READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Deuteronomy 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 – Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5 R. (1a) The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
2 Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice; who thinks the truth in his heart 3A and slanders not with his tongue. R. The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
3B Who harms not his fellow man, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor; 4A 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.
Second reading from the Book of James 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.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark 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.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER We can perform a practice as old as the Church, but good: the examination of conscience. Who of us, at night, at the end of the day, remains by himself, by herself, and asks the question: what happened today in my heart? What happened? What things have passed through my heart? If we don’t do this, we have truly failed to know how to watch and guard our hearts well. (Santa Marta, 10 October 2014)
FAUSTI - "Their hearts are far from me," says the Lord. The words of Isaiah (29:13), which Jesus addresses to the Pharisees, Mark addresses to the Church. What keeps good people away from God are "religious traditions", detached from love, their source. Man, even if he does not know it, is always traditionalist and habitual. He does not have to invent adequate attitudes and answers every time. He relies on the usual, on what has already been done and learned. In short, he lives on memory. But the Christian breaks with the past, because he lives on an unprecedented novelty: the memory of the Body and Blood of his Lord, given to him in the Bread. This Mystery of Love is "his" tradition, which he has received and, in turn, transmits. In Israel, the marrow of tradition is the law, given by God as the path to life. It is synthesized in the command to love Him and our brothers and sisters. As we can see, it is good, but no one is able to observe it. That is why it convinces everyone of sin. Thus, showing the evil, he invites us to turn to the doctor who can heal. But the proud one prefers to defend himself. Neglecting the substance, he attaches himself to an observance, sometimes meticulous, of certain details, to justify himself and condemn others. In reality, the real function of the law is not to mask or heal from evil, but to highlight and denounce it, to make us feel the need for forgiveness and mercy. Only in this way do we know God as He is and as He reveals Himself in the Bread, a gratuitous Love that gives Himself. The use of law and tradition as self-justification is both an effect and a cause of the hardness of the heart, which prevents us from recognizing the reality of God in the Bread. But we reduce the reality of this gift to a ghost, because we remain in a formal religiosity, which observes all the laws, except the fundamental one of loving. No sin is as far from God and His Bread as the claim of religious skill. "You who seek justification in the law, have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4). Self-justification cancels justification, depriving us of true knowledge of ourselves as misery and of God as mercy. It urges us to do everything, even to the point of trying to love, rather than accepting to be loved freely and to trust in Him. Thus our hearts remain hard, dead and calcified, deaf and blind to Love and Life. We have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. Jesus, with His Bread, not only diagnoses, but also heals us from our deafness and blindness. Jesus is the Master capable of writing in our hearts the inner law of love. And he does so through the iterated memory of His Bread that reveals to us and gives us a God who loves us unconditionally. The disciple eats this bread and lives from it, even he is undeserving. He bases his life not on his own observance of the law, but on Grace. He must always beware of legalism and all traditions that reduce the reality of the Lord to a ghost. He also accepts all creation as good, and knows that evil proceeds from his heart of stone, still unable to love.
Bianchi - Living is Christ - In Christian worship it is not a question of offering material gifts to God - as was the case with the pagan gods - but of offering Him Faith, Praise, Adoration... one's whole life! Not services, first of all, but a life offered to God; and if there is this sacrifice of one's life, even everything one lives is drawn into the offering.... true worship is constituted by a Christian existence lived "in Spirit and Truth" (Jn 4:23), that is, in the Spirit and in Christ Jesus... A synthesis of numerous Pauline passages - see in particular Rom 15:16, where the preaching of the gospel is seen as a ministry capable of making the receivers an oblation offered to God - is found in the splendid exhortation of Rom 12:1: "I exhort you, brothers, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God"; this is true worship according to the Word. The offering of one's life is the only worship that is truly pleasing to God! This obviously does not mean denying the importance of participation in the Church's liturgy, and especially in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist. However, it is important to understand that the primacy of this participation is that of a truly Christian life, for which the sacraments are a means. For this reason, in participating in the Eucharist, it is fundamental to understand that just as Jesus gave and broke His life for mankind, so every Christian must give his own life for his brothers and sisters. Only the understanding of the ultimate meaning of the sacrament can fill liturgical gestures with meaning and content, preventing them from becoming an empty repetition of formulas and rites.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Deuteronomy
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 – Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5
R. (1a) The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
2 Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
3A and slanders not with his tongue.
R. The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.
3B Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
4A 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.
Second reading from the Book of James
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.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
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.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaWe can perform a practice as old as the Church, but good: the examination of conscience. Who of us, at night, at the end of the day, remains by himself, by herself, and asks the question: what happened today in my heart? What happened? What things have passed through my heart? If we don’t do this, we have truly failed to know how to watch and guard our hearts well. (Santa Marta, 10 October 2014)
FAUSTI - "Their hearts are far from me," says the Lord. The words of Isaiah (29:13),
RispondiEliminawhich Jesus addresses to the Pharisees, Mark addresses to the Church.
What keeps good people away from God are "religious traditions", detached from love, their source.
Man, even if he does not know it, is always traditionalist and habitual. He does not have to invent adequate attitudes and answers every time. He relies on the usual, on what has already been done and learned.
In short, he lives on memory.
But the Christian breaks with the past, because he lives on an unprecedented novelty: the memory of the Body and Blood of his Lord, given to him in the Bread.
This Mystery of Love is "his" tradition, which he has received and, in turn, transmits.
In Israel, the marrow of tradition is the law, given by God as the path to life.
It is synthesized in the command to love Him and our brothers and sisters.
As we can see, it is good, but no one is able to observe it.
That is why it convinces everyone of sin. Thus, showing the evil, he invites us to turn to the doctor who can heal.
But the proud one prefers to defend himself. Neglecting the substance, he attaches himself to an observance, sometimes meticulous, of certain details, to justify himself and condemn others.
In reality, the real function of the law is not to mask or heal from evil, but to highlight and denounce it, to make us feel the need for forgiveness and mercy.
Only in this way do we know God as He is and as He reveals Himself in the Bread, a gratuitous Love that gives Himself.
The use of law and tradition as self-justification is both an effect and a cause of the hardness of the heart, which prevents us from recognizing the reality of God in the Bread.
But we reduce the reality of this gift to a ghost, because we remain in a formal religiosity, which observes all the laws, except the fundamental one of loving.
No sin is as far from God and His Bread as the claim of religious skill.
"You who seek justification in the law, have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4).
Self-justification cancels justification, depriving us of true knowledge of ourselves as misery and of God as mercy. It urges us to do everything, even to the point of trying to love, rather than accepting to be loved freely and to trust in Him.
Thus our hearts remain hard, dead and calcified, deaf and blind to Love and Life.
We have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear.
Jesus, with His Bread, not only diagnoses, but also heals us from our deafness and blindness.
Jesus is the Master capable of writing in our hearts the inner law of love.
And he does so through the iterated memory of His Bread that reveals to us and gives us a God who loves us unconditionally.
The disciple eats this bread and lives from it, even he is undeserving.
He bases his life not on his own observance of the law, but on Grace.
He must always beware of legalism and all traditions that reduce the reality of the Lord to a ghost.
He also accepts all creation as good, and knows that evil proceeds from his heart of stone, still unable to love.
Bianchi - Living is Christ - In Christian worship it is not a question of offering material gifts to God - as was the case with the pagan gods - but of offering Him Faith, Praise, Adoration... one's whole life! Not services, first of all, but a life offered to God; and if there is this sacrifice of one's life, even everything one lives is drawn into the offering.... true worship is constituted by a Christian existence lived "in Spirit and Truth" (Jn 4:23), that is, in the Spirit and in Christ Jesus...
RispondiEliminaA synthesis of numerous Pauline passages - see in particular Rom 15:16, where the preaching of the gospel is seen as a ministry capable of making the receivers an oblation offered to God - is found in the splendid exhortation of Rom 12:1: "I exhort you, brothers, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God"; this is true worship according to the Word. The offering of one's life is the only worship that is truly pleasing to God!
This obviously does not mean denying the importance of participation in the Church's liturgy, and especially in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist. However, it is important to understand that the primacy of this participation is that of a truly Christian life, for which the sacraments are a means.
For this reason, in participating in the Eucharist, it is fundamental to understand that just as Jesus gave and broke His life for mankind, so every Christian must give his own life for his brothers and sisters. Only the understanding of the ultimate meaning of the sacrament can fill liturgical gestures with meaning and content, preventing them from becoming an empty repetition of formulas and rites.