TUESDAY 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B
![HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [YEAR B] SAINT OF THE DAY: Memorial of Saints Paul Miki and his Companions, Martyrs.](https://i0.wp.com/www.catholicforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/QQE.png?fit=402%2C253&ssl=1)
TUESDAY 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B
THEME: NOT JUST TRADITION BUT THE HEART
BY: FR. KARABARI PAUL
‘This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
In the Gospel (Mark 7:1-13), The Pharisees and scribes came to see Jesus. They criticized Jesus for not correcting His disciples when they failed to observe ritual cleansing.
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Dietary laws are an important part of Jewish religious observance. They are at the heart of the Torah, the holiest part of Jewish scriptures. Dietary laws helped to create the sense of a separate people, so important to Jewish identity. The movement was circular. God’s people kept the dietary laws, and those laws helped to establish their identity as God’s people.
The Pharisees were self-appointed experts in matters of dietary laws, dress codes, etc. These practices allowed them to decide who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out.’ And what is worse, the insiders became judgmental toward the outsiders. Speaker and author Dallas Willard writes, ‘How many people are repelled by Christians who are unfeeling, stiff, unapproachable, boringly lifeless, and dissatisfied? Yet such Christians are everywhere.’
The truth is, when our lives are not marked by genuine joy and devotion to Christ we start looking for superficial ways to distinguish ourselves from the people we classify as ‘worldly.’ We set rules, create cliques and end up judging others. It becomes the ‘Christians’ and the ‘non-Christians’. Even our churches aren’t immune to it. There can be cliques and judgement there too. But Paul writes: ‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal’ (1Cor. 13:1). Sometimes, we hide under to cover of customs and laws to perpetuate wickedness and hate.GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen. Good morning.
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