Purify Me, Lord

This week’s Liturgy of the Word focused on living out the Gospel, that is doing the commandments God entrusted us. The scripture readings can be found here in full, but as I use them, I will quote the bible that is currently available within BibleFox.

I’ll start by breaking it down by reading. The first reading comes from the beginning of Deuteronomy 4, where Moses is talking to Israel, telling them to listen intently to the commands of God and not only listen, but do them:

1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you. 2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.

This reminds me of Jesus’ teaching about the Law in Matthew 5.

17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letteror one tiny pen strokeshall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus did not come to destroy, but to fulfill the law. He did not come to take from or add to it, but to help us better understand the law, ourselves, God’s character, and in all of those, God’s will, so that we may better accomplish it.

If we keep the commandments of God, we will shine like a light on a hill, a stable sign of hope and grace in uncertain and turbulent times. Basically, people will notice, as predicted later in the rest of the first reading:

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

The law is good, and good things come from the law. People can be converted to or turned away from the Christian faith by the example we give with our every day lives. If we keep the commands of God, which as Jesus tells us in Matthew 22 can be summed up as follows:

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

and also in his new commandment to his disciples in John 13:

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just like I have loved you; that you also love one another.

Love. Love what is good and from God. Since God created all things, love all things as they were meant to be loved. Reject sin and separation from God. Do what is good. Love is a verb, an action that we need to do. Figuring out what action we need to take can often be difficult, especially as life gets more complicated, and we have numerous responsibilities that begin to overlap and dictate our time. The Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 15 this week, pretty much the whole psalm, and the response is “One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” The whole psalm is an example of how a just man acts:

2 He who walks blamelessly does what is right,
and speaks truth in his heart;

3 He who doesn’t slander with his tongue,
nor does evil to his friend,
nor casts slurs against his fellow man;

4 In whose eyes a vile man is despised,
but who honors those who fear Yahweh;
he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;

5 he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury,
nor take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be shaken.

This describes a very just and ethical man. A friend of mine (I believe his name was Kelly …) once told me that this was a guide for anyone who wants to live a just life. It’s pretty straightforward. As the apostle James says (James 1):

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

So, do not be afraid to give yourself (all your heart, all your soul and all your mind) to God and to your neighbor, whether it is a good or perfect gift. All that is good comes from God, and is meant to be used, shared, cherished, blessed, and treasured. Do not be afraid of sharing the gift of yourself or giving what you may have to offer.

receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls . 22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

Do not show partiality (as it says later in James), but give your gifts to everyone, especially to those most in need. In the time that this letter was written, the most needy people were orphans and widows. Orphans had no parents to provide for them, and the widows were usually older women who had no training or ability to provide for themselves, and lost everything when they lost their husbands. The following from James shows us the simplest form of religion:

27 Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

There are many needy people in the world today. Not only orphans and widows in the strictest sense, but also those who had no spiritual parents, no guidance within their spiritual lives to point them to God. Or if they lost someone or something along their spiritual journey, and they were knocked off the track or shunned God because of the pain of that loss. I believe James is talking about both spiritual and actual orphans and widows, or the most needy people in our community, both physically needy and spiritually needy. We who are strengthened by the blessings God has given us should share those blessings with others.

“Keep oneself unstained by the world.” This command is basically telling us to follow the law, so as prescribed by the prophets of old, and Jesus himself. This is how we maintain the growth in Christ that we already gained, and receive strength and nourishment to grow further. St. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:

1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. 5 You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

As baptized Christians, we are all newborn babies, and we long to grow into our salvation (bible translation difference), becoming perfect imitators of Christ, but as different parts of the same body, unique and individually useful, being nourished by the Word, who is Jesus Christ, to grow stronger and build up other parts of the body. If we keep turning away from God through sin or lukewarm faith, we will grow weak from lack of nourishment, and be unable to provide the love and help that needs to be given to the neediest of the needy.

The gospel reading is from Mark, and ties along with what we’ve been talking about in the most interesting way. Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees who noticed his disciples eating without washing their hands first, which is in violation of the tradition of the elders. Jesus is outraged that they care more about these little traditions than the commandments God truly cares about. (Mark 7)

6 He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me.

7 But in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”

Jesus never says that it was not good to clean your hands before meals, but he was concerned that the Pharisees were more worried about keeping the outward appearance of purity and piety than remaining cleansed from within by the power of God. In effect, they were not depending on God for anything, but upon their own actions, and their faith was in their own actions more than it was in God. We must not worry about what other may say or may think of what we are doing in following God’s commandments, but rather what we say or think about what we or others are doing.

14 He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. 15 There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.

and

21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

Now, these evil things that may proceed from the hearts of men were not there to begin with. God created us in his image, and so we originally were made with goodness and love proceeding from our hearts. Through the sin of others and the sin of ourselves, we have spoiled our hearts with these evil things. God purifies, God cleanses, and God keeps us clean so that once again only goodness can come from it if we remain in God and God in us. God gives himself, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, to us so that we may give ourselves, thus imitating God, to the neediest of the needy, who we once were.

Peace be with y’all,

Daniel Anthony

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Do not judge

Probably my favorite chapter of the entire bible (although there are so many!) is Matthew 7… The whole thing. I like it because it has deep wisdom put in a simple form; that is, the secret to happiness spelled out in an almost tangible form. It also shows that Jesus had a little bit of situational humor in verses 3-5, which I think is great to keep in mind while discovering the ever unfolding character of God (forever unchanging, but constantly being revealed to us bit by bit over the ages, lest we be too overwhelmed by it all at once!). However, that is not what I want to do with this blog for now. I would like to take it a little slower, and focus on just a few verses at a time. So let me begin with Mt 7: 1-2.

1 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

This is not a difficult verse to understand, as it coincides with the golden rule most people of all faiths are taught as children, paraphrased “do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

When thinking about it further and keeping in mind that it was Jesus saying it, gives us deeper insight in how we should live our lives. Do not judge unless you are prepared to be judged by the same measure. However, keep in mind before you make any judgement whatsoever Rm 3:23:

23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God

 In that way, only God is the true judge of humanity, who humbled himself, who is all knowing, all powerful, and omnipresent, taking on human form so that he may lead his sheep like a Good Shepherd back into his fold. This humility that God displayed for love of us is why Catholics bow during the recitation of the Nicene Creed at Mass when we say

By the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

It is deeply comforting, insightful, and humbling to know that God does not take any shortcuts with us either. He does not expect us to do anything without first doing it himself. God is the perfect judge, because he was the perfect man first. Without his example, we would not be able to fully experience or understand the Paschal mystery, which is the difficult suffering, agonizing death, and glorious resurrection.

So let us not judge others, lest we be judged by the same measure. This does not mean we shouldn’t let our brothers or sisters know when they are sinning. However keep in mind the following bible verses from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Gal 5:22-26) while doing it,

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

And remember, when you point your finger at somebody, there are always three fingers pointing back at you.

May God bless you and keep you always, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Daniel Anthony

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