Out of the Heart Come Evil Thoughts
May you
continue to hear the Word of GOD, take it into yourself, and act accordingly as
you live your life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.
Some people
like music to be playing in the background while they perform different tasks.
Yet we do not always listen to the message as fully as if our only attention is
on listening and comprehending the meaning. It takes work to truly understand what
is being proclaimed in the words and music. Sometimes we take the time to really
listen to the lyrics and we are touched in such a way that we decide to act differently
in our life.
People
often treat scripture the same way. On the Lord’s Day, they come to church and the
Word of GOD is proclaimed. It is often just background in the fulfillment of the
duty to make holy the Lord’s Day. They don’t take the time to really reflect on
the Message of GOD and let it truly transform them and their actions. The Word of
GOD is not meant to be nice background noises to our life. It is meant to be transforming
the way we live our lives.
The readings
challenge us to hear the Word of GOD. Hearing is much more than allowing
sounds to hit our ears. Hearing, as all the readings imply, means to take the Word
to heart and act accordingly. According to the First Reading, Moses challenges the
Israelites to hear the Word of the LORD concerning obeying the Law and precepts
that GOD has given. The psalm describes the individual who blamelessly walks in
the presence of the LORD because he/she has heard the Word and put it into action
in his/her life. In the Letter of James, the author stresses the importance of not
just being hearers of the Word but do-ers of the Word. In the Gospel, Jesus responds
to the criticism of His disciples’ poor practice of the minute details of the human
precepts of external cleanliness. Jesus emphasizes that what is important is what
is going on inside of a person.
First Reading Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8: Observe these laws
and customs, that you may have life
Commentary:
What
was special about the Law laid down for Israel? Many of the laws are also known
from law-codes of neighbouring peoples, written on stone or clay tablets and
recently discovered; some are more primitive, some more sophisticated. Running
through them all, however, are two threads. Firstly, if you want to be the
People of God, this is the way you must live, be like him, keep company with
him, and be his very own. So the Law was a testimony of love, and obedience to
it is an expression of grateful love: ‘be holy as I am holy’. A second thread
is respect for human dignity, and especially that of the poor and needy. In
other law-codes, nobles have more honour and privilege than commoners, free men
and women than slaves. In Israel, all have equal respect, and every faithful
Israelite must remember that God’s protecting hand hovers over those who are in
any misfortune: created in the image of God, you must treat the widow, the
orphan, and the immigrant as I treated you when you were strangers in Egypt.
All this was enshrined in the written Law, interpreted by the oral traditions
of the elders..
Responsorial Psalm 15:2-5: The just will live in the
presence of the Lord.
The Responsorial
today responds to the questions asked in the first verse of the psalm (Psalm 15):
“O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may settle on Your holy mountain?” The
answer is the person who walks blamelessly before the LORD. Very practical signs
of a person’s blamelessness are presented, all dealing with how one relates to others.
The blameless ones have heard the Word of the LORD and put it into practice in their
daily lives.
Second Reading James 1:17-18,21-22,27: Accept and submit
to the word
Commentary:
The
Letter of James is the longest of the seven so-called ‘catholic’ epistles,
written not to any particular person or community but to the Church universally,
throughout the world (which is what ‘catholic’ means). The real author is
unknown, but it purports to come from James, the first leader of the Jerusalem
community after Peter’s departure. As we know from Paul’s letter to the
Galatians, James continued to value the Jewish way of life and observance of
the Law, even while following Jesus. The letter accordingly contains many
practical lessons about fulfilling the Law of Christ, stressing
especially – as at the end of this reading – the need to care for the
poor and the weak. It is full of striking, pithy images, like that of looking
in the mirror and then going off and forgetting what one saw (verses omitted in
the middle of this reading). The author applies this to care of the poor: it is
no good to glance at the Law and then claim to be religious while neglecting
those in need. Religion consists not in ‘piety’ but in putting one’s beliefs
into action.
Gospel Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23: You put aside the
commandment of God, to cling to human traditions
Commentary:
Legal
observance has its dangers, for it is sometimes easy to obey the law exactly
while forgetting its purpose. It is no good driving doggedly just below the speed
limit while endangering life and limb. The more exact the laws, the greater the
temptation to manipulate them to evade their purpose. The Pharisees were as
aware of this danger of distortion as the modern stickler for exact observance.
However the Pharisees had a bad press in the gospels because at the time the
gospels were written, hostility between Christians and Pharisaic Judaism was at
its height. During Jesus’ own lifetime, their opposition was not so obvious.
For instance, they had no share in the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. In any
case, Jesus’ own final saying here, while it may apply to the Jewish ritual
Law, has much wider application than the observance of Jewish rules for clean
food. It is more akin to the saying in Matthew, ‘A sound tree cannot bear bad
fruit, nor a rotten tree bears good fruit. By their fruits, you shall know
them’. A person’s true qualities are seen by that person’s actions; their true
intentions and character, what comes from the heart becomes visible in their
words and actions.
Reflection: Which is
more important to God - clean hands or a clean mind and heart? The Scribes and
Pharisees were upset with Jesus because he allowed his disciples to break with
their ritual traditions by eating with unclean hands. They sent a delegation
all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee to bring their accusation in a
face-to-face confrontation with Jesus. Jesus dealt with their accusation by
going to the heart of the matter - by looking at God's intention and purpose
for the commandments.
Allow
God's word to shape your heart and intentions: Jesus
explains that they void God's command because they allow their hearts and minds
to be clouded by their own notions of what is true religion. Jesus accuses them
specifically of two things. First hypocrisy. Like actors, who put on a show,
they appear to obey God's word in their external practices while they inwardly
harbor evil desires and intentions.
Allow
God's word to change your way of thinking: Secondly, he accuses them of
abandoning God's word by substituting their own arguments and ingenious
interpretations for what God requires. They devised clever arguments based on
their own thoughts rather than on God's word. Jesus refers them to the prophecy
of Isaiah (29:31) where the prophet accuses the people of his day for honoring
God with their lips while their hearts were far away from choosing and doing
what God asked of them.
Uproot
wrong thoughts and attitudes before they grow: Where does
evil spring from and what's the solution for eliminating it from our lives?
Jesus deals with this issue in response to the religious leaders' concern with
ritual defilement - making oneself unfit to offer acceptable sacrifice and
worship to God. The religious leaders were concerned with avoiding ritual
defilement, some no doubt out of fear of God, and others out of fear of
pleasing other people.
Jesus
points his listeners to the source of true defilement - evil desires that come
from inside a person's innermost being. Sin does not happen. It first springs
from the innermost recesses of our thoughts and intentions, from the secret
desires which only the individual soul can conceive.
Only
Jesus can free us from sin and guilt: God in his mercy sent his Son Jesus
Christ to free us from our sinful cravings and burden of guilt, and to restore
us to wholeness of life and goodness. But to receive his mercy and healing, we
must admit our faults and ask for his forgiveness. "If we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9).
Let
Jesus be the master of your heart and desires: When Cain
was jealous of his brother, Abel, God warned him to guard his heart: "Sin
is couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it"
(Genesis 4:7). Do you allow any sinful desires to enter the door of your heart
and mind? We do not need to entertain or give in to sinful desires or thoughts,
but instead, through the grace of God, we can choose to put them to death
rather than allow them to be the master who controls our way of thinking,
feeling, and acting.
The
Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness: Only God can change our hearts and
make them clean and whole through the power of the Holy Spirit. Like a
physician who probes the wound before treating it, God through his Word and
Spirit first brings to light our sinful condition so that we may recognize sin
for what it is and call upon God's mercy and pardon. The Lord is ever ready to
change and purify our hearts through his Holy Spirit who dwells within us. His
power and grace enable us to choose what is good and to reject what is evil. Do
you believe in the power of God's love to change and transform your heart?
Lord
Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and make my heart like yours - on fire
with love and holiness. Strengthen my will so that I may always choose to love
what is good and to reject what is evil.
Daily
Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Keeping
one's own heart with all watchfulness, by Origen of Alexandria, 185-254 A.D.
"These
things are what 'defiles the person' when they come out from the heart and,
after they have gone out from it, go through the mouth. Thus if they did not
occur outside of the heart but were held by the person somewhere around the
heart, not being allowed to be spoken through the mouth, they would very
quickly disappear and the person would not be defiled any longer. Therefore,
the source and beginning of every sin is 'evil reasonings.' For if these
reasonings did not prevail, there would be neither murders nor acts of adultery
nor any other of such things. Because of this, each one ought to keep one's own
heart with all watchfulness. (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11.14-15)
Near and far
“Their
heart is far from Me.” —Mark 7:6: I’m sitting ten feet from Jesus in
Eucharistic Adoration, very near to Him. “You, O Lord, are near” (Ps 119:151).
In Old Testament times, the Lord said to Moses, “Come no nearer” (Ex 3:5). To
draw near God was to risk death (see Ex 24:2; Nm 1:51). Yet even in
pre-Christian days, God was drawing His people close. “The Lord is near to all
who call upon Him” (Ps 145:18). The psalmist could say: “To be near God is my
good” (Ps 73:28).
Jesus came
to earth and people could touch, see, and hear Him (1 Jn 1:1). He came to dwell
among His people, to live among us (Jn 1:14). Yet even that proximity was not
near enough for the Lord. He came even nearer to us in the Eucharist, to dwell
within us (Jn 6:56; 17:23).
Perhaps we
have grown accustomed to God’s nearness. We have a great need for the fear of
the Lord (Is 11:2), so we can learn how to be close to the Lord without losing
the awe of being in His presence. The prophet Isaiah warned: “This people draws
near with words only and honors Me with their lips alone, though their hearts
are far from Me” (Is 29:13; Mk 7:6).
Some may
say that they feel God is far from them and does not care. However, if anyone
has moved, it was not God (see Ps 139:7-10). Possibly those thoughts arise
because the person has moved away from God. If we draw near to God, He will
draw near to us (Jas 4:8, RNAB). “Draw near to God” (Heb 7:19).
Prayer: Jesus, You came to call those near and far
(Eph 2:17). Bring me near to You through Your blood (Eph 2:13). “Draw me!” (Sg
1:4). “Hear the statutes and
decrees...that you may live.” —Dt 4:1. Praise Jesus, “the Resurrection and the
Life” (Jn 11:25)!
The
personal question for today: How do I listen to the Word of GOD? Do
I merely nod my head as it is proclaimed while I think about what I want to do?
Do I reflect on how I can be a do-er of the Word and draw closer to the Lord Jesus
as I practice acts of loving others? How can I share the Word of GOD with others
in an inviting way so that they will desire to be obedient hearers (and do-ers)
of the Word also?
Dear Fr. George thank you so much for sharing the Sunday reflection.
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