Aug 30th, ‘15 Sunday
Homily:
Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI
Deut 4:1-2,6-8; James
1:17-18,22b-22,27; Mk 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
For
Readings
One of the virtues all religions uphold is purity of heart. In Ramayana, which is one of the Hindu sacred stories, Rama was an incarnated deity. Shabari was a hunter's daughter and belonged to a lower caste. While waiting with the hope of seeing Sri Rama with great devotion, every day she would go out with the help of a walking stick and collect berry fruits for Lord Rama, expecting him to come. She would pluck a fruit, first taste it, and if it was sweet she would put it in her basket. She wanted to give him the best and sweetest fruits to Rama. The thought never came to her mind that she should not bite or taste it before it was offered to a deity. One day, when Rama came to her ashram she offered the fruits she was keeping for Rama. When Rama was tasting them Lakshmana, his brother, raised the concern that Shabari had already tasted them and therefore they were unworthy of eating. To this Rama said, "nothing could equal these fruits, offered with such devotion. Whom so ever offers a fruit, ..or some water with love, I partake it with great joy." In today’s gospel Jesus tells us to be pure in heart, as God wants our internal purity, not external appearance.
In the first reading Israelites are urged to follow the laws given to them so that through their example pagans would see the good God of the Israelites. St.James in the second reading reminds us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Unless we do good to others we can’t consider ourselves as doers and will not be sharing in the goodness of the Heavenly Father. Only good things and good behavior will come from God and if we see anything else of selfish nature in our lives, we can rightly understand that it is from some other source which is against God. In that case we need to take a U-turn. The apostle gives wonderful practical means such as selfless thinking and acts of selfless love, to live real faith in Christ.
The gospel presents two kinds of people, people with the love of law and people with the law of love. Jesus tells his accusers that it is not legal or cultic uncleanliness that matters, but cleanliness of the heart before God. From the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus was continuously accused by Pharisees and Scribes. Here they accused him telling that He violated traditions as He ate with unwashed hands. They presented themselves as protectors of God’s law and righteous people while hiding their selfish motives to safeguard their undeserved honor and privileges. They had nothing to offer from inside, they were not ready to sacrifice any of their privileges or possessions for the good of others. They were ‘people of receiving’ while Jesus was a ‘person of giving’. In that situation when Jesus was preaching real love and service, the sacrificial love and service with a heart of children of God, the future of these so-called teachers and patrons of Laws came under threat. They wanted to destroy Jesus’ teaching at any cost and were ready to use any kind of weapons and followed him wherever He went and preached.
This is one of the situations we may come across even today when we try to live real Christian faith and take on responsibilities. We may see people of all kinds of behavior and practices and many may expect encouragement and support or at least a ‘why bother?’ attitude from others for what they do, irrespective of its good or evil nature and outcome. If we conform to their expectations we may enjoy wonderful appreciation and goodwill. But if somebody tries to follow the example given by Jesus and speak the truth, that will start the problems and hard times. Jesus never stopped speaking the truth. So he taught us of internal purity. Many times he cautioned against hypocrisy. His law was simple, his message was straight, his teaching was with self-explaining stories and was sharp enough to cut off the evils. His heart and words were always with love, compassion and forgiveness. He never carried grudges or hatred against His opponents, but forgiveness and sympathy.
Jesus was not against the Law. He followed the Law and taught obedience to it. What He objected to was the intolerable condition which Jewish leaders created for ordinary people in the name of God. Jesus presented God as a loving heavenly Father who comes to His children and is approachable by all people. In this teaching Jewish leaders saw a threat to their falsely created position and privileges in the society. This fear made the Jewish leaders go after and accuse Jesus at every point. Their accusations were either false or illogical. Jesus condemned that attitude and invited them to conversion.
Followers of Christ shouldn’t be surprised if they are criticized for their faith based lives, or their works are interrupted with false accusations as Jesus himself faced false accusations. I remember a case in which a catholic priest who was serving the poor people with great missionary zeal and commitment was accused as a smuggler by a fanatic non-Christian group, after putting a few sandal wood pieces in his absence (to cut or possess or sell sandal wood is illegal and a crime in India. Sandal wood belongs to the govt.) in to his room through the windows. He was arrested and spent many days in jail. But his zeal for Christ didn’t come down, but increased. This is the courage and conviction that Jesus portrayed and asks us to follow. As far as our heart is pure, nothing will affect us but will make nearer to the person of Christ. That is why, St.Chavara was able to say on his death bed that, “As I had always the protection of the Holy Family, I have never lost the baptismal grace”.
Purity of heart makes the individuals stronger even when others think he or she is weak. It makes our families powerful and vibrant with stability, sanctity, joy, peace and a dwelling place of Holy Trinity. Let us pray for grace to seek and to live with internal purity to make our lives more integral, stronger, authentic, joyful and Christ-like. God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment