16 October. Tuesday, Week 28

1st Reading: Galatians (5:1-6)

In Christ Jesus, circumcision no longer counts; only faith acting through love

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

Resp. Psalm (Ps 119)

R.: Lord, let your love come to me

Lord, let your love come upon me,
the saving help of your promise.
Do not take the word of truth from my mouth
for I trust in your decrees. (R./)
I shall always keep your law
for ever and ever.
I shall walk in the path of freedom
for I see your precepts. (R./)
Your commands have been my delight;
these I have loved.
I will worship your commands and love them
and ponder your statutes. (R./)

Gospel: Luke (11:37-41)

Purity of heart trumps exterior cleanliness. Alms have cleansing power

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.”

Faithful to the end

What Saint Paul means by “Faith” includes both accepting God’s grace and being faithful. The Holy Spirit is present throughout the universe, gradually revealing God’s invisible realities. Personal goodness goes beyond “naturto include cooperating with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The “law of the flesh” must give way to the “law of the spirit.” Christians are set free from lmany Jewish laws (e.g. about circumcision, ritual cleanliness, clean and unclean foods,) so that we can follow the more demanding law of the spirit, which is loving and consistent fidelity to God and our neighbours.
Jesus makes the moral demand more explicit when he says, “give what you have as alms.” Love, therefore, needs to be expressed as concern for the needy and generosity in helping them. After such giving, he says, “all will be wiped clean for you.” This is a curious thought. The poor and the needy generally have a harder time keeping clean than the wealthy and the leisured class. The poor work longer hours, are involved with grease and dust, and do not always have access to hot water, privacy and energy. Was this why Jesus had not washed his hands before sitting down to eat at the Pharisee’s house?

Knowing what’s important

Different things matter to different people. What is important to me is not necessarily important to you. We can get upset when something we think is vital is not taken seriously by someone else whom we respect. In the gospel, Jesus is invited to a meal by a Pharisee. A certain kind of ritual washing before meals was clearly a matter of obligation to Jesus’ host, but it wasn’t an issue of any significance to Jesus. Other matters were more important to him. He says that external rituals are far less important than the values and attitudes that we carry within us. Jesus looks for a generous spirit as expressed in almsgiving, for example. This too was an important Jewish practice, willingness to give from our resources to those in need.
This encounter reminds us that what at first sight we think matters is not necessarily what matters to the Lord. What we value is not always what he values. We need to be trying to imbibe his values, his priorities, and let them shape our hearts and minds. As Paul says, we can put on the mind of Christ. This involves listening to the Spirit, if our priorities are to be in line with the Lord’s priorities, if our hearts are to reflect something of God’s own heart.

(Saint Gall, abbot and missionary)

Gall or Gallus (c. 550-645) studied in the monastery at Bangor, Co. Down and was one of the companions of Saint Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the European continent. First they lived a monastic life in Luxeuil (France); and then (610) they voyaged up the Rhine to Bregenz. But when Columban moved on to Italy, Gall remained behind due to illness and was nursed at Arbon, just south of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). He led the life of a hermit and preacher for many years, and died at the age of ninety-five near the city now called Sankt Gallen.

(Saint Hedwig, religious)

Hedwig or Jadwiga (1174-1243) was Duchess of Silesia from 1201 and High Duchess of Poland from 1232. On the death of her husband, Henry (1238) she entered the Cistercian monastery which he had established at her request and lived there the rest of her life as a lay sister.

(Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, religious)

Margaret Alacoque (1647-1690) from L’Hautecour, Burgundy, was from early childhood devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. After four years of illness, at the age of 13 she vowed to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, and was restored to perfect health, adding the name Mary to her baptismal name. She experienced mystical visions of Jesus Christ, whom she zealously proclaimed under the symbol of the Sacred Heart.