People in our society today often talk about being a “basically good person.”

When we start thinking about what we should do or how we should act in specific situations, we might measure ourselves against this vague idea of the “basically good person.” We might even hide behind the idea of being a “good person” when we don’t want to do the right thing in the moment. We might think to ourselves, “Well, I haven’t killed anyone or stolen anything.”

This flawed vision of the moral life translates into how we live as Christians. We think that God simply wants us to be a “good person,” and relativize our sins, comparing them to our good actions. Nevertheless, this is not the message of the Gospel .Rather, through Christ’s Death and Resurrection, we have the grace to be completely transformed from the old man, the man living in sin, to the new man, the man who lives entirely in Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24).

God wants us to give him our whole lives, meaning that we also desire to live in complete unity with him. We can do good acts but still keep our hearts far from him. If we give our hearts entirely to him, however, the power of Jesus’s Resurrection can transform us so that we become more like him. Our actions will then fl ow seamlessly from our hearts, because we have been transformed to live like Christ.

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First Reading Reflection

For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us? (Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8)

Moses addresses the people just before their entry into the Promised Land. After recounting much of their relationship with God, he now encourages them by calling them to obey the covenant laws that will follow this speech. He begins, “Hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe” (Deuteronomy 4:1). The Hebrew word for “hear” can also be translated to “obey.” But why obey? Moses’s answer is clear: “that you may live.” The Law of God leads to life—a life of blessing in the Promised Land. In the middle portion of this speech (omitted), Moses commends the people for remaining true to the Lord during the time in which many of their fellow Israelites worshipped the false god, Baal of Peor (see Numbers 25). In order to keep their track record of fidelity, the people must continue to obey the Lord. If they do they will show their wisdom and intelligence before the peoples of the world (see v. 6). Moses then cites the incomparability of Israel’s status and Law before God versus the other nations and their laws. From this passage, several lessons arise for us. First, the laws of God, the rules we must follow as Christians, are not mere arbitrary prescriptions, but they are for our good, for our very life. Second, when we obey the Lord, we show ourselves to be living in accord with the truth—by God-given knowledge, not by the ignorance of the world. Lastly, when we live like Christ, other people will take notice and recognize the wisdom of living according to the Gospel. Thus we can give witness to its truth by living it out.

Second Reading Reflection

Religion that is pure is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction
(James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27)

Have you ever looked into the mirror and not liked what you saw? Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, we find ourselves doing things that we did not intend or want. Our aspirations do not always become embodied in our behavior. We can feel divided within, at war with ourselves. This inner conflict is distressing because it reveals our lack of self-mastery, our inability to truly control our own actions. We find ourselves driven by desire rather than by the rational decisions of our mind. St. James here helps us look within. He calls us to be “doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves” (1:22). When we lack consistency between our interior motives and our external actions, we are delusional—like claiming to be on a diet while eating piles of donuts. Our actions, not just our thoughts, matter. As the saying goes, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” James seems to support this sentiment when he tells us that if a man fails to exercise control over his speech then “his religion is vain” (v. 26). In fact, James defines religion as caring for widows and orphans while maintaining a morally upright life (see v. 27). Getting our actions to line up with our best intentions is the hardest part of the art of Christian living, which is why we need the grace of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our weakness. With his assistance, we can live in victory and really become “doers of the word.”

Gospel Reflection

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)

The Gospel reading for today beautifully brings together the lessons of the first two readings—both Moses’s exhortation to obey the Law and James’s call to genuine moral uprightness. The story unfolds as a controversy. The Pharisees challenge Jesus over the behavior of his disciples who are not following all of the ritual purity rules scrupulously. In specific, they are not washing their hands before eating. Yet Jesus does not condescend to even discuss handwashing at all. Instead, he sees through the Pharisees’ smoke screen—the issue isn’t really the issue—and challenges them in return. He accuses them of hypocrisy and stings them with an appropriate quote from Isaiah. When the charge sticks, that these Pharisees’ interior spiritual attitudes do not line up with their showy external observances, Jesus makes a larger point. Essentially, he teaches the inner moral purpose of the ritual purity laws of the Old Covenant, while rescinding these laws for New Covenant believers: “Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile” (Mark 7:15). For Jesus, our moral status is not about what foods we eat, but about how we behave, how we act. It is possible that we could observe all kinds of trivial religious rules yet be living in grave sin in far more important matters. Jesus rattles off a list of serious sins, “evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder” and so on (vv. 21–22). These sins, he argues, come from within our hearts and they are what make us impure before God. To be truly holy, we must change both our behavior and our thoughts.

DISCUSSION:

Do you ever struggle with focusing on God during Mass, prayer, or even throughout your daily life? How do you think God looks at you during those moments, as an angry master or as a loving Father?

God made us for a specifi c purpose, and he is always asking us to choose his grace over the shackles of sin and the temptations of this world, so that we might be in his love more deeply. . When he appeals to our hearts and asks us to change our actions, he’s really calling us to live our lives to the fullest.

DIGGING DEEPER:
Moral Relativism

There is a lot of confusion on the precise nature of faith. If asked to explain it, most Christians would probably talk about taking “a leap of faith,” particularly when encountering a difficult doctrine or a trying period in live. By faith, we believe in that which cannot yet be seen— namely, the eternal life that God has planned for us. We believe that God has a plan for our lives, for “God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).

Faith does not mean that we put aside our reason and simply “believe.” St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that faith is an actual knowledge, albeit a knowledge beyond our senses. It is possible to know with certainty that God exists that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Faith, which is a theological virtue, makes such knowledge possible. It is a pure gift from God, meaning we can’t make ourselves have more faith, but we can and should pray and beg God to always increase our faith. We can also live a life that disposes us to be able to receive the gift of faith.
 

Reflections reprinted with permission from  Opening the Word at Formed.org .
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