TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
2 SEPTEMBER 2018
When
the Pharisees and scribes criticize the disciples of Jesus for not washing
their hands before eating, they are really accusing Jesus, their teacher, of
having no regard for the Law of Moses.
But that criticism is not true.
Jesus understands the intent Moses words in the first reading from the
Book of Deuteronomy. He accepts the Law
as a gift from God to guide the people to live a holy life in communion with
God. He accuses the Pharisees of doing
exactly the opposite. They had
introduced many customs intended to become a “fence” around the Law to protect
it. Instead, those fences had become
rituals putting the emphasis on external piety instead of true internal
holiness. Our readings today help us
understand true holiness.
We are holy
when we are aware of God’s presence in our lives. That is why Moses erected a
tabernacle in a tent in the midst of the camps of the Israelites in the
desert. God was traveling with
them. God fed them with manna and water
from the rock. God would not abandon
them. God will not abandon us either, especially
in these dark times.
Saint James
reminds us that a holy life is focused on God’s call to action. He encourages us to hear God’s Word. We hear God’s Word at every Mass, only after
we have admitted at the beginning of Mass that we are sinners. But Saint James also insists that we must be
doers of God’s Word. We are dismissed
from Mass to put that Word into action.
That is why the current crisis in our Church is so shocking. We have learned that bishops and priests who have
led us in pious exercises have done horrible things that have caused so much
pain.
Once we
understand the importance of acting on God’s Word, we can understand better the
importance of being part of the Church.
The recent revelations of sexual misconduct on the part of the clergy
have caused many people to give up on the Church. However, we need to remain connected with one
another as the Body of Christ even more in this time of crisis. The Lord does not call us to live solitary lives
in isolation from one another. The Lord
calls us to gather for the Eucharist and to trust that he continues to walk
with us, even as God traveled with the Israelites through their worst times in
the desert. His presence allows us to
trust that our Church is being purified so that we become more truly holy and
conformed to the Lord’s love.
Like the
Pharisees, we Catholics have developed many human customs and traditions
intended to draw us into closer communion with the Lord. Before the Second Vatican Council, we observed
the Church law of abstaining from meat on all Fridays. Those who were not Catholics saw this as our
identity: we were fish eaters! But abstaining from meat was not the heart of
our identity. Being the Body of Christ
remains our true identity. To be honest,
we tended to abstain from meat more out of obligation than out of a desire to
become more holy, much as the Pharisees and their scribes were more concerned
about purification rituals than about turning more completely toward God. After the Council, the law was changed to
require abstinence from meat only on Fridays during Lent. These days, I see more and more Catholics
returning to this practice voluntarily, embracing the external practice as a
way of doing penance on the day that the Lord died and drawing them more
closely into his Passion.
This is the
challenge for our Church today. We need external
reforms to protect innocent children and address the problem of clerical
privilege. We need external reforms to
purge the Church in many ways. But we also need to listen to the words of
Scripture today. The Lord remains with
us. He calls us to act on the Word we
hear. We are all sinners who are
connected to one another as the Body of Christ, seeking better individual
holiness.
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