First Thursday of Lent

Titus 1:15, "To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure." Through Lenten discipline we work to purify our own hearts, to let go of addictions and illusions and compulsions, to see ourselves as we are and as we are in God. The more we can see ourselves in truth, the more we can see the things around us in truth, the more we see things as they are and not just as our desires color them. Then we see all things as pure -- neither temptations nor threats nor fears -- but facts to be engaged as we do the work God gives us to do.