Praise be Jesus and Mary, and it's what comes from within us that defiles us, our Lord says. It's our deliberate thoughts and it's our deliberate desires that can defile our souls, that can stain us in the eyes of God. We can say that our mind which presents desires to the heart, our mind which presents to the will objects of desire, our mind is like a bad neighborhood. We shouldn't go there alone otherwise we'll get in a lot of trouble. We cannot deal with our thoughts on our own. They will soon overwhelm us. Our mind is full of crazy thoughts. If we just stop for a while and pay attention, and I don't even recommend this, our mind is full of crazy thoughts. Again, it's like a bad neighborhood, plenty of trouble there lurking and waiting. And if we try to deal with that on our own, enter into conversation with ourselves about our thoughts, that's when the trouble begins.
That's when we fall into sin or at least are in doubt and uncertain. It's like Eve entering into conversation with the serpent. It ends bad. So what does it mean that we shouldn't go there alone? We have to enter into conversation with somebody about our thoughts. We have to talk to people about what's on our mind because we can't deal with it on our own. And that someone is, of course, our blessed lady, Mary, our mother. That's what mothers do. God gave Mary to us to be our mother even in this.
Mothers listen and they counsel. Mothers listen and they advise. Mothers listen and they console. Mothers listen and they correct. Mothers listen and they guide.
Mothers listen and they direct. That's what mothers do. That's what our lady does. She wants to hear our thoughts from us and counsel, correct, advise, direct, etc. That's why union with Mary equals purity of heart. A union of soul with our lady means purity of soul for us. Union of heart with our lady means purity of heart for us. No matter what we talk to her about, whether it be scary, Mother Mary, look at the scary thought that's on my mind. Whether it be frightening, disgusting, ugly, embarrassing, whatever is there. It's a bad neighborhood. There's junk there. If we talk to our lady about it, Mother Mary, look at this thought. Look at what I'm dealing with. Look at what I'm inclined to. Look at what's tempting me. Look at what's distracting me. No matter what it is that we talk to her about, it loses its power over us. Because if we talk to our lady about it, she responds. She counsels. She advises. She comforts. She strengthens. She corrects. She directs, etc. If we try to deal with our thoughts on our own, even the least thing can be harmful to us. But if with our lady, nothing can harm us. Therefore, this union with Mary is an assurance of purity of heart for us. Our Lord looks at our heart. Our Lord knows our heart.
And our Lord looks to see if we unite our hearts with that of Mary. If we have that, if we have true union with Mary in all our thoughts, we tell her about everything, we can have purity of heart. No matter what it is that's tempting us in our mind, no matter what it is that's attacking us in our minds. Praised be Jesus and Mary.
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