SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Sunday - August 29, 2021

Sunday - August 29, 2021

Pray, and pray more. It may seem odd to say that now when you are taking examinations and working harder. But you need prayer, and not only the habitual prayer as an exercise of devotion; you also need to pray during odd moments, to pray between times, instead of allowing your mind to wander on stupidities. It does not matter if, in spite of your effort, you do not manage to concentrate and be recollected. That meditation may be of greater value than the one you made, with all ease, in the oratory.

~~St. Josemaría Escrivá

August 29, 2021

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 125

 

Reading 1                                                     Dt 4:1-2, 6-8

Moses said to the people:

“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees

which I am teaching you to observe,

that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land

which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,

which I enjoin upon you,

you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.

Observe them carefully,

for thus will you give evidence

of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,

who will hear of all these statutes and say,

‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’

For what great nation is there

that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us

whenever we call upon him?

Or what great nation has statutes and decrees

that are as just as this whole law

which I am setting before you today?”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                              Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

 

R. (1a)    The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

 

Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice;

    who thinks the truth in his heart

    and slanders not with his tongue.

R. The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who harms not his fellow man,

    nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;

by whom the reprobate is despised,

    while he honors those who fear the LORD.

R. The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who lends not his money at usury

    and accepts no bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things

    shall never be disturbed.

R. The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

 

Reading 2                                                     Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27

Dearest brothers and sisters:

All good giving and every perfect gift is from above,

coming down from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

He willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

 

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you

and is able to save your souls.

 

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

 

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:

to care for orphans and widows in their affliction

and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

 

Alleluia                                                                      Jas 1:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth

that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel                                                                       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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Honoring God with Our Hearts

In the Gospel reading this Sunday, Jesus chastises the Pharisees for honoring God only with their lips while their hearts were far from him; love was missing from their analysis of whether or not Jesus and his disciples had sinned when they disobeyed a Jewish rule about cleanliness.

 

The rule was more important to them then the person. They had the self-righteous attitude of: "I know better than you, and I am better than you, proven by the fact that I obey the laws that you're breaking."

 

Obedience, when motivated by a self-righteous adherence to rules, is hypocrisy. It uses the law as an opportunity to feel superior to others. A modern example might be when someone tells a priest that he is sinning because he isn't adhering exactly to the norms for Mass as prescribed in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. If he or she doesn't stop to understand why the priest believes the adaptations are allowable and pastoral, who really is the sinner?

 

When this happens, "in vain do they worship me," Jesus says. The meaning of the Mass has been lost.

 

There is a hierarchy of rules and laws. Some rules change with the needs of the times. Of greatest importance are the Commandments of God, the Moral Laws, which never change. All of them are supposed to help us on our journey to heaven.

 

It is right to speak up when we witness disobedience, and we should do it, but only because we care about the sinner's spiritual growth and only when we can handle it without ignoring or overlooking the reasons behind the disobedience. We are most successful in guiding others into greater holiness when we take the time to first understand the roots of their disobedience and then address those concerns with love.

 

This is how we become, as the second reading says, "doers of the word and not hearers only", because, as James adds, "pure" religion is caring for others. The Pharisees in the Gospel story didn't care about the hunger of the disciples.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord Jesus, May Your Spirit fill all my being, and may Your Word take its place in me. May all my works, thoughts and words fulfill the purpose You planned for me. Amen.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”