The word “Pharisee” comes from a Hebrew word that means “separate,” because this group of Jews, in separating itself from the dominant polytheistic tendency, saved the integrity of the monotheistic religion, and many of them gave their lives to maintain the Old Testament faith.

Then why did Jesus so severely criticize the Pharisees to the point of making them a symbol of the opposite of what he taught?

The answer is simple: because with the passing of time, the Pharisees had become a group that had favored the rituals and external rules over conversion of the heart.

Jesus came to preach conversion of the heart, the transformation of “taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts,” according to chapter 36 of the book of Ezekiel. That is why one of the Beatitudes indicates: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8)

Cleanness of heart then is the essence of the ninth commandment.

Against the external formality practiced and preached by the Pharisees, Jesus insisted on cleanness of heart, on the heart’s true detachment from any sin and its adherence to good.

That is why, together with the Beatitudes, he preached: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt 5:28)

Thus, Jesus’ message demands that we not only abstain from sinful acts, but reject any thoughts or feelings that involve inwardly consenting to sin. In other words, to God, it is not enough for people not to commit impure acts: He wants us who strive to not consent to sin in our senses, our minds, or our hearts.

The Compendium of the Catechism explains that “The ninth commandment (complements the sixth by indicating that it is not enough to) overcome carnal concupiscence,” lustful thought and desire. “The struggle against such concupiscence entails purifying the heart and practicing the virtue of temperance.” (Compendium 527)

The life of a Catholic in this area must entail a strong effort to live purity of heart.

With the grace of God, prayer, and struggling against impure thoughts, Catholics are able to achieve purity of heart through the virtue and gift of chastity, purity of intentions, purity of vision (both interior and exterior), discipline of feelings and of the imagination.

Consequently, the true Catholic is not only someone who abstains from physically sinning, but someone who loves purity, who seeks to encourage and spread it through our permissive society.

That is why it is also our responsibility, if we want to live fully this commandment, to contribute to a purification of the social climate, through a constant struggle against the moral permissiveness and eroticism that today is spread in our society, especially through the mass media.

Special concern should be given to the formation in purity that we give to our children and youth. As Pope Benedict XVI reminded us in his recent visit to the United States, our “children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships … They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity of the human person.” And in order for this to happen, “all have a part to play in this task — not only parents, religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment industries as well.”

Let us ask our Mother the Virgin Mary, an example of purity of heart, to give us Catholics the energy to have a heart like hers that almost “instinctively” rejects evil and adheres to good.