PURE, UNSPOILT RELIGION

 XXII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus confronts the Pharisees who reproached Him for not keeping to the customs and traditions. Like the Pharisees, we honour our traditions more than God’s words and commandments. And Jesus put the finger on the wound, saying clearly: “You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.” We have created traditions, philosophies and ideologies to serve our interests and make us the masters of the world, a world without God. We are not different from the Pharisees. We become self-centred, twisting even religion to serve our interests. Following our human traditions, we see ourselves as faithful and righteous, while, in reality, we refuse to listen to God’s Word and obey his commandments. External obedience is possible and quite common, without a true openness to recognise God’s will and be guided by his Spirit. Human traditions can be props that facilitate obedience to God’s commandments, but they can never take their place. 

The Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of not following the rules of purification, keeping them in a state of impurity and putting those who come in touch with them in danger of contamination. Jesus makes it clear that external things do not make us unclean.

“For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.”

In the first reading, taken from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses advises the people to keep the commandments. We have no authority to change or modify them. Faithfulness to the commandments is the only way to wisdom and happiness.

In the second reading, St. James speaks of true, pure and spoilt religion, which implies always a relation with God. And the truthfulness of that relation is asserted by our relation to the others, especially to the poor, the needy and the suffering.

“Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.” (James 1:27).

The responsorial psalm makes this very explicit. For us to approach the Lord and dwell in his house, we must act with justice and speak the truth, showing respect to our brothers, and being ready to accept and love them. We may pray and meditate on the words of the Psalm 15:

Lord, who shall dwell on your holy mountain?

He who walks without fault;

he who acts with justice

and speaks the truth from his heart;

he who does not slander with his tongue.

He who does no wrong to his brother,

who casts no slur on his neighbour,

who holds the godless in disdain,

but honours those who fear the Lord.

He who keeps his pledge, come what may;

who takes no interest on a loan

and accepts no bribes against the innocent.

Such a man will stand firm for ever.

YOU HAVE THE MESSAGE OF ETERNAL LIFE

 XXI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - John 6:60-69

In this Sunday’s liturgy, the first reading is taken from Joshua 24:1-2,15-18. At the end of his life, Joshua, the great leader after Moses, called upon the leaders to come together and make a clear and public decision. They must choose the way forward: are they going to accept and serve the Lord or do they prefer to worship the gods of the nations among whom they are living? Joshua doesn’t want to impose on people a fundamental decision that must be taken by themselves. He puts forward the example of his own family who have accepted his proposal: “As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord.”

The leaders of the people were quick to answer: “We have no intention of deserting the Lord and serving other gods! (…) We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

We know that time and again, the people would go back on that public and solemn declaration of intentions. They would allow themselves to be seduced by the customs, traditions and culture of the nations nearby. It is as if they cancelled their history, thus banning God from their lives, not only individually but also at the national level. That’s why, at different times in their history, the people will be called to renew their commitment to serve the true God. It seems that people were continuously playing a game of seek and hide. And in these times of ours, we are no better than they were. We refuse to make a public commitment to God. We have rejected Him and built our society without Him. That’s why we are solemnly called to renew our attitude of service, proclaiming that God is our Lord and that we are ready to serve and worship him.

This Sunday’s gospel tells us that people rejected Jesus’ words on the bread of life and many disciples stopped following him. Yet, Jesus did not adapt his speech to suit his audience. He was never a populist who looked for applause. Before Jesus, we have to decide what to do with our lives: are we ready to accept and follow him or do we turn our backs on him? Jesus gives us the freedom to choose what to do with our lives. He asked the disciples what he asks all of us: “What about you, do you want to go away too?” Peter made the same choice that was done by Joshua: “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter’s answer is a profession of faith which must be the profession of faith of the Church. Jesus is the Holy One and in Him alone, we can find eternal life.

THIS IS MY BODY GIVEN FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

XX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - John 6:51-58

We have been reading chapter six of the gospel of John, the longest chapter in the gospels. It deals mainly with the theme of the bread of life. In the narrative of the Last Supper, John substitutes the Eucharist institution by the washing of the feet. For John, Jesus is the Servant of the Lord who gives his life for the world's redemption. As a servant, Jesus is a role model for his disciples, who are called to service and to give their lives for the sake of salvation. However, John dedicated nearly a whole chapter to the Eucharist, the bread of life.

The Eucharist, being at the centre of the Church’s life, has a richness of meaning that must be expressed in a variety of forms. Obeying Jesus’ command, we celebrate the Eucharist in memory of his Last Supper and of his passion and death. In the Eucharist, we celebrate his resurrection, as we wait for his coming. The Eucharist is the memorial of Jesus Christ, his words, his actions and Himself. The Word Incarnate becomes present in our midst for the salvation of the world. In the Eucharist, Jesus is for us the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In the Eucharist, Jesus is the priest who offers himself in sacrifice, shedding the blood which is the seal of the new covenant. This sacrifice is the same and only sacrifice offered once and for all on the cross for the remission of sins. At the same time, it is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to almighty God, the Father of mercies. In the Eucharist, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, that is his victory over death through which he defeated the power of evil and the prince of this world. In the Eucharist, we are invited to the banquet of the Lord. We sit at his table and receive from him the bread of life. As the bread of life, we receive his body, flesh and blood, through which he establishes a deep communion with us: 

“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood

lives in me

and I live in him.

As I, who am sent by the living Father,

myself draw life from the Father,

so whoever eats me will draw life from me.”

I AM THE LIVING BREAD

XIX SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - 1 Kings 19:4-8

In this Sunday’s liturgy, the first reading invites us to have a good look at the extraordinary figure of Elijah. He was the first great prophet in a line of prophets. His name, meaning “my God is Yahweh”, indicates his mission: to affirm Yahweh as the only God who must be worshipped, revered and obeyed. He put his life at the service of the Lord God and lived in a continuous struggle against the false gods that had led the people astray. Moved by great zeal for God, he showed himself in mighty actions and was ready to use violence against the servants of Baal (1 Kings 18:20). As a prophet, he was bold and fearless, challenging people and calling them to repentance. Then, his life was threatened by the queen who promised to have him killed and he ran away as far as he could going into the wilderness. The powerful prophet was confronted with his weakness which led him to question his vocation and his mission. Tired of fighting and then running into hiding, he asked God to take his life: “‘O Lord,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’” It is as if his life became meaningless and without a purpose. However, his mission had not finished yet and God still had plans for him but to go on he needed to be strengthened by God. Twice, Elijah was given food from heaven and then ordered to go on the journey towards the mountain of God.

In a way, all of us are called to journey towards God’s mountain. It is a long and hard journey and we may get tired, discouraged and depressed. Then, it is so easy to give up. We cannot reach the top of God’s mountain to contemplate his face and be wrapped in his glory without being strengthened by the food from heaven. We must eat the bread of life to go on fighting the good fight (1 Tim 6:12).

The bread given to Elijah, like the manna given to the people of Israel in the desert (Ex 16), is a promise of the bread of life - the bread for the journey, that Jesus will give to his disciples. And that bread is Jesus himself: 

“I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;

and the bread that I shall give is my flesh,

for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51).

PUT ON THE NEW SELF

XVIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Ephesians 4:17, 20-24

Being the capital of the province of Asia, Ephesus was one of the great cities in the classical world. With a good harbour, Ephesus was an important cultural and trading centre that became famous for the temple of Artemis, considered one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World, for its library and a large theatre. In Ephesus, Artemis was celebrated mainly as the goddess of fertility and childbirth. We should not be surprised that this milieu greatly influenced the Christians living there; they were continuously being pulled back to the old ways they had vowed to abandon. 

On this matter, Paul advised them: “I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live.” These words must be applied to us since we live in a similar situation. The Olympic games taking place in Paris are a clear reminder of that. The opening ceremony was an affirmation and proclamation of pagan values set forward against Christian values. The golden bull represents the false god that the people of God chose to worship turning their backs on the true God, the living God who has set them free. Abandoning God to worship idols, humanity falls into all kinds of degradation and corruption. And they brought back the bacchanalia, festivities in honour of Bacchus (Dionysus in Greece), “the god of wine, fertility and ecstasy”.  Like in the old bacchanalia, chaos, confusion and disgusting behaviour are apparent. In an act of mockery, they used the Last Supper to represent the feast of the gods. It is good to remember that in Rome, during the Republic,  in 186 BC, the bacchanalia were forbidden by the Senate.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul spells out what our attitude must be: 

“You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.”

Our old self and behaviour must give place to a new way of thinking and behaving. We must acquire a new self, according to God’s design. If we remain faithful to God, the world will hate us, because they prefer darkness to light.

In the same letter to the Ephesians, Paul warns us:

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Ep 5:3-5).