August 30, 2009
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dt 4: 1-2, 6-8; James 1: 17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Dc. Larry Brockman
Have you looked inside your heart recently? What do you see there? Do you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?   These qualities are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. They are the virtues that all of us need  to live life as Jesus intended for us to live it. They are the virtues that we should see in the people that we look up to.  People who live their lives with these virtues should be our role models. They are the people, as St. James put it, who are “doers of the word not just hearers of it”.
Now in the Gospel, Jesus confronts the Pharisees with some pretty harsh language. And yet, the Pharisees were considered the cream of the crop at that time. They knew God’s law better than anyone else. That’s why they were called Pharisees, because they studied the scriptures and knew “by heart” the wonderful and just set of laws that Moses speaks of in the first reading. Not only that, they were renowned for keeping those laws. And indeed, these Pharisees did as they preached for the most part. Otherwise they would have had no following. For example, they observed the laws of cleanliness mentioned in the Gospel down to the last dot on the “i” and cross on the “t”. So, why chastise them so soundly. Â
I think it is for two reasons: First, because you cannot depend on external appearances to tell what is really going on in someone’s heart. And so, for that matter, others cannot really tell by your external appearance, what is going on in your heart. We hear news stories frequently that demonstrate this. Someone is caught for a terrible crime, like the Kansas serial killer, who appeared to be a pillar of the community and his church; but that is clearly not what was in his heart. So, judging others by appearances can be deceptive. And what is so wrong about this judging of others is that it is a means of deflecting attention from the responsibility we have for ourselves. That’s where our attention ought to be.  Â
Second, he chastised the Pharisees because God’s law had become too literal, too rigid, too much a matter of meeting the letter of the requirement and not the spirit of it. Following the law became a matter of black and white rather than a motivation in the heart to be a doer of the word. And so, they had lost sight of what it is to live in the spirit of the God who they worshiped. Going through the motions was more important than the God.  Â
Indeed, the Gospel tells how the Pharisees did something that shows both of these flaws. First, they judged the Apostles on the basis of external appearances; violations of details of the dietary laws that they, the Pharisees, appeared to follow carefully. In this way, the Pharisees deflected attention from the responsibility they had for their sins by focusing attention on the sins of someone else. Second, the Pharisees had made these dietary laws the issue, not the intent of the dietary laws. And so, Jesus reacted in anger at their hypocrisy. Jesus could see inside of these people and, though they appeared to be pious,   he tells them they were paying lip service to the law because they were not motivated from within.  Â
Now the things that Jesus says produce evil from within are: Evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, blasphemy, envy, arrogance, and folly. These are just the opposite of the fruits of the spirit. For, whereas the fruits lead us to denial of self out of love, the bad qualities that Jesus mentions motivate based on love of self.  Â
This message is not limited to the Pharisees. It applies just as well to us here today. People go faithfully to Church and these kinds of services; they take Communion each time; they put their children into religious education, and they participate in some Parish Groups. They appear to be Catholics in good standing. And all of that is good, in the same sense that the Pharisees were good and most of the Pharisees were good. But, has your devotion to your faith become something you do out of habit, so that obeying the rules is what it is about instead living the intent of the rules? Are you looking over your shoulders at your neighbors who don’t do all these things you do and justifying your piety on the basis of the lack of observed piety of your neighbor just like the Pharisees did? You see, that deflects your attention from what is really important for you. And what is it that is really important for you? First, that the motivation from within your heart is based on the fruits of the Holy Spirit; that you take on the loving spirit of God, as much as you can, and practice virtues like peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in your relations with others; second, that you participate in the Church and in services because it is a way to nurture and grow in your Faith. It is a way for you to grow into the Kingdom of God.  Â
Look into your heart today. Purge yourselves of any of those evil inclinations and awaken the fruits of the Spirit. Be a doer, and not just a hearer of the Word!Â