22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time- A pure heart expresses outward grace.

Ref. James 1:17-27; Mk 7:1-8, 14,15, 21-23    8-31/9-1-24 Dcn. Bill Kenney

     We’ve all been told to come in from the outside after hard work or play and get cleaned-up, wash your hands, and get ready for dinner. In a sense it is both a commandment and a ritual. We also eat off clean dishes and utensils. This is our “meal law”. Our concern, of course, is for personal hygiene. Germs can invade the body and cause disease.  We are defiled from this outside cause. Today’s Gospel tells us the opposite is true: we are defiled from within.

     In our Gospel reading from St. Mark, the Pharisees, by tradition of the elders, impose upon the people the priestly ritual of ceremonial washing: cleaning hands, pots & pans, dishes and utensils as a commandment of God. This was their “food law”. They took oral tradition and amplified and applied the biblical law, as they interpreted it, to meet their expectations- an extreme form of the adage, “Cleanliness is next to godliness”.

     When they questioned Jesus, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders…?”, he was quick to point out their hypocrisy of following man-made laws verses the true law of God. He said they, “disregard God’s commandment, but cling to human tradition.” They added to and subtracted from the original teachings of the Mosaic Law. They demanded more burdensome ritual washings than those that were initially prescribed. Christ quotes the Prophet Isaiah in calling these “human precepts”, or laws.

     The outward observance of these rituals became the standard by which the Pharisees judged the validity of a person’s religious practice. They didn’t care if these traditional rituals led those who observed them to love God more or to be sorrier for their sins. Without such interior movements of the soul, the ritual washings did not serve their authentic purpose. And this is Jesus’ point: it is possible for us to have lives that are characterized by outward forms of false piety and godliness while having sin-corrupted hearts that are far from God. Their traditions were being used as an excuse to find ways around obeying God’s ‘hard sayings’ and doing what benefitted them. It was ritual without relationship. The key take-away is that God wants a personal relationship with His people. Those who have interior grace will express outwardly what is right because they love God and desire that relationship.

     Rituals, Traditions, and laws are important for uniting a people of God in the practice of faith and love for God and each other. The Catholic Church is organized by divine and ecclesial laws, or canon law, as Father Nate has explained over the past several weeks. Contrast the divine law of the Church with that of our secular-civil law that sometimes contradicts divine law. Examples, such as laws governing end of human life and sexuality issues, are, unfortunately, plentiful. Properly understood and observed, our Church rituals, Traditions, and laws instruct and guide us in the life of the Church and to a deeper relationship with God, keeping us, as St. James tells us, “…unstained by the world”.

     At the end of our Gospel reading, the litany of sinful practices St. Mark identifies such as theft, murder, adultery, etc… materialize in outward expressions of a sinful heart. Jesus says such evil deeds proceed from within and they defile us.  Impure hearts, like germs, attack our ego, psyche, and spirit. They weaken us and cause a greater tendency to sin. Christians must pray for the gift of moral conviction and a sense of right and wrong.  Through the grace of self-control, we ask God to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us” from those interior evils so we don’t outwardly defile ourselves or others with our words or actions.

      How do we correct an impure heart that defiles us, that leads our spirit astray from God? Every righteous spiritual practice in the Church flows from or returns us to the sacraments. They bring about a new spiritual reality within the souls of those who receive them. For instance, OCIA Catechumen receiving the waters of Baptism have their soul cleansed from all sin and are infused with divine adoption.

     The sacraments grow interior love and grace in our hearts which allows outward expression of that same love and grace to others. This is especially true when we participate in Holy Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in Holy Communion. We must inwardly prepare our hearts through prayer, fasting, contrition for our sins, and, if necessary, through sacramental confession. We can then outwardly receive the Host with great reverence, humility, and thanksgiving with: a slight head bow, palms open and supporting, and a resolute “Amen”. Receiving the Host on the tongue is also a devotional act preferred by many people and is welcome. Afterwards, we go forth living with the grace and love of Christ within our hearts.

          Heavenly Father, rest your holy inspirations within the interior of our spirit so that they may build a loving relationship with you. Strengthen within our hearts the faith you have given us; do not let temptation ever quench the fire that your love has kindled within us. May our hearts be pure and reflect outward expressions of your love and mercy for others. And may your Church be united and grateful for the good and perfect gifts of your law, given for our salvation, and for the glory of God.