Today, it appears —controversially— the fundamental question of the "heart": it is there —and not outside— where the plot of human history is "woven". In Mark’s Gospel we see the radical transformation that Jesus brought to the concept of purity before God: it is not ritual actions that make us pure. Purity and impurity arise within man’s heart and depend on the condition of his heart. And rather than a moral "rearmament" (effort), the crucial point is the encounter with God in Jesus Christ: He purifies us.

The word "heart" refers to the internal interrelation of perceptive powers of man, which also require the proper interplay of body and soul, since this is essential for the "totality" of the man. Without isolating intellect or will, man has to accept from God being both body and spirit, living the bodylines of his existence as enrichment for the spirit.

—The heart has to be pure, deeply, interiorly open and free to see God.