Weekly Reflection: Twenty First Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B
Reading References:
1st Reading: Deut 4:1-2.6-8
Psalm: Ps 14:2-5 R v 1
2nd Reading: James 1:17-18.21-22.27
Gospel: Mark7:1-8.14-15.21-23
Our readings today present us with a great challenge both as individuals and as church.
Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul and to love our neighbour as ourselves. These two great commandments of our God are a concise summary of the Ten Commandments.
But how many of us honours God with lip-service by partaking in all the various rituals expected of us and yet at the same time our hearts are far from God? Our God tells us today that this worship being offered is worthless.
We must be very careful in our understanding of this text. Many of the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ time were hypocritical and Jesus’ mission in this life was to open their eyes and hearts. The leaders had created a system that gave them great power – they dictated who was “in” and who was “out” – their human regulations were oppressive and alienating for so many of their community. They followed with rigid fervor the personal and communal purity laws that they believed kept them ritually clean but at the same time the two greatest commandments of our God had been largely lost.
Our liturgical worship and some of the empowering rituals we embrace are very important for our faith journey. They speak to our hearts and nourish us on the journey. But a problem occurs when we do not see beyond the rituals – when we think the rituals are all that is required of us. Jesus is speaking very loudly to those of us that hold this attitude today.
Our sacramental practices over the past decades have fostered this false attitude in many ways and now we are seeing a church that bewilderingly ponders why young people and young families are visibly absent from our communities. Parents ring parishes up to get their children “done” with regard to baptism and then are never to be seen again in the community until they ring up again requesting to get their children “done” with regard to first Eucharist and Confirmation. Or children have received the sacraments of initiation through the school communities with little and sometimes no connection to the parish community and little or no connection to the family. What is it that we are initiating these children into? Aren’t we just acting out the ritual and removing its heart and soul when we do this? Isn’t this the hypocrisy Jesus is naming today? What message is church leadership giving when it fosters such attitudes?
We make a mockery of our sacraments of initiation when we allow such practices to continue. But these practices are imbedded into our psyche in lots of ways and it will take people who are courageous and faithful to create a change of heart and attitude and this journey will not be without its difficulties. Church Leadership and people who maintain this attitude of getting “done” need to be gently encouraged to see that getting “done” is “worthless” unless we have an understanding that we are being initiated into something extraordinarily wonderful.
How many of us believe that we are initiated into something extraordinarily wonderful? Until we can embrace this belief in our own hearts how can we inspire others? How can priests, teachers, parents, friends etc inspire those around them if they do not believe it themselves and are not passionate about their belief – it is almost impossible? How can a music teacher teach and inspire a child (or anyone) to learn an instrument and be inspired by music if they have no understanding of it and cannot play a note themselves and ultimately just don’t really care? It is the music of faith that is so deeply attractive and the challenge for the church is to bring this passion within us to life and the only real way we can do this is to live and breathe our belief and let it come to life within us so that it can come to life in others.
Why is it that so many in our congregations don’t understand this? We just don’t seem to get it. We follow the rituals while we exclude love of God and love of neighbour. What has happened in our church to create generations that just do not understand who we are and who we are called to be? But church leadership must be gentle with people, we cannot bully people - it simply doesn’t work. Our lived example will be the greatest way people will come to understand and this is the responsibility of every baptized person.
If we are honest we will recognize the “hypocrite” in our own hearts. But just as the person learning a musical instrument keeps coming back to the teacher and the instrument so as to grow and develop in their understanding and passion, so must we keep coming back to our hearts and to Jesus. If we do not do this then we will remain hypocrites and there will be little that is attractive about us.
Our baptism calls us to consciously love God and love our neighbour. As we ponder our own faith journey over the coming days and our responsibility in the journey, we might take some time to ponder the following three questions that I came across recently. They may challenge us to recognize the hypocrite within but they may also challenge us to keep coming back to the source of our very life so that we can continue to grow in faith, love and understanding. Just as an accomplished musician can inspire others through years of practice and teaching, so too our lives may inspire those around us after years of engaging our hearts and constantly coming to Jesus knowing and believing we are loved and part of something extraordinarily wonderful.
1. What have I done for Jesus?
2. What am I doing for Jesus?
3. What am I being called to do for Jesus?
1st Reading: Deut 4:1-2.6-8
Psalm: Ps 14:2-5 R v 1
2nd Reading: James 1:17-18.21-22.27
Gospel: Mark7:1-8.14-15.21-23
Our readings today present us with a great challenge both as individuals and as church.
Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul and to love our neighbour as ourselves. These two great commandments of our God are a concise summary of the Ten Commandments.
But how many of us honours God with lip-service by partaking in all the various rituals expected of us and yet at the same time our hearts are far from God? Our God tells us today that this worship being offered is worthless.
We must be very careful in our understanding of this text. Many of the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ time were hypocritical and Jesus’ mission in this life was to open their eyes and hearts. The leaders had created a system that gave them great power – they dictated who was “in” and who was “out” – their human regulations were oppressive and alienating for so many of their community. They followed with rigid fervor the personal and communal purity laws that they believed kept them ritually clean but at the same time the two greatest commandments of our God had been largely lost.
Our liturgical worship and some of the empowering rituals we embrace are very important for our faith journey. They speak to our hearts and nourish us on the journey. But a problem occurs when we do not see beyond the rituals – when we think the rituals are all that is required of us. Jesus is speaking very loudly to those of us that hold this attitude today.
Our sacramental practices over the past decades have fostered this false attitude in many ways and now we are seeing a church that bewilderingly ponders why young people and young families are visibly absent from our communities. Parents ring parishes up to get their children “done” with regard to baptism and then are never to be seen again in the community until they ring up again requesting to get their children “done” with regard to first Eucharist and Confirmation. Or children have received the sacraments of initiation through the school communities with little and sometimes no connection to the parish community and little or no connection to the family. What is it that we are initiating these children into? Aren’t we just acting out the ritual and removing its heart and soul when we do this? Isn’t this the hypocrisy Jesus is naming today? What message is church leadership giving when it fosters such attitudes?
We make a mockery of our sacraments of initiation when we allow such practices to continue. But these practices are imbedded into our psyche in lots of ways and it will take people who are courageous and faithful to create a change of heart and attitude and this journey will not be without its difficulties. Church Leadership and people who maintain this attitude of getting “done” need to be gently encouraged to see that getting “done” is “worthless” unless we have an understanding that we are being initiated into something extraordinarily wonderful.
How many of us believe that we are initiated into something extraordinarily wonderful? Until we can embrace this belief in our own hearts how can we inspire others? How can priests, teachers, parents, friends etc inspire those around them if they do not believe it themselves and are not passionate about their belief – it is almost impossible? How can a music teacher teach and inspire a child (or anyone) to learn an instrument and be inspired by music if they have no understanding of it and cannot play a note themselves and ultimately just don’t really care? It is the music of faith that is so deeply attractive and the challenge for the church is to bring this passion within us to life and the only real way we can do this is to live and breathe our belief and let it come to life within us so that it can come to life in others.
Why is it that so many in our congregations don’t understand this? We just don’t seem to get it. We follow the rituals while we exclude love of God and love of neighbour. What has happened in our church to create generations that just do not understand who we are and who we are called to be? But church leadership must be gentle with people, we cannot bully people - it simply doesn’t work. Our lived example will be the greatest way people will come to understand and this is the responsibility of every baptized person.
If we are honest we will recognize the “hypocrite” in our own hearts. But just as the person learning a musical instrument keeps coming back to the teacher and the instrument so as to grow and develop in their understanding and passion, so must we keep coming back to our hearts and to Jesus. If we do not do this then we will remain hypocrites and there will be little that is attractive about us.
Our baptism calls us to consciously love God and love our neighbour. As we ponder our own faith journey over the coming days and our responsibility in the journey, we might take some time to ponder the following three questions that I came across recently. They may challenge us to recognize the hypocrite within but they may also challenge us to keep coming back to the source of our very life so that we can continue to grow in faith, love and understanding. Just as an accomplished musician can inspire others through years of practice and teaching, so too our lives may inspire those around us after years of engaging our hearts and constantly coming to Jesus knowing and believing we are loved and part of something extraordinarily wonderful.
1. What have I done for Jesus?
2. What am I doing for Jesus?
3. What am I being called to do for Jesus?
posted by Annemarie Reiner at 8:37 PM
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