22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

1. We possibly don’t realise that Jesus was initiating what amounted to a spiritual and religious revolution in today’s gospel. He invited the people to pay less attention to customs and conventions surrounding how they washed and purified themselves for meals, and much more attention on their internal dispositions. He invited them to pay less attention to external cleanliness and more attention to their internal purity of heart and mind. “Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean.” For many observant Jews, at least externally observant Jews, this was to stand their religiosity on its head, and they resented Jesus for that. What can we learn from this? Are we guilty of purifying the outside while ignoring our intimate selves?

2. In our times, there is a huge emphasis on the environment. Daily we are warned apocalyptically about global warming and greenhouse gases. We fret about the hole in the ozone layer. We become indignant when we see birds being fished out of the sea poisoned by oil and other impurites. We carefully sift our refuse into what can be re-cycled and what cannot. Ecology is one of the fashions of the day.

3. But is there a word spoken about the moral and interior contamination from which society suffers? Are we indignant about the poisoning of our children’s heart and minds by noxious material so available nowadays by multimedia?  Does anyone care about the poisoning of the truth to which we are daily subjected by the insidious influence of political correctness which impairs our freedom to think and speak? Does anyone care about the abuses in human sexuality and in genetic manipulation that threaten to poison the very sources of human life?

4. And coming to ourselves, we are so careful about what we eat, about preservatives in food, about organic produce, about sell-by dates, we are so careful about what goes into our mouth, are we so attentive to what sometimes comes out – angry and cutting words, lack of charity, blasphemy, untruth, language that would turn the air blue. Are we attentive to what is within us. “For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge, “ says Jesus to us. Could we be open to his charge of hypocrisy? “This people honours me only with lip service, while their hearts are far from me…you put aside the commandments of God to cling to human traditions.”

5. Do not misunderstand me. Of course care for the environment is very important. It is part of our stewardship of creation. And there is so much to do to make the world a healthier place. Attention to what we eat is necessary for our health. These are all signs of a developed society and of social progress. We cannot do without these things and we would not want to put the clock back on good progress. But I mentioned the word “ecology”. Do you know what it means. It has nothing to do with the word echo – hearing a sound reverberate back to its source. It comes from the Greek word oikos, which means the home. Ecology is the care of what is near us and of where we live, hence its happy application to the environment. But if we want to care for what is close to us and intimate to us, there is nothing closer and more intimate than our own spiritual and moral well-being. We should be even more sensitive about the dangers of poisoning of our intimate selves through sin and selfishness.

6. So the Lord today invites to purify our hearts and minds, by allowing ourselves to be cleansed by our contact with him in his word and in his sacraments. If we want to be pure and spiritually healthy, listen to him. If we want to be cleansed of spiritual poisoning, use the Sacrament of Reconciliation which the Lord has given us so that we can find forgiveness and true healing. If we want to be nourished spiritually, receive Him as the bread of life in the Eucharist. If we want to be healed, say sorry to someone we have hurt. If we want our near world, our environment, our oikos, to be healthy, make sure that all is well with our family and that all is conducted in family life with love.

St. Cadoc’s

Newton Mearns

3^rd September 2006