May God in today's Eucharistic celebration, grant us the grace to realise that it is what comes out of a man that defiles him and as such we should ask God to create in us a pure heart so that we may live faithfully in observing his commandments with docility and not clinging to human traditions.
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Deut. 4,1-2.6-8; James 1,17-18.21b.22.27; Mark 7,1-8.14-15.21-23; 22nd Sunday of Year B; 29 August, 2021)
On this Sunday the liturgy offers us a teaching on authentic religion, on the relationship between religion and observances, religion and the heart. The first reading is a text from Deuteronomy in which Moses praises the law and asks that it be put into practice. The second reading does not speak of the law, but of the word of God. This word, sown in us, must not only be heard, but also be put into practice. Pure religion is that of love, attention and help to people in need. In the Gospel, Jesus does not speak of law, but of observances, of traditions, and he gives us a very important teaching.
In the first reading, what must first be noted is that the law is a gift from God. For the love of his people, God gave them a law, which allows them to discover authentic paths in their lives that will lead them to happiness. The law is, primarily, a gift of God that puts us in relationship with him. James tells us that the word of God is also the source of life: God gave birth to us with a word of truth (James 1,18). Therefore, we must welcome God's law and word with gratitude and put it into practice. In the Old Testament there is much emphasis on the need to fulfil the law. If it is not put into practice, it is useless. Similarly, Jesus, in the Gospel, tells us that whoever hears his word but does not put them into practice is like one who builds his house on sand, such a person is a foolish man. On the other hand, the wise hears God’s word and puts it into practice; he builds his house on the rock, and can face all the difficulties of life, because his house is firm on a good foundation (cf. Matt 7,24-27). James also insists much on the need to put God's word into practice. He says to the faithful: Be of those who put the word into practice and not just listeners, deluding yourselves. We must make an examination of conscience to see how we welcome the word of God. Every Sunday we listen to it in the Holy Mass. If we listen to it in a distracted and superficial way, it will not serve us much in our lives. Our lives will then not go in the right direction, as it will not put us in a deep relationship with God, and our relationships with others will also be distorted. We must Instead welcome the word of God in such a way that it penetrates deeply into us and we will then put it into practice in concrete life. The Pharisees had added many observances to the law of Moses. In today's Gospel passage, Mark tells us that they criticised Jesus’ disciples because some of them ate food with, ritually, impure hands that is, hands that had not been washed. Among the Jews it was customary to wash their hands before eating, even if they were clean; and this observance, according to the Pharisees, had to be strictly practiced. All Jews, following the tradition of the ancients, practiced many observances of this kind. They observed many other things by tradition - says the Gospel -, such as washing of glasses, dishes and copper objects. The Pharisees and scribes criticised Jesus’ disciples for their behaviour, and say to Jesus: Why do your disciples not behave according to the tradition of the ancients, but take food with ritually impure hands? [impure is the most exact translation of the Greek word koinai, which some people translate as unclean]. Jesus then replies firmly: Well did Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written: These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Jesus criticises the Pharisees' exaggerated insistence on ritual observances, as if the most important thing in life was the observance of all the precepts of legal and ritual purity. He points out that the scribes and Pharisees neglect God's commandments to keep the tradition of men. And in another passage, he declares that they neglect justice, mercy and faithfulness, things that are much more important than all external observances (cf. Matt 23,23). When all the attention is placed on external services, it is, practically, inevitable that one sins against charity, because others are judged and criticised who do not behave according to tradition. Instead, it is necessary to observe the law in its most important guidelines. God's law must be respected, and it must be understood in depth. Jesus declared: I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfil it (Matt 5,17), and insisted on the more important things than the law. Then Jesus gives a teaching that causes people to be amazed: Listen to me all and understand well: there is nothing outside a man that, entering into him, can contaminate him; instead, it is the things that come out of man that contaminate him. According to the traditions of the Pharisees, ritually impure foods contaminate a man; one had to be very careful to respect all the rules of ritual purity, in order not to be contaminated by food. According to Jesus, however, it is not so. This is not the most important impurity, the impurities that are to be much avoided and dreaded are those things that come out of a man which can contaminate him. Jesus explains his statement, which at first sight may seem strange, by saying that food does not penetrate the heart, but the belly and then is eliminated, and does not contaminate man. Instead, from the hearts of men bad things come out: From within, that is, from the hearts of men, evil intentions come out: prostitution, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deception, shamelessness, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these bad things come out from within and contaminate a man. The true impurity is that of the heart, which causes the gravest sins. Therefore, Jesus demands of us a religion of the heart, a religion that is attentive not to external, ritual purity, but to the purity of the heart. Jesus came precisely to make this religion of the heart possible for us, which is the true religion.
Pure and spotless religion before God our Father, - According to James is this: to help orphans and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself pure from this world. In the Old Testament God often had to note that his people did not have a good heart, but a double heart, prone to evil. In Psalm 51 the sinner asks God: Create in me, O God, a pure heart" (v. 12). We have a great need for God to create in us pure hearts, capable of carrying out only truly good, generous actions, actions in conformity with justice, charity and mercy. If we don't have good hearts, we can't live good lives. Jesus offers us his heart. He wanted it to be pierced to be able to communicate all the treasures contained in it, to create a new heart in us, as God had promised through the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel: I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit within you, I will take away from you the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezek 36,26). We must desire better to receive the new heart that God has prepared for us in the paschal mystery of Christ. To receive the new spirit which is the same Spirit of God, the spirit of love which the Lord communicates to us through the sacraments, we must live not a superficial religion made up of external observances, but a truly profound religion. Also, if our participation in the Mass, is understood as an external observance, it is not worth much before God. Instead, the Mass must be a reality that completely involves us, changes our heart, inserting into us the heart of Christ and making us capable of living according to his love.
Therefore, let us ask the Lord to give us this profound religion, to always make us go in this direction, so that our hearts may always be holy and perfect, full of love, which will manifest more and more in our lives. +John I. Okoye
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