in AND out

What the best way to worship God? Today's readings answers this question. The first readings simply says, "Obey the commandments of God." The Pharisees of Jesus' time did follow the commandments. And this they did to the smallest detail, but they seemed to have confined themselves to the externals: the rituals and customs of religion. In the mind of Jesus, however, this is not enough. They have to take notice, too, of the internal requirements of purity. This means avoiding the acts enumerated in the Gospel: fornication, adultery, greed etc.

But for a more complete picture, we have to turn to the second reading and the psalm: it is not just a matter of performing rituals and customs scrupulously, not or not doing this or that act of impurity. Rather, it is acting on the Word, proactively doing something, especially, for the poor, such as the widows and orphans. The psalm response summarizes the message: "He who DOES JUSTICE will live in the presence of the Lord."

To whom have we gone?

At the end of the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6, many of the Jews abandoned Jesus because they could not believe in what he was saying: that He is the Bread from Heaven, that His flesh is real food and his blood real drink unto life eternal. It was just too much for them to accept. Turning to his disciples, he asks, "Are you also leaving?" Peter replies,"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life!"

But perhaps, if we were to be the ones to reply to Jesus, ours would be,"Lord, to whom have we gone? Even if we knew that you have the words of everlasting life, still we chose to listen to the words of other people, many of them, words of discouragement, words of darkness and despair. Sometimes the voices are coming from within ourselves, our inner shadows, and have drowned the still small voice deeper within calling us to hope, to love, to faith.

Draw us back to you, O Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.