday.
  B) skip the party and go to Mass.  No party will distract you from God!

2.  After receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist at Mass, you …
  A) constantly find yourself immediately fighting with your sibling in the 
         car right after Mass.
  B) make an extra effort to stay in your state of holiness.  You try to be 
         humble and avoid breaking your time of being pure that follows Mass.

4.  You have to take a test on something that you don’t think will even matter in your future.  You still studied, but not enough and are faced with the perfect opportunity to cheat.  What is going through your mind?
  A) This is the only way I’ll be able to pass.  It will be okay to cheat just 
         this once.  This is a pointless subject anyway.
  B) I can’t give in to temptation!  This is my consequence for not 
         studying.

5.  A girl/boy who just isn’t nice to you has just said a rude remark to you.  You don’t know why this person acts this way towards you, and this is what’s going through your mind:
  A) Why is he/she so mean to me?  I hope that one day someone will be 
         just as mean to them!
  B) I wonder why they act that way towards me.  Maybe he/she’s having a 
         bad day.  Whatever is bothering them, I hope will go away soon.  For 
         now I’ll just ignore the remark.

6.  You just got a palm pilot for your birthday.  It’s the newest model and everyone loves it, especially you.  One month later your friend gets a palm pilot, but his is better than yours.  Everyone leaves you and your “old” palm pilot and they all move on to your friend and his “new” one.  You…
  A) jealously mumble a rude remark about your friend and your friends 
         that left you, and then covet to get an even newer one.  “My palm 
         pilot is still so much cooler!  I don’t care about those people anyway!  
         I’ll spend all my birthday money and get an even better palm pilot!”
  B) are happy for your friend.  “Wow, that one is cool!  Maybe I can show 
         you some of the things you can do on it!”

Results of your survey.

The Daughters of Saint Paul.  The Faith We Live By. A Team of Daughters of Saint Paul.  1969.

Pennock, Michael.  Being Catholic:  Believing, Living, Praying.  Notre Dame, IN:  Ave Maria Press, Inc.  1994.

St. John Chrysostom:  Homily 15 on St. Matthew:  On the Beatitudes.- 6 February 2003. http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/matthom15.html

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, D.C.- 6 February 2003.http://www.stjohndc.org/beatitude/9304.html 

Patron Saints Index:  Blessed Virgin Mary.-  February 2003.   http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintbvm.html This site provided the picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Created by Allison Aquino