“Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
Mark 7:15
This Sunday’s Gospel speaks to us about the inside and the outside, the interior and the exterior. What matters most, according to Jesus, is the interior of a person, that is, their heart, where good and evil, love and hate, feelings of revenge, and desires for reconciliation and forgiveness are born.
Therefore, it is important to be attentive to our hearts and to examine them frequently, to see how we cultivate them, for the heart and its qualities are cultivated.
From a young age, we learn to have a good, generous, compassionate, and just heart, but we can also cultivate within ourselves things that corrupt the heart. So, how do we cultivate our hearts to be good, bright, and loving?
The Apostle James offers a good answer when he invites us to “humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).
The book of Deuteronomy also advises us to consider God’s commandments and to put them into practice. Thus, the Word of God, the commandments of God, and the Gospel of Christ are fundamental reference points that we should always keep before us to cultivate our hearts so that they become more and more like the heart of God and that of Jesus.
However, this is not the work of a single day but must always be resumed, for our hearts sometimes experience deviations and setbacks. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically assess the quality of our hearts.
Mistakes can happen. On the outside, everything may appear beautiful, peaceful, and normal, while deep in our hearts, we may harbor feelings unworthy of what God wants us to be.
Saint James reminds us again in the second reading of the importance of establishing as much coherence as possible between the inside and the outside, between our inner feelings and our outer actions:
“Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.”
James 1:22
In other words, don’t just have good inner feelings; act accordingly! Don’t just be sensitive to those who suffer; approach them to offer comfort.
Don’t just lament the plight of the poor; commit yourself to changing what can be changed so that their situation can be improved.
For today’s readings, please refer to Vatican News.
From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.
“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
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