Daily Readings September 2, 2012

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 125

Reading 1
Dt 4:1-2, 6-8

Moses said to the people:"Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decreeswhich I am teaching you to observe,that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the landwhich the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Moses is exhorting the people of Israel to obey God's commands.

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.

He wants them to obey God perfectly.

Observe them carefully,for thus will you give evidenceof 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 therethat has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to uswhenever we call upon him?Or what great nation has statutes and decreesthat are as just as this whole lawwhich I am setting before you today?"

In thus obeying God's commands, they will give evidence to the pagan nations of their wisdom and intelligence.  And the pagan nations  will have cause to wonder about the nature of a God who is so close to His people.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5

Response. (1a) One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Whoever walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.

R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
by whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the LORD.

R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
Whoever does these things
shall never be disturbed.

R. One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

The Psalm is revealing to us the key to salvation.  Works of justice, works of love.  This hasn't changed in the New Testament.  Hear the wisdom of St. Paul:

Romans 2:1-13
King James Version (KJV)
1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. ² But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. ³ And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?  ⁴ Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? ⁵ But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; ⁶ Who will render to every man according to his deeds: ⁷ To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: ⁸ But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,  ⁹ Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; ¹⁰ But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:¹¹ For there is no respect of persons with God. ¹² For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;¹³ (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Yes, folks.  We merit salvation in the eyes of God, if we do the works He prepared for us to do from the beginning.  Keep the Commandments.

Reading 2
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.

St. James addresses the Church.  He says, all good things are from God.

He willed to give us birth by the word of truththat we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

By His Word, we are born again in the Body of Christ, so that we may be an example to the Gentiles and sit on thrones in the heavenly kingdom.

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in youand is able to save your souls.

Therefore, accept God's word in your heart and act upon it and obey it that you may be saved.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

They delude themselves who pretend that they need not act upon the word which God has given His only begotten Son to give to us.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:to care for orphans and widows in their afflictionand to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Our perfect religion can be summarized thus, help your fellow man and avoid sins.

St. Paul said something similar:

Galatians 5:6
King James Version (KJV)
⁶ For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Gospel
Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalemgathered around Jesus,they observed that some of his disciples ate their mealswith unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

The Pharisees noticed that the disciples of Jesus Christ did not wash their hands before they ate.

--For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,do not eat without carefully washing their hands,keeping the tradition of the elders.

It was a tradition amongst the Pharisees which had been passed down by the elders, to wash their hands carefully before they ate.

And on coming from the marketplacethey 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. --

The Pharisees upheld many religious ceremonies and rituals concerning the purification of their bodies and of all utensils before they ate.

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the eldersbut instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"

So, the Pharisees questioned our Lord about their behavior.   They asked, "why don't your disciples wash their hands before they eat?"

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."

Our Lord began His response with a rebuke from the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 29:13).

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,

Then Jesus summoned the entire crowd to come and listen to His response.

"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.

Listen to me!  Nothing which goes into the body can defile your soul.  But that which comes out of the body can defile your soul.

"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."

For those evil things which men invent in their minds and speak with their tongues, they defile your soul.  And all those evil things are sins which transgress God's law.

Sincerely,

De Maria